Owen Korzec

Well, 5 likes and 0 dislikes on youtube...

It's good. You could maybe tighten up the timing of the vocals a tiny bit during the singing part, but it's still good as is. The rapping's very good. The composition is fantastic.

I'd give you a 8 or 9 out of 10 on the overall product.

People who are good at mimicing are usually alot better singers than the one's that are not

Case in point:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkf9nV1NEeE

Start at 0:58 if you want to skip the intro

I think what I just heard was a product of professional caliber. Both your vocals and the rest of the cover.

I could always put my perfectionist cap on so to speak and nitpick some random little details that weren't mathematically perfect, but this is one of those cases where I think doing so would start to be counterproductive to the end result. It's good to leave some little tiny flaws in there.

There is a certain point where, whether or not it's technical perfection, the product is just done, you can feel that it is completed to a certain high standard of quality that I could most accurately describe as professional. You folks met that point in this production, where I am ready to shut my mouth and not offer any critique, and just enjoy the masterpiece.

So the question remains, what are you doing still on this forum?

You could go pro if you wanted to and have the right connections.

Sounds great. Consider throwing some reverb on it. A capella group vocals like reverb. :cool:

This summer I'm planning to work on a bunch of group a capella stuff as well. Making group a capella recordings is such a great vocal challenge, in so many ways.

If you plan to continue on this path, have a listen to this, it's a clip of some isolated Beach Boys vocal arrangements. Very eye opening.

Also download the Bohemian Rhapsody multitrack (available somewhere on the net?) and you can listen to each individual part (sort of) in that case, you'll learn a lot from that too.

Wow I'm surprised. Last time I heard a file from you, a few months ago I think (I hadn't listened to your recent covers but I know this tune), it wasn't nearly as good...did you cheat and give yourself 50 tries on the high notes? Or just improve a lot as a singer? Well anyways the finished product sounds and looks very good.

My only critique would be, watch your pitch underneath the autotune. I understand this song calls for autotune but if you want it to sound very professional sounding, your pitch has to perfect and stable underneath the processing. Yours wavered a bit. Some parts where you can hear it:

First 8 lines: it's okay here, it just sounds like you're mixing up the melody, but I have a feeling you weren't doing it on purpose and you're letting the autotune take control.

Then you can hear it again on the capitalized words, this time I can tell it's not intentional:

DID you think THAT I would cry on the PHONE

Do you know what it feels LIKE being alone

It continues through the song in various spots, but from listening carefully to those words on that part alone you can probably hear what I mean.

Definitely work on your pitch accuracy before you throw the autotune on. You should be in control of what pitch every single note in that melody is, and nail it precisely on every one. Then when you throw the autotune on you'll sound like a pro, not an amateur with autotune. Now I don't know if the average person can tell. But I, as a musician can, and I think lots of studio engineers, singers, musicians, etc. be able to tell. You need to please them too if you want to be successful in this business.

Did you record this all yourself? Great job on the arrangement, production, recording, video, etc. You are very talented and work hard. For that reason, if you've decided to share this on social media, expect to gain popularity among your friends for this video. The ladies too. :cool:

I would recommend rerecording just the vocal with more focus on pitch and checking afterwards for any wavery spots and redoing them, but no biggie if it's too late. It's perfectly acceptable for what you're doing at this point in your development. You're not a pro yet so you can get away with the little imperfections I pointed out.

Hey all....thanks so much for the replies. They are much appreciated!!!

Owen, I was trying to change it up a bit from the original, so I subbed some different vowels/melodies, but I get where you're coming from...it's different for sure/more like a live version.

I only had a couple minutes but here's a very rough take I did on the 1st/2nd chorus with vowels and phrasing closer to the original. Maybe that's more what you're thinking?

Let me know what y'all think.

UPDATED CLOSER TO ORIGINAL VERSION:

https://www.box.com/s/450o3cmpcu5nkro5ojt6

Kind of...Im not sure which I like better now. Maybe somewhere in the middle? Maybe the pitch and timing of yours and the articulation and tone of the one closer to the original.

I don't know...I probably being too nitpicky. Go with what you think sounds best.

That was awesome. I like it when a singer puts his own stamp on a song.

These covers inspire me and makes me depressed all at the same time. You guys make it sound so easy and singable. Then I am inspired to try it again. Last time I sang it I ended up singing just the high notes over and over for about an hour. I did not like what I heard.

