analog

:36 -ish "since you been gone" : "you" was a little flat.

excellent on "so the rain must fall" later on.

Other than that .....

wait for it ......

good job.

I agree. You have such a distinct voice(that fits perfectly with the genre) it "unsettles" me when you lose pitch on the top notes. This is 100000000% technique/tension/constriction related(so not an artistic "shot" at you by any means.) You need 2-3 notes above your max and you will own this shit.

George,

your upper register is pro level man. Love it. But, you've been holding out...more Cameo, please :P

Marcus,

really good man! I personally don't like heavy nasality, but that is a style thing and more power to whatever it is you feel! Kudos brother!!! Huge progression.

Fantastic!!!

Do you think it's out of order to post songs in a style from the 1930's on a site called 'The Modern Vocalist'

Screw the 30's....let's bring the Roaring Twenties back :D

VocalistDad,

Gabe has a MONSTER voice(which I'm sure he knows ) and he should keep the faith no matter how long/hard the road is. I've been doing this stuff forever it seems(both original and working/dance band stuff) and he is the real deal(I wish I had his voice when I was in my 20's !) I hope it all works out for him!

If you don't mind me asking, how old is Gabe?

Felipe,

FANTASTIC JOB MAN!!!!

Bro...I really felt this! (please...if you broke this shit down in your overly zen-like yet MECHANICAL ENGINEERING-Y like mode...please don't tell me ) I felt it and I want the illusion to prevail

As far as the "beautiful" part...that's easy: you're singing a somewhat pure ee on the beaut-(i)-ful. It should be a short I(as in sit) and unaccented. Sounds fine, but probably a hard aural grab if not a native english speaker.

Great job again man!

The new version kicks ass brother. The only parts I would consider tweaking are right at 3:01 "woahowoh"

{the "yeah whoa" @ 3:03-3:04 after it sounded genius. Man you did something to that "OH" that killed.}

Also at 3:24 the "Ooo" sounded a little funny to me. I am being insanely picky here This is truly a great version man.

Sounds like you have great command of your highs, what's your background? Have you studied classically or SS/SLS?

Geno,

man..I responded to this back in December, but I guess it didn't post. I've played this for several people and they were all blown away. Agree that this could be on the radio right now. You are insanely talented brother. Congrats.

Jonpall...sounds f'n brilliant man! I've been a "songwriter" for 20+ years and I always do this(improv gibberish melodies over chords.) I have hundreds of hours of this stuff recorded all over the place. I'm HEAVILY influenced by stream of consciousness writing so this has the added benefit of occasionally being GOOD(lyrically speaking.)

You are turning into a feckin' rock beast!

Hi Opaa,

I like it very much, I think it sounds great and close to axl's tone.

Is there any way you can explain how you did it ? Does it hurt at all ?

Especially that 2nd clip where you go over the passagio and get into this strong, gritty high voice is very cool.

Well done !

Thanos

Agree with Thanos...great sound!

Nathan,

what's the audition for?

Hmmm...man I can't put my finger exactly on it, but I wanted something else in the verses. Absolutely nothing wrong with what you did, but what makes this song so feckin impressive to me, is the apparent ease of the original vocal line. It sounds effortless and IMO closer to a lullaby(albeit a very twanged one.) Your verses sounded a little too "bratty" for my taste...but you certainly know me well enough to know that I can separate taste from technique.

I would "produce" your vocal a bit differently, but your version would be PERFECT for a live setting. Still a kick ass job.

Damn man...that is a GREAT high rock sound up top(had solid amount of "weight".) Always impressive man.

Never heard the old version, but this is easily my favorite recording you've posted. Cool sound with just acoustic and voice.

Joshua,

the main difference I hear between the two versions is Richie is mic'd/amplified. I think you're basically there. Those high notes he sings in the chorus are very light and sound fairly "choked." One thing he's doing is twanging more on those high notes...but it is insanely "light."

Not sure if you've visited Allan's(Chanteurmoderne) website(I think you have but can't remember.) It's in French(which is great for you,) but even as a non-speaker, his videos are great(IMO he's an amazing teacher and musician who helped me drop years of bad habits AND misinterpretations of various techniques...it's been a true privilege to work with him.)

One that has helped me immensely is his twang video:

Being able to twang with a "thin fold" set-up is a freaking god send(high part of the voice.) Being able to control the amount of "weight" up top(meaning adding or subtracting depending on artistic choice) will give you the ability to sing just about ANYTHING with control.

I think you are singing your ass off these days and it's great to see you making so much progress. Also, you are playing a complicated guitar part (not a 3 chord strum) while singing a complicated vocal line, which is something that amazes me.

