Slow Start

Great job on that Seal, Javastorm! Strong a capella work too, must've taken a minute to figure out how to arrange. Do you have a low-ish speaking voice?

Thanks, Rosa! I am definitely playing the guitar part myself. I wish the songs were my own! The first one is a cover of The Waterboys (re-released by Ellie Goulding in the last few years) and the second is a cover of an unreleased Keaton Henson song. I tend to pick songs that resonate with me

Uh oh I'm a little late but I've got a couple I recorded recently. Sharing just for the sake of sharing the music. I like your timbre, GSoul82! So rich! haha Some good melisma too.

Hahaha honestly... I want to sing all of them! Those are all in my favorites. I just want to vote for them all!

Aaaand here it is! I'm going to get someone to take a better video next time because this video quality could've been better. :T Angela's at the Crosswalk in Plano, TX 1. Face To Call Home 2. I'll Follow You Into The Dark 3. High Hopes

I agree with Xamedhi that the delivery is a little low energy. If you want to sing it an octave, I would still perhaps still try to liven it up with some more interesting tone. You could use a more conversational approach in that, the speaking register. Listen to Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett for their phrasing and you'll see what I mean. In this rendition, I am impressed with how you are able to get your voice to stay rather stable... fundamental-wise, the stability is good. I myself had a crap-ton of problems with just trying to sound like you can when I started. Took me years to figure out the obvious. If you work on what your support mechanism (the sensation of keeping your ribcage expanded and relaxed lower ab coming in as you sing) you may be able to gain more control over your delivery and riffs. The riff/melisma was a little muddy which usually comes from either not knowing what notes you want to include or not being able to get the notes to come out due to lack of support. If you may not have to do it an octave higher right now if you feel that your voice is not yet ready for that. Perhaps use audacity and raise it a little just to practice it that way. How do you usually practice?

I enjoyed that alot - both of the versions. MDEW I feel like I have heard a lot of improvement in the tone and stability of your voice! You seem to have a characteristically open nasal port sound, which is just an observation... it doesn't bother me. Stylistically fine imo. What happens when you practice singing some scales with your nose pinched just to see if you can operate with a closed larynx sound? I liked MDEW's harmonies on ron's version and that was a nice guitar solo... woulda wished the bend sounded more decisive to me for more flavor. And Ron, it sounds to me like you lose some adduction in your lower register... sounds like a bit of the too depressed larynx with air comin' through perhaps? What happens when you try to find a neutral larynx position and hold your breath for a second and then consciously sing with a little less air on the lower end like you are talking under water? (glottal compression) I feel like lower connection should definitely be something that you can tweak around and get (reasonably since I know you're a high voice) since you have such good control of pressure and adduction in your higher range.

http://mfi.re/listen/1qzbnbc8vwbydmv/high_hopes_practice_1.mp3 Hey everyone! Please take a listen and see if yall can help me out. For the record, I've been doing KTVA volume 2 for about a month but only recently have been able to get my practice back to daily warmups again after being overseas. My first recorded practice cover of this song, I have been working on it for about a week now. Excuse my sniffing through my allergies between verses. a few things I noticed: I pinch up sometimes instead of using glottal compression (which I'm just now getting the hang of) Time could be closer to TAA-EM.. and the way I modify "high hopes" is not consistent, though I wish I could find something that sounds good, feels good, good and will work consistently. Perhaps take the "high" closer to HAA... I'm already pretty happy with the fact that I've been able sing this song at all (used to top out at E4 lol) but I really want to improve it!

http://www.mediafire.com/listen/jonxzdk3gcenw7w/a_face_to_call_home_rough.mp3 Just a little rough... and a little Shakira on the vowels in the first few lines... and choked up a tiny bit second verse. okay so it was rough. ha as raw as it gets, first take practice recording i guess feedback?

The second practice recording you posted was much closer to what would be considered healthy singing, MDEW! I think you may be coming to terms with the fact that you may have had the requisite amounts of twang already and were possibly just coaching yourself with the wrong cues. Also the recording sounds a little better mic'd as well to my ears... or was that just the difference changing your technique made on your sound/resonance?!

Who's your favorite? So many great singers around the world!

Loved it Ron! This is something I'd put on a playlist for sitting and lounging if you uploaded it to Soundcloud! We definitely gotta jam sometime and upload a cover together. :)

Good job Overdrive! I agree with Bernie that there is some pitch problems in the first few lines... mostly toward the flat side. If you are aware of it, you can definitely fix it. I liked your tone in the chorus as well. I saw this earlier today... I think this may be more help than I am... watch where Ken breathes and how he shapes his tongue for certain vowels just to see if there's anything you'd find useful. He definitely makes a point of relaxing via the lifting and dropping of shoulders as he sings as well as moving his head and neck freely to keep tension from creeping in with such an intense delivery.

Working on this for a performance that will hopefully be next month. This is Latch as sung by sam smith.... who is a lighter voice than me. Picked up the song yesterday and found it takes some time for the confidence to relax enough to really nail the high notes. I feel like it is easier to hit those high notes when I'm not playing piano, but alas I want to master my craft. And this is the first song I've sung that has a chorus on Eb5... quite cool in a way. Also just an awesome song in itself. Hopefully I'll solidify my playing and singing even further... add more closure to the chorus notes perhaps. http://www.mediafire.com/listen/gqt2912oy6dyhct/latchacoustic2.mp3 Feedback and everything welcome!

Ah I see! Yeah, I wanted to try to emphasize that note somehow... perhaps if I could hone my rasp/grunt technique and support more carefully it would be more emotive and less strainy.