Musickiks

Appreciate any and all critiques.

"Hang Me, Oh Hang Me"

originally a Dave Van Ronk song I do believe.

I love Oscar Isaac's natural tone, so I studied him a ton and really tried to capture the same idea. Please let me know how I did.

https://soundcloud.com/mb-vocal-covers/hang-me-oh-hang-me-matt

Hi Sleepdeprived,

I posted a response to your post on Harmony Central, but I copy and paste it here too.

bernie, thank you so much man! And thank you so much for listening...What a breath of fresh air to read...things were feeling very dark for a good day or two...you've instilled some more faith in what I can accomplish I think, hopefully, haha.

And one thing I've seeing from across the board is this "lack of passion" or "flat" sound without actually being flat. Gah! What could be causing this? I've heard I have an almost monotone tone at times...what could be causing this? Still not proper breath control? or thinking too much? A host of things? Perhaps just cause I'm covering songs and not singing originals? I think it probably comes across in our studio stuff a bit too...definitely something I want to sort out!

And yeah sleep, about that...

Well, see, that's the "danger" of doing cover songs where others are expecting a sound like the original singer. I liked the "Ring of Fire" cover. And I have sang out my range, as well. Well, I mean acoustic range. I did JC's version of "Hurt" and may have done a few notes below the original. Though I don't sing that low all the time. I am more comfortable a few octaves higher.

I also liked the "Sex and Candy" cover. Agreed, spot on. I am not as familar with Gorrilaz, Muse, and I have not listened to much Radiohead.

Technically, I think you sang well. Anything else, to me, is style or aesthetic consideration. I have re-arranged melody and lyrics all the time.

I guess it depends on salability. Though there are famous artists who have covered songs in a different arrangement and vocal line than the original. Like Ronnie James Dio covering "Dream On" by Aerosmith. How come no one gives RJD, even posthumously, grief for NOT singing it like Steven Tyler?

Really appreciate the critique! I agree singing out of your range can be dangerous. I guess I just don't want to set limits for myself, but I suppose there are physical limits no matter how much training you do...

Thank you both again! :cool:

and will give feedback on whatever you would like as well.

I've been working on vocals, trying to hit a "professional" level for about 5 years now (but have been singing all my life), I just turned 24. My goal is to one day be a singer in a touring/professional indie rock band. Numerous teachers and studying, never have I come across anything in my life so insanely frustrating! I just came across a new breathing technique, and singing towards the soft pallete, instead of using so much pharyngeal resonance, which has really seemed to help, but I would love to hear others critiques and input...

Some others on a certain band's forum, have said I'm absolutely awful, but I don't hear it :(

Am I really that far off from sounding good? or even relatively ok?

I know sometimes when you get in your little box, you can lose perspective on how you ACTUALLY sound, which makes it so difficult...

But yeah, I mean my band luckily has some songs licensed in LA, and I feel I've gotten to a somewhat commercial level, but then I have all these people on this other forum that are just laughing their heads off...is it really that bad?

I'd really appreciate any and all critiques and will critique back. Please help if you get a chance...

0:00 - Johnny Cash - Ring of Fire

2:45 - Gorillaz - Broken

6:20 - Gorillaz - Empire Ants

10:05 - Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill

13:07 - Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.

16:50 - Muse - Starlight

19:12 - Marcy Playground - Sex and Candy

21:15 - Radiohead - All I Need

25:08 - Radiohead - Pyramid Song

Link:

https://soundcloud.com/mb-vocal-covers/vocal-covers-october-2013

I'm super frustrated with finding my head voice, so I did a little experiment, if you'd check this out I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm so damn frustrated with trying to get a better vocal sound/head voice that I'm going crazy...I'm desperate.

anyways examples of my singing and me trying "pure head voice."

I do it on Got To Get You Into My Life - The Beatles (you might have heard of them)

and

Nude - Radiohead.

I show

1. Little part of the real song with real vocalist

2. me singing over that part the way I do now

3. me singing over that part again but when the high note comes I try what "might" be this pure head voice thing I've been reading about. and I keep doing the note this way after the song part end so you can really hear the tone and how I'm getting to the note.

check it out here: "Pure Head Voice Maybe?"

http://www.bandmix.com/matt-blackwell/

I might be totally off. and sound stupid. well I know I sound stupid on the pure head voice parts, though I hear at first it'll sound very disembodied, but I am much more on pitch I think, not straining. it comes fairly easy. like i'd imagine it should.

