izzle1989

hello everyone. i came to this forum because i'm really in a rut, if i do say so myself. i'm 18; i started singing when i was 10. i stopped singing once my voice changed at 13. when i finally turned 16, i started looking for ways to get back the power and balance i used to have. i started with singing success; i tried out the whole program, and while it did help me develop my head voice, i thought it focused too much on extending range.

i then found ken tamplin's method, which has helped me tremendously in understanding what i need to do to regain my voice again. he specializes in rock/metal styles, although he also knows a lot about Pop and Soul styles, which is essentially the style i'm looking toward. i've been working with it, and though i feel it's helped me, i can't help but think that throughout exercises i'm subconsciously pulling chest voice. i don't want to discount his

this is a clip of me playing around, with SSB; not really paying attention to what key i'm singing it in, but all in all, i need help. i'm almost definitely pulling the stuffing out of my chest voice, based on how i broke after holding out that 'e' vowel. i'm surprised i haven't lost my voice yet or developed nodules. all in all though, i want to ask you guys for your feedback and advice, seeing as this forum is filled with many talented and informed people.

https://www.box.com/s/b7f07d884a8e34241486

thanks so much.

That was pretty good. You have a great tone and resonance to your voice, but it seemed like you lacked legato.

You can improve this and your overall voice by doing anything possible to train you ear and your voice. Start from the foundation of singing which is posture.

1. Posture-Tall with an elevated sternum/Ears over shoulders, shoulders over hips, hips over knees, and knees slightly in front of ankles.

2. Breathing- the breath should travel low in the body, but this will not be possible unless you relax the muscles around the torso. I personally like to stretch the muscles around my torso while taking deep breaths to improve the release of tension during the inhale. One thing to remember when breathing low is to not over exaggerate the motion by collapsing the sternum. Keep the posture from the previous post while releasing the lower torso.

3. Phonation- the onset is the key to setting up the proper type of phonation. The onset should be a balance in between breathy and pressed. I personally like to give myself a reminder of the correct way to phonate by over exaggerating these two co ordinations then finding balance in between. I also like to connect the breath with the tone by using lip rolls. If you can't lip roll you can also use tongue rolls.

4. Resonance- the resonance of your voice is directly affected by the position of the larynx and shape of the vocal tract. Pay special attention to the shape of you mouth when singing certain vowels and pitches. You should be looking for which vowels and consonants cause the most tension the try to modify the vowels that cause problems. Ideally you should be going from an Ah as in father to an Aw as in awful to an uh as in up when ascending the scale. Obviously there is more to this and the changes should not be abrupt, but this will directly help to influence to position of the larynx and keep the vocal tract open.

5. Articulation- When pronouncing certain words/consonants pay attention to your jaw and tongue and check for tension under the chin. I have found that most of people's problems with tension stems from depressing the root of the tongue. You can help to alleviate this by vocalizing with the tongue in between your lips or using the "ng" exercises.

All of these recommendations are pretty generalized, but they do come from my experience with the same problems. Nothing is more important than finding a trained voice teacher that can work with you one on one. There are plenty on this site including the owner.

Good luck and let me know if you run into any problems.

Overall I liked the recording, but I feel you could have used more connection when you transitioned to head voice. I honestly believe you have more potential than you know. You have a great tone to your voice and your head voice is pretty well developed. I feel that if you can work on using both musculature's simultaneously you will demolish this song.

Great job and keep up the good work.

What does that mean? How and when is your voice trained enough, before you can can do whistle notes?

You are trained enough when you can ascend the scale with no breaks, a great tonal quality, and the whistle notes are connected to the other pitches. Not just some random notes.

I heard another clip from him earlier and the basics need to be addressed.

listen here --> https://www.box.com/s/45b7090236259c6f0cd1

Not to be mean or anything, but you should not be doing this until your voice is well trained because you can cause some serious damage.

No Problem:cool:

thanks Izzle for that response. Regarding onsets, I saw on a video that doing a quick 'gasp' before starting to sing helps to enable a good attack. I've tried it a few times but not sure if it is doing any good or Im just perceiving that it is. I will definitely give that vowels done staccato a try too.

Z

A quick gasp helps, but it is a little overrated. It is suppose to help to open the throat, but sometimes people over do this and try to keep the glottis open while vocalizing.

Trust me the staccato onset will do wonders. I find that this really helps me bridge the gap between singing and speaking.

Izzle,

I've just started working on the inhale/exhale exercise, and the link you provided is great. Thanks again for reply to my post, you were very informative and helpful. It's great to have some help with what I really need to improve on; now I know to really improve my breath control and (by-product) work on the pitch(?) of my vibrato.

Thank you so much.

Keith,

I didn't know that. I'll switch it out with the "si," thanks a lot for the tip.