Joshua...that feckin' rocked man! I wanted to hear more. Your voice sits perfectly in that song. Like Akarawd said, if it doesn't hurt, run with it. I've also had the same problem with unintentional distortion(me and Freddie from CVT forum had an ongoing thread over there last year...and he's updated on some posts on this forum.)

Just wanted to say great job!

Ray...that's fantastic. Seriously good.

I have a friend who's a musical savant...he's done a lot of funny songs/videos:

Wasn't talking about distortion at all - in fact I'm not sure I'd even be interested in listening to this song if it was sung with distortion.

What I'm saying is - and I agree with Jon - it requires more volume/body in a clean style. I know your mic is not helping you at all in that aspect

but If I were you, I'd keep practicing in a soft (non breathy) voice and doing warm ups&downs in a very disciplined way till I felt no strain when

I added volume&weight to me voice. I'd do that for 2-3 weeks - you know what I mean

Ron...one thing that may help you increase the "body" is spending some time working on controlling the soft palate/closing the nasal port. If you make a 'P' with the lips and then hold the build-up of breath to the 'P, you will feel a build up of breath behind the closed lips. Hold your breath and then attempt to breath out through the nose. Do this a few times and you will start to feel something is moving back there to release the air. This is your soft palate moving from a raised position to a closed one.

Once you get this sensation...you can start practicing your songs by replacing all consonants with this sequence: 'ng' sound(lowered palate) MOVING to a 'g'(which closes port/raises palate) then opening to the vowel you will be singing. It may take you a couple of weeks of VERY focused work to get into the habit of closing the port on the vowels...but the increase in power is well worth it.

Really great Marcus! Fantastic control with all of the moving around you did.

My idol, Van Morrison, is maybe 5'5. I researched this awhile back...found this list(no idea how accurate it is.)

Plant and Cornell gave me hope that I wasn't damned by my height.

Rock:

Brandon Flowers 5'9

Scott Weiland 5'10

Julian Casablancas 6'2

Thom Yorke 5'5

Damon Albarn 5'11

Liam Gallagher 5'10

Noel Gallagher 5'8

Billy Joe Armstrong 5'7

Kurt Cobain 5'9

Chris Cornell 6'2

Eddie Vedder 5'7

Billy Corgan 6'3

Layne Staley 6'0

Jerry Cantrell 6'1

Axl Rose 5'8

Slash 5'9

Izzy Stradlin 5'11

James Hetfield 6'1

Michael Stipe 5'9

Rick Ocasek 6'4

Rob Halford 5'11

Brian Johnson 5'5

Angus Young 5'2

Malcolm Young 5'3

Bruce Dickenson 5'6

David Lee Roth 6'0

Eddie Van Halen 5'8

Bono 5'7

The Edge 5'10

Sting 6'0

Elvis Costello 5'10

David Byrne 6'0

Joe Strummer 5'8

Mick Jones 5'10

John Lydon-Rotten 5'8

Joey Ramone 6'3

Johnny Ramone 5'9

Dee Dee Ramone 6'0

Roger Waters 6'3

David Gilmour 5'11

Steven Tyler 5'10

Joe Perry 5'9

Bruce Springsteen 5'10

David Bowie 5'10

Iggy Pop 5'7

Lou Reed 5'5

Tony Iommi 6'2

Ozzy Osbourne 5'10

Robbie Robertson 6'1

Neil Young 6'0

Jimmy Page 5'11

Robert Plant 6'1

David Crosby 5'10

Rod Stewart 5'10

Keith Richards 5'8

Mick Jagger 5'10

Roger Daltrey 5'7

Pete Townshend 6'0

Paul McCartney 5'10

John Lennon 5'10

Elvis was about 6'0

Snax,

cool post. I've thought about this before because it seems like MOST(not all obviously) rock tenors are vertically challenged . I think a big challenge for taller people is feeling the connection from support(being that the muscles are such a long way from vocal folds(relatively speaking.) Maybe you can start a new post on this? I'd be interested to hear Steven or other experts' take on this.

I'm 6 ft and 175-180 lbs btw.

Jon,

still rockin' it brother. My personal preference would be along the lines of what Snorth suggested(because your rasp sounds GREAT.) But the technique sounds solid(and balanced too.) I would be interested in hearing you play around with a slightly lower larynx...but only out of sheer curiosity(it sounds great as is.)

Shade...the great Texan: Willie Nelson.

Too many songs to count/compile, but here are are some classics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_a4BU09GrU

Get the right notes. The ones you sing are in tune, unfortunately they are the wrong notes. Tip: The ones you are looking for are much higher...

No idea what he's talking about.

Very original interpretation(your phrasing sounded intentional and unique.) Imagine if John McCrea(Cake) was knocked down because his timing was "off."