Adolph Namlik

Welcome, David. Just a side question. Does everyone in Yukon have crazy spiked white hair as good-looking as yours or is it just you? If so, who is your stylist because that guy or gal is a genius.
There are a number of singer training programs, chief among them being the 4 Pillars of Singing, available through this forum thanks to our benefactor and author of 4 Pillars, Robert Lunte, who also gives personal lessons in whatever fashion. In person at his studio in Seattle, WA, USA or via skype.
Certainly there are a number of us amateur (unpaid) singers but really, you should consult a professional voice teacher when given a chance.

Awesome. It has been really fun working with you Bevin and giving you the "tough love" to shape you into shape. I appreciate your patience and fortitude to stick it out. Keep going, you are now on the cusp of really getting this method in your head so you can train freely with a clear understanding of what you are doing and what you need to do. Focus on building the TA muscle strength and narrowing of the acoustics... you are close... stick with it!!
Coach

Ok 100% totally lied, after practicing Attack and Release tonight, I hit a D6 with no ugly break, no awful notes.
A D-FREAKING-6 (before I stopped because the dog was looking at me funny).
Wahoo!!!

I've now had a few wonderful lessons with Robert and I'm still working through my lessons  So much material in The Four Pillars. Seriously good stuff.
When I started, after years of singing classically in mostly head register, I had an extremely limited belt range (for a woman). So limited that I was only able to hit G4 or so in belt. 
I've been at this for 3 or so weeks now, and I'm up to a solid D5 in a strong belt using the onset and sirens, and today on a few sirens I was able to bridge up to my F#5 smoothly and cleanly with almost zero tonal change. I still have a LOT of work to do, but holy shnikes. I'm not solid yet - I have a lot more practicing to do but I have to say I'm pleased.

I'll keep going with the log, so that progress can be seen and heard, but I'm super happy so far!!!

Cody,
I can see that you can "feel" your song. In regards to the production, I agree with Gnee,... you need some effects on the vocals. Not too much, but a touch of reverb and the delay at the quarter note tempo would be nice.
You would benefit from lowering your larynx and warming this sound, techniques I can teach you.
Again, I do like the genuine heartfelt interpretation here... I think if you got serious about vocal training, you could become a great singer. I am certain of it. About a year of serious training and commitment would get you there. 
Check out my home study training program.
The Four Pillars of Singing

Hi Cody, welcome to the forum. I think you sound good overall. In the beginning, you sounded too heady and nasal for my taste (personal opinion), but when you start singing with more "pressure" it gets so much better. If I may humbly suggest you to check the gain levels on your microphone because the sound was distorting a bit when you started to get loud. I also missed some tasty effects on your voice, such as EQ, compression and reverb. Good job. Cheers

"White Rabbit" Tribute!
I am proud to share a performance and production of Jefferson Airplane's classic, "White Rabbit". SaraEllen has been training with TVS for about two years. Excellent job SaraEllen! LOVE the curbing vowel resonance, steady embouchure, and "snappy" glottal attacks on the vowels, apart from the interpretation that captures the nuances we coached and discussed. Sounds great, looks great, a kick ass production and worthy achievement! Coach.
 

... do you think?
In regards to rhythm... here is the best firkin advise I can give you... listen up.
Stop counting music in quarter note tempo / meter... and start counting all music into 8ths.  "1&2&3&4&..."   Add the "&"... Without 8th notes, you have no syncopation and without syncopation, you have NO GROOVE!  Students that count only in quarter notes, have shitty rhythm and cues. Students that learn to sub-divide into 8ths and accent the syncopated, upbeat 8th, begin to get their rhythm tight and groove on... try it... you'll see... great rhythm starts by... locking in upbeat 8ths.

Yo man pick yourself up a cheap keyboard on Ebay for 50 - 100 bucks and just run your voice up and down those notes.  You don't have to learn professional piano, but as an exercise tool for intonation the benefits are too vast to ignore.  And yeah I know you can get some keyboard app on your phone but having a tangible musical instrument to touch and feel is way cooler.  
Good luck man and nice work so far.   

