Snax

Really nice tone Isaac! You also emote very well. (Express the songs meaning.) I can imagine you playing on the radio while people are kicking back with a cold one after a long days work. Great job. :cool:

My pleasure! You have the instrument now it's just time to express the song my friend. Great job.

Great tone and good pitch! The only critical comment I could say (that is nitpicking) would be to really deliver the meaning of the words more. Your rendition is sang very well technique wise but i felt it could have had more of the ominous feel that the lyrics suggest. Again, that is being nitpicky from a performance viewpoint but your vocals are performed very well indeed. :cool:

Holy Sh*t Snax...I wanna party with you!

Insane pipes. Now I'M confused...obviously a huge shift in style/genre here(metal to Tom,) but I'm NOT hearing a HUGE difference between your chest and head(compared to "other"singers.)

Really great.

Thanks Analog! I think that based on what I'm starting to now understand, I used to pull chest weight a lot and therefore would need to strain for certain notes. Nowadays I can effortlessly sing many of those same notes without even warming up because I'm leaving that chest "weight" behind. Not drinking alcohol any more certainly helps too I'm sure. (Well, the occasional light beer here and there but never when I'm singing any more.)

What would be helpful to many of us is for someone to post a video of themselves singing a phrase or two of any popular rock song and demonstrate it in a pulling chest, falsetto and then head voice. It would help us hear and see the differences in tone.

To me, when I hear a singer like Steve Perry it sounds like he has one seamless voice that doesn't lose that smoky tone when he sings higher. He also seems to sing many songs in that awkward "throat notes" range right around the chest/head passagio. It's one thing to learn to bridge into head voice from chest but how on earth do some singers sing right in that one in between head and chest range?

I would be absolutely thrilled to hear Jamie Vendera's thoughts on my singing on the various tracks I posted. I really admire his dedication to the voice and it would make my day to get his input. Jamie, where are ya dude?

P.S. I'd bought his Raise Your Voice 2nd edition Ebook and have learned a ton from it!

Snax, you have a really good voice. and a nice tone, reminds me a little of michael kiske. you are definitely in the "he´s a natural" camp. liked the metal trax too.

out of curiosity when your singing in the head voice area A,B,C above middle C what sort of sensations do you have in the throat etc.

when you go up in your range you seem very good at dumping the vocal weight. i thought this may be because you had a higher voice to begin with but when i heard you speak in one of your vids you dont.

when doing those vocal slides like in one of the vids on the AH try turning the AH into more a UH as in the word "WORD" as you go up. see how that feels.

You wouldn't be able to post an audio example of that for me would you? I'd like to understand what you mean. Don't worry about it not sounding perfect or representative of your vocal abilities. I'd find it very helpful indeed. Feel free to email it to me if you'd rather not post it publicly. My email is muskysnax@gmail.com or muskysnax@yahoo.com

As for me being a natural I don't know that that's true since I had to work sooooo hard at reaching the notes i managed to sing. I've always felt limited vocally and wish I could just sing along to Steve Perry or Styx with no problem. I always figured those guys just had naturally more flexible voices but now I'm starting to see that there are different coordinations that are used to sing comfortably in those higher ranges. My goal is to not feel like I'm straining in my throat (getting better at that now) and to really get a grasp of head voice and when to know other singers are using it though it sounds like they are singing in the same chest voice as their lower register. Their tone never seems to change where mine does drastically.

I think that my very large tonsils may have been a factor all these years in me feeling strained and resisting leaving the chesty weight behind as I would ascend in pitch. Since my resonation is so limited in those "throat" notes I'd never want to use them. I'm about to see an ENT and find out what my options are. I want those suckers out so I can finally have an unrestricted airway and better transition into my head voice from chest.

Thanks for the kind words and advice.

Thanks Martin.

I think we have similar pipes my friend! I understand what you mean about getting that darker tone. Back when I'd recorded those songs i had no idea about technique so I'm really looking forward to learning from all of you and progressing.

