jonpall

Thanks, Snax. kalapoka, that's strange, the link works for me and obviously for Snax.

Hi, here I was using this song as a basis to practise singing around the male passagio, with a type of sound that some people might call curbing, others might call mix and some would just call it Klaus: http://www.speedyshare.com/files/22628675/Still_loving_you_-_training.mp3 Note that I'm not attempting any type of grit here (not that there is much of it in the original song). I'm just trying to master that type of singing, i.e. mix/curbing/tenor-singing. Do you guys think my technique there is somewhat correct or not? (I know that not every note is perfect.) Just wondering, because I've been training with that type of sound a lot and if it sucks, that sucks.

Well here's Ken Tamplin doing AC/DC and tons of other songs with a sound that doesn't sound like Brian Johnson or Bon Scott, just himself: http://www.youtube.com/user/kentamplin#p/u/4/qyhakyxeAEc. So perhaps you CAN sing in that style without doing like Brian or Bon? Food for thought.

Snax, you always sing well. I think you're VERY close to really nailing that AC/DC vocal sound, you just need to practise more and more and you'll get it complete, I'm sure of it. But it would sound slightly better if the vocals were mixed a bit better. In that recording, you could start off by simply reducing the volume of the vocals a bit. It needs to blend in more with the backing track so it sounds like one whole song and more professional. I'm sure that if you did the same thing to Brian Johnson's voice, he's sound, well, slightly less professional. But he had Mutt Lange to make sure the sound was great Awesome job, man, almost no people on this planet can sing like that, statistically.

I'm on the same boat - trying to sing like Brian from time to time, or at least in a similar style of having continuous grit in the upper range - although I'm liking it more and more to use rasp sparingly, i.e. just on key words and phrases here and there, and it seems that most people prefer that type of singing over rasp-on ALL the time. But I'd still like to be able to have it always on because then I could cover AC/DC and GNR, as examples. I just don't think I quite there yet, but hopefully it will happen one day.

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! :)

SeventhFear, the link you gave didn't work for me before, but now it does. I thought your version of Cowboys from hell (Pantera is one of my favorite metal bands) was splendid! You are a very good singer in my opinion. Not perfect (pretty much no one is) but very, very good. If you have a good vocal exercise program I suggest you keep doing it and listen very carefully and with critique to your recordings, on a regular basis. Loved the grit in your voice, also. If you took the head out of your ass I'm sure you'll have lots of succes. Just kidding ... actually having your head placed there is actually a common trait for the egomaniacs that are singers so maybe you're on the right track, lol.

Snax - in short - no.

Exactly, Snax. Maybe leaving is best for both parties. Seventh, I was only trying to help you because I've had the same experience - in the past I've tried getting people to take a look at various stuff and they didn't, because I didn't give a direct link. It's the same everywhere, not just on this web site. Also, if you're going to this touchy - you'll never be good at singing. Your career will be short if you can't take the heat from people from time to time. And this isn't even "heat", silly. But you're obviously a pretty young kid so hopefully you'll grow out of it with time. Cheers, man.

The sound of your voice in that clip (the latter clip, obviously), is actually surprisingly similar to Brian Johnson. Not bad at all! Just keep working on it and it will sound better and better. However, what was a bit distracting was that you were usually singing completely different notes than in the original song and the rythm was also often off. I don't know if that was intentional or not. God knows that it's tough to sing that extremely high. The song begins on a freakin' E5 for crying out loud. But it sounds like you should be able to do this one day, with enough work. Maybe you could do another take, an octave lower, without grit, just for the fun of it and we'll see if you can be more pitch accurate and in rythm? Without knowing if you were intentionally changing the melody or not, it's a bit hard to proceed trying to help you. And for the record, I'm not qualified to help you, as I'm not a vocal coach. But after having been on this forum for a while, I feel you'd get somewhat similar responses from other people here. At least I think so :)

Isn't that vocal fry? Also, isn't this mostly used in Death metal and not really classic rock or blues? Correct me if I'm wrong, people. Geno, loved that clip! You're definitely one of the many great singers on this forum! I also really liked the guitar playing. Is that you as well? Note that perhaps some people will comment that this song shouldn't be sung with distortion, but I realize that you're practising that effect and it sounds very good to my ears (and I love grit).

My experience is that people are doing million things on the Internet and doing it very fast - they don't really have time to check out stuff that doesn't have a direct link to it. Sorry, just a cold hard fact Also, linking to your profile sometimes require people to log in with their user id and password - again, takes too much time for people that are browsing as fast as they can And using myspace to show people audio files often works very slow on many computers. I also feel that that site and many others are prone to viruses and I don't like to browse those sites too much for that reason. Just my opinion.

