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And dang it, I'm not trying to take over your thread. I just thought I could help you get that soft Klaus Meine sound. I think it's just a matter of backing off the tension of the folds and use a little less air. It's very subtle, indeed.

Here it is. Another rough cut. I actually got some rasp on this, interestingly enough, by backing off the tension of the folds and the air pressure. Not quite a fry but leaning that way, maybe. Anyway, the song starts out in falsetto. Then transitions, in the same range to a high chest that freely changes to mixed on some of the higher stuff. "By the one who raised me .." is a head resonance that is leaking air to give it a raspy feel. "All that I wanted was ... now I know you better, you know I know better" is chest and transitions immediately to a twanged head resonance "Now we all know better." I like this song simply because it's a good song but it also shows the mixing, as it were, if different resonances or modes or whatever you want to call it. Instructional a capella of "Better" by Guns and Roses.

Again, thank you, for that is indeed, a high compliment to me. I thought I was baritone and could only hit notes that weren't too high in falsetto. But learning to resonate in the head opened up the range. Later, came the mixing resonances thingy. Right now, I am making a short of the song "Better" by Guns and Roses to show more of the differences in resonances.

Here's a rough, and I do mean rough rendition of "Rock you like a Hurricane." No rehearsal, just hit record and go for it. But I wanted to show the different resonances. It still starts out in high chest or mixed, with some of that crying or wasted air bit going on, for the softer parts. The high parts are in head voice, but wasting some air to give it a raspy tone.

I don't know if it's a trick of recording, or what, but you didn't sound all that falsetto to me. I think I want to provide a better example of the difference between the two. Namely, the song "Better" from Chinese Democracy. I don't know the chords to that one so I would have to do it a capella.

Thanks, man. I've been working on it for 22 years. And I am still learning and developing. It will never stop. When I did the first part, it's not falsetto for me but I am wasting air and putting a little through the nose. At least here, I thought I sounded a little raspy. For the part of "Take me the magic of the momment" and on, I quit leaking air but I am also using easy air pressure, so as not to increase the volume too much. It was actually quite subtle. But I was using a lot of chest, though I think I was mixing just a little. The idea was to not hit the note like a sonic blast. I want to see if I can do an example of "Rock you like a hurricane." There's a song with some raspy soft, full voice in mixed, and supersonic head voice.

Heck of a note, dude. I love your resonance. And you have the voice of an angel when you sing clean. And it's nice to hear someone else flatten out a desk mic like I do. As for missing the cues on playback, that happens to me, still, some. As every song I have put up, I am used to playing on guitar while I sing. Different set of cues. You have probably worked so hard on resonance and support of the note that you have fallen out of being able to back off and "waste air." But that's fine. You have such a great sound.

I think you did it well. Your voice is so strong that even your falsetto is is pure. In my opinion, Klause Meine sings the main stanzas, such as at the beginning, with a falsetto that is bleeding a lot of air, almost as if you are singing through the nose, rather than behind it. Like this. I did that quickly just to show what I mean. In other parts of the song, he goes full voice. It's not quite a fry but it helps to think of whispering, in order to waste enough air to make it that soft. But I liked your version. You have such a strong voice.

You might try posting some links that work. I tried a few with some editing and couldn't get there.

Just remember, Mv, you hear yourself, mostly through your bones. And, in playback, you are hearing yourself through both the limitations of the mic and of the playback software and devices, such as speakers or earphones. Personally, I have been using earphones so that I can all the better hear any pitch problems. Also, since I record the guitar track first, I leave just one earbud in so that I can hear the music better than if it was in a speaker. This also avoids the accidental reverb of picking up playback when I record the vocal on a separate track. I have tried any number of post recording mixing tricks, from eq settings to compression to slight echo. I end up hearing a chopping of the signal and sometimes, it makes me sound slightly off when just regular playback shows that I was not off. Now, more often than not, I have not done anything to the vocal track. My employment status has been spotty, which ruins my budget for anything outside of regular bills. But, as soon as I can afford it, I plan to get a better mic than the standard desk mic that I have but it must be usable in the jack of my sound card. Then, we'll see what I sound like. It will never replace what I sound like live or through an active pa, but I am inching toward better technology, one excruciating step at a time. Perhaps you feel that you don't like your voice because you don't sound like some favorite singer of yours. So what? It's actually better to have your own sound. Jack Russell of Great White had to put up with a lot of comparisons to Robert Plant, especially when he was with Stone Fury and their copy song that sounded similar to "Moving through Cashmere." Even when he was with Great White, they would do "Babe, I'm gonna leave you" just so that the fans could scratch their Led Zep itch. For me, though I have sang as long as I played guitar, I didn't get serious about it until Appetite for Destruction by Guns and Roses. I will never sound like Axl Rose and truthfullly, I'm not that interested in producing distortion. But that doesn't stop me from performing "Sweet Child o' Mine." Just as it didn't stop Sheryl Crow or Fergie. I have hit the high note in "Bohemian Rhapsody" even though I don't sound like Roger Taylor. But that won't stop me from hitting that note whenever I want to. I don't sound like Geoofrey Tate but I will go right ahead and sing "I Don't Believe in Love" as if it were mine. You have a good tone and presentation. Accept the fact that you are a good singer and go from there and rejoice that you have your own sound. If it's a matter of replaying the voices in your head from family that said you couldn't do it or you are wasting your time, quit listening to them. I used to get in trouble for playing in the dirt. Now, I get paid pretty well to play in the dirt (digging ditches and installing electrical pipe.) My family always considered my musical interests secondary, at best, a hindrance at worst. But I am as stubborn as my parents were and I forge ahead. Join me.

