kalapoka

Hey Ron

listening to it now. Honestly it sounds off at places. May be you could bring this 1 key down? Bach is too good and hits stupifying high notes in the choruses. Maybe you could transpose the song to fit your current range.

keeping it honest, no offense bro. take care.

Nik - i listened to Mad World and to me it really sounded very good. I don't know why you are so conscious about your voice. forget if any one ever said negative stuff, there are people like that out there, you just gotta ignore them and move on. I thought your voice on mad world sounded very good and solid. I wish i had that type of heavyness in my voice. lol...

Thanks Sheepdog!!!

Thanks a lot Michele Its an important issue that I've never been aware of. Will listen for it from now.

To Jonpall & Michele - Any tips on how to get distortion/rasp? or may be you can suggest me a good book/program? I've gone through the chapter 'distortion' in the CVT book and there's just way too much information in there. I can't process it.

I can get the very rough black metal/death metal/scream distortion but can't seem to get a slight rasp as needed by these songs. Where can I learn this? Thanks for any tips you might have...

Hey man, you did well! This is a very difficult song to sing, I do it myself in my coverband. The fact that you can even hit these notes is an indication that you're well on your way to reach your goals as a singer. I have two tips for you right at the moment:

A) Try to sing this type of song, NOT all songs you sing, but only similar songs with that attitude in them, WITH RASP ON MORE NOTES, if not most of them. Most of the time, when you don't have rasp in this take, it lacks attitude. When you have the rasp on, it sounds MUCH better, IMO. This is especially apparant on the very first line. It can't be clean, it needs rasp! But the last few words you sing in the intro has a bit of rasp on them and suddenly you sound awesome and like a pro!

Since english is not my native tongue, I can't quite help you with this one, but some vowels of yours are incorrectly done, so this take has a bit of an accent that might tick some people off. For some listeners, it won't matter one bit. Maybe someone else here can chime in and point him out which those vowels are? I just have a hard time explain it, but I still can hear it.

It would be cool to hear a re-take of this song with those 2 items fixed, if you can, and then you're on your way to becoming a dangerously good singer After that it done, perhaps the next things to look at, which are not as apparent, are ever so slight intonation problems and lack of confidence. All of which can be fixed. Nice work, man!!

Oh WoW! Thanks Jon!!! You are dead on with your comments, and these 2 pointers will be really helpful. I totally agree with you about the power/un-clean and attitude issue. Now a new challenge - RASP! I have NO freaking clue whatsoever on how to get it, but I am surely gonna try it.

You are also right about intonation - I will post my intonation problems and question in a separate thread. I am so frustrated about it man...

but thanks! yippie!

(now off to fix the issues mentioned...work work work!)

I liked the timbre you had in this one. Quite similar to the original. You sounded more confident in the higher parts than the lower parts. Was this mixed voice for you or head voice?

As someone else put it, these terms can be confusing. I've used full head tone and others have thought of it as falsetto. Either one could be right, I guess. When I hit a full headtone, it feels like a full head tone to me but might be falsetto. Or, it might be the other person hears falsetto, even when I am in full headtone. It's enough to make you dizzy. Anyway, mixed is where you have some of your "regular" or chest voice mixed with some of the resonance of the head. I think some are calling it curbing or crying. Where as full head voice could be a tight squawk or whistle-y note in the head or behind the sinus.

Nowadays, especially since coming here, I often second-guess myself, so I may not be able to accurately comment on other people, other than as a layman who hears a good sound and try to describe it in the language here, as best as I can.

It's only recently, like what I did with "Holy Diver" where my solution was not to go full blast and break glass with a sonic assault. But, instead, to go softer, or with a different tone. I think there's a timbre shift when you hit the lower notes but that might be my ear failing me or a trick of the recording.

I was wondering if the notes you felt shaky on might be better approached with more crying rasp than even you used in this recording.

I don't know, I just liked what you did.

You know what Ron, i am much better on my high range than my low range. I am always shaky on the lows...I can very easily hit male tenor Cs and upto G5s in my strong head voice but I haven't built a strong lower voice yet. It must have developed from singing along with high voiced rock singers as a child.

I think most of the time i am in mix but I can't be sure as the mixed voice is something I can't really point out when I hear it. As you may recall from a post somewhere else here, I was asking questions about the mixed voice and some one posted a clip saying this is a good use of mix - and that clip was me singing lol (IRONIC!!! and FUNNY!!!) I am looking forward to the other forum regulars to hear their comments and improve from there...

thanks for the compliments man!