Here's a video clip of me attempting to do siren screams while not flipping into falsetto and maintaining compression. I know I'm a bit shaky yet but this is something very new to me still. Please let me know how I'm doing and where I need to do something different.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj_Izj4LugA

Hey there,

I just recorded a nice metal shriek for you metal heads! I've been working on getting my high screams back. Hope you like it... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7QP7vGxnc8

Here's the beginning section of Hallowed Be Thy Name for ya. I just used my Macbook's mic so the vocal sound is really bad! lol

http://files.me.com/muskysnax/l7auzv.mov

I redid the vocals and updated the linked file if anyone has already checked this out. This is just the first part of the song. I'll do the rest when I've gotten my voice in better singing shape.

Hey Snax, I've listened to your songs with Osiris and then to the Tom Jones' stuff... THough I am definitely more into the classic heavy stuff and really like your screams, It's apparent that you've developed your vocals over the years. Do you have any more Osiris songs I could listen?

Thanks man! I'll see if I can find any more of the old Osiris songs on my cassettes from years ago. I've started recording myself singing some Iron Maiden using the tracks you sent me. I'm doing Hallowed Be Thy Name right now. I'll post it when I'm done.

Awesome job with Mustang Sally...I have heard so many bands sing it and grew to hate it; your version rules.

All the other songs are you did are great too. no crticism on my end; you are comfortable with your voice.

BC

Wow, thanks! I don't know what to say.

Like most singers I always wanted to sound like someone else but over time I developed my own voice. Nowadays I'm really enjoying learning as much as I can about my instrument. I'm seriously considering having my tonsils surgically reduced but not removed entirely as they are quite large and limit the size of my airway. I've read about new procedures that are far less painful and far less damaging to the throat than older methods. Plus if you leave some of the tonsils intact and just reduce the size there is no burning of the throat muscles which is something I wish to avoid obviously. When I was singing all the time my throat would nearly close up completely some nights if my tonsils were inflamed at all since they are already large to begin with.

The thought of having an open airway and how it might enhance my voice and breathing is really exciting! I'd have to relearn to bridge but it would be worth it if my tone thickens due to the increase in resonation and air flow.

I almost forgot to give two other big vocal influences on me. Gene Pitney and Tony Christie. How that for a mixed bag on influences! lol

Here are a couple of Osiris songs I did many years ago. I got better as a vocalist since these were done and my voice was pretty tired by the time we tracked the vocals at the end of a long day. Well, enough excuses (lol) here's the songs... http://files.me.com/muskysnax/4ul4fx.mp3

http://files.me.com/muskysnax/5s4zrk.mp3

Love to hear what you guys think of the songs. I should point out that the drummer had to punch in some of his tracks as one mic on a tom tom wasn't working when he recorded his parts. Poor guy had to figure out where to punch in that one tom on each song! lol

Thanks so much for the posts guys. Here's me singing Mustang Sally. A little more rock n' roll than the Tom Jones stuff.

Hope ya dig it! http://files.me.com/muskysnax/81vsuq.mp3

Thanks Matt! I really had no training or knowledge of how to sing whatsoever. I just tried my best to emulate my favorite voices but often had swollen adenoids and sore throats. I've never had my tonsils out and they are still fairly large and block quite a bit of my airway. I'm considering having them removed and then starting to train my voice from scratch the right way. I think I had potential when I was singing back then but I always wanted to sing better, higher and with more control. Have any of you had tonsils removed later in life and how was the experience?

Here's a couple more examples of me singing in the style of Tom Jones... http://files.me.com/muskysnax/b8menj.mp3 http://files.me.com/muskysnax/e1nmhl.mp3

Hey everyone,

I just joined here and wanted to have you check out a couple of examples of my vocals from the past. I was a self taught singer and started out singing hard rock and metal but eventually got into Tom Jones and his vocal style later in life. I haven't sang for a few years now as I wanted to unlearn my poor vocal habits and start fresh with proper technique.

Here's a link to a youtube clip of my best heavy metal high notes from back then...

And here's me singing Tom Jones "Thunderball" to show what I managed to achieve vocally with no training. http://files.me.com/muskysnax/m9ub0c.mp3

I'm excited to see what I'll be able to accomplish with proper training and hard work!

Thanks for listening and please let me know what you think, good or bad. That's why I'm here.