I thought your performance was well done and very much on point for getting the message of the piece across. And it helps to know what the conditions for this was in making it, too, but I can't see how it takes anything away from the inspirational quality I found in it. Maybe even more so, to nail in one shot.

Thanks for linking that in. I knew I screwed up. I missed some lyrics. I liked the production values in the video you linked.

That would be way cool, Robert. As a student or learner of these things and others, I feel it's worthy to have a goal, even a specific song a person wants to accomplish. And I think students would do well to choose "Gethsemane" as the goal, though it is something of a big bite to start out with. Most any other pop song, you are expected to sing, maybe move about the stage a little bit, wave at the audience, whatever feels handy at the moment. But a piece like this, where you have essentially made a movie, not just recording a song, which you could have done as a .wav or mp3, requires more than just the technical ability to hit a high note. If it was only about the high note, you could crank out singers all day. It's also about the emotion of the piece and how you relate that, which as another member has put it, acting. Something we'll all do as singers if we are to have any success or inflect anything other than a monotone. Then look at the different recordings shown here. Balsamo's scared, want-to-hide prayer. My pissed-off show me why because it's stupid to do this for nothing vibe, And yours is a bit more mature than mine, perhaps (our actual ages being insignifcant, maybe) with a viewpoint more resolved to the will of God but not so sure on the effectiveness of the sacrifice for the wave of humanity. The way you sing "Let them hate me, hit me, hurt me, nail me to their tree ..." Sounds as if you were talking about children playing with their action figure dolls. Well done. Granted, we can see your face, your body posture, etc. But it comes out in the voice, as well. Just as Steve could hear the mindset of mine in what I did. I think a good reason for people to tackle this piece is from a technical perspective, setting aside the interpretations. The song covers quite a range, requiring you to watch your resonance more than anything. As well as singing volume. It's not all a top-of-the-lungs screacher. Just the shifting from roounded tones to twang an dback again, it's quite a workout. You can't settle into just one exercise and carry it through the song. It's a tri-athelon. I noticed your student sang quite a bit of it high. Over the years, I have become more comfortable singing mixed and I can imagine that your students will start out high but will progress to singing a lot of mixed. And I think you show quite well the two main registers, three if you want to call it a separate resonance, of chest, mixed, and head. Anyway, cool beans.

Another of my favorites, this song is sung by the character of Judas Iscariot in "Jesus Christ, Superstar." To me, the emotion of the character is one of admiration for Jesus Christ, tempered by an ear for the political and religious ramifications of Jesus's actions, philosophy, and increasing popularity. Judas is looking for longetivity and finds Jesus' seemingly anti-political mindset to be possibly detrimental to "the cause." As a side note, I have read "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" and its sequel, "Messianic Legacy." Histories based on anomolies in history, odd bits of literature, and of course, the Holy Bible. I have read the Bible, more than once, thanks to my mother. I have read it more closely than some people I have known who have never missed a day of church in their lives. Anyway, the gist of the secular books I have mentioned is that Jesus Christ was an actual person with a legitimate heritage from the House of David, making him heir-apparent to the throne of Jerusalem, then, under roman occupation and overseen by the governor, Pontius Pilate. In this song, I feel the love Judas has for Jesus and his message and his worry that the whole thing will be lost for what seems like Jesus' inattentiveness to political realities. The gist of the books mentioned is that Jesus knew very well what the political realities were. Also, the books hint that Jesus actually escaped with his family to Gaul, what is now southern France. But that's a whole 'nother thread. "Heaven on their Minds"

