Owen Korzec

Having Facebook open while exporting probably shouldn't affect sound quality. Just generally not a good idea. More likely, as a recording engineer I've found it is possible for the natural human voice to sound auto tuned on occasion. I recall having a singer ask me to either let him redo a take or have me edit it cause one note had a glitchy sounding shift of pitch that sounded like autotune, but they were a punk band and did not want that sound in there even though it was just a natural fluke I'd have to listen to hear what rob is saying...can't right now but my wild guess is just a natural loss of legato and alignment of pitch.

Pronunciation is okay. I love the changes you made to it. The only critique I could give is you were a little early in time on the word "made" in the first chorus but not on the others so it's not a huge deal. Overall I really enjoyed listening to it, great version.

It sometimes works if you know what you're doing. I'm pretty sure it can be done in her case. You can hear a teeny bit of the drums coming from the headphones in her version when she's not singing and you can sync to that, but it's really difficult. But yeah, next time, import the instrumental track in your recording software, play that back through your headphones and use another track to record the vocals. As for similar singers, Hayley Williams (Paramore) comes to mind. Not super similar but close enough to be a good choice for covers. Covering singers who sound different is more challenging though. You then have a broader spectrum of choices between imitation and being original and you have to figure out what is the best balance. Sometimes you have to try hard to imitate their style a bit sometimes you have to try hard not to imitate them and keep it in your own voice instead.

Sounds really great. IMO you have a really, really, really awesome voice. Your tone is fantastic. It's got this characteristic brightness to it but it's not too much, it's just enough to make it sound like you are smiling a bit (are you?) and having a good time singing this. And your diction is very clear and speech-like but you're still getting a lot of power too, so that's awesome too. So, in my personal opinion, keep doing exactly what you are doing, at least in the range you find comfortable. It's basically perfect, the only part I could critique is you seemed unsure about the second half of the second verse. Particularly on "whispers" and "okay". But it seems like something that could be fixed just by practicing it more. Great job. I think you absolutely crushed any of the guys who are even going to attempt to sing this. If I tried this song it wouldn't sound 1/10th as good...

I think it sounds great. Only part I think you should change is the second part of the screams. It sounded too falsettoey, you do need some more meat there, particularly a lower larynx, more open vowel, and maybe some more twang on the lower notes of it. But everything else was plenty meaty, or didn't need to be. I actually didn't hear any pitchiness...I wasn't listening for it either, but if it was there on any kind of significant scale I probably would have noticed it anyways. Your distortion sounds great...in fact, my only concern here is, how is your stamina/vocal health with this technique? It sounds a teeny bit like it's hurting your voice, but if you are not feeling it as that and have no problem sustaining it, then go ahead and keep doing what you are doing. :cool:

That is a cool point about the A5 Rob and I agree. I kind think it is nearly impossible for an A5 to sound good...let's be real here, at that pitch, it's a shriek, not singing!!!! The one exception I can think of would be Steve Perry...he goes up there and it actually sounds pleasant to me, but with most singers including Gillan, I feel like when they go THAT high, it's just for the sake of singing a super high note and isn't actually a sound I would want to hear too often. E5 is really much closer to the sweet spot of intensity in the male head voice. I think that's part of why this melody transposition works so great here. And I feel the same way regarding key changes...sometimes you need to stick to the original key, but sometimes you can really move it down, a lot even, and no one will point the finger at you. I did that with "Iris"...everybody liked the lower version better because it fit my voice better, and no one complained about it being musically inferior.

Ron I was actually thinking of, in my version, doing some of the verse parts an octave lower, and going pretty baritoney on it. But since I can't quite even get the E5-D5-C5 riff down, I concluded I am not ready to post a version of this. I also want to make use of the A5 that exists in my voice. But getting from that to the E5 with legato has proved a huge challenge. There is some kind of bridge-like phenomenon between the two that I haven't figured out how to negotiate yet.

