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Great job on that! Great expressiveness and dynamics in the phrasing. And well balanced tone as usual.

Ron - Nice Job. The energy is right and so is the intent. We all have small pitch issues - I have plenty myself. I like the sound that the H1 gives you - there is some nice compression going on there. The recording quality is good. To fix the balance between the guitar and voice you could position the H1 closer to you mouth like Owen suggested. Or try to multi-track it somehow. If we all had Mac's we'd have Garage Band built in for free, with which we could multi-track.

That sounds great man! What a demanding song - just about everything is A4 and up. Nice distortion and tone. I think you really captured the energy that Dio gave on that song.

Nice production! Some interesting sounds going on and well arranged. Very aggressive sound with the distorted guitars and vocal distortion.

Keith - Nice performance! The only difference in tone I heard was in the chorus when you go up to the G#4 - it sometimes sounded a little thinner than the lower parts, but other times it was very consistent. Great job. That sounds like a very demanding song with a lot of notes right in the middle of the passagio.

Owen - Thanks for your thoughtful comments. Those middle notes, right in the passaggio - F#4 and G#4 - are the most difficult, and that's where I was finally able to sing a light resonant tone. The higher notes are easier for me to hit the center of the vowels for some reason. It does help to mimic Perry even though I may never be able to really sound like him. Ron - thank you! Yeah I've seen Deen sing at concerts and he is great. Haven't heard him for a while though. I'm glad you liked my version - I don't think I could ever come close to that Steve Perry sound. Nor do I want to. I love Steve Perry, but I think singers should sound like themselves (unless you are trying out for a Journey tribute band - then that's a different story.) Keith - Thank you very much! I'm glad you liked it.

Chris - Thank you for your great comments. I've been a proponent of letting the larynx go where it wants to go. I didn't want the "pushed down" operatic tone. However, yesterday I experimented with not letting it go "up" when singing high. I got more resonant space. I know do have to let it go up somewhat when going higher, but maybe I was letting it go too high. Mdew - thanks for listening and your nice comments.

This is my first attempt at a very light head voice in the passaggio area: http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12389334 I had what I thought was a "heavier" voice. I thought my voice was simply not suited for a Journey ballad requiring a very light head voice through the passagio. I was determined to put these notions to the test. So I set out to learn this song - back in March. My first attempts at singing this were hideous - tight and constricted. At one point I just about threw in the towel, ready to concede that I wasn't cut out for this. But I was persistent. After a couple months of training to "bridge early" with the Bristow program, I could finally sing this song. I've essentially "re-tooled" my voice in the last couple months and I am very glad I did. I'm still working on this song - not everything is perfect, but it is coming together. Let me know what you think? Geno

I don't see any reason not to.

Excellent! Full of great hooks. Nice production. Great arrangement. Your voice is really good on this. Also all the harmonies and guitar parts are well put together. I really like this kind of pop rock stuff.

Sounds really good to me. Nice control. I can't do that technique at all so I can't really tell anything except you must be doing it well because the pitch and phrasing is right on. Does it hurt to do this?

Overall another truly great performance from you! The high stuff is where your voice shines. I agree with Nick about the lower verses - they are just a little shakey or pitchy in certain spots. If it were me I'd work to tighten it up - but it's only in a handful of spots. You nailed the high spots perfectly IMO. I also agree with mdew about the accent - I like the accent coming through a bit. And I agree about the mix during the verses - the vox needs to come up. The vocal processing otherwise is great.

I think you've got good potential. The lower stuff seems pretty good. the high stuff needs a lot of work. It's definitely there but it's not connected. I'm not a teacher, but my advice would be the same as Felipe's - create a path for training. Find a teacher - maybe take a skype lesson, or get a DVD program. You've got good rhythm, a sense of style, and a good sounding voice. That's half the battle. You having to get that connected head voice going. That's not easy and it takes the right kind of practicing.

Ron - you are definitely one of biggest Kansas fans I know. Thank you for your kind words. As for the arrangement, I scoured YouTube for various live performances of this song ( they changed the arrangement a lot over the years) and took my favorite parts and mixed in my own stuff like lead guitar instead of violin, and dropping the bass down an octave and doubling with power metal type rhythm guitars. I added and modified parts here and there. I borrowed a lot of the orchestral stuff from Larry Baird's orchestrations when Kansas plays with the live orchestra. I had to become proficient at using a pro orchestral library with the many articulations available. Interesting trivia you have on Kansas - I always enjoy hearing the back stories. Kerry came up with the coolest rock guitar riffs. And combined with his classical influences...great prog. Yes I can see the Beatles weighing heavy on him. Although the chord progressions have that southern rock feel? Just a great combination of musical elements. There is just something really special about the music of Kansas, isn't there?

Mdew - thanks for listening! Validar - thanks a lot! Yeah - prog rock musicians definitely can write hits - if they want - but they're usually after something a little more complex. I loved how Kansas could bridge the gap. Kerry Livgren is an incredible talent. His chord progressions are nothing short of complex but his songs are so well written that they appeal to a broad audience. This song has 49 time signature changes!!! But everything flows so naturally. George - thank you. Yes - I did the background vocals and everything else. I learned a great studio trick for background vocals - I'm using the HASS effect which kinda makes the background vocals "surround" you. You may already use this for some things. I really like it for background vocals. Slstone - yeah some people just don't get it. I respect just about all kinds of music (with the possible exception of gangster rap). Your music is definitely prog rock influenced - and really good!

I originally recorded this last summer. It's a long song but one of Kansas best. The vocals don't start until after 3min. Kansas was one of the first prog-rock groups - coming on the scene in the 70's. What stands out about Kansas is that they had so many commercial hits which is kindof unusual in Prog Rock. This song wasn't really a commercial hit but is a favorite among Kansas fans. Let me know what you think. http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11719220

Excellent job on this. Great composition - love the guitar tones, and layers. Your voice is spectacular on this. Very well produced. I really like how you use your low range - and the harmonies are superb as is the use of vocal effects. The production is really good. Cool guitar solos.

Nice job! love the production. Guitar tones are killer. I like the harmonies and chord progressions. Very creative stuff indeed. It sets an ominous mood.

Great job on that George. Kind of reminds me of the Dark Side of the Moon. Excellent production! The singing was superb.

Excellent job on this Felipe. The performance was great. You have a lot of control over your voice.

Sounds really good SL! I can only imagine how much work you put into this CD. I wish you much success! geno

Sounds really good! Nice phrasing / style - very well sung!

Indeed. Excellent voice - very nice for Journey. Was he always a tenor or did he start out like a lot of us and expand his range?

Awsome Jens! The song is great - nice hooks and melodies - good chorus. And I really like the production and mixing - very well done recording and arrangement. Your singing is excellent on this one. The song is takes you on a journey through different textures which gives the listener a chance to hear a bunch of different vocal nuances. I've got a much more complete understanding of your voice and your style now after hearing that song. Very nice and expressive. That's a pretty cool picture too!

voc - that sounds very good. Keep up the good work. The system we use here is C4=Middle C, and C5 would be the High Tenor C. C6 is Soprano high C. From hearing your voice I would guess that when you say F3, we would consider that F2.