JensTP

Until you sing well, you're neither Classical or rhythmical, solo or choral, there are a multitude of ways to categorise singers. It's not about what you are, it's about what you can do. If you sing opera, you will be much more limited in what you can do, because it's very demanding. if you sing pop in a microphone, you will be much less limited. Now the important question whether you can learn to sound better (high and low) is answered by a 'yes'. Talent is overrated. Training is what makes most singers.

The counter-question is how does it matter to you? What will you use your classification for? If I told you you were a tenor with a low extension how would that change anything? Your recordings have a full three octave in range and for most microphone singing styles that's plenty. Not all notes are equally strong, but training can even that out. I would forget all about range and type and just work on quality - how can you make your voice sound its best? When you have a good G3 you can start working on making the rest of the voice fit that in terms of power and tone.

There's a daily influx of people asking about voice, and we usually (collectively) answer that it doesn't matter unless you want to be a professional opera singer - and won't be relevant until you're at a certain level of technique that allows evaluating your potential. What you have to ask yourself is why does the label of a voice type matter to you? Pick songs you want to sing. Find out what works well when you try and what doesn't. Find out what you need to make it work. Practice. Getting a teacher can help you really fast. To me (an amateur ignorant) your voice sounds a bit shaky. Work on support to even out the airflow across the range. However you do bridge registers much better than I ever have (starting with a slightly lower voice). You stay reasonably connected from bottom to top. That may give you have a headstart in becoming some sort of tenor.

Sounds fine to me:) You could probably do an acoustic gig tonight and ace it. Since you recorded in a quiet setting, I can't really tell what your else voice might be capable of, but the next step could be trying to sing with a band. A lot of things change with the way you handle your voice when everything gets louder (strain, loss of pitch control, tonal changes). Whatever problems you encouter will probably give you a clue of what you need to work on. If you're just singing to have fun then you can just keep going. Once you have a clear goal with your singing, a teacher will definitely get you there a lot faster.

Yup. One octave below the original (but correct key). Try transposing up a major fourth to A major from that position. That ought to fit a lot better at both ends. Then when you've had more practice you can raise the key until you can nail the Bb4 well enough to it in the original key. Keep reading the forums and searching youtube to find some tips. You'll probably want to look up terms like head voice, support, cry/hold and twang. Learn to be patient or pay a teacher to get there quicker. :)

Sounds completely normal for an untrained singer. Keep singing and you'll get where you want in some 10-15 years. Reading the tips here and learning from some youtube clips will speed it up a little, but taking lessons from a professional trainer will be much quicker.

I learned some of that by singing along with bowed strings. They have softs attacks on the notes (which becomes consonants) volume swells (with can increase voice control) and melodies become very smooth/legato. Keep recording yourself as you experiment with consonants and vowels. It's the sound outside of your head you're trying to improve. Maybe do themed recordings of a song for comparison. Decide that for a particular recording you'll want every vowel to sound just a little bit like EE or some other vowel. Sing it, record it and play it back. If anything sounds good make a note of that (what was the original vowel, it at high note or low note). Otherwise just delete the recording before anyone hears it and try the next vowel shading when you feel ready.

Well I love the original, so I had a listen (meaning you're now in trouble being compared to Adam Duritz). To me you're mostly on pitch and on time, so you can sing. The big question for me is what you want to sound like? You do some very hard attacks on consonants and some very drawn out dipthongs (kind of like CH'olorblAAAH-EEE-EHnd). Are those sounds naturally occuring in your voice or an artistic choice? Personally I prefer a rounder versions of consonants and vowels, so if you're thinking along those lines, work on your diction. If you like your current style then stick with it and make that art. The mix with multiple layers sounds freaky because of the timing differences, but it's good fun, so don't worry about that (unless you're going for pretty - then work on getting the tracks better aligned in terms of phrasing first and getting the mix balance just right afterwards). If you want more power and ring (even at the same volumen) I can only recommend working on support and twang and that's been described in detail by more knowledgable and paedagogical forum members in many a thread about singing high with power/ease.

I agree on the voice control sucking, but that can be fixed by singing. Keep practising singing on-pitch in a comfortable range (with no straining) to get the motor skills improved in the throat section and get your relative pitch perception as good as it can be. Work on your breath. You can use breathing for effect (as Beyonce would do it), but you need to make sure you have to ability to hold back (the high note suggests you aren't completely oblivios to that concept, but keep working on ít). Maybe singing half a verse of this song in one breath. Play with your voice. Make dark tones, bright tones, solemn tones and wacky tones. Find out which ones you like and apply them in singing (eventually becoming your style). The high sustained notes (F4) in the last chorus (after changing the key) sound really good to me and it sounds like you got a boost of confidence hitting those, so you got into the song a bit more and raised the overall performance. Don't be afraid to sound like shit or it'll make you sound more like it. (In performance, not practice. In various Idols, Voice, Popstars and X-factor T-shows we've heard these people who immerse themselves so deeply in the music even when they practise, that they've never heard how awful they sound.) Although the high notes don't sound strained, you probably need to retool your approach if they are - even if it sounds good.

May I ask why you're interested in classifying yourself? How will it change anything to know that you're a bass/baritone/tenor? With all due respect you sound like you have plenty of exploring to do with your voice to find out what you can sound like. It seems like a beginner's voice with a good chunk of natural talent (staying in pitch and all). When you haven't scratched the surface of what you can do it's pointless to classify yourself - and classification basically only matters if you're going to be singing classical or musicals (where the part has a fixed tessitura and typically also a required timbre). When I started out I discovered that my range was E2-D4. That top note eventually went up to G4 as learned a bit more control (of ugly yelling sounds). I didn't think about my range in terms of timbre and I didn't listen to recordings. Everything was clearly audible inside my head, so I decided that was my range. 10 years later I've learned a bit more technique (though not a lot) and now I think of my range as A2-F#4. I've have actually expanded my range at the top end without losing any low range, but decreased my perceived range. At my current level of ability the high end is much more powerful than the low, so it doesn't work in the same dynamics setting. The moral of the story is that your range is relative to your technical abilities not only because technique lets you access new notes, but because it opens up new timbres whereas initially your voice just sounds in one way - and the choice of timbre imposes a limitation on your maximum range to a tessitura.