Hi Collin. Your voice sounds pretty good. I have found that confidence and some sort of emotional connection to the song helps. What I mean by that is, read the words and find out what sort of message it is supposed to present and present it with the emotion intended. Usually when expressing a strong emotion you feel the energy of the emotion even if the volume is quiet there is a force behind it.
"For all the times that you rain on my parade And all the clubs you get in using my name You think you broke my heart, oh, girl for goodness' sake You think I'm crying on my own. Well, I ain't   And I didn't wanna write a song 'Cause I didn't want anyone thinking I still care. I don't, But you still hit my phone up And, baby, I be movin' on And I think you should be somethin' I don't wanna hold back, Maybe you should know that"   There is a lot of pent up emotion in this........ It seems this girl is using you and you know it. It gets kind of frustrating in that kind of situation........ Even if you don't get loud, there is usually an energy that you are trying to hold back so you don't get to loud. In a situation like this you would be Pissed off and holding yourself back from yelling..........Use that energy....... it will come through in the song and maybe even ground you for pitch stability also.

And sharp.
Most of the time for most people... pitch issues are mostly due to a lack of attention or focus on it. There is a subconscious misunderstanding that "close is close enough"... when it comes to what we call "the constant" in TVS,... there is no "close enough" with frequency. Frequency HAS to be on. It is either 100% on or a 100% off... no exceptions, no creative license like other elements of music.
Wake up, pay more attention.
Working on your parts slowly with a keyboard... one note at a time for just a few minutes is often all it takes.
 

The recording and mix stinks but the playing was much easier when I scaled back the guitar part to just guitar.
"Rain Song" # 2 by Led Zeppelin

http://www.box.com/s/09def48d0af59a258e5b

 

Hi Kimberly, Sorry it took so long for a comment. If you could use some file sharing site like Box. net or soundcloud or Youtube that would be better. As it is we have to download your file to play it.
     Is that you Jamming on guitar also on Rescue Me? Sounds pretty cool. On the singing there is a bit too much delay and reverb to really hear your voice. Sound pretty good though.
 Anyway......... Welcome to the forum.

I have a computer program that qualifies as "Air Time" for grounded Pilots. If you give me the Type and model of Jet I can practice and be ready in a week or two.  I already have half of a successful flight logged. Hard landing.........( I did hurt my thumb when I fell off my chair. )

I am afraid we will need more Review My Singing clients to swing that.

Not a problem. The two briskets I still have in the chest freezer are over 14 lbs. Even after I trim off some of the fat, it is still around 14 pounds. You could feed a regular squad or a SEAL team in training.
I thaw them in a fridge, like you would a turkey. Basic formula is 5 hours for each pound. So, I count backwards from the day I plan to smoke and add a day because I like to put the seasoning rub on the meat the night before and let it sit in the fridge overnight. That way, the following morning, I can wake up about 6, start a fire, throw the meat on, just that easy. I smoke it no less than 12 hours, starting with high heat to sear the outer layer of the meat, which keeps the juices in.
You know, as a singer, I am a pretty good barbecue chef .....
 

I see that BZean liked these posts. I vote we invite him also. And Adolph................Good thing I am not much of a talker, Just get Ronws talking and kick back.

Hahahah man you are crazy.  All this talk of Greyhound buses and road trips is unnecessary.  Surely an event that included two TMV moderators would justify the use of the official Modern Vocalist Private Jet.  We'll just have Adolph leave us the keys for the weekend.  We can all get together and back home in under 12 hours.  

