MDEW

   Listening back to your last recording the part where you almost forgot the words was more like what you are listening for. "They slither wildly........"  You relaxed while trying to remember the words......That tone was good.  Also at the end where you started to run out of breath......You were Not Trying too hard.......Relaxed...

   That is a bit better....heading in the right direction. The sound was not jammed up in your nose....Also, do not think of the words as being separate..... sometimes it is better to sing the phrase as one word........WordsAreFlowingOutLikeEndlessRain    IntoAPaperCup........Sing on the vowels......consonants stop the flow of air........

   Again I am not a teacher and my advice may not be the best......But do not let others make you think that you should never sing....... You have taken the first steps by Recording and asking advice.......Listen to your recording......Think about it like it was someone else singing. What would you tell them?

   Sing one steady note make it as bright and pingy as you can then see how deep and dopey you can make it.......somewhere about the mid point is what you want.......

   And yes getting one thing straightened out can uncover other problems.  Balanced and relaxed is one thing to listen for in a good sound.

      Yes, other problems can appear. There are different aspects to a singers voice that  come together to make a good sound. How you breath....How you hold your tongue......How you shape your mouth.......which vowel to shade towards......on and on.  but balance in these things is a major factor.

    And in this song you may be Too nasal or harsh in tone and another song you may be too "Dopey" or "Woofy" (The opposite of nasal). I don't know.....I have only heard part of one song.

    With "Across the Universe" I would also end up trying to sound like the Beatles and it caused a similar problem of tone. For me I was too thin and Tinny sounding. Trying to sound like the Beatles I was raising my larynx and squeezing the chords together like swallowing......My tone is a broader but fuzzier sound than the Beatles......I have to sound NOTHING like the Beatles to actually sound good, free and balanced when singing a song like "Across the Universe".

    You are doing a fine job Gsoul, Thanks for sticking with it.

    I don't know what other forum you were on but never listen to that kind of criticism......Are there things to improve? yes , but we all have those little quirks and they can be helped.

One thing that I just discovered for my own tone is that I was holding the back of my tongue too high, pulling the larynx up and causing the sound to be too nasal. There are all kinds of things that can cause our tone to become  unbalanced and they can be fixed.

    Your pitch was good.  You are getting a little too nasal, I think that is from trying to match the tone of the Beatles.....Don't do that.....Find your balanced tone and sing like you, not them. Just for the fun of it....try keeping your tongue touching your bottom teeth and see if your tone becomes more full and takes the bite, or nasal sound, out of your tone.

    I am not a teacher......But....A good teacher or program can help you.

   Interesting idea!......Treat it like a Jimmy Buffet beach song......after all it is about a summer romance that ends in Autumn when the beaches close(at least on the East Coast U.S. where I am).

Sound cloud hates me.     Try this one.  I fixed the link.....for some reason the other link has a # in front of mdew.

https://soundcloud.com/mdew-4/autumn-leaves-practice

Ok I guess I found the right spot for the jazz challenge....finally! Well here's my version of the challenge song..hope you will like it!

 

 

      Your voice sounds beautiful as ever Magika,  I am glad you found the proper place to post this.

   No problem Magika.......I goofed on the title to my thread and caused the confusion.......I'm not sure whether I can change the title of my thread or not.

  Yes I can!  ......Done no more confusion (at least not about this topic).

    Sorry for the misunderstanding.....Chet Atkins did a cover in his Guitar styling that had a steady root fifth bass typical in country music.... I did think about borrowing from that....

I still have Autumn Leaves running through my brain so I am not quite finished with it yet......  Thanks for your suggestions.

 Thanks Pekka. I fool around like this a lot.....Changing words just to take the edge off of trying to sound good and getting my butt kicked. 

    Thanks Bzean.........I am trying to get away from the southern/country accent/sound for awhile to help with my tone and pitch. My "Ah"s drift towards "AA" and sends any tone into my nose also helps to raise my larynx and cause problems in the passaggio.

    I could try it as Waylon Jennings as opposed to Willy Nelson but my usual tone drifts more towards Willy. My voice is not Deep enough for the Traditional Baritone country sound either.  I am not finished with this and may try a full blown country style just for the heck of it along with Louis Armstrong of course. People around here seem to like grit and rasp......

Sounds great Magika,

    You should post this in the official Challenge section. You will find it directly under the review section on the Home page.

   I just posted mine in the review section to further advertise the Monthly Challenge for others who do not know about it.

  I still didn't get any reviews on my singing so I guess the song does not fit my style.   "C'est la vie".

    I guess I dropped the ball on this one.      Maybe I should add some grit and sing it like Louis Armstrong.    That would be interesting.

    The Idea of the challenge is no so much to sing in a particular style.....It is more along the lines of taking a singer out of his comfort zone and trying something new.

   Maybe .....What if this song were arranged for another Genre rather that the one it is currently identified with.

  I am not much of a Jazz singer....so here it is more on the Folk side.

   https://soundcloud.com/mdew-4/autumn-leaves-practice

  I was getting kind of bored while working on another song so I started messing around......This is just for fun....

    I thought I would give Autumn Leaves a shot. I tried Jazz for a while and that was just not happening. My internal rhythm is out of phase with Jazz.

 So here it is If Bob Dylan or maybe Arlo Guthrie had written it.........

     Just call me Nat King Coalminer.

     https://soundcloud.com/mdew-4/autumn-leaves-practice

    You and your friend are just playing around and you want a serious review? For playing around....not to bad.... it shows that you have the range.....the sound will get better in time.

I could not hear well enough to know if you were on pitch. I could tell you were close enough for playing around with it.

You and the song have potential..... 

    I have been playing it on my guitar in Am.....The chord voicing is easier.....I may have to tune down a whole step.  The song itself seems softer and more personal in Gm. Thanks for letting me know.

 I think you have just invented a new Genre.....Country Metal.....UK Metal Grass?.......

I have been working on Hillbilly Jazz for the other challenge.....

​     Did you arrange the music and play the instruments also? What key were you in?

    Nice work.......

Thanks Bzean, I was able to find a fairly straight forward recording of this. Those Jazz guys just like to make things complicated by listing all of the passing chords and changing the target chords to their extensions and replacing the target chords to fit a different key signature......10 different Jazz recordings 10 different progressions and rhythm beats with the same melody line.   Sounds good though...

    I have been working on "Autumn Leaves".  I am more of a "Folk" musician and have been trying to figure out those Jazz chords.......To make the song better suited for my style I had to break it down to the basic melody and chord progression and rework it from there......I think I have come up with something that will fit my style of singing and Guitar playing. I hope to be recording later this evening.

   With the bar raised as high as it is now for a Jazz rendition I thought it best to sing in my own style and avoid any Vocal and style comparisons.

Well done Anthony.

Great Job G, by taking the bull by the horns and getting us ready.

 When Jazz was mentioned Nat King Cole was the one of the first to pop in my head. Just too many songs to choose from so I missed the deadline.

Thanks to this thread I also ended up with one of those ear worms......"Mack the knife" will not stop playing in my head (Bobby Darren)......It just doesn't seem like the correct song for a Jazz challenge so I did not suggest it.