KillerKu

@GSoul, err, Legato, the operatic take is a bit robotic on the vibrato and not quite dialed in. It might help if you steer a bit of the straight tone into the vibrato and let it kind of emerge. You're also lowering your larynx more than widening the pharynx (beginning of a yawn), which is a common thing people tend to do when imitating operatic 'open throat', but this tends to to muffle and mute the harmonic spectrum. The soul takes have some good runs, and the timbre and vibrato are flowing more naturally. It's a great sound, but I do agree with MDEW that you are cycling through keys frequently and could use a reference tone. I'm a musician in addition to a singer, and there are chromatic/accidental/atonal sections in this song, which is probably extra confusing for a lot of singers in holding the key in memory acappella. When I sang acapella earlier in the thread, I held the tonic note in my head the entire song so the chromatic sections wouldn't throw me off as much. Jazz in particular is very tricky with these kinds of intervals in getting lost.

I've been away (in the process of moving and non online related issues), but decided to catch up a bit on this stuff. MDEW - This is actually a quite nice arrangement and you interpreted it well. I feel like I'm hearing some progress in your vocal development too, a bit more confidence and depth to the timbre, while still very identifiably you. Ugonna - That was adventuresome and spontaneous. Melodically things got pretty twisty. I like how you kept the melody fresh by including a lot more improvisational things. You weren't close miced, so you wouldn't have the 'studio' sound of some of the other singers. At some point it might be worth trying that if you have not as some of the richness of your timbre may be lost in that setup there. Magika - You sound pretty much flawless to me on a technical level and I could likely hear this recording and not have anything noticeably off in a radio kind of setting, but at the same time, it sounds 'lived in.' That's one of my favorite qualities of your singing. Even on a studio sounding recording it's hard to take some of the 'human' feeling warmth out of your performances. I can't imagine you sounding sterile. Bono - Never heard you take on jazz but your voice is wonderful for it. You have that round timbre with a very identifiable texture. It's silky and stirs the song up nice. I think singing jazz could be great for your development as the meter and phrasing add another dimension that isn't often there in pop/rock.

I'm really digging that, Anthony. Very delicate timbre and nice interpretation. Great flute improvisation. Makes me want get a backing track at some point and give it a A game effort.

I haven't been singing much the past few weeks, but this is a great song I and definitely love the genre so I started working on it figured it would at least get the ball rolling: https://app.box.com/s/ss28tjygcma0ivrtx096ygcdzbafykmg Never sung this one before. I kind of like the idea of randomly picking the songs, that way we have to learn new songs rather than going back to old favorites. It's better for me to to learn something new. I know it took me a few listens to absorb the song into my head, and more time to figure out how I might sing it. It helped me also to Listen to Miles Davis doing one. Even though it's a semi famous song I wasn't particularly familiar with it. The problem with that, of course, is participation will likely be lower the more people have to learn, where as if you pick All of Me, or Don't Stop Believing, something recent or everyone already knows, it lowers the bar of entry.

Glad you came back around and with something Nina Simone inspired too! I missed hearing your performances. I like you as a singer, you are quite dynamic with phrasing and made this your own, but I especially love the texture of your voice. The sultry tone, with splashes of a grit. There's a lot of fluidity the placement of the voice dynamically with splashes of extra body with less of the husky tone. I can't help but think when I hear voices like yours, I think of colors in painting. Some voices are clear and solid like a bell, and others have more 'texture.' I might compare it to the shading in a cartoon being flat, while a painting might feature extra texture, detail and nuance. I can tell you love singing live and it sounds very in the moment to me. The only thing technical I've got is I like the little yodels, but if they aren't intentional you might work on smoothing the bridge a bit more. I think it's mostly the breathy timbre, I love the sound but it sounds slightly scratchy to me and like it would flip easier than a less breathy tone. At the same time, those are some of the qualities that give you extra character, so I really wouldn't advise losing them. Keep recording, as it lets you listen back and evaluate things. It's interesting people can learn to sing in such a palatable way without ever having heard themselves on a recording, but I guess it just falls in place for some more than others naturally. I can't imagine a singing world before the advent of recording. Regardless, even people who never needed to hear themselves recorded to sing palatable for others have the tools now so take advantage of it, if nothing else, these are things that could be here after we are gone.