I could go hog wild about recording instruments and may well do that but I wanted to concentrate for a moment on just singing against karaoke track. Especially for those of us who do not play an instrument or or not well enough to produce a music track for what we want to do.
So, in that case, you bought a track from the link Robert has at this forum. And I would always recommend that link and not for the reason of being on Robert's good side. I mean, it is always nice to get along with your brethren in singing. But also because it is a really good site and you can order the track to your custom order. With or without BV. With or without guitar solo, in case you want to noodle some guitar, as well. And all for about a buck or two. And it is professionally mixed and tight.
So, you drag that into a track in Reaper or Logic Pro, similar actions.
Then all that is left is to sing. All you need is a mic. If you only have money for one mic, get a large diaphragm condenser. Or get one of the home recording bundles on the page in this forum that Robert has provided. The price is right, trust me. If you bought that stuff separately, it would cost you more.
So, how do you make a recording as well and professional sounding as the recordings from Felipe? Well, you have to be a little bit like him. Or a lot. No, you don't have to dance salsa, though it couldn't hurt. 
Here is the Felipe "secret," if I may be so bold to reveal it;
Don't keep crap. Everyone, Felipe, Ronnie James Dio, even you, make mistakes. A bum note. Slightly off time. Garbled word in a lyric. Don't keep it. Do it over. This may take some time. You will get no awards for recording, editing, and posting within one hour by the clock. I have recorded stuff in one take and it was well received. And I have recorded something twenty times over two weeks and it was not well received. And all the variations in between. So, if you think you have crappy recordings, be aware that I am the king of crappy recordings and just offer this advice as a fellow miscreant.
So, 400 takes or partial comps later, you finally have a vocal that sounds like you want. Use shift and tempo tools in your DAW that makes sure it is on the beat and not dragging. And then, to save on processing power, render that comp'd track to a new unified track. With one exception. In Reaper, each section of lyrics or sound can be a separate item. And you can do effects and stuff on each item. If that is not important to what you are doing, then create the new track of pieces into one. This saves processing power and speed.
Now, you are going to do all your mixing stuff. EQ, delay, reverb, or both. And we could go way deep into that and probably will but for brevity, I wanted to talk about the workflow, in general.
Take your time. I have read so many books on recording and mixing and more than once. You really should not record and mix on the same day. Your ears are tuned one way for singing. They need a rest to be tuned to mixing. Don't spend too long mixing. You start second-guessing and doing drastic things. Better to give it a day or two and then listen with fresh ears.
That being said, let me sound contradictory and say that you should set a deadline for release or posting. Here is why: no mix is ever "finished." Especially in the day of digital editing. You could edit and mix forever. Pick a stopping point and let it go. This will cause you to focus on major moves and sounds and not get bogged down in minutae. So, spend maybe a week total on the project but not more than a month.
Don't talk about how long or little it took you to do it. It does not matter and I promise I am not going to be impressed if you recorded in one shot. Because I have done it, too. So, big whoopie ...
Or how long. I don't need to know how dedicated or perfectionist you are. All that matters is how it sounds. I am not a technical reviewer. I want to be entertained. So, make me want to sing along.

.......  it helps me to stay OUT of the mood of the song. I don't want to be "shoved" or "crowded" into the artistic "work space" before or after I perform the art. The vocal mic / booth / reflection filter is a very tight, confined space. I have a limited threshold for putting my nose and face up into the microphone staring cross-eyed at the microphone. It isn't necessarily an "open" feeling of freedom... I move to my work space, when I begin to do my job.
Also, on a more pragmatic point,... just standing there starring at the microphone for a minute prior to the song or after the song, in my view is a wee bit dorky. When I start, I start. When I'm done, I'm done... I want to stay out of that space as much as I can and get a refresher... 
Similar to putting a book down and letting your eyes and brain rest for a while before you pick it up again.
Good question... 

Very nice cowboy version MDEW! You and Ed-Win really made this song yours! While I was listening to your version I was wondering how this song would sound as an Ukulele  version... Cheers

Great job Ed-Win! Really cool version man!

I guess this is a carbon copy of Bonnie Raitt .
Thanks Bzean,   I tried to find the correct chords for my cover but nothing seemed to work so I fudged a little.

OK, this is it.......... You will have to put up with the out of tune guitar until someone buys me an expensive one. Capo on the 5th fret doesn't help things. Cowboy chords, Folk Style.
I am Keeping this microphone.