Can you hear the difference between how you sound and how Jon bon Giovanni sounds?

ron, just curious, why are you using his real name and not Bon Jovi?

So I finally gathered courage to record myself in my home studio...a small clip of this arena hit singing with a backing track...its in the original key, although it isn't as near as difficult as the songs that you guys regularly upload!

I used a bit of eq, reverb and compression in my voice cuz am still not confident enough to record myself completely naked..hope you guys won't mind...also used a bit of doubling in the intro and the choruses to try to make the sound close to the original...

let me know what you think?

Link: http://www.sendspace.com/file/8x1amy

peace!

hey ron...i was pleasantly surprised. you were hitting the dio notes alright...i am not sure if you were doing those in a light heady almost strong falsetto type way or not but they sounded good! I felt you could've sung the song as it was originally instead of changing it. good work!

Hey, Kalapoka. I thought you sounded just fine. You hit all the right notes that I could and you had some problematic acoustics to deal with in that hall or luncheon room or whatever it was. And yet, you were still on key, with a free and easy voice with a clean, pure tone. I didn't really notice a problem with your accent. Nor is having some accent a detriment. Klause Meine of Scorpions not only sings with a german accent but some of the lyrics are structered with german syntax. Their hit song, "I want to belong for you" is phrased exactly how you say it in german, which is "Ich wuensche fur dich belongen" (yes, I studied german at one time, per part of my heritage.) What I hear is that you speak english correctly, which is often the case. Many singers sing without accent.

You have great stage presence. You may have been nervous but I didn't see it. Well done.

Maybe, sometime, you can return me the favor and see what you think of my submissions.

Hey Ronws! thanks a lot for the kind words!!!

Fahim

what does 'modern torch singer' mean?

yah i guess its my stupid office network and its various security measures...:@

sigh...link won't work...:(

hey man...the melody is good...waiting for your full version of this...vocally I think you might need to open up your voice a bit more in the lower parts...the higher parts were ok...i am not expert just a beginner as well so i dont know if my feedback is any help...keep at it man!

Fahim

This song was originally written by Nick Lowe as a slow, soft hippie kind of ballad, in the folk song tradition. It was even sung low, in the key of G. Then a young british upstart by the ubiquitous name of Elvis Costello took the song, put in a punk rock beat, rockabilly guitar, and a new wave vocal style and it became a monstrous hit. I transposed it to the key of A for myself by using the capo at the second fret on my guitar. The style is rough but like Costello, I like belting this one out.

Hey man...heard the clip...there were some audio problems with it with your breath making short bursts and also the quality was fairly low...may be you can upload a better version? all in all your voice seemed okay to me...sometimes a bit too nasal for my taste and sometimes a bit constrained on the upper notes...may be you should look into these areas.

being frank and honest man, hope you didn't take it personally.

Peace!

Ashique M. Fahim

99% of the time, you seem to be singing just fine, very well in fact. And your stage presence isn't too shabby either, especially considering how inexperienced you are. I think it's time you post some clips of yourself, preferably without any backing instruments, where you FAIL at something (in your opinion). That could prove very helpful to you because people here could give you pointers on stuff you haven't yet mastered. Then you could get to that next level. I can say that you might want to work on reducing your accent if you're gonna be singing in English a lot. It's not a strong accent but it could be enough to bother some listeners out there. Clearly spoken words with attitute and on pitch might be the most important things singers should try to accomplish, IMO. That last high scream in your first clip sounded great! You should do one of these every now and then - you could hear the audience's reaction!

Jonpall, thanks a lot for your compliments...coming from you, they are big to me! Right now I still have some self awareness issues left (it's in my psych...trying to get rid of it slowly) so am taking small steps...I will post something the way you mention soon when am ready...one thing about the accent is it probably will stay becuz english is not my first language...and you are the first one to point this out...I will look deeper into this and consult with some of my american friends and try to fix it...

funny thing about the high scream...lol...I didn't plan to do that...I just went for it in the heat of the moment and suddenly realised there was the CEO of our company along with our senior people sitting in front row....lol...and I immediately cut it short hahahaha...

thanks again man, i really appreciate it.

Ashique M Fahim

1. Anyone can sing any style, if you learn abit about the techniques a certain style often involves. You talk about lack of power and brightness. If this is something you wish to be able to do then I recommend you start looking into twang. Twang will increase your volume and make your vocals abit sharper.

Go here(http://vocalcoach.dk/uk/onlinecourse/) and do the following:

1. Scroll down the page and click the button neutral with soft closure.

This is the technique you are doing mostly. It is soft, airy and always has low volume.