Rob, although I can resonate with Olem's points about the falsetto, I don't agree with his critique on the lack of dynamic at all. I really think you had plenty of dynamic increase in the scream portion, no doubt about it. The falsetto to overlay distortion to overlay distortion at a higher pitch, that's plenty of crescendo IMO, and a great creative way to do it. I almost prefer it to what Ian did because it's a more creative approach. The open vowel falsetto is less of an everyday sound, then you start at the same note with a beefier laryngeal configuration into this modal/ethnic thing, and then finally you overdrive the mic with that whistley overtone in your E5's...dude, it's totally badass. Just to throw in an opinion from someone who hasn't heard the original 5,000 times... And I warned you, Manolito is not an amateur (although his avatar may suggest otherwise )...I'd invite him to do his version of Child in Time as I'm almost certain he could do it very well too. He has already led by example previously in this critique section though, I've heard his work, it's great. I am considering attempting a version of CIT. I already post enough mediocre stuff on this forum, but it really does make for very helpful critique, when you put yourself out there doing something you're struggling with and be vulnerable and ask for help, it is a good setup for receiving genuine constructive feedback in return, rather than having people nitpick something you're already satisfied with.

Actually, I wouldn't doubt Manolito could do a great cover of this, even now. For one thing he has a killer high range. He posted a clip on here of him using a G6 at the end of a rock tune that absolutely floored me and made me rethink the value of whistle voice...also heard one of his covers, forget which one, I think it was the Queensryche one and it sounded great from start to finish. Sometimes Rob, the people you think on here are "airmchair experts" are actually great singers...watch out lol! I however will admit, like others, that wouldn't be able to sing this as well as Rob. Even though I can phonate a (very loud and ugly) A5. Does not make a difference. I would probably receive twice as much nitpicking on the overall presentation if I attempted a version.

Yea those are better. Just keep working on cutting out the shaky vibrato habit and getting some nice smooth straight tone singing. Some things that might help: -practice sustaining individual notes, no vibrato. this will be easier in a comfortable range at first -think of singing as more like sustained speech, as we don't speak with vibrato. -work on sustaining an "s" or "z" with no vibrato. If you have trouble with it on "s" then you can be certain that that shaky vibrato is created with the breathing musculature and nothing to do with the larynx, just keep working on smoothing out the "s" and that should be something you can practice whenever you want all day and make great improvements on but of course stay focused on keeping it smooth. If it's fine on s and kicks in on z then you probably need to work on balancing the air flow and cord closure a little better, the lip rolls and tongue trills from SS should help you with that. Also practicing individual notes like I said. If it kicks in only when you sing, it's probably more of a mental thing where you're trying to sound too singer-y, if that makes sense. Thinking about singing as sustained speech should help. Hope that helps, I'm not a vocal teacher by any stretch of the imagination, this is just how i'd personally address the problem if I had it. I actually gravitate more toward straight tone and never had any kind of vibrato until very recently and i'm still barely in control of it. But I did do some work on smoothing out my straight tone and it was very much an issue of removing unnecessary tension, relaxed focus of the mind, and being in better control of breath management

I always thought the "out of key notes" (technically, they are called "accidentals" and are not always mistakes ) were intentional, just rob wanting to make it sound more creepy/ethnic/tense/progressive/experimental...am I right here, Rob? But how he is doing that is inconsistent, which is interesting and kinda makes it sound unintentional. I would have picked an exact set of notes and stuck to it every time that 2nd section of the screams came up. You know what though, as a listener, although I know these accidentals bug others, I could care less. I listen to quite a bit of music that incorporates them so I'm used to it. Have y'all heard of The Mars Volta? That stuff is so packed full of accidentals it's ridiculous, but I think it sounds great. So does Rob's 2nd line of the scream section here.

That is awesome! I'm going to have to steal that idea. It's a good cover. I haven't even really heard the original much at all, so for an objective opinion against all the "but...but...but....it doesn't sound like Ian Gillan...but...but...but...you didn't sing the A5 you bastard" banter, it's really good, on it's own. My only critique would be artistic, it's a little too high larynx for my taste at certain points. But you know, to go into a song thinking, I am going to put my larynx in a position higher than I am used to, and at any moment it could accidentally get a little too quacky, but, I want to express a different sonic color of my voice to my audience, and do something unique artistically here...more than anything, that does take guts. But criticizing it for not being like the original, forget it. I thought that was an ancient argument. EDIT: Didn't see Rob's previous post. Point still remains, this is a critique forum...you know, for instance, I don't post my originals for critique here (yet) because I don't want to feel bad about the work I've put in immediately after I've completed the project. I totally 100% understand that feeling. It's like, tell me all you want a few months from now when I'm working on new things, but let me keep my confidence for a while, you know? I thought maybe Rob was more open to immediate feedback as he is posting here. It is the title of this subforum that brings the comments that it does. Rob, just post your stuff in the technique forum...we can chat about what you are doing technically. I think that would be more fun for everybody.