You have the range to do most anything you want, including Pat Benatar. Even though Benetar started out as a classically trained opera singer (soprano), she was able to incorporate some grit or distortion in her voice to give it the "street-wise" edge that she had. Lita Ford had a bit more grit. Joan Jett brought grit in like no one else. Until Melissa Etheridge, who seemed to have invented female grit. But you don't have to do grit. You could sing clean and mixed, with a little twang, like Amy Lee of Evanescence, if you wanted to do hard rock and heavy metal. I think your voice is strong enough for that and you would probably move away from the vocal trills of soul and R & B, unless you could manage to meld the two, and I bet you could. Faith No More melded rap, hard rock, heavy metal and classical all in one song, namely, the song "Epic." Anthrax mixed heavy speed metal and rap. I'd say, considering the angelic quality of your voice, you are closer to Amy Lee. Maybe you should put some soul in heavy metal. You would have excellent company in the class of mixing genres. I have a vinyl LP, (from the dinosaur days before cd's) of Judas Priest doing "Johnny B. Goode." It was never released on an album or for the public. It was a promotional release only. How did I get my hands on it? My good friend, Tommy, worked for the clean-up crew for the Atlantic Records birthday party that was held in Dallas back in the 80's. Needless to say, it "accidently" wound up in my hands. Whether you decide to stay with R & B or not, try other genres just to stretch your legs, so to speak. Sometimes, "accidents" lead to a new sound.

Right off the bat, 100 percent, I agree with the judges. As for stage moves, I want you to remember this. Not knowing how old you are and I was going to link in the song but the lyrics have some adult references, I want you to judge the example of Lita Ford. She was formerly of the Runaways before striking out on her own. She is a fantastic, aggressive guitar player who can also sing. But she couldn't dance. If you can watch the video of "Kiss Me Deadly," remember that she didn't know how to dance. But a choreographer showed her some poses to use. What looks like dancing in the video is actually carefully edited poses. So, just to help you relax physically, you might try some poses, even those of, say, Celine Dion. But just remember that not knowing what to do on stage need not stop you. Your voice is astounding and whether or not you win a talent competition, you should be making albums. Seriously. Yes, you are that good. You have a voice made for soul and R & B but don't be afraid to try rock, too. I just thought of it just now. Another good example of who to emulate in moves on stage that doesn't involve acrobatics or suggestive moves is Pat Benatar. I don't mean the videos for MTV but live performances. Or, Cyndi Lauper. Watch her live shows for ideas. But whatever, start recording professionally. Live the dream. Dream to live.

No, thank you for the positive review. That one has been getting what I call good reviews, which is anything someone says that does not involve saying "please, stop, for the sake of humanity!" That is, if it didn't totally turn someone off, it might have been a success. Believe it or not, that is not a scream. It's actually a resonated note but it is indeed, quite loud, even in person. Or, perhaps, we should define scream. To me, a scream is not resonated, involves way too much air and inevitably hurts the voice. The high notes in this song caused me no pain or discomfort and were easy for me to do. Primarily, I think, because for those notes, I am mostly in head voice. Not a lot of twang that I can feel but perhaps some of the twang has become second nature to me. So is the vibrato at that pitch. I didn't feel any strain at all. I've had mixed luck with compression, myself. Sometimes, to me, it shaves off some of the notes or overtones to try and fit in its envelope. As for musical education, I learned to read music from my step-grandfather. My mother couldn't afford much. She gave me her old student guitar, a new set of strings, and Mel Bay's Book of Chords. I taught myself how to play guitar, never a lesson. Same with singing. I have never had a vocal instructor. And, until this place, I never had much of a source but some books from the libary but, by far, the best was Graham Hewitt's "How to sing olympically." When I was in high school, I had already studied music theory to some extent but took a music theory class, as did my other guitar freak friends. It was an easy course for us. But I have never felt my education was or is complete. Even so, I am learning here, as well by what is meant by belting. What I used to think of belting is what they call overdrive, here in this forum. I just put up another song. An old irish folk song that has been a hit for a few people, called "Whiskey in the Jar." But next, I would like to do another favorite from "Jesus Christ, Superstar." And that would "Heaven on their Minds." For that is also a cynical, worrisome subject matter of a song. Pianos and guitars are made to make whole tone steps and half-tone steps. In eastern and middle-eastern music, they also make tones that are in between whole and half. Many times, it is 1/4 tone. I can't do 1/4 tones on a fretted guitar. I can sound close with a mix of mixolydian and locrian modes but it is just an approximation in !/2 tones, unless I bend a string a bit.

This is a song from part of my heritage. While my mother's father was from Germany, my father's family was english, irish, and scottish. This is from the irish strain, as it were. This song was first recorded and became a big hit for Luke Kelly and the Dubliners. Later, it was a hit again for the irish band Thin Lizzy. Later, again, it was a big hit for Metallica. My arrangement is closer to the original, though I change the meter of the refrain. But the lyrics are nearly identical to the original. It is the story of a highwayman and how his nefarious deeds turn on him. I did this song in one take. One take for the guitar and one for the vocal. The song is "Whiskey in the Jar."