Haven't been around much but it's always a pleasure to hear you two harmonizing, and you were spot on. I really enjoyed listening to it. I don't have any musical critique. The only thing I have to suggest, is keep tackling that stage. The more you do it the more comfortable you'll get. I don't think belting (singing high, loud, and thick) needs to be your thing. There's an effortless, ethereal quality to the delivery of the voice. It doesn't sound 'lazy' effortless, or 'too easy,' but almost like an otherworldly entity leaks out of your mouths, a flowing quality, channeling and I think this quality is something you two can really explore. I did notice a bit of stress still there. It's enjoyable to watch, but still a bit fidgety as you're still getting the hang of things. Ultimately, not everyone needs to be exploding around on stage or high octane. When I listen to this, I see in my mind, an almost statuesque, almost statuesque, otherworldly presentation, bit like Roy Obison. Only with you it could be like two ethereal beings communicating with each other and with the audience. Keep performing, and in the long run (you have plenty of time) think of your artistry and how you want to communicate to an audience. I feel like you two have a decent chance of success as a duo with your voice blending, particularly if you develop an iconic stage presence/persona over time.

​ But what does he (or she) or whatever gain from this? Even if people did believe it, why? I'm more fascinated by that. Clearly that isn't a sustainable strategy even if your goal was to be that 'guy on the internet forum that impersonates Lennon real good.' It's such a weird thing to be dishonest about.

I'm at a loss for words for this. Why?

I'm not overly versed in country music as most of modern country released in my lifetime. I do like some of the older material, often pre 70s. I think something with traditional country harmonies would be most intriguing and challenging vocally: But I'll leave it to genre fans to pick something more universal.

I've had a pretty rough day so I wasn't sure if I'd be able to review today, but I really enjoyed that and it actually improved my day. It starts off fairly controlled and polished, you've got a refined timbre/pitch and are expressing a bit more sullenly, and the last little section just lets loose. Technically it may be less polished, but sounds emotionally released, raw, vulnerable, and just awesome. It gave me chills when you cut into that belting section and this is the best I've heard your belting. I think you're achieving a timbre that will appeal to more western audiences, the nasality has been reduced, but it's still you. You still have that voice print that sounds like you and no one else on the forum. I give this Queen cover the thumbs up. You've made huge progress. Keep going man.

There is some neat push/pull in some of the slower verses. In the faster sections you're falling behind the beat. I feel like it would have more energy if you pushed the beat. My biggest suggest is that you are mono - volume. In order to get a stronger rhythmic flow you should emphasis various syllables with more or less volume. Part of it is, Fergie isn't really a reknowned rapper, she's known more a singer. You might want to listen to more advanced rappers. With rhythm in general, I like to think of it as a way of creating motion and providing tension and relief. If you're late on a beat it can drag, if you're early it can rush. If you delay someone's expectations and resolve it, it can be satisfying. If you emphasize a louder note it can surprise, playing something softer it can lull or add texture to a stronger rhythmic structure. Think of syllables as percussive elements that can be at various volumes to create motions and moods. Obviously rap still has pitch variation as well. You're already speaking somewhat melodically, without sustaining enough pitch to be seen as singing, so that is good. But think of your movement up and down on each word, conversationally how it expresses the subject matter. Overall, you're on your way, just keep training and working on the skills.

​I have my headphones plugged into the audio interface and there is a knob: on one end there's "input" and another there's "feedback". For this song I had it mostly turned to Input. ​ If you can, set it up so you hear both the track and your voice at the same time. I find it helpful to make the voice little louder than the track, but if you're in the beginning of the ear training process you might need the backing track a bit louder to hear it more clearly if you don't have a 'feel' for where the pitches are. Something that happens to basically everyone with relative pitch, is if we sing without a reference note, we'll eventually slide away from the reference. I'm at a point now where I just need a drone note, don't need a backing track, but even if I sing very very loudly for a long time to the point where I can't hear any reference at all, I can slip just a bit and might start singing relatively flat/sharp relatively to the track and more in tune with what I imagine is a reference. You've got to develop a feeling of where things are, how each note relates. But then you've got to train to be able to actually sing it on any vowel. I noticed your 'oh' vowels in particular would go most flat, which doesn't surprise me as it is a very chesty vowel and you were already blasting a lot of chest. I did listen to the original here: You're right, Bruce was really pushing/belting here on this track compared to what he might have been able to do. I think he might be my favorite of the high pitched 80s era singers. To my ears he at 1:41 he is actually micro tonally just a tiny bit flat on that huge roar, and scoops up, maybe not quite reaching that note? t might be on purpose. I love that kind of thing when the raw passion takes over and even a virtuoso like Bruce might go a bit flat/sharp. To me that's like the same unbridled passion that I enjoy in punk rock, listening to Joe Strummer. Dio wouldn't go flat there. He's too good, and very controlled. But Bruce, yeah, he's rock n roll. I think for you though, you gotta get closer to sing this style of music. How far you can go, depends on a lot on the style of the music, the emotion being expressed. I get bored when music is always in tune. It sounds soulless to me, robotic, and with tuning software it always is nowadays, but when it goes too far out, it can lose people, even if the motion is authentic. But if you end up more like Dickenson and less like Dio at the end of the day and t here is something raw and unrefined sounding in there somewhere. Just know there are fans of that side of you too. Every artist needs to find their personal balance.

