ronws

I was going to tell you to clean up the ah but you did that in the second half, especially the louder part. At first, you were rolling forward toward aw which was having an odd tuning effect.

And your articulation got better in the second half, as well. That happens to me, too. I start out ill-fitting and then fine my place, later and get in the groove. So, maybe we can learn, together, to get the vowel right from the start.

I was not familiar with the song all that much but your version lets me know it's a good song and I am not concerned with hearing the original. I like the song just from you singing it.

And go ahead and comment on Java's cover. So far, I am the only one to do so and I am not an expert. Here is why your input is valuable. Because you are part of the audience.

It doesn't matter how technically awesome we are, or are not. Because the audience responds, or they don't.

A few times, someone has told me I am pitchy somewhere. And 9 times out of 10, I was not but it sounded odd to them. And the repeated listening led me to a spot where I really was pitchy and no one caught it, so, I still learned. And just about everytime I was pitchy or the intonation was odd was because it was a "dirty" vowel sound and cleaning it up solved the problem.

Plus, believe it or not, I am learning how to record and post-edit, which is just as important a skill as the singing. I can't be there to hear you sing this in the same room. And you cannot be here to physically hear me abusing the guitar and a song in person. All we have are these recordings we share with each other. So, how it is recorded and edited makes a difference.

Your mix reminded me of the one I did for myself on "I Don't Believe in Love." I bit wooly and indistinct. Your singing was good and you've got more meat in the voice than the original singer, which I think is cool. But the vocals sounded like they were clipping.

Others have wisely critiqued my on me post-recording editing. And I am still learning. So, what I am saying is that I liked your singing and from what I could hear, you have great articulation.

tuvan throat singing. I can't do it but it would be different.

I liked it, too. And was struck by the interesting notion that on this song, you kind of sound like Dennis DeYoung. 
Kudos for NOT trying to sounding dusty, like Don does. As for his original phrasing, it might help to know that he is from, and still lives mostly in Dallas, Texas. I know because the company I work for worked on a project for his newest house (he has four, here.)

ok, missed that.
And Nocturne is awesome.
And still digging Green Menalishi.

Yeah, there is an accent. The phrasing and articulation was good except for one muddy spot. The lyric is "her mind is definitely twisted. She's got the Mercedes-Benz." I don't know if you turned away from the mic, or not.

You have a fuller voice in that area than does Don Henley. So, if you recorded this pro, you would not need near the track doubling and gain boost he needs to put up with his small, dusty voice. You've got plenty of ring, here. And I like how you changed the melody.

But these are picayune things, minor aesthetic notes. On the whole, you did well. And like you said, you are singing for french audiences and are probably singing English better than any of them could.

Tres bon, mon Ami.

I liked it a lot, too. In fact, I have d/l'd it to my flash drive so that I can hear it in my car on the flight home. Get on the tollway, set the cruise at 80, try stay awake, most times. But this should wake me up.

Great cover and I liked how you approached. Listening in my car, I thought the vocals had a bit too much sparkle in the EQ. Then, I remembered, I adjust the eq in my radio to deal with radio and if I had left it flat for USB media, it might sound more balanced. Because, at work, where I listened to it first on some fairly decent desk top speakers, it was alright.

So, I gather. Whereas, I learned a few times that it does no good to complain. Like one friend said, "no one listens, anyway."
And I have had great recordings using a cheap mic and Audacity, before. So, I know Reaper and my other mics do just as well or better. But in either case, it boils down to what I do with it.
And I have had a few people tell me I could not do a particular thing. And I would prove them wrong, which can be a delicious feeling, at times.
A co-worker and friend of mine said I would not be able to get a master electrician license because the test is just so hard, blah, blah, and blah. And so, that year, I took the test twice and passed the second time. First time, I use a study guide all summer. Didn't pass. Second time, waiting for the testing date, I did word search puzzles and passed. And let him know I did word search puzzles. So, not only did I get to prove him wrong, but rub it in a little.
The object of a word search puzzle and code book test is the same. The answer is right in front of your eyeballs, literally. You just have to allow yourself to see it.
And, I finished the exam before anyone else. 100 questions, 5 hours, open book. Even after re-checking all of my answers, I was finished at 4 hours and 25 minutes. I made sure my friend knew that, too.
And the next time I got a word search puzzle book, I wrote on the cover, "Ron's Master Electrician Study Guide" and took it to work.
It's how I was raised. My mother had a saying, "May God have mercy on your soul, because I won't."
Which was awfully close to the motto of the Outlaws MC - "God forgives, Brotherhood doesn't."
And I was still his friend but there are things I cannot forget.
So, take the things you feel you cannot accomplish and then prove yourself wrong.

I really liked it. Like I said before, you should be recording, releasing, and touring and obviously, you already perform in public.
 

