KillerKu

You can also try soundcloud or box as storage places. I haven't seen anyone share with google drive here. Not sure if that is an issue.

Neither played for me on the browser. I downloaded it and it said 'mp2' which is not the most common format. The second file played in itunes but you're probably going to need something with better compatibility, mp3 is your best bet for that. As for the cover. I like the emoting, but the pitch could be tweaked on some. The high in the chorus is flat in a very steady and consistent way. I noticed the pitch is a bit more accurate on the lower sections so I'm not sure if this range is a bit unfamiliar. It's not a tone deafness kind of thing, because the up ad down motion of the pitch is intact. A few things that would help, would be to grab an instrument and try to find the notes of the song and match them over time and delve deeper in ear training so you can hear the distance between notes a bit more clearly. Drone notes are really useful (play a note, and intentionally bend your voice up and down over the note to hear the various intervals). You can also use a program like this to learn to hear relationships between notes better: https://www.musictheory.net/exercises/ear-interval If you are having difficulty with range, lessons to find a vocal placement that makes it more comfortable and free would help as well. I'm convinced you'll be able to get it but it's going to take a fair amount of training and diligence. On a final note, the throat clearing is a bit aggressive. It can be a bit irritating for the vocal folds to clear the throat aggressively. Sometimes humming through mucous can be a nice way to clear it with less irritation.

It's pretty much awesome. Great timbre, explosive. I always like your eyes cause I can always tell you're feeling it. I think the one thing is the phrasing could use a bit of refinement in the verses. This song is a bit rappy and has some pretty fast phrasing. Sometimes you're lagging enough to lose momentum and have to cluster the syllables. The most extreme example is 1:30. Phrasing is a really tricky thing. And almost impossible to explain in words. Maybe listen to some rap just a bit even if you're not a fan otherwise. But think of each syllable. They can be rushed microseconds but it's kind of a give and take thing. If you rush one syllable you'll have to lag later and vice versa and the gist of it will usually fit approximately within subdivisions of 2 or 3 in the beat. My idea would be to tap one hand in 4/4 time. And try to rap this song without a sustained melody, or tap it out every syllable. Hone in completely on the rhythm and notice what rhythms seem to drag or propulsive it and what rhythms seem to run out of space or which ones seem to end prematurely. A lot of it is subjective. So there isn't really a clear right or wrong answer. But I have a feeling if you really get into the rhythm, focus on it and listen to how the rhythm is making you feel. You'll get closer to your right answer. As you said, improvement never ends. What you improve into is up to you. I think the more you explore it, the more certain patterns will resonate with you over time. And it will be a stylistic thing. So tap it, rap it, and really listen with awareness, lock it into the groove that feels most right for you. It won't be mine or anyone else, but I think it will be refined.

This is great. I love the harmonies and the guitar melodies throughout. The lead vocal is probably your best yet. The accent is still there, but sounds less limiting on the voice.

I liked the melody, some of the hi hat/snare interplay on the drum, and the piano hook next to the chorus. I like your vocals have a kind of quirky crying/yelping quality to them. Kind of reminds me of a cross between David Byrne and Matt Bellamy. The highest portion broke immersion just a tiny bit on first listen. I liked it more on second listen so it might be an ear catching thing which could be good or bad. The diction is a bit unclear, but I can understand most of it. I think it's overall good.

That's a good suggestion, Felipe. I've noticed I prefer the sound of my acoustic guitar with 2 mics. The offset trick is basically a delay. You can use a delay effect with panning for something similar, but two mics gives it a cool texture. I think it would fill up the mix real fast for more layered compositions though. I've noticed the acoustic has a real wide spectrum as is and can fight with drums/electrics/bass/piano/vocal harmonies/anything. So be sure to cut some of the frequencies (often lower mid to bass) when mixing an acoustic with more instruments.

I like it. I think the irony is that it complements your distinctive timbre. Keep exploring. Find what is you.

I liked that, Felipe. I recorded that one the day after he passed. Might do a bit of a remaster at some point for more fidelity. I liked Ronws singing Space Oddity too. Actually I've liked everything everyone has done so far. This thread has some of the highest batting average of our challenges.

I'm digging both of these. Gsoul sounds great with the Prince tune. I think with an improved mic you'd sit right in that track. MDEW, I love that. Your voice sounds like you, but more more confident, firm, and supported. It sounds like the best direction you could go. I had time to be as loud as I want today without disturbing anyway, so I took rough stab at Life on Mars. It has so many chords and is difficult for me to play and sing at the same time. I wanted to make sure something was posted before the challenge was over, but I'm hoping to get a better version once I get the chords and guitar playing more memorized.

