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.

Thanks, MDEW! Can you point some of those spots out so I can look into them further? I know some words I feel like I was retaining just smidge of constriction but had (or added) enough support to make it work (or not struggle super hard) in this case... I agree that there is definitely plenty of work to be done still! :)

My last recording before my laptop died. Recorded on a nice grand piano in a big room all alone on a Sunday night. Crashed a couple consonants too hard, but trying some different tongue positions for the A (as in cat) and EH (never) vowels that seemed to do okay. How was it for y'all? ;)

https://app.box.com/s/pqt9akrtzw10rtk1gx2t I recorded an acapella backing track for one of my favorite folk songs, The Parting Glass, coming up with most of the harmonies on the fly. Recorded with Audacity, normalized, compressed, panned, reverbed, delayed, and EQ'd. Took a couple hours of work, but this is exciting because I (and anyone else who wants to!) can sing the full song to this track. Feedback would be appreciated... and if anyone wants to sing on it and record it and show the folks on the forum, that'd be fun too! :D

Thanks for listening, MDEW! Preciate the compliments! I still remember when I couldn't reach the notes in even the first line of this song before this June. I agree that I am not solid enough with cohesiveness yet... it definitely felt too much like two disparate parts chasing after each other sometimes. That'll hopefully improve as I really get into the song further and have the lyrics properly memorized. Perhaps my brain will be less busy trying to play catchup at last. Thanks Ron! I agree about doing it live... I would totally karaoke this song at a bar somewhere once I get it down for sure!

I enjoyed your gentle delivery... it was not perfect, but an honest and pleasant experience. For Eternity... got a couple things that you may or may not notice Also, I can hear a yodel/hiccup frequently, such as at 2:05 ish on the word "that" in "love that's so true". It's not a bad thing if you do it for stylistic reasons, but if you are not trying for it specifically, you may want to work on trying to sing it both ways to gain the foundation and flexibility in your technique. Are you choosing where you are breathing? I feel like a more aware approach to that part will bring more confidence and less intonation instability... I hear it around in places like 1:30 ish, "since..." and "grateful for all that you do", the "do" at 1:50 is slightly sharp and I hear many notes on that side of pitch instability. If you go through on your own and try to pay attention to if many of your notes in the same part of your voice are sharp or flat, you can probably bet on the fact that there's something funky happening in your technique (not anticipating a higher note or accidentally locking up support or something).

LOL Ron, you always know how to make me blush. I appreciate the kindness! :D

https://app.box.com/s/x0nj86q9mmztkmvte5ae Raw Vocal MP3! I have no shame lmao you can hear ALL the mistakes lmao:)

NEW FULL PRACTICE COVER UP! More feedback please! I've been working hard lately. LOL Best vocal workout everrrr. So my lyrics ran out like 2/3 of the way through the song... NOW I KNOW. also, sorry for the mic distortion, I was loud at some points and did not use good enough mic technique. Also, dancing around makes it difficult to sing into a stationary condenser microphone! Any tips on how to make that work? I notice my rhythm and timing for this song is so much better when I actually dance with it... even if I look stupid. maybe a 7/10? a lot of weird unplanned improv that threw off some pitch and rhythm here and there. also, there's a weird guide voice track that is barely discernible that did not jive with mah groove. some weird vowel choices that i'll fix more... but making the mouth while maintaining the open throat sensation is helping. I have realized I needed to reducing spreading while maintaining the smile in my previous practice and it makes a difference for sure.

Bu-bu-bump!

Ahhh thanks, Ron! How about now?