This is really good. You started out shaky and then found a good stride about halfway through. Here is how to solve the shakiness. Quit speaking the words. Sing them. That means staying with the vowel sounds that are working for you on the chorus and the bridges when you are doing the main verses. That is, sing the melody line, rather than reciting prose in however you would normally speak English. For example, your pronunciation of "through" has an oo sound that that is affecting the note. Relax that back to more of an uh or short oo sound.
Here is a little trick you can try. Pick a vowel shape like ee. Then sing and hold a note wherever you like and articulate the lip movements for the letters a, b, c, d, and e, with minimal to no movement of the tongue. Record that and listen. And i bet you will hear those letters even while you were maintaining one vowel shape. You have to sing differently from how you speak.
This song is absolutely perfect for you because it sounds good in your voice. It is also a good song for you because the melody ranges so far and the vocal style ranges from an almost choir-like dirge to a rock scream sound. And it will also serve as a litmus test for your improvement. Keep doing this song at different stages to gauge your changes.

Well done. And I could see this also getting synchro licensing on this. If the show were still going, this could be on "How I Met your Mother." I could also see it in a John Cusack movie. He's got the right melancholy look. It's funny, really, he and I are about the same age but he still looks so young.
Anyway, excellent song, excellent singing. Dude, you are pro. You are the next rock star people didn't know they were missing. I mean like how everyone is now going koo koo for 21 Pilots? That is you, next.

I love it.
Reminds me of The Cure, Morrissey, and others... 
LOTS of Sob mode in your singing.... great range, intonation, etc.. 
You should be proud... sounds very pro and the composition is gorgeous.

Well done. And I could see this also getting synchro licensing on this. If the show were still going, this could be on "How I Met your Mother." I could also see it in a John Cusack movie. He's got the right melancholy look. It's funny, really, he and I are about the same age but he still looks so young.
Anyway, excellent song, excellent singing. Dude, you are pro. You are the next rock star people didn't know they were missing. I mean like how everyone is now going koo koo for 21 Pilots? That is you, next.

Well done. And I could see this also getting synchro licensing on this. If the show were still going, this could be on "How I Met your Mother." I could also see it in a John Cusack movie. He's got the right melancholy look. It's funny, really, he and I are about the same age but he still looks so young.
Anyway, excellent song, excellent singing. Dude, you are pro. You are the next rock star people didn't know they were missing. I mean like how everyone is now going koo koo for 21 Pilots? That is you, next.

My voice was pretty tight that day. I tried singing nasally today and my mix really opened up.

Just agreeing with G. And yeah, the only challenge, as it were, is with yourself and not to put pressure on yourself. And also, remember, go back and listen to some of your earlier sound files so that you can also hear how you have improved. Which gives the inspiration and confirmation that you will improve more. It may not always be fast or overnight, but progress does happen. Then, one day, you look back and go, wow, I had this voice? Who knew?
Well, you always had the voice, you just learned how to unleash it.

Just agreeing with G. And yeah, the only challenge, as it were, is with yourself and not to put pressure on yourself. And also, remember, go back and listen to some of your earlier sound files so that you can also hear how you have improved. Which gives the inspiration and confirmation that you will improve more. It may not always be fast or overnight, but progress does happen. Then, one day, you look back and go, wow, I had this voice? Who knew?
Well, you always had the voice, you just learned how to unleash it.

Don't worry, these are not challenges against each other. These are challenges against yourself. We select songs that aren't easy and work on them. I heard your clips. You are certainly capable. No pressure though. It would just add another element to your practice.

