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Sophia - Nowadays it doesn't matter where you live. There are a lot of teachers on this forum that offer skype lessons from anywhere in the world. The other thing to consider would be a video program from Lunte or Tamplin or others. How badly do you want to learn? Are you just kind of experimenting with it? Do you want to get serious about it? You've got the potential to make huge improvements - it all depends on what your desire is.

Sofia - besides the nasality thing, the other thing to work on is solid breath support. It seems that the support was hit or miss which gave a sometimes tentative phrasing. There are a lot of exercises to help this. Have you thought about a teacher?

Sounds pretty good. It sounds like your struggling quite a bit up high. Your vibrato and pitch is all over the place - you need significantly more control in the high registers. But your tone is very good and you've got a good balance. And your sense of the genre is fine.

I hear ya. That's a difficulting and cumbersome signal routing. The important part was the vocal and that sounded pretty well recorded.

Tommy - sounds really good. You've got the blues attitude and tone down really well. It's always to hear that - When I listen I can almost smell the nigotine from the cigarette on clapton's headstock!

Mdew - That was pretty cool! I would watch the pitch of every phrase. Most was right on and there were a few spots where the pitch was getting away from you. Also - watch the input levels of the backing tracks - they are distoring pretty bad in spots and a little squashed. The vocal recording and production was good - alot better than the backing tracks.

Excellent job Felipe. Your tone is pretty much perfect for this song. The phrasing and stylistic choices you make are right on. Well done.

Keith - sounded awsome! I really liked the vocal production too. very well recorded and produced. Great EQ, Compression and perfect choice and amount of reverb. Interesting proposition with the one take idea. It will be interesting to hear everyone's version.

Tommy - Thank you! You're right - the second version is kindof R&B? or Jazzy? Not sure how to classify it. Of course Gino's music is very hard to classify so maybe that's why I can't put my finger on it. I just went with it and added my own licks that fit the style he was going for. He certainly got me out of my comfort zone - and I will for sure start adding these other dimensions to new songs I learn. Olem - thank you. Ron - I'm with you on Kansas - Their arrangements always take a special place in my heart - maybe because it brings me back to my youth. Back in the day Steve had the coolest style.

Thanks MDEW and Daniel for the positive feedback. The pause after "dust", and also after "I close.." was Gino's coaching. The rest of the new licks in Gino's version were my improvisations, but those two were Gino's. He was playing "producer" so I wasn't going to argue. And I felt honored that he created a special arrangement for me so I just went with whatever he told me to do. Gino is a stickler for detail. He is a big fan of Sinatra. There were a lot of things I learned. A couple things he really concentrated on: 1) at the end of a phrase on the tail end of a held note (with vibrato) - there is a natural tendency to go ever so slightly flat. This is due to giving up on support toward the end of the note. Sinatra would go slightly sharp, which sounds much better on a recording. He taught us to really watch the end of these notes and if anything - go sharp. Through his software he could show us if we went flat. 2) On long straight notes (no vibrato) - it is critical not to go flat - if anything make sure your are on the plus side of the pitch. And he's talking about just a few cents either way - not enought to sound flat or sharp - it is still "in tune" but the feeling you get when you hear a note that is slightly low or high is remarkable. He showed us through the software. 3) Vibrato: He said - "you need to control your vibrato - instead of letting your vibrato control you". He gave us a vibrato exercise. His software would analyze vibrato and he would show the student if there were wider undulations, or skips in your vibrato. I was lucky not to have issues with my vibrato that week. There was no warming up - I was in the song writing class in the morning, so it had been several hours since I warmed up. So when it was your turn to record you just did it. That was nerve wracking. You were singing into a $10,000 Sony mic and into some very expensive equipment - having Gino coaching you, and the rest of the class staring at you. It was like you were on the "hot seat" when it was your turn. You didn't want to screw up a take, but we all screwed up plenty of takes. A lot of pressure but a lot of fun.

