kalapoka

Hey everyone, What's life without a challenge and taking bold steps, right? So I went ahead and recorded myself of a song that I (i think we all) Love and respect - Bon Jovi's Livin' On A Prayer (oh yes! ). It's definitely very ambitious of me, but I am quite bored of doing vocal exercises over and over and just thought of giving this a try. And I want you to help me out on completing this song in the best way I could. Please? http://www.sendspace.com/file/gk4q4s By the way I recorded at 1/2 step down, and recorded half of the song. After gathering your feedback, I'll work more on it and upload newer versions until i get it perfect. So humor me So first off, I can hear these shortcomings in my current singing, and putting them down here so you can agree/disagree or give me tips on how to fix them: 1. Low notes: My low notes completely give way and falter. (ex - 'tough' in the phrase 'down on his luck its tough'). Sometimes I can't even say the word in the low notes. 2. Pitch issues - can you hear pitch issues overall in this clip? To my ears, it seems I have improved a bit from the last months (for example in the last clip of You give love a bad name I posted). I can hear in some places I lose coordination and the specific pitch falters, but do you think I am singing flat through out the song? - This is my biggest fear given our culture in bangladesh is very specific about this. 3. Mic technique - I am using a SM 58 thru a vocal patch of my line 6 guitar processor, but I've overblown the mic in many places in the clip. I am sure you can hear them from the beginning as well. Any tips on how I can improve that? 4. Tone and rasp - to my ears, my voice sounds quite girly and whiny in many places. Do you hear the same? I have tried bringing rasp in some places. Was it any good? 5. Overall comments - did I improve at all? What are the things I should concentrate more on? Other notes about the clip is that the backing track is quite troublesome, it has some weird frequency phasing problems - you can hear it. I also took a lot of takes and this is pretty much the best I could do tonight. I think I can do better over the weekend if I am a bit more rested. I heard myself singing better in the 2nd verse of the clip. Do you think so too? The shout 'Woo Hoo' has 3 layers and all are my voices. Funny thing is, the highest note in this clip is here, during the 'woo hoo', panned to the right channel and that was the easiest for me to pull off. So I guess the final question is ... am I wasting my time? :D:D

Hey Kelly, welcome to TMV. checked your video and really liked it. Have you seen the number of views your video got and the number of comments? Means you are doing manny things right Now 'the next level' might mean a number of things - but in my opinion, its important for you yourself to set what that is. You've been doing this for 19 years, surely there were many achievements along with few downfalls. Think about what is the logical next step now. Should you start taking vocal lessons? Maybe learn some new, difficult songs? May be write a few originals, make a demo and try to release an album? May be get signed by a label? Anything is possible. Your voice is very nice, I don't know the lyrics of the song but the song felt emotional. You were quite expressive with nice vocal licks and flips and dynamics. Is it time now to start performing more in public (assuming you are not doing that already, but i think you are). From the song you posted, in that genre i don't really think that there are higher 'levels' vocally, cuz its the singer - songwriter genre and that focuses more on the message of the song, rather than 'technical agility of the singer' as in the RnB/Diva genre (whitney, mariah) IMO. I am still trying to figure out what your friends mean by saying 'next level'. There were just a few areas where you can may be still improve vocally, there were some abrupt changes in the tone and resonance of some notes. May be you can fix those, have a consistent, professional tone and attitude. I also felt you should smile more when performing, as someone commented in the youtube page, becuz you need to bond with the audience, make a connection with them, and nothing does that more than smiles. And since you are a beautiful woman already, it should an easy job for you. Hope my rambling helped! lol!

Much better! More Metal! Awesome! (Hope you didn't hurt yourself though? I think I would've if I tried lol)

Joshual...every one gave all the advice you needed to work on the areas that you think are needed...may I just add that to my ears, the clip sounded truly, really, really beautiful. I was really pleasantly surprised and I loved your take. I have no 'improvement' suggestions because I heard nothing wrong. Kudos for such beautiful control on your pitch, tone and phrasing.

hey ron, this one is pretty good. i felt like some parts were off pitch, and you are straining for the high notes a bit. examples - 1:56-57 'if they thought of rain', 2:17 pray for the thunder and the rain; at 1:00 etc. Can you try lowering the pitch of the track 1/2 step? pretty good overall. hope that helps...

hey man listened to 'we are the champions' ... quite good. you have good control on pitch, none of the notes sounded out of tune. its a hard song to do so this means you've done pretty well. What you can improve is your 'attitude' when you are singing - make it more rock. This is one of the best anthems of rock and you need to deliver it with much more intensity and power and confidence. I don't know how to explain that technically to you. hope that helps.

Well yeah, there lies the problem of getting feedback from other students/learners in forums. I am no expert so I know my feedback may or may not be perfect. So do take them with caution, esp about difficult terms such as those mentioned above. Even long time teachers are not able to agree on many vocal terms yet, so you can guess all of our predicaments lol!

hey man, thanks! but i didn't get which part you are talking about ...'whoa?' but i agree with the pitch problems. i am working on it ... fingers crossed! thanks again!