And your progress is following the curve of what mine was. I developed huge power and volume up top and the finer control, when needed, came later. And true, it depends on style or genre of music as to how much softer, finer passages are needed. As long as what you can do is repeatable and does not result in loss of voice or pain. Notice I did nt say fatigue. Anything, including singing, can be fatiguing after a while because it is involving the use of tissues and muscles, etcetera, the body corporeal.
With practice and the actual training effect on muscles, down to a certain size, it becomes less fatiguing especially if staying within an expected limited of vocal usage specifically for singing. For beginners, I would suggest no more than 3 hours total in a day. But that's just my amateur idea.
But I do know a smidgeon about anatomy and mainly a little bit about how musculature works because I used to lift weights. I could butterfly 110 lb (50 kg) free-weights, or 135 lbs (65 or 70 kg) on machine. Muscles, when challenged with a workload greater than normal, tear down and re-build bigger, to handle the increased work load. You don't grow more muscle tissue, what you have tears down and re-builds bigger.
But if the muscle, instead, is now being tasked to complete the same work load but more often or for longer durations of time, then it re-builds the same size but more dense. The muscle cell then remains the same size but its material gets thicker. You can see this effect on fingertips when you learn to play guitar. Your finger developes a callus. The skin of the fingertip has not grown bigger, it has grown more dense. Muscles do that, too, to handle the workload expected.
In fact, a vocal nodule is the same thing. One point or another on the meeting surfaces of the folds that suffers repeated collisions, similar to how your your fingertip collides with a string on a guitar, rebuilds itself in that area thicker, to withstand repeated collisions and, in so doing, it is protecting the rest of the tissue and ligaments inside. Nodule is not a cancer, it is a callus. And it can have an effect on the sound produced because it is thicker than the surrounding tissue and may not vibrate as fast as surrounding tissue.
How do you get rid of nodules or any callus? By not doing what brought that on. A guitar player who quits playing guitar will eventually lose the calluses. Because epthileal tissue replaces itself all the time. You are literally not the physical person you were seven years ago.
With some activities you can reduce or avoid calluses by wearing gloves or other protective equipment, the main idea being to avoid the collisions of tissue with tissue or some other substance.
I don't think one can say that any training system will prevent calluses. But a training system like 4 Pillars goes a long way because it teaches you how to sing properly without damaging yourself, in a healthy way designed to keep you singing strong and loud and expressive for the next thirty or forty years. You can be the next John Bush.
When you are using your body in a proper manner, less damage occurs.
Now, you can go and be a rock star, where the pitfalls and dangers are still there. Being a rock star is a job, like any other job. Only, it's like an intermittent salary job, more like a commissions-only job. The exception being union musicians working in studios. but their pay is hourly and they are guaranteed three-hour blocks. But it is a job with difficult work environments. 
Stages may look glamorous but can be filled with danger. Pieces put together improperly. Smoke machine output obscures steps and obstacles and down you go. That's another thing. What's in the smoke machine? Vegetable oil, like a vaping tool? You will live. CO2? That is going to dry out your voice and make you sleepy.
You know why Van Halen put the m&m thing in their riders? I get this directly from reading Roth's memoirs, "Crazy From the Heat." He liked to do all those acrobatic karate moves. Slight bit of history, he had a weak bone condition as a child and had to wear metal braces from foot to shin bone until he was about 11 years old. Once the braces came off, he started studying kenpo karate, in which he holds a black belt. And also, the japanese sword fighting. In fact, he lives in Japan part of the time.
So, he likes to do the more acrobatic martial arts move as part of his show. And union rules in some cities require the use of local union workers to build stuff. And they would consistently NOT build the stage to his spec, Weak spots that would twist his ankle. Or build it in a venue with a low ceiling and not say anything. One show, David started with the jumping leg split off the drum platform and cracked his noggin on the ceiling.
Well the thing about contracts for tours, if either party fails to complete the contract, penalties are awarded. So, if tour management and locals failed to even exclude the proscribed m&m's, Van Halen did not have to pay them. This has the effect of teaching tour managers and union locals to read the contract carefully and do exactly what it says, including stage construction.
But you are also on the other side of the contract. You have to appear and perform on the assigned show dates and any others that are added as the tour goes on. Failure to appear involves a penalty. Either in the form of not receiving the performance fee from that night or some decided penalty amount from the whole amount of compensation.
So, there you are, 6 months into a 15 month tour, trying to sleep on a tour bus bouncing down the road, stretch in a bunk with the drummer's stinky feet about foot from your nose. You are at the mercy of whatever food you can find at truck stops, when you are usually busy making a bee line for the bathroom because you do not want to drop a deuce on the tour bus because that tank is NOT vented.
You have to get up early to do a radio interview because fans like that and it invites them to spend some hard-earned money to come to your show. The more press you get, usually the better the sales numbers in albums, show tickets, and merch.
In fact, side rant impending: every once in a while, people have to rag on Geoff Tate and say how his voice went to crap. And they usually link in a vid where he was doing a radio show interview and sang a song and was sounding rough. But if you listen carefully to the interview, they came into town the day before and did the show the night before. Left the stage approximately midnight. So, he gets back to the hotel to take a shower, change clothes, pack his stuff and check out for prep to ride to the next town. Get something to eat because it is been more than 8 hours since he had anything to eat. And then show up at the radio station about 5:45 am to prep for the interview. So, he has not been to bed since sometime the previous morning. He has been up and about for about 20 hours or more. And is singing a song because they begged him to do so.
And armchair or computer desk experts point to that as proof.
That could be you. So, training with 4 P is going to give you endurance and a methodology you will need to keep with you in those physically adverse conditions. You are on the right path with the right system and I know so because I hear Robert singing and his heroic sound fills any room. You also have one of those heroic voices and will go far.
Just watch out for low ceilings and brown m&m's.
 

Awesome work. And you have a silky, beautiful voice. And having built such a strong and consistent foundation, you will be at C5 soon enough.

Also well done. I think you have the right voice for these romantic ballads and adult contemporary. You should keep this one in your ready to go set list.

I had to listen, it is a song from my childhood. Pacific Ocean. Naval shipyard at the Port of Los Angeles. My first step-father, a boiler tech, seaman 2c aboard the USS Ogden. He had a Mercury Zephyr with the electric back window. His brother had a 69 Shovelhead built like "Captain America" with a diamond-shaped tank instead of teardrop.
Anyway, hearing you sing this in your soft voice, you sounded a lot like Peter Cetera. That was cool.

Awesome work. And you have a silky, beautiful voice. And having built such a strong and consistent foundation, you will be at C5 soon enough.

I think you misunderstood Draven. What he means is that you are the greatest obstacle to what you want to achieve. I have found that improving on singing mainly involved getting out of my own way, to learn how to walk without stepping on my own feet, so to speak.
You said if you had that range nothing will stop you. He said, you will. That means that you can often hinder yourself with preconceptions about what you can or cannot do, what you think is happening to make a sound, which may be different from reality.
But can you sing that range? Yes, you will.