​ I feel the same way. I'm a big Beatles fan, but this is not a very heavy song in the original instrumentation. It has a dreamy and soft production. There is very little heavy percussion, the beat is relaxed, it's slowed paced with no rushing the beat, and spacey. I prefer she did it her own way rather than imitate the the original. Even so, The Beatles have been known to do multiple versions of the same song themselves: This is Beatles playing a laid back groove: This is Beatles pushing the tempo, gripping into the tune, and rocking hardcore on the same song (listen to their version of I've got a Feeling, they turn it up to 11): Come Together is definitely more like studio version (former.) Anyway, back on topic, Sophia has very good pitch, phrasing, and her timbre has mainstream appeal yet is is not generic. She's young and is perfectly poised to go places.

I'm really digging this. Your voice sounds great. Retains your personality but has a warmth. It has strength and affection. You made it your own and I honestly don't have critique. I could point out things that are different from the original, but to me that's good. I will say if you lean from this position into a belt on your heavier songs, I think that might help you retain some warmth in the timbre and prevent some of the nasality from overwhelming the tone the next time you try one of the beltier songs. This is just good progress and a great song to choose at this point.

Dude you're blasting at this in chest. My honest advice, if you want to sing this style, I'd do some extensive pitching exercises. Forget about high notes, forget about a lot of stuff. Just super hard work on intervals, drone notes, ear training, scales, and singing really slow, every note on the piano or whatever instrument you have access to, on all vowels (including things that use R like world, her, mars, etc). You see I like a lot of singers whose aren't pitch aren't perfect, I'm biggest Lou Reed fan of the forum, and if you do a more talk singing style then some of the pitching issues are more forgivable. But Dickenson/Tate these guys with their operatic metal kind of thing, it's very sustained notes, and it doesn't just glance or bend around them, it hovers and it stays. Maybe rehearse the song with the piano or something. If you don't have a real instrument you can use something this: http://virtualpiano.net/ As slow as it possibly needs to be. Pick out the entire melody of the song and match it one by one. I think you can get it, but to my ears, the notes are just too sustained for it to hold together for me. If you glance on a flat note, and pull up or glance on a sharp note and pull down. It's different than if you hover on one and just hold it. That's my 2 cents. I saw you've been working your sirens. And that's good, it will train a lot of things. But I think you'll get better progress on the other direction. The slower the better if you want to sing in this style. The bar has been placed high on this style. I'm not an expert, but it's tough. You're gonna have to keep training hard. It's one thing to be able to make a high pitch sounded physiologically. It's another to sing a whole song with the control that might be expected in this genre. One things for sure, you put a lot into. Sounds like you're blasting and really in the moment and passionately performing and I don't want t be harsh, but these are your heroes, so put all you got into it. I think for most people, it will have to be closer, unless you're working on a different style.

I did like the groove there, GSoul, and dig your falsetto, but watch when you transition to chest voice. It sounded a bit squeezed or pinched on the "I love it. I need it." . Even if you're going to go for like a DeAngelo interpretation or whatnot you should work on that bridging area to keep it smooth. For a quick fix you could give a slight yawn and let that note relax. But Rob is right, if you want to sing more in the original style you're gonna need to start with chest and keep some of the closure. I also think your rasp might be vocal fry in falsetto. I'm not sure about that. I'd work on the chest and try to keep strength in head voice if you want to go this route. I am an Eddie Kendricks fan, and I feel like your current path if refined could go down that route:

Your Misty is awesome. The phrasing is intricate but flows seamlessly and the vibrato weaves in and out. I love the legato movements, it's a complicated song, but the pitch moves accurately without a hint of robotic. Feels like brush strokes to me. I find the area you sing in, at least if I can picture transposing a female voice correctly in my head, very difficult to maintain. Not belting and extremely soft falsetto either. Supported, delicate, yet not weak, and also in control. It's impressive, but my favorite thing is that it still feels 'felt out.' Doesn't sound mechanical to me.

 I like your dynamics on this one. One of the things that keeps me from listening to much Dio is he often seems to use the same inflection throughout much of his songs. You take the song into more diverse areas which would hold my interest longer, if say you had an an entire album of material, it'd be more listenable for me.   I do agree with Rob that the tempo was a bit rocky. Speeding up in a song can work, but maybe a bit more gradually.