Were you tweaking things within that hour? Repetition is great if you like what you hear but if not, you should be experimenting until you like what you hear.

If you post a rough file of yourself trying to sing the chorus (in a new thread of course) we can help you out.

Cool. Great version, definitely better than mine.

Only noticed a couple things. It would be better to hold on the word "world" and connect it with the rest of the line, to keep the legato. In general, like Ron was telling me, legato is key in this chorus...connect it all together. Also, some of the quick words, particularly the "to"s are mysteriously disappearing...keep it all a consistent volume. I would also suggest you use some more twang in the mid-range - around D4-F#4, it sounded a little too dark and muffled at times.

Absolutely awesome riffing on the last chorus.

Thanks Owen. I think part of the problem that I was having is switching back after "don't want the world" and "everything's made". I will try keeping in mind to only switch on those words.

Well keep in mind where you make the smoothest switch will be different depending on your vocal fach, how loud you are singing, etc. Do what works best for you. But plan it out.

You can also do "don't want the world to" or "everything's made to" or "everything's made to be" with no problems.

I wouldn't recommend trying to bridge during the parts toward the end of the lines unless you are really good at smoothly bridging.

And don't think of it as a switch. You shouldn't have to switch a lot. I think just feel a TA dominant to CT dominant shift and an increase in subglottal pressure at the top, that's all...everything else is kept fairly static

Felipe, I just tried this song for the first time. In the Higher parts I have to use a configuration that I have never used before. Loads of twang and lots of air. It feels totaly different from my lower singing.

Does it feel as if you are using the same configuration on both high and low just more energy or does it feel like you switch to another "Mode".

If it helps, when I do it (in the original key) I feel a slight switch but it's hard to hear and it's very subtle. And I kind of let the consonants guide me in and out of the configuration, using them as a pivot point to facilitate the laryngeal changes. And it's only this other configuration on the lyrics "don't want the world" and "everything's made". Good resonant tuning throughout helps, and definitely a high amount of subglottal pressure at the top. Loads of twang, not as necessary, at least not the way I do it.

Even though you are changing the configuration, once you get it down it should feel so smooth that you're not really thinking about it anymore.

The chest voice stuff is great. Maybe clean up the pitch and vowel colors a bit but it's 95% there.

You need a lot more intrinsic musculature in the head voice. Lower your larynx, twang harder and compress harder up there.

Work on some specialized onsets. Take a look at the quack and release onset starting at 3:15 in this video, work on that for a while to strengthen your twang. Then move onto working on dampen and release onsets which is just a heavy low larynx onset on the consonant "b", you can hear Rob demonstrating it in his newer videos. And then to put it all together, check out the contract and release onset at 13:00, work on that once the other two onsets are going well.

If you're not getting it, take a skype lesson with him, have him help you out.

But that is basically where you need to go from here. Spend a few months beefing up your head voice, reattempt this cover and it will sound badass.

Outstanding. This now has to be just about my favorite performance of yours. Granted, just about all of your covers are better than pros that have gold albums on the wall. But this really lets your voice shine through. True, you don't have to be the next latin love song singer, such as Enrique Iglesias was in his day, or his son, Julio. And even though you may dance well as he does, you don't have to be the next Ricky Martin. But you could do worse.

Do you do this song live, at events and clubs, etcetera? If you don't, you should. It will get you phone numbers. One of them might be an agent.

I thought you were talking about a different kind of phone number

Yes Felipe this is totally ready for live. Everyone, and I really mean every single person who hears it, will enjoy it.

Leave the take and just tweak the mix. I think the performance itself was great.

Singing sounds great, again, it's just mixing issues. Still can't hear the low parts very well.

When setting the vocal level for your own voice, use the lower parts as a reference. Put them just loud enough so that they can be heard clearly. Then check the higher parts. If the setting for the lower parts results in the higher parts being too loud, set the compressor more aggressively, then repeat the process. See if that helps.

Sounds better already, Ron. Especially the beginning, big improvements there.

Sounds awesome!

The only critique I could offer is the first two lines are too quiet in the mix. I can tell you were going for a gradual crescendo on those first verses and that's super cool, but I would have at least bumped those first two lines up in the mix a little louder, just to keep it from getting too soft to be heard over the instrumentation. So not necessarily a vocal issue, probably in the way it was mixed. And of course I'm nitpicking here.