Thanks a lot, Snax! I really appreciate it, although I know I've got lots of work to do to make it better and more consistant. Are you back on the forum after a short break? I hope so. You always keep the discussions here interesting. Hope you are doing allright in Canada!

Hi, Does anyone know how to upload mp3 files to youtube? Youtube is such a common place to put video files and some people put audio files there with a single picture, so it would be helpful to know how to do this. But even if I convert my mp3 files to wmv files, I always get the message "Failed (unable to convert video file)".

That was MUUUUUUCH better! You're doing exactly what people are suggesting - great, man! Of course, in the end, you should just sing the way YOU want to sing, but from this forum you'll receive tips that can really help you connect to your audience better. It's not perfect yet, but this is a very, very tough song. Still, it's way better than most guys can do. You get pitchy occasionally and "covered" or "woofy" (read: Slightly Operaish sounding) occasionally, but I don't feel qualified giving you specific instructions on how to fix that. This is clearly just my opinion and I'm not a vocal instructor. Keep on singing, man! It's very cool to you hear you progress right here on this forum! :)

And that second take of yours was maybe slightly too much in the opposite direction, i.e. slightly too "dopy" sounding. I hope you don't take offence. But if you were to do a take that was kind of a blend between those 2 takes, i.e. one that's both a bit twangy and a bit dopy, I think it would sound better. Keep at it because I think you got talent, you just need practise and a bit of direction. Posting your stuff here is a step in the right direction. Cheers.

I actually favor the Arnel Pineda version of this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnsuGb32YRU&feature=related

You're already half way there, because not many people can sing this song at all and there are some good moments there. But the contrast between the lower and the highest volume is a bit too much, I think. Also, you might want to work on thickening up those top notes. They sound a tad bit too much "edge" like which would work well for singing in the style of, say, Rob Halford, i.e. more heavy metal, but not as much for this style. Still, even for heavy metal, it would probably sound better to have more low overtones in those high notes. Mixing twang with a dopy sound is something I've heard people recommend for thick, yet cutting high notes. Just my opinion.

Sorry, analog, I got this thread confused with another thread where I posted my own take on Pride. I don't think your take needs more twang, although a cowbell wouldn't hurt I really liked your take on that song and that single post of yours has actually been helpful for me lately.

I think you're right about Pride. I think there needs to be sliiiightly more twang there. *Needs more cowbell!* :)

I tend to feel some kind of reaction from the audience when I add a little grit here and there. Don't know why, I guess people like grit Also, I feel it's best to not have it on all the time. Good singing, dude!

I listened to your songs and I was pleasantly surprised! I liked what I heard. Good compositions and a good voice! Muffled or unarticulate are not words I would use to describe your voice. It's slightly breathy at times, which actually sounds well but could give you problems in other songs. You're also ever so slightly off pitch on occasion, which vocal exercises are great to fix, but I'm guessing that it was pretty much a one take and unedited. On professional recordings, vocals are cut and paste where singers get out of tune so just know that it happens to most singers from time to time. The instrumental song is also very beautiful.

Seventh Fear, I'm not sure if I understand you - are you talking about simply singing songs like that in a lower key or just change the melody so that the highest notes aren't as high as in the original recording? If so, that's very valid and I and lots of people have done that, but one of the key thoughts of the people on this forum is that you can improve on your singing and your range. That link you sent isn't the greatest example, because I've heard so many people describe this as the worst cover in music history or something Some songs are great because of their beautiful melody. I think that most of the best AC/DC songs are great because their sheer power, particularly in the guitars and vocals. That's why I'm not sure AC/DC songs will sound that good if you lower the key significantly - not as well as, say, some Beatles songs. You kind of HAVE to scream them, to do them justice. Also, I'd like to be able to create songs of my own in a similar style one day. But anyway, thanks for the pointers. I do agree with you that if I STRAIN to reach those high notes, I might hurt myself. That's why I don't do that, but try to use the proper techniques. Many people have done that and succeeded. Even in opera - I believe that many tenors didn't really have that great range to start with. They got that range via practising. Baritones, too. Straining is a singer's enemy, I know that perfectly well.

Myspace has been causing crashes and adware on my computer. Are there any chances that you could upload your songs on youtube, www.box.net or www.speedyshare.com or something like that?

Cheers, dude! :)