2. Now click compressed neutral.

This is abit stronger and sharper. But still very similiar. The easiest way to find this would be by simply adding abit twang. Try singing with a smile. Also, just as a picture in your head, try to sing with a with a more compressed sound. If a regular smile doesn't get rid of the air you could always do the joker smile http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f9/Manwholaughs.jpg then you should really get to feel what alot of twang feels like. And singing like that can sound very piercing and sharp. The key then is to feel how much twang do you need for certain notes to get the sound you want.

Now I don't want to overwhelm you with new techniques, so I recommend you try this first and then if you wanna wake the neighbours you should push the button overdrive on that page and I'll give you some tips on that.

2. Do what you feel like, I believed a year ago that you had to be a natural talent to be a great singer and that I was born with a certain voice type, and that I only could sing loudly(Yes I could almost only sing in overdrive, too much metallica in high school did that to me.). It was all lies. Some people has to work harder than others to be learn to sing certain things though, but that's life.

Really liked your advice & outlook on singing. thanks!

Ashique M. Fahim

hey everyone...

performed a 2 song set for my office people last sunday at our new headquarters...these are full of mistakes...I was quite nervous as this is my first gig as a singer (previously sang 1 song as a guitarist in 2008)... but I had a fun time and the crowd had fun too....

hope you guys can give me some pointers!

A hindi rock song from a bollywood movie 'Rock On'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6IpNpqMEk8

Summer of 69 by Bryan Adams

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooRutMBf5Co

Ofcourse, these are not the toughest songs in the world to sing but i wanted to take small steps and also make sure the crowd enjoyed so picked popular numbers...

eager to hear anything from you guys!

regards

Ashique M. Fahim

Andrew...i think i am not learned enough to comment on which styles you should follow...I will let the experts comment on that. Personally, I would decide which style I want to sing in, and then try with everything I have to learn that style. I also think I have a weaker voice than is needed in rock but I will not try other styles because my heart is not in it...

Ashique M. Fahim

Don, I am listening to your tracks as I type. I don't know why you ever left singing. I am really loving these! Have a GREAAT SHOW!!!

Fahim

The reason your pitchy is due to tension... and it ties into breath and your desire to 'sing' rather than speak on pitch. Now it could be an ear issue.... however it's not pitchy in your lower register.. but it is in your passagio.. which leads me to believe it's all due to tension.. no biggee..

Quick thoughts...

1. teacup breathing... that's all you need.. it will help fix your breath.. which will help fix your onsets and help set up your lines..

What is teacup breathing?

Ashique M. Fahim

Hi, you sound pretty good to me! keep singing!

Fahim

I hope this is the sort of thing you were asking me to do .

Steven, Ofcourse!!! This is exactly what I wanted from you. Thank you on SO many levels! The detailed feedback will be very helpful for me.

About the PA, in our country, usually the bands don't own the PA/sound guy...usually the venue or organizer will rent something and therefore it is usually all messed up...you can understand our predicaments cuz we're a third world country and we try to make best use of what we can afford...

I agree with the standing up point, now even more that I've been trying to learn about the voice. In this band, the main singer is the girl in the middle and I did only 2 numbers, so I'm to the side. I'm the main axe guy. These days I am practicing standing up with a mic stand at home.

I have heard House of the Rising Sun very briefly, will check it out in details. Right now I am a bit shy to record anything and put up for evaluation. I will post something as soon as I get some more confidence

Thanks again Steven, it really helps a lot!

Fahim

Hi Aldertae, the wasted years cover is pretty good! I found you to be constrained just a little bit on the high notes, but other wise it was a very good cover! Of course Bruce is not some one easy to touch, but I think you did a good job!

I didnot understand your question in the end...

Fahim

Jonpall, I really liked the tone of your voice. You should definitely keep doing this. I liked the slight rasp/distortion in the Billy Idol song as well!

Analog, the twang you are talking about - is this the same as using a pharyngal resonance? To me (i am NO expert, just a beginner) it sounds like the same effect as using the Nay Nay Nay exercise...am I correct? Also one more thing, and definitely NO offense meant, in the Pride clip, when you sing the song, to my ears it sounds a bit like Yelling (i might be totally wrong here) ... can you please explain a bit more if you have time? I am wondering if one could sing a 1 hour set if one sings like that...worried that you may lose a lot of energy very easily. (again, i might be totally wrong)

thanks for the knowledge!

Fahim