Thanks for the kind words, Analog. Since I'm not in a band right now, I have to settle for wailing and twanging while on the highway. So, watch out for a grandpa with what looks like a weird smile in the left-hand lane.

First off, well done. I like this song and I usually remember the Jeff Buckley performance. This reminded me somewhat of that. I only heard what I thought were a few pitch problems but nothing fatal and maybe it was a trick of recording. I like the tones you have on this recording. I'm thinking it's a combination of how you mixed the tracks and the fact that you are singing this somewhat softer than other things I have heard you sing. I'm not a professional analyst of auditory things. I thought you might have been 1/4 step off at the end, which is hard to qualify. Even though I have listened to middle eastern music with it's use of 1/4 and 1/2 steps that doesn't mean that's what I am hearing now. I have noticed in post-recording mixing, sometimes a generated effect will chop off overtones and parts of whole tones. But on the whole, I liked this one.

I guess if I could survive "Sugar" by Def Leppard, I could survive Balsamo singing a song just for the ladies. Trivia and a dark secret for me - I like "I've got a Feeling" by the Black-eyed Peas for the use of harmony. I liked Balsamo's version of "Gethsemane." And obviously, he's a success. He's the one singing it in a play, as well as appearing on Top of the Pops. Whereas, I am likely to appear in a ditch not too far from Steven (we live about 40 miles apart). I just approach the song with a little more indignation and anger from my own perspective and remembering Neeley's film performance, which appears to be not all that different from his stage performances, and less abject fear. And my age, too. I'm old enough to be Balsamo's dad, more than likely. That may influence me, as well. Neely, in his 60's now, In an interview, he feels that his decades of performing this role has strengthen his faith. And it has touched the lives of so many, as well. He said, at times, it felt like a ministry.

Steve, once again, you hit the nail on the head. How do you do that? For me, especially as I remember Neeleys' movie performance, he had angry moments in there and the mood I got, (which may be mixed with my own view of religion, now and then) is that the principal character has some doubts, some anger at what may seem like a needless event, even some indignation that this sacrifice may fall upon deaf ears. At the end is resignation, with just a slight sarcasm, hence my attack on the word "cup". So, yes, I think my viewpoint informed my inflection and emotion. In the video Jens linked, the performer shows fear and instability of emotions quite well. A wonderful performance. However, I understood the feeling of the piece differently and I think a lot of that comes from Neeley's performance and my take on that, as well as the way I would think that I would feel had I been Jesus' sandals. Even in times past, I have sang this song with somewhat of an angry tone, not for vocal effect to hit a certain note, but my interpretation of what is going on in the mind of the principal character. From what I remember of reading the Bible, Jesus was not a man who was afraid but he expressed love, and anger, at specific times. So, yes, something of an angry child. Well done, Steve and thanks for providing your astounding insight.

Excellent point, Analog. I call it the Simon Cowell effect. In his career as a talent "producer" he is looking for a specific "package" with everything having that polished Phil Specter kind of sound. A modern "Motown," so to speak. He probably would have panned Janis Joplin and the world would be a poorer place without her. Even I cannot imagine anyone doing "Born to Run" other than Bruce Springsteen, even though his voice had a rough quality. Bob Dylan's odd style totally fits "Like a Rolling Stone." "Jumpin' Jack Flash" needs Mick Jagger to sound "right." And I think mvrasseli has a better voice than those people, at least in this offering. Mv, you might suffering from the occasional hindrance of most any singer. The current inability to hear yourself as others hear you.

I know what you mean. When I choose monitor while recording, there is a delay of at least .3 and it throws me off entirely. So, I turn off monitor while recording and use just the overdub function which just creates another track and still plays the previous track or tracks. I take out one earbud. That way, I can still hear the music but I will sing toward a wall or flat surface in order to hear my own voice in relation to that. Other times, I record "live," in that I will just play guitar and sing at the same time but that is problematic, too. Again, I agree with jonpall. You are capable of more than you think you are.

Thanks for replying, Jens. I know my rendition was rough. I noticed other versions of this song where singers include more high parts and different emotional levels where I was going off the memory of Ted Neeley's original screen performance. I saw that movie when it first came out. And I had not sang this song in at least 10 years. But I will work on the expression. I've noticed in myself that the more I relax in a song, the better my expression and intonation get. I may have stiffened up on this because I wanted to hit the right notes and have some decent overtones, which are not coming through in my recording, and I had not rehearsed it nearly long enough.