The rest of it, perfect. Well done, Felipe, as always.

I might be performing this song soon actually. Depending on how consistently I can sing it. I've had days where I can really nail the chorus consistently (at least to my ears while singing it...I haven't recorded and listened back yet), others, like today, it was pretty bad. (edit: just practiced it again it's consistent again...see my thread. i think I just need to sing more beforehand to warm up.). I am not sure if it will be ready by next week. But I am working on it.

I also have a really vocally tough original song I'm working on and the melody resides within those same exact 5 notes so I have found this song very helpful to study.

Anyways, fantastic cover Felipe. I encourage the intermediate and advanced singers on this forum to also give this tune a go. If you can figure out how to get your voice to make that chorus sound right, you're gonna have a much easier time with other songs in that range.

Please don't be offended, Owen. But please re-read your review. Essentially saying that I need to get more lessons.

I said ONE lesson would help a lot...

I think both you and I are misinterpreting each other's text. You are currently thinking this cover is worse than it really is, because you thought I said it was bad. But I meant, despite the critique I gave, that it is actually a good cover. Not something to pull down from a thread. But I respect your decision.

An expert, such as Owen, has decided it was totally botched.

That is NOT what I said at all! It's fine, Ron. It's a good cover overall. I enjoyed listening to it. I just offered some suggestions on areas that could use improvement, if you desire to improve your singing further.

I'm also not an expert. Especially not at singing. And certainly not an expert critic. I seem to only be able to critique others the way I critique myself: with high standards.

I liked the high parts a lot. I think the mid-low parts were a bit too nasal at times.

Ron, it's time for you to start paying attention to and taking care of the finer details in terms of pitch and timing. That's something Rob got me doing and I'm glad he did, because it really is the difference between an amateur and professional sound. You have most of the main, important parts on pitch and in time, but it has to ALL be on pitch and in time.

Polish it up. I've heard enough of the raw ability of ronws at this point that I think it's time for you to go the extra mile. Challenge your voice to do what it cannot do. You are working on your low range and that is a good start. But not just that. I think you could also benefit from some overall clean up. Start being more nitpicky about things. Particularly tone, pitch, and rhythm. Be on the lookout for nasality creeping in and be more exact on the pitches and timing. That is all you need, really. Your vocal instrument is already well developed, the technique is there. At this point it really comes down to listening harder.

Man, just saying...one skype lesson with Rob, not technique, just coaching on songs, and you he will really take you to the next level. He'll have some tricks to help you with the low range too.

Or another teacher of your choice. Definitely take up Jens' offer.

Because we do not hear our voice as others hear it. That sounds really familiar...:lol:

Thanks for your understanding. The only reason I sing is because I love to sing; it does make me feel better. The main thing that's holding me back is the fact that I sound much different in my head when I speak and sing than I do to other people. When I speak, I don't hear myself mumbling (other people hear me mumbling), I don't hear a muffled voice (which is what other people hear). My voice is clean, crisp, clear, and to myself, I sound...well, very good.

And that's what makes this so frustrating...I sound good, but only in my own head. My voice isn't terrible to others, but it isn't as good as what I hear, and that's what I'm looking to achieve. I don't know exactly why this is, and it's very strange and intriguing. From what I understand, it is related to the shape and size of the sinus cavities. I have a deviated septum, and I'm going to take a wild guess and assume that it isn't helping anything. If that's the case and I can't change it...well I'm not sure I'll sing around anyone.

Deviated septum definitely doesn't have to do with it, I don't think. Such a minute detail.

What you hear in your head that others don't hear is bone conduction, you're hearing the sound inside your head plus the outside sound, together.

Don't know the science behind why it sounds way different in their head to some people and then others, like myself, the voice sounds pretty much the same, inside or outside.

Though I have learned for me that if I am singing nasal I may sound better to myself then to a listener. So that could be it. Nasality fools the singer. Often sounds good to them yet horrible to the listener.

Just saw your summary, that sounds about right. Go for those things the best you can. Hopefully I offered helpful advice on picking a vocal coach.

No problem, that's helpful info.