I attended a voice class put on by Gino Vannelli last month. The class had a maximum of 5 students so that he could devote enough time to coach and record each singer. I brought in "Dust In The Wind". He didn't like my backing tracks, so he created some tracks himself on the spot. He took me in a totally different direction, as you'll hear. He pushed me out of my comfort zone. The key is lower and there are no high notes. He really concentrated on phrasing. It was terrifying and really fun at the same time. Here's MY version: http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9375888 Here's the Gino Vannelli version of me (Gino on piano, bass, choir pad): http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11793785

Another rock solid great performance. It's cool that you're doing these Tom Jones type songs. You've got serious technique and style.

Sounds Great! Nice control all the way through and cool distortion towards the end. Your higher notes sound really full and rather effortless - nice tone.

That was a pleasure to listen to from beginning to end. Great job! Very consistent the whole way through.

Nice control and expression. Good phrasing. Yes it is a little heady and lighter, but I think if you keep strengthening it and working at it, it will get thicker. It doesn't sound like falsetto. How does this compare with your chest voice? That kind of lighter head voice isn't easy so it is a good accomplishment.

She is amazing. What a great tone.

Sounds great Mike. What type of rasp is that and what are you doing differently to acheive it?

I think it sounds really good! Great tone and great connection with head voice. The only thing for me was "South Detroit" - "South" sounded like: "S - Oh - th" - you could try opening it up like: "S - Ah - w - th".

Great singing on that one. Nice control up above the tenor range. I'm not familiar with the orginal either so it's hard for me to judge. Your voice is great to listen to so I'm not thinking about the words.

joshual - nice ripping man! I love that single coil shredding sound. very nice guitar chops. What I like is that you are just going for it - it doesn't sound like real calculated shredding which can be dry at times. It reminds me of one of my biggest influences on guitar - Steve Lukather. Do you like him? I've seen Steve several times live and every solo is improvised and completely different night after night. Your approach is very similar to his. Your voice is excellent too. You've got the feel and rhythm down. Keep it up! Geno

Mike - I think the song and your voice sounds great. I'm sorry that it didn't work out and that it was left on a bad note like that. From his email it sounds like he's got some growing up to do. I'm sure he will regret that at some point (if not already). The problem with email is that it is really easy to vent negative emotions, and then they are captured forever. I can sure appreciate your priorities - and it's too bad he didn't.

Nik - everything jonpall said on the vowels and such. As far as recording goes - I only listened with my laptop speakers, but it sounded pretty good. I'm not sure what you are using to record. But here are a couple of things to consider: 1) get a decent mic - you may already have one. 2) try to eliminate the effects of the room when you record. If you don't have any soundproofing you can set up the mic in-front of an open closet of cloths, or put some blankets on the walls. Try to get rid of the reflections off the walls - this is what will make your voice muddy. And once that muddiness is in the recording, there is really no way to get rid of it. You can't add filters to eliminate it. EQ can only mask it, but it becomes part of your vocal recording. 3) if 1 & 2 are taken care of, don't put any filtering on your voice prior to recording. Just record as is. Set the gain levels so you don't peak. 4) get a pop filter (they are cheap) 5) keep your mouth a least 6" away from the mic when you record. This will eliminate the "proximity effect" of being too close to the mic. 6) once you've got a decent recording, you can shape the sound with EQ (although I would keep it flat if you want us to evaluate your voice), use a tube pre-amp sim, and add reverb to taste, and any other plugins you want to use. I hope this helps. Geno

I missed this the first time around. That really kicks ass bro! You definitely have this song under control - like it flows naturally. The rasp sounds excellent - especially above C5 (where I haven't figured how to do that yet!)

That's an interesting point Ron. I didn't know that about the different Kansas albums. I was trying google who were the producers and engineers on those albums thinking that they may have had different people working on them. But I couldn't find that kind of info.

Reaper is well respected among professionals. Another new, inexpensive and well respected one is Studio1. Good point Quincy about the bundled software that comes with some of these devices. That's another inexpensive way to do it.