Lol no Ron, no offense taken. You know me, I don't take offense too seriously . I just wanted you and everyone to know that there is no favoritism about new or old when it comes to review and critique. sometimes people are just too busy for it. Even I can't afford to post comments on everything, i'm sure everyone else is the same. But I can definitely feel the need to get some comments too...had the same feelings when I posted my stuff in the beginning Cheers!

hey akaward, thanks for the comment man. yah i've been trying to get distortion/rasp at all parts of my voice but it's been a bit difficult for me still. actually i've not been practicing / exercising for atleast about a month now so i am pretty much at the bottom right now lol. yah i've got the cvt book but its very hard for me to understand. thanks again.

Hi, yes. The chest voice is the lower part of the voice, usually in the lower part of your singing, where the resonance or vibration happens in the chest area, or just below your neck area. Keep a hand on your upper chest, pick a low note below your first bridge and say 'buh buh buh'. Can you feel the vibration in the upper chest area?

No one's below anything or anyone here in the forum, guys. Respect everyone's choice to critique or not to critique. Its totally voluntary.

Hey aka, I thought you have more potential to improve this one. I think you have very very strong head voice, but you can definitely improve your chest or mixed voice much more than currently. I din't listen to the whole clip, just some parts of the beginning and I thought the lower parts needed more work, and on some notes you were 'pulling chest' (IMO) I think those are the areas you should focus and improve on. Definitely you've got a very good thing going already.

Lol akaward, no its not that bad. it just takes time for forum members to post comments, every one is busy their stuff. not a problem, i am sure everyone will start chipping in very soon. IMO, and I don't understand CVT terminology, but I think the neutral mode doesn't really work when it comes to getting Halford's piercing tone. I think you should try to sing it with more Twang, with more 'bite' resonance. You've got the range, which is a big achievement itself, but just try to add some more 'bite' to your tone. the dopey sound on the high parts don't really fit. overall the quality of your voice is top notch, this is a tough song, you've done quite a good job. also, when you are coming down to your chest resonance in the lower parts 'here comes the metal meltdown' part, you need to improve your coordination so that the resonance shift doesn't sound abrupt or awkward. Can you try singing the high parts (ex - something's coming etc) with a forced smiley face? try it and you should notice a difference in your tone. Also, youtube Halford's live clips for this song to see how he shapes his mouth when he is singing. I have used this method of seeing the singer and copying his facial expressions, and I've found it helps. by the way, these are just my opinions. I am no teacher/expert. Just a hungry student. good job man!

Nik, I know I will sound like a jerk, but I will say it. when it comes to singing and music, DO NOT listen to parents. Just turn a deaf ear to anything they have to say if it isn't positive. You see. the thing with parents is, they can NEVER be objective. they will always get mixed up with a tornado of emotions, be it good or bad. Sometimes a parent is SO positive, SO supportive and SO flattering that the kid gets his/her head swollen and will deviate from reality if he/she has some problems left to fix. Sometimes parents are negative, and they don't know, have NO idea about how they are affecting the progress of their kid. I hate to admit, but somehow the approval of a parent still means quite a lot when it comes to such a sensitive issue as singing and music, and when they make an off handed comment without fully knowing the implications, they can do serious damage. Yes I sound bad now, BECAUSE I am LEARNING. How come they forget that? Did they say - hey, you are falling down again and again, better not learn to walk anymore when we were toddlers? NO. But somehow, when it comes to singing, parents will say that. My dad did it when I was learning guitar and still does it. I have learned to NOT listen to him and NOT discuss anything musical with him anymore. Sounds harsh? Yah it is, but its the best thing that I could have done to myself. So may be next time you do not want to react harshly to them about this, but just make sure you are not listening to anything they have to say. There I said it, sorry if i sound rude, but I face this challenge quite a lot and this is how I deal with it.

Trust me Nik, you can let those emotions control you and keep you locked up for the next 100 years, or you can take control of your emotions and face the music, go out and perform. Choice is yours mate. STOP IT AND GET ON YOUR ASS TO PERFORM IN FRONT OF YOUR FOLKS!!!!!!!! Come on!!!

Hey man, glad I could help! . I will always give this advice to a younger brother/sister cuz its one mistake I have made when I was younger (chose corporate job over music) and am now regretting it. Someone once said - a poet must write, a musician must make music, and that's the way of the world (or something like this ) One word of caution though, and you said it yourself - its a very tough industry to break into, and I am still tying after 10 years, so make sure you set your goals according to how much you can give and set expectations on how much you can be happy with. Me, I will be happy if I can regularly perform and bars and concerts and earn a decent living out of my music. I don't REALLY need to buy a Porsche (although I won't complain if I could have one LOL) Lastly, I would be grateful if you could drop by in any of my music sites (or all of them), join in, and spread of it around to your friends/family. That's the way the new music industry will roll now brother, through social networks . My youtube channel is kalapoka666 and my other spaces are mentioned below my signature. Welcome to the music world, friend! Its awful, and you will love it! Cheers!