Hr

You're welcome...I'm glad I could help.

Keep up the good work and let me know how things progress.

Very good singing. You have a nice relaxed tone that fits with this genre of music.

Haha, this is my attempt at a "full voice". That actually was enough critique for me to work off of - I think I need to work on cord closure to make my tone less breathy and fuller-sounding...

Any tips on how to get better cord closure?

Work on the onset by singing staccato vowels on a 3-5 tone scale in a comfortable part of your voice. Focus on saying the vowels as clearly as you speak.

I must say that this is not going to do wonders to your voice unless you stick to it. Voice training is a complete process so you must do everything you can to make it stronger.

I would say you should work on learning how to maintain the feeling of the inhale throughout your singing. You can learn to do this by laying down on the floor placing a book on your stomach so you can notice the rise and fall of your stomach with each breath cycle. After about 5 mins of normal breathing you should focus on slowing down the exhale by using hissing exercises.

First inhale and watch the book rise then exhale comfortably on a hiss(like a snake) for 10 seconds then relax and repeat. As soon as your are comfortable doing this you can extend the amount of time you hiss(10, 20, 30, 40, 50, etc) seconds. As you do this take notice of how your abdomen wants to stay expanded while you exhale slowly. As soon as your are able to do 30-40 seconds comfortably you can begin to do some lip rolls. Start out slowly and work the lower end of you range then work you way up to you highest comfortable notes then work your way back down. These two things will set the foundation for your phonation.

http://youtu.be/jZ_RwV52DMw

I want to give you some feedback, but I feel that any feedback I give could be wrong because of the quality of this recording. Record it when you have warmed up and can sing it with your full voice. I will respond when you can post a better recording just for the sake of giving you the correct feedback.

Hi everyone,

I hoped someone could give me a review on one or three of my Acapella covers below. I've loved to sing for a long time and just started making instruments, but wanted to start adding vocals, if my voice sounds alright to others (it usually seems to sound fine to me). My singing is without training, so please tell me if there are any areas you think I need to work on. I'm currently trying to work on breath control.

Thanks anyone/everyone,

Pretty Reckless - Just Tonight:

http://soundcloud.com/hr-river/the-pretty-reckless-just

Adele - Someone Like You

http://soundcloud.com/hr-river/adele-someone-like-you

Florence and the Machines - Shake It Out

http://soundcloud.com/hr-river/florence-and-the-machines

You have a great vibrato and a nice tone, but the vibrato is a little wild like a tremelo and breath control is the issue. Before I can help what types of exercises are you currently doing for your voice?

Another important thing is are you purposely trying to slur your words because right now you sound like you are lazily pronouncing them. Just that alone will improve you sound immensely.

what are the best exercises for cord closure ?? is the 'gug' exercise the best one ?

Z

That is a good one, but I like to use short staccato vowels on a 3-5 tone scale to work on the onset. The onset will set you up with the correct function if done correctly. I also feel that these staccato notes help to further connect you speaking voice with your singing voice. Check out this link if you already haven't done so http://themodernvocalist.punbb-hosting.com/viewtopic.php?id=4504

Also the exercises are not as important as how often you do them and your dedication towards doing them. Just vocalized everyday and you will start to see improvement because of improvement with the strength and coordination of the muscles within the larynx. Just remember to start from the bottom up and stick to the basics as far as techniques goes.

1. Posture

2. Breathing

3. Phonation

4. Resonance

5. Articulation

Another way of covering is to lower the larynx, similar to when you yawn, though another way to lower the larynx and cover is to lower the jaw and more specifically, the tongue. This i because the root of the tongue is controlled by the same muscle that controls the front of the larynx. This also produces a covered, sometimes, boomy sound.

At least, that's how it seems to me. And a classical coach I had consulted with. No, I don't sing opera, though he thinks I should. I can't seem to get away from this rock music thing.

I like prescribing the yawn because most people tend to take it too far and depress the larynx with the tongue which creates a muffled sound.

Your singing tone is very pleasant to listen to. The beginning seemed a little nasal, so make sure you are not letting the sound come through your nose unless the consonants are nasal. You can work on this by lifting the soft palate more. The "ng" consonant is great for this. The focus should be on getting that good nasal resonance from the "ng" consonant then going back and forth between an open vowel and the "ng" The exercise will be something like this. NG, Ah, NG, Ah, NG, Ah, NG, Ah, NG. This exercise can be done with all of the pure vowels. You can also vocalized with the tongue between the lips while keeping the throat open.

I wasn't too fond of the disconnection at "life has just begun" you can fix this by vocalizing in that area with lip rolls over and over again then do some sirens between the big intervals, but make sure you try to keep the sound connected. Don't worry about breaking just keep it connected and embrace the break. The more you embrace it the sooner it will start to disappear.