​This does make a lot of sense here. Since we aren't selling anything a lot of us probably don't put much thought into the track used.    I've practiced with original tracks as a training tool. Another time I found one karaoke track that someone claimed they had made and was fair use, and when I uploaded it to soundcloud they said it was copyright infringement.   I do think it's a good call to take care on this issue. Unless one of us explicitly makes the track.

​It's the key for harmonies. Mixing harmonies is another story. You should experiment with different distance and timbre generally speaking for each voice as close micing the same vocal style repeatedly will overload the frequency spectrum and makes mixing more difficult.    

Research intervals and scales in music theory for harmony work.  Generally major or minor 3rds (3 and 4 notes up) and 5ths (7 notes up or 5 notes down)  and octaves (12 notes up or down) are most common are most common. Major and minor 7ths, 4ths, and major or minor minor 6ths come next most often, The sourest sound is a minor second (1 semi tone up or down). Every harmony point has a flavor. Minor harmonies tend to sound sadder or more tense, while major harmonies tend to sound brighter or more freeing. If you have any kind of instrument it would be very helpful.                             

​ That felt like the most heart felt lip sync I've ever heard.  She was even a tad flat sometimes to my ear. So she had the integrity to not even tune her backing track and maybe even sang her backing track all in one take. I guess the next step is to make all mics double sided, just in case.

​ On a good whistle voice day I've hit the c6 too. Hopefully yours sounds less dumb.  On the clarity thing, something you have to understand is women have a coordination that is basically 'falsetto.' It wasn't traditionally called that, but if you want to keep weight as you ascend, it will seem counterproductive but you will likely have to shed some of the the 'woofy' kind of weight and add a brighter pingier kind of weight as you ascend. I hit limits as to how high I can woof without hooting like an owl. If you are a lower voice type, your register flip might be more pronounced too, so you might benefit from training a bit more like some of the guys do in strengthening your head voice. I listen to a lot of huskier sounding women and when they do 'head voice' it can sound similar to male falsetto which I like the sound of, but if you want diversity working towards the other kind of head voice might be extra useful.      

I like your approach on this newer one, Rob. I felt like the original had unique phrasing, but it gave me an art house kind of vibe and sounded more theatrical or acted out like a play. The phrasing and delivery on this new version brings the song into new territory and feels evolved. It sounds less theatrical or self consciously delivered, and more personal. The best I can compare the feeling, is if I'm watching a well acted, I suspend disbelief for at least for a time, that the actor 'is' the character they are playing, and also are likely going through some of the same emotions (method acting). Where as on a traditional stage play, the actor on stage will likely doing more of a performance art that also involves relaying messages to the audience. It sounds closer to the former, which I think is cool, you didn't write the song or the story, but it sounds like 'you' and very believable. I agree there are a few places that could be punched in. A couple of the throughs could use a touch up, but I'm sure you know as you touch up voice every day. This reminded me I wanted to take a shot at this at some point as well. It mostly hovers around G2 on the lower notes, which isn't too bad with some random notes out of my range. Looks like a good challenge song, and I like the idea of having an entire sub forum of songs.   

I'm not sure the low notes are the problem. Personally I've never discovered a technique of forcing low notes without resorting to some element of vocal fry or 'croaking' at notes. It is not mechanically easy to force low notes compared to high notes.    I think it'd be a much clearer picture after work was done with adding upper resonance into the sound. I did a little example here, of what my voice sounds like at the bottom of my range, depending on how I apply resonance:   https://app.box.com/s/covyx7e37mvm7vc4ha6g9zoyahdyjvir   The same notes, will sound different to a listener depending on how resonance is applied. If there isn't brighter resonance to counteract a low note, in general the voice is more likely to sound forced or to faked listener. Neither voice I did here was forced and my larynx wasn't even depressed very far. I recentered the resonance to a place the average listener might find more conversational. Generally speaking the 'woofier' you are the more difficult your upper range will be. So singing in this style may be a component of having difficulty reaching high notes.     Anyway, I wouldn't worry much about fach, but I wouldn't exclude the possibility you are an untrained contralto nor be quick to exclude the notes you're already singing even if others think they sound forced or fake. From what I've read, real contraltos often have difficulty finding brighter resonance. Sounding muffled is not unheard of even amongst famous singers:       I'd keep working on your voice and if notes don't cause strain or hoarseness, I'd keep singing them and wouldn't rely on untrained (including myself) people to fach you or decide what is forced or not forced for you either way.