Don't you have Pillars? There should be plenty of stuff in there to teach you how to master MLN (same thing as twanging in the head voice)...what version do you have? I know that with 2.0 or later you should definitely be able to learn it from that, and maybe a skype lesson with Rob here or there if you're confused about anything. It does give more vowel flexibility, but not quite as much as speech. Between the vowel flexibility of speech and the vowel specificity of metallic modes up high, MLN falls in the middle. The vowel rules of CVT modes still apply within MLN, but within a smaller scale. This is why CVT has since added the Edge-Like Neutral, Curbing-Like Neutral, and Overdrive-Like Neutral subdivisions in their Metal-Like Neutral chapter. However I've found you can still sing ee, oo, ah (etc...the other vowels) in MLN though so I don't know how those fit in... I'm pretty sure you are already very good at MLN though. I think with KTVA, their bridge is from curbing to MLN. That's what it sounds like. MLN is basically what most vocal methods are calling head voice nowadays, or even pharyngeal or mixed voice.

Sound good overall. My only critique is you are doing something with your voice that's creating this fast shaky faux tremolo vibrato thing. Unless you like that sound, I'd recommend you try to get rid of it because otherwise it may become a habit and it will be hard to rid of. I would suggest learning how to sing straight tone instead for now, and adding a real vibrato later once you figure out how to do it correctly.

Very nice. Geno is right. Great head voice, great bridging.

Fantastic. One of the most perfect recordings I've heard on this forum. And this is you just going for a "live vibe"...damn... Reward yourself for singing it this well. Makes me wonder, what, approximately is your natural vocal fach? With your voice for some reason I get this sense that you are a baritone that has trained to get up really high. It has a boominess to it lacking in a lot of tenors.

Good. Low head tones are sounding good, but I think the high ones around A4/Bb4 could still use some more darkening/narrower vowel/lower larynx/yawn/open throat. I honestly don't know why many people find it hard to keep a dark tone up there (it's not just you), somehow it was easy for me, but whether or not it's intuitive, it is IMO what you need up there to complete your head voice and make it sound thicker.

People will always nag singers for modifying vowels. So many people seem to put diction as the highest priority at assessing a singer's worth. You can't please everybody. Somehow, a guy like Steve Perry totally got away with his modifications. I was watching some live vids of him recently and on the high notes of open arms there is zero intelligibility, almost all constant f1/h2 tuning. Yet he is still "the voice" because he didn't just modify vowels, he tuned formants. If it sounds cool, some people will let it go. I haven't heard LaBrie much but maybe he's only modifying and not tuning. Or doing what Dante would call a vowel distortion...changing to an ugly vowel shade far away from the intended vowel, as a crutch.

It sounds good. I agree with Elwin's comments about the ever so slightly flat pitch here and there. It was most noticeable on the very highest falsetto note and even that was arguably acceptably flat. As for not copying the original, you probably imitated Thom more than the average singer would in a cover, but I don't see anything wrong with that. You don't sound like you are impersonating him so I think you are on the right track. If you are really adamant about not wanting to imitate the original singer in any way, I would suggest you work more on it, but if I were you, I would personally be satisfied with the current mix of uniqueness and pulling qualities from the original that you did here. Anyways, great job overall. Not really the easiest song to sing. Belting that A4 on "run" is tough, I would consider that a vocal acrobatic. You did well on that.