Particularly the parts about getting better at other things besides singing despite the same lack of confidence. Is there any chance those other things didn't really directly involve the body too much? You see, the difference with singing is, you are your own instrument. You're not working with other objects, it's all inside of you and all controlled by your brain. I believe singing is a little more directly affected by the brain than other skills that involve separate equipment that is part of what helps you do the task. I don't know for sure, that's just my theory.

That being said, not getting access to the right techniques also has something to do with it. There is a lot of bogus out there in the word of vocal pedagogy.

You know, you can actually use your mistrust to your advantage here. Be skeptical of everything you come across. Do a search online and look for vocal teachers that can establish credibility. The best vocal teachers are also great, active singers. They also have videos of their teaching online. So they establish credibility both in their ability to sing and their ability to teach. Lastly, a combination of both: the ability to correctly demonstrate what they are teaching. And then obviously, you have to like what they are doing. Pick a teacher whose voice and teaching style you are fond of. Most of these teachers who have a good presence online also offer skype lessons so you can take lessons with them from wherever you are, or offer home study vocal programs. That stuff is what I'd recommend if you really want to get better. Do you research, pick the right teacher for you, make the investment through time and money.

Most local teachers aren't that great, and also have less of a way of establishing their credibility, so you can't really trust them. That's why I recommend the above instead.

Going back to the mental stuff. First off, sorry if I pressured you into revealing more than you wanted to. I'm going to assume for now that you've tried everything you can and your condition just can't be fully treated at this point in time. Though I would recommend being perfectly honest with your therapist or psychiatrist about hitting the brick wall, and possible seeing a different therapist or psychiatrist, if you haven't already done that.

If it can't be fully treated, well, you can do your best trying to learn the techniques despite the mental handicap. It should probably still work to some extent as long as you can get your hands on the right resources that will really teach you how to sing well. You probably will never be amazing because of the mental condition, but you should be able to get up to close to the skill level of other things you can do despite your mental condition.

If all else fails, don't worry about it, just sing okay and leave it as a therapeutic hobby. I think I have read/heard somewhere that singing can be therapeutic for the mind, and have personally felt that it can create a bit of a natural high sometimes. You don't need to hold onto expectations of having to perform or record something good. I wouldn't recommend not singing at all just because you think you are not good at it. If you like the concept of singing, do it. Heck, maybe if you just stop worrying about it, you might end up getting better at it.

Have fun with it, do whatever makes singing the most enjoyable for you. Whether it's no longer caring how you sound and singing your heart out in the shower, or investing thousands of dollars in quality vocal training and going on to become a professional singer, or anywhere in between...do what your heart desires.

I wish you the best of luck. Keep your hopes up.

1) I've been insecure since I was 11 (I'm 23 now) and as you said, I don't think it's helping...

2) As for trusting my voice, I hate my regular speaking voice and I have a hard time believing that my singing voice will be able to deliver in terms of overall performance. That...and I have severe trust issues, though I don't know how much that plays into it (don't trust my own judgement of other peoples character).

Ah, a classic case of "singing is mental"

That kind of mentality, the insecurity and lack of trust in yourself, WILL make it impossible to sing well if you don't do anything about it. I would recommend seeking therapy or treatment. If this is really as bad as you make it sound.

Maybe it could just be a matter of understanding that calling yourself insecure and not trusting others is basically your own choice you have made. Based on a false assumption that you cannot change your mentality to be secure and trust others. Well, the reality is, you can, if you believe you can change.

Try that first...start believing that you can get better at anything if you practice it. The cool thing about that belief is it's factually true, so you have no reason not to believe it.

What you are doing now is practicing without believing it will improve your singing. That's not much different from not practicing. And that's why you haven't been improving. You need a positive, hopeful attitude while practicing in order to get better.

You need to believe that you can improve at singing first (and you can...anyone can). Only then will you actually progress in your singing.

Get your mentality together first, that's my advice. However you go about doing that. Maybe you just need to make a conscious change of attitude, or maybe you are really stuck in a rut need some kind of other form of help. But singing is as mental as it is physical. Your mentality must be working right in order for the physical components to start working right.

I agree with what is being said. Too masky, too much twang, too axl rose, too bright, too quacky, whatever you wanna call it.

Get your larynx lower. Train with amplification so you can really listen to your tone, go for a darker sound. More of a boomy, chesty aesthetic

That's the main thing you need to work on.

Absolutely. I'd suggest seeing a vocal teacher for a while though, at least a few months. your voice could become a lot better with good training.