I agree with Jonpall, Ron. We ALL are definitely on the same boat, and we ALL are learning from whatever comments other forum members are kind enough to take some time and put in here. Some we will take, some we will evaluate before applying, but I know for a fact NO ONE here has any negative intentions behind any comments. Together we will!!!

hey keith! sounds pretty good to me! from your profile pic I assume you are the drummer as well? I feel that you can go ahead and do one or two gigs and see the reaction! I don't hear any pitch issues or any thing that comes across as 'bad'. Really, just go ahead and do those gigs also, your guitarist is really tasteful! and you guys got quite a nice sound even recording with that simple rec technology and less than perfect environment! :)

Hey! Welcome to the TMV forum. First of all, your voice: I feel and hear that there IS potential there. You have good control on pitch and sound quite expressive, which are good qualities. You just hit a nice falsettoish high note at 3:56 which sounds very nice. If you take voice lessons with the 'right' teacher, you can definitely go somewhere. 'Right' in your case will mean a teacher that can cover the genre that YOU would like to get better at. I want to be a rock singer so I search out rock voice teachers, you should try to find someone who is good in what you want to learn. That brings me to the style of music you should go for. Well, THAT you will have to figure out on your own. I am a hardliner about these things - which means that I don't agree about going for the style for which one's voice is suited, rather I would go for something that my HEART wants. For example - my voice right now is not completely suited for rock, I don't have that much natural power, but my heart would not settle for anything different, so I will teach myself or learn from a good teacher how to sign rock and keep at it till I die. So listen to your heart and go for something you LOVE to hear, and you LOVE to sing. That IS the best advice I can give to someone who is taking his first steps in to this merciless industry. DON'T be a sell out, DON'T do something that your heart is not comfortable doing just because the industry wants it or some expert say your voice suits it. Now your decision to pursue music: A very good one! If I had a chance to take 1 year off, with 25% of that bank balance when I was 18, I would have DEFINITELY done it. You should take the year off, take good vocal lessons, put in a LOT of effort in practicing and perfecting your craft, perform in a 1000 open mics, get criticized, get booed, fall down, pick yourself up, get stronger, learn more and come back with a vengence. This is the perfect time for finding out who you really are. Its great that you know you can get back to law anytime and you get good grades, so you can pick up where you left anytime you want. You can assess how you feel about music after the end of 1 year. So definitely, go for music this year. And it's also great that you wrote 30 songs already. Who knows, one of them can be a massive hit! But let me also tell you that this line of life needs a LOT of one thing: LOVE for music. Make sure you have that for music and not just following a cool thing. I have been playing guitar in bands from 15 (I am 28 now) and I have never REALLY become BIG in my country. BUT I can never even imagine ONE day without pursuing music. Its a thankless job if you don't MAKE IT, but I wouldn't have it any other way. So, welcome to the jungle!

Ron, I have a simple software that I can share with you, and you can use that to teach yourself, especially helpful about pitch. Shoot me an email at - a.m.fahim@gmail.com and we can sort out how to do that.

Hey Nik! Thanks for the compliments...well, not to sound too braggy, but yeah, I agree with the stage presence thing ... I am quite proud of that, and I've always had that presence from my 'only guitar' playing days....but don't thing it came easy...like every thing else, that was also self-taught and it took some practicing in my bedroom, in front of the mirror and on top of my bed as a stage But there are some issues in the singing there where I definitely cringe upon hearing myself, some notes falling flat out of tune, some coming out quite thin and whiny etc. Also, I would love to add more powerful songs than Bryan Adams (...um but mr. adam's songs always gets the crowd going and also is a chick attractor....so yeah, tough choice!) But Nik, from what I heard and saw from your youtube channel, YOU also need to come out from that bedroom asap. May I suggest a step by step method - first hold a small concert for your friends and family in your living room/patio or in your house in general. Have food and drink available, let people enjoy at least a 30-45 minute set of your singing. You have a mic & studio monitors - just set them up in the common area where you are going to hold that 'Mini Nik concert' . I am seriously suggesting this man, it will help!!!

Life has a funny and beautiful way of working out strangely my man. who knows, may be one day we will meet!!! :)

Ron, I think its absolutely great that you still come home and sing and contribute here after such a hard days work, and with so much going on with the work and economy and everything. It takes an unbelievable amount of mental strength to not give up, or as Jovi says, "tommy's got his 6 string in hock". Respect and admiration for your strength, my friend. Hang in there, things will get better.

I think Jonpall has a very good point Ron. I believe it would really help if you get hold of a program and do exercises/lessons.