Ron, let me help you out. I too prefer point out problems at specific time stamps/lyrics. It removes the mystery and clarifies the specific problems to be solved That is not yet standard practice in this subforum, which is why I didn't do it in my original post, but IMO it should be. Also, it can come across as too nitpicky. But at least you want have to listen to it 50 times to spot the problems. sharp parts in bold, flat parts underlined. In order of appearance in the song. hey baby won't you look my way I can be your new adiction hey baby watcha gotta say all you're giving me is fiction So here's an example of something you could practice. You had a tendency to sing that quick A at the end of those lines too sharp, so with focused practice on those sections you can kick that habit. That being said, later in the song you fixed this. So why did it have to happen in the beginning? I found out Everybody talks everybody talks - here just you shifted up the melody a whole step, i guess that's okay if that was your intention. Not off pitch just different notes. You did it the same way on the second verse too so it sounds intentional. In which case, relative to your new melody, the "i found out" in the first verse would be flat, not sharp. it started with a whisper (just the end pitch of the slide was slightly flat) Mamas always gotta backtrack All this trash talk makes me itchin And that was when I kissed her When everybody's words All you're giving me is friction It started with a whisper Also, generally speaking in the verses, that descending line, you didn't always sing the same pitches since they go pretty fast. That sets you up to sound pitchy, if you are not in control of every pitch. However most of it was on pitch in this version, just different notes from the original. I would only suggest tightening up that part if you wanted to sound more precise and technical. Okay that covers most of it. Hope that helps. Seeing as you were often sharp, it might be a smart idea to put on a capo on the first fret, and play it in the original key instead of your version which was a half step down. When a singer is consistently sharp, it tends to signify that the whole song is slightly below their tessitura. Move it up and they can more easily sing it with better pitch. The opposite goes for if a singer is consistently flat.

Ron, are you being sarcastic or serious? Seems like I pushed you the wrong way, I apologize. I have to remember to respect that you refuse to perceive singing as work. Nothing wrong with a fun impromptu rough recording, if the goal is to have fun. I did enjoy listening to it.

Sounds good overall. Vocal could be louder in the mix. Your timing and phrasing could use a little work but it's not bad, it could be easily fixed by singing along to the original more. At times you sounded too nasal/masky/pharyngeal/over-twanged (whatever terminology you identify with). Watch out for that. A darker sound would be preferable, something more "open throat", slightly more like a yawn but not too much. Your pitch is great. Hope that helps.

One more thing, try to find some way to put the zoom higher, closer to your mouth, probably around shoulder or neck height. That should solve the issue of guitar/vocal blend.

Good job. Mostly there. This would be perfectly well received sung live in a casual situation but it could be polished up. I agree with ElWin that things cleaned up later in the tune. But you are expected to also give a good first impression. That is part of why we warm up. Perhaps you need a longer or slightly more energetic warm up. Do you warm up your full voice, or perhaps sing a few tunes as part of your warm up? I think you could benefit from that. Besides that I feel like your normal ronws tone may not be the best approach for this song. I could just be hooked on the original, but I want to hear more boom/dopeyness. Your lower notes have the perfect tone for this and then I think your larynx raises too much on the middle and high range for this song. Just a thought. Of course the tone you used works great for other songs, but one tone will not work for all songs, IMO. But like I said...I could just be wanting to hear the original. I tell you this pretty frequently but you also need to work on your pitch accuracy. or is it pitch precision here? I dont know...Anyways, Go phrase by phrase, slowing them way down and nail down every single pitch. Then gradually speed back up to the original tempo being sure the pitch stays as accurate/precise as it was when you sang it slower and had time to fix each note. Also, to borrow a trick from Rob Lunte, Lucianno Pavarotti, my high school band teacher, and who knows how many other musicians, hear the note in your head before you sing it and it will come out better. That includes more accurate pitch. In the context of a song full of rapidly changing pitches, that is easier said than done. But once you develop the ability it's like you are imagining what you are about to sing the way you want it to sound, in your head, a split second before you sing it. I find it really helps. The hardest part for me now is remembering to stay focused on doing it through the whole song. Realistically I tend to reserve it just the parts of a song that I am more likely to not sing in tune. Hope that helps. I should really learn this tune as well. One of the better pop songs of my generation.

you can find it on the side where the poster's name is, click "email". I don't feel like putting it out in the open.