Though now after relaxing it, my voice does feel very tired and stressed right now after practicing it quite a bit. hope I'm not doing it wrong and hurting my voice. I can feel discomfort now in that "spot" in my voice a bit of discomfort as if I strained them, but it doesn't feel like I'm straining when I do the "pure head voice" notes. I'm hoping this is just because I rarely have been accessing that part of my voice so it can't take all the repetition yet...it hasn't worked out enough maybe...but maybe not. it does hurt a tiny tiny bit right now. but more of discomfort than anything.

it's a bit hard to hit that spot, as far as control goes... but I'm not pushing/compressing and not using very much air at all. it is easy as far as not straining goes, which is what I hear, that it needs to be easy... it's just like imitating a cat's "meow" like I've heard in a vocal coaches video...same general feeling.

Thoughts, critiques?

is the new way more right, or is my old way closer? HELP!! :lol:

Youtube link has a faulty link addy.

dmusic site, windows mediaplayer says it can't open the file, whether it's corrupted or a different format, I don't know.

But the pandathief link worked and I got to hear "Outpost no. 23."

And it's really good stuff. Some really intelligent art rock, blending rock, ska, funk, a slight disco rip on the drums. It made me think of a more angelic sounding Queens of the Stone Age. And I mean that as a high compliment, for I liked Queens of the Stoneage. Absolutely well done. You should finish the EP and get it promoted. I definitely think there's a market. At least you are in Austin. Do you get to S X SW? I've never been to that event but it's a good place to get known and learn some names to contact.

oh darn, hmmm you might want to try downloading the file?

anyways, thank you for the good words about Outpost! haha I really didn't expect anyone to check it out, just threw it in there. We're finishing the EP sometimes around Feb. or March. We haven't done much in regards to gigs yet, besides one show, so I'm not sure if we'd be ready for SXSW, though it is something to shoot for. if you want shoot me your e-mail in a message and I'll be sure to let you know when we release the EP.

I found another Radiohead cover in your Youtube channel and I wrote there that your voice is shaky sometimes, but for this type of songs, it's totally fitting. In my opinion, it stands true for Videotape, which I've just heard. Even if, apparently, it's not technically perfect, it's captivating. Since you are so influenced by Thom Yorke, I suggest you post something in a totally different style, more linear, where you have to use a natural tone and hold the notes a bit longer instead of just hitting and leaving. That will "show you up" more.

(Outpost No. 23 is super cool, I liked it as much as ronws did )

Right on thank you! Ya it seems how I sing, is enough to basically "get by" and it does fit the real "human imperfection" sound of Radiohead and that sort of style, though I'd like to be able to control that you know...so if I want to sound perfect I can. Outpost No. 23 is probably as close as you're going to get right now to my "real voice" and still in a somewhat high register, everything else I sing on mainly stays around middle C.

Also since you liked Outpost, and like Radiohead, you might want to check out "Burning Ties" on our bandcamp page, it's definitely a bit more Radiohead-influenced. I sing on that one, and wrote it all as well.

once again though, appreciate all the nice words and the critiques, every little bit helps. and you've helped confirm a little bit of what's been in the back of my head. thanks.

it pretty much stays around E and F# (is that middle E and F#?) which is where my range seems to be able to go at least good enough for performance purposes...but I'm kinda wanting you to decide that. Does it sound good/good enough? How pitchy am I? am I too nasally? Straining too much?

for reference, here's the video/performance i'm kind of emulating

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_-S...feature=related

here's my cover (i know it's not perfect!, this was more just a run through than a true cover for listening purposes), just click the purple or grey play button "Videotape (Radiohead Cover"

http://mattblackwell.dmusic.com/

I know my tone could be a bit more clear/better/less dry so I'm just looking for some tips from any experts who hear anything specifically...and I am emulating the real vocalist a bit for sure...that's kind of the problem i don't really know to hit those notes as well using my real voice, but if i emulate a bit i can reach those notes easier. he kind of has that whiney sound a bit. I'd like to be able to tone that down a lot but I'm just out of ideas, so damn frustrated...

Also here's an original song from my band, that I also have trouble with, if you want to hear me singing a song of mine with less emulation, and more me trying to do my "real" voice

http://pandathief.bandcamp.com/track/outpost-no-23-recent-mix

Thanks for any tips/advice