At the "But now" of the song the tone and the placement was perfect, but then you allowed tension to creep in by pushing too much breath pressure and squeezing the tone. Then you finished out the song very strained. If you focus on really engaging your lower body and relaxing the throat you will make a lot of progress. Try focusing on the neutral "uh" vowel when you get to the higher pitches. This vowel causes the larynx to lower slightly which will allow the sound to resonate more.

Descending slides in head voice will help to strengthen the lower portion of the head voice which will help you to balance out the action between the chest and head.

I try to do your tips, and here is my clip of me singing Mad World in which i try to do a more connected falsetto:

I'm working on producing the higher notes more softly right now, from that clip above did i do the falsetto at least decently?

thanks for your time and critique

That was a nice clip. You stayed very connected!

I'm so happy/excited for you...Keep up the good work!

I see, yes i did notice that i end the note too quickly, and this was recorded on my mobile phone so sorry lol

I don't know i thought i sang it in the original key, but i could be wrong so sorry lol, yes i have been having some problem to connect those falsettos what exercise do you suggest? and what is covering and how do i improve on that? thank you very much guys

My favorite exercises to help blend the range are lip rolls and slow sirens. Do the lip rolls for about 20 mins throughout your range, then siren quickly from the bottom to the top of your range quickly. After you have mastered doing the siren quickly you need to gradually start to slow it down. As soon as you are able to navigate your whole range without a break you can begin to lip roll the song.

Covering is just vowel modification which helps with resonance. When doing sirens start with an AH vowel the gradually change it to AW as in awful the gradually change that to UH as in above. This vowel change directly influences the position of your larynx which will help to keep your throat open.

Try this and post a clip.

Sounds pretty good I just posted a clip with different extremes of tonal modes and I believe it would help you a lot to do the exercise. Like I said earlier I have always had trouble with vibrato too, but this exercise really helps you to feel how to recreate the vibrato.

Oh yeah I have a great article that my teacher showed me also if you would like to read it I will post :)

Awesome, thanks man. Yes, I was choosing to use vibrato in some places. I know it's slight but I didn't used to have any, something i'm definitely still working on!!

Thanks again

Great Cover! I love the tone of your voice...I must ask what kind of exercises are you doing? I have always had a problem with vibrato too, but focusing on it directly does not really work. I have found the most success by doing fast scales of different variety. Also I would like to know how much time do you devote towards working your Upper pitches since your TA and CT seem out of balance.

Just keep up the good work!

Nice

Thanks for the tips, I'll look into that I'm not too concerned over this song and how I sang it as much as creating a different version of it from the original. I know there were a few spots in the song that were a bit off but I whipped it together to see if I could come up with anything interesting as far as changing the phrasing of the original. But those tips are good ones none the less and I'll be working on it as I go . Thanks izzle

No problem Tommy ;)

Great cover and great voice. I agree with Keith about the great nasal resonance your are getting, but it gets a little excessive at times. You also start many of your vowels with a glottal onset and vocal fry. I believe you can fix these issues by working towards supporting your voice better.

I would recommend doing some breathing stretches-stretching the muscles around the core while breathing deeply. I would also recommend laying on you back with a book on you stomach while taking deep breaths so you can feel the activity going on in the core. As for vocalizing I think you should lip roll or tongue trill through the song a few times. You should also practice the three types of vocal onsets-glottal(which you already do), breathy, and balanced/coordinated. I would do these staccato on a 3 tone scale

Welp that was my 2-cents Good luck!

I agree with the other guys, but I will still give you the critique you long for LOL

I would say you could afford to drop your jaw a little more as you seem a little closed up. Also I would like to say that you tone is very round and rich, but it is slightly too round/hooty. I would say you should ad more brightness to your sound by focusing on getting more forward placement. Vocalizing on the ee vowel will help and also vocalizing through the song on a lip roll or voiced consonant "v or z"

I won't also comment about your breath support, but since you are sitting and driving that won't be necessary.

Please post a better video...We need to see what you can do at full potential.

Good Luck and report back :)

Well first I want to say great job on this cover. Now time to get critical LOL :-)

The first thing I noticed is that you have a very relaxed sound, but as soon as you get to a phrase full of consonants you tend to push and strain a little especially at the word PROUD which sound like you are pushing too much breath pressure at the onset.

I would recommend that you work on you breath support as this is the foundation and will relieve the tension from you vocal folds. I also think you would do a lot of good if you lip roll and slide through the song on the neutral vowel "uh" this will help to keep the larynx from rising when you go for the upper notes. The main culprit for the rise of the larynx is pushing too much breath pressure so you will be better suited starting from the bottom up.

Breath support, clean vocal onset/neither push nor breathy, and vowel modification. If you have any questions about particular exercises for technique or phrasing then let me know

Good Luck!