Awesome. I missed your voice. It's so distinct and that song is a great fit. I've got a weird situation at home now, so I don't know if I'll have enough personal time to record loud noises right now. Otherwise I'd be all over this.

I thought that was awesome. It sounds pleasing, is very expressive and in the moment. Stage presence is good, you're in motion, engaged, but it looks natural and too theatrical or stagey. The only thing I'd wonder, is it's a great timbre, but if I tried to imitate I picture myself tiring out with too many songs like that in live singing. When I sing breathy I often aim to find a brighter resonance a little twang, and use just the minimal hiss to get the breathy sound. If I get too breathy without resonance I get a bit huffy and fatigued and it's easy to want to to either blow air or pinch notes. It's probably just that I can't do what you can do, though. This is good. You should keep doing it, I missed hearing you, and glad to see you back. I see a lot of potential both artistically as a performer, commercial viability as well.

Music composition is not usually 'EZ.' There's no program that can make it easy. It's always a lifetime commitment of hard work and devotion to music. There isn't really replacing that in any field. Even rock bands with relatively lower skill levels usually have members who have spent many years at their craft. Electronic rock composers like Trent Reznor spent many years at their craft as well. It's never as simple as drag and drop. Quality is not easy. Going down that route can easily sell yourself short. There are professional electronic composers as well. They didn't grab the EZ and drag and drop. It was a lot of work and expecting instant quality can be unrealistic, resulting in extreme frustration and delusions. If people realize there is no easy way, it can set them up for a lifetime of development through the rough patches and the good patches when preparing to put the work into whatever composition they're interested in.

A lot of times demos of songs will not have percussion. It is not uncommon at all for demos to sound like this: If you want to get a pro drummer and form a whole band like Bruce that's great. If you want to get good at drums that's great too, but anticipate years of practice in the meantime. As a multi instrumentalist I'm still not as good as some exclusive drummers. Jack of all trades, master of none and so forth. If you want to be a songwriter, you need a strong song. As a songwriter, the embryo is really important. You can still add drums, as someone did here (Not Simon and Garfunkel): But if the song is strong, it's strong. If it's good enough, people will have interested in covering, arranging, etc. That's the primary goal of a songwriter.

That's a clear improvement to my ears. The phrasing is much tighter. The original's phrasing was primarily behind the beat which conveyed a downtrodden, on the losing side of things. This one has some 'push and pull' in the phrasing, which gives it energy and a bit more hope. I also feel like the call and response in the chorus was tightened a bit. The strings were minimal and good, imo. As for the drums, I touched on it before, but it would be a risk to add to an already strong song. There's composition of the drums. Drum composition is a skill that usually has to be developed over time, as Ronws implies, unless you go for a stock beat. And with electronics there is often either a rigid element or manual editing/antiquating to give more of a human feel. I've done a lot of drum programming for my video game's music as it there will be percussion elements not available to me that might be more suitable for the theme and not distract as much as having some rock drummer wander into a random composition. This is an entirely electronic composition here: https://app.box.com/s/vloq945t0auc1x5sd5bvbfbbx105ni5u Drums are definitely worth developing. My brother can compose electronic drums fairly well as a non drummer as he's been a composer for some time. He's probably not as instinctive as me cause he can't really drum. I get him on there, and there is the lopsided disco beat, and the desperately confused rock beat. But his ears for timing are good. Basically the rule of thumb here, is you don't necessarily want to spoil something good by rushing everything and the kitchen sink into it. If you're not ready to compose drums but you're ready to sing and play guitar, while it's good experiment and learn and practice, you wrote a good song. It's like making a good meal. Maybe a meal might taste better with a measured amount of mustard, maybe not. But if you don't know how to open the bottle, aren't overly familiar with how mustard tastes, and the mustard sprays everywhere randomly over the meal cause every meal needs mustard, right? Learn how to open the bottle, get a taste for it, and pour it on a cheap burger. If you're more experienced later, you put it on the gourmet dish. I don't think this is a disposable song you wrote here and putting things in because that's 'the thing to be doing' could tarnish it.

It's partly how the mic reacts to plosives. Get real close to a mic and just say like B or P real hard and it wil pop the mic. There are mic shields, but a real good one can get through. There are a few other factors. When you sing a vowel there would be less compression than some of these plosives that block off the airflow. So if you have a higher compression and then kind of 'explode' the voice it can be more fatiguing. Beyond that, it can be stylistic. But sometimes a hard consonant is great for effect. Think of them as percussive elements of the voice. If the rhythm makes sense, sometimes it can form a bit of snare/kick/hi hat drum effect. But if it doesn't make sense, sometimes it sounds like there is a guy pounding on the snare drum completely randomly, because unless the words are written very carefully it might not sync very well to the music. As a general rule it usually sounds better to go easy on them if in doubt.