MDEW

OK, this is it.......... You will have to put up with the out of tune guitar until someone buys me an expensive one. Capo on the 5th fret doesn't help things. Cowboy chords, Folk Style.

I am Keeping this microphone.

I am not trying to be a jerk. I am trying to help. The vocals need to be heard clear and on top of the guitars.

The vocals are totally buried by the music.   The first and best tip that I can give you is to listen back to your recordings. At least get the vocals loud enough that you can truely hear how you sound.

If you cannot hear the voice what difference does it make whether it is good or not? The guitar player will get the praise not the singer.

Have you even listened to any of these examples? The voice needs to be at least as loud as the guitars. It may sound freakin awesome but NO ONE will hear it like that.

     I know you have heard or read this a thousand times Robert, But it never gets old............ THANK YOU! What you have done with the FOUR PILLARS is just AWESOME!  I cannot say that I have reached my goal or anything, but I am a bad student. But that does not diminish the fact that FOUR PILLARS is an awesome product that will take you where you want to go with your singing IF you give it the chance it deserves.

       I do not think that I will ever be able to meet you in person or be a real student but anyone who does have that chance should take it.

        I know that Robert is a dedicated Teacher and Coach that has the interest of the student along with the physical act of the Art of singing as his main focus. You cannot go wrong with someone whose main purpose is for his students to excel in this craft.

The volume level was much better on that. I still wish someone else would join this conversation. I do not know enough about this style of singing. You had good pitch and I think a nice tone. I still think you are squeezing entirely too much to get the tone. You are cutting off the sound.

   If you make a new thread with this karaoke track and put Judas Priest in the title I can almost guarantee others will post to that.

I still had to turn the volume ALL THE WAY UP just to hear that. I am not sure what is going on.  You  seem to be in pitch but it.also sounds like you are squeezing the heck out of your vocal folds.

 I do not know much about this style of singing, so someone else will have to give it a listen. Still this vocal track is way low on volume.

The idea is to get the vocals louder than the music. Is  everything recorded on one track?  If so what ever you do to vocals will happen with the music and we still will not hear your voice.

   When you record you need to have your voice louder than the music. At least for any of us to hear where you may be having problems.

If there is a way you can do it....... you need to turn your vocal WAY up and turn that Guitar WAY down. Your voice MAY have sounded OK but it was so far back in the mix except for one or two places where you actually had good volume you could not here it plain.

   Thanks Gneetapp,  I still may need to change the Mic back to be sure.

Sorry Simon but we still cannot hear the vocals at all.

37 minutes ago, KillerKu said:

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.

Thanks Killer

9 minutes ago, JonJon said:

100% coincidence that I mentioned laryngopharynx....then again I do have native american blood on both sides so it could be a case of unintended clairvoyance, or even a low level diffused spurion from the akashic records. Dunno.

My Grandmother had Cherokee blood. Maybe it was that Akashic thing. I tried searching through those records....... I cannot read akashic.  Besides, I usually fall asleep before I access them.

13 minutes ago, JonJon said:

well, its like my grandma always said.... we all need to be more aware of cross harmonic bleedoff due to unchecked retrograde tension fields forming in the mylohyoid membrane

Now that I would have questioned. But I was purposely creating a TONE in the pharynx which has similarities to "Blowing across a Bottle". A tone separate from the sound of the folds vibrating against each other.

8 minutes ago, ronws said:

I did not hear pitchiness at the last. In fact, pitch was good all the way through and it sounds like you got the vowels behaving just right. I mean, sure, there is still a little accent and this was during the Eagles' "country" phase. And though Glen was from California, Don is from Texas and probably influenced him.

This is your best performance and best recording to date. Excellent job.

Thanks Ronws, I agree that this is the best so far, and why I mentioned the electrovoice Microphone. I tried a new approach to singing also and still not sure which one made the difference in sound the microphone or the actual voice...........But I am Keeping this Mic.

1 hour ago, JonJon said:

hehe

I hope you knew I was being totally facetious

 

I was aware of that. Why else would a man who is so against "Terms" and "Technical jargon" say such a thing. There is usually some truth in jest. 

You read things like tune resonances and amplify harmonics, Add bite or twang on and on(I am not knocking it, That stuff helps) It is just that  having so many different frequencies and Types of sounds to follow can get confusing. Part of my problem was thinking that singing should be easy,Free and without effort. Proper breath management was supposed to take care of the fold closure and stuff like that. Roberts Program brought home the "Active" ingredients in singing.

In this song I was manipulating purposely. Very different from how I was before. The resulting sound may not be too different but the act of singing was.

  Just the screen shot in the first video, it looks like her heart is breaking. Breaks my heart just to look at it.

   Ellise, you always sound amazing to me. I do not think that I could say anything as far technique to help you improve further. Only keep doing what you are doing.  Just remember  not to get too comfortable and think there is no more room for improvement. Our voices keep growing and changing and we will always discover new aspects of it.

49 minutes ago, JonJon said:

sounds like you are inadvertently setting up a Hemholtz resonator in your laryngopharynx possibly due to excess tension in the superior belly of the omohyoid. I had to quit singing in turtlenecks because of that very issue.

 

hehe. seriously though, it was pretty euphonic

I am most likely doing that on purpose because these things that are supposed to happen naturally do not happen with my voice. Create a tone or ring or ping whatever...... tune the space of air to the note required. The frequency of the lower chamber of the pharynx to one partial, the Sound created by the friction of the vocal folds(Metal in the voice) to another resonance area.

Too much thought going into it?   You betcha........ The idea of just singing and having everything sound good was destroyed long ago in my youth. And "Having to look for answers" was probably more harm than it ever was good, but it is what it is.

54 minutes ago, Bzean123 said:

Thanks MDew. That accent's 40 years of listening to country, that's all. Wait till you hear my Jamaican accent! 

Not sure whether you are already doing this, but Robert's given good advice about showing your upper teeth to brighten up the sound. Might be something to incorporate if you aren't already.

Keep em coming.....some Prince would be interesting!

I guess that is why I could not pin down the accent. There is a little Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Kentucky,Tennessee, Carolina..........in there.   Nice sound though.............

If you like older Country and Western, check out Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys a weird mixture of Western Swing and Big Band. Once you get past Bobs "Hoots and Hollers" that has no business being there, it is not too bad.

    This was a contribution to the "Legends Lost" thread.  Glenn Fry passed earlier this year.

I found an old microphone while searching through my things and thought I would try it out. I am not sure how I ended up with it. It turns out that this is an Electrovoice 635A. An interview microphone used by reporters and such. I was using a Shure PE50 super pro(sm57 and sm58 were based on this) and I am not sure if the vocal improvement is from the Microphone or if Lessons are starting to pay off. Anyway I can tell a difference in the sound from this effort and songs recorded a week ago.

  Any comments welcome good or bad......improvement is the goal. I am aware of the harmony being flat in the final verse. It was getting late and time to stop. Still a major improvement from other efforts.

     Great Job Mivke, Just a tad on the slow side(speed wise not Technique wise). I find that when I slow things down I tend to change the expression I was going for. The song is less intense and the highs end up more falsettoish and harder to maintain control. There is no problem with that if that is what you wanted to do expression wise, But it could be why you were thinking that something seemed a little  "Off" to you when you listened to it.

    Jeff, also a great job and welcome to the forum.

     Sounds Good Bzean. Pretty healthy Country/western accent you have going on. Is that from your home town or something you work on? I like it, My accent just trips me up and I have to "Do" something about it or it will take over.

      The "Sleepy" sound in my voice is something I have been aware of for a long time and as you said it seems that getting a "Bite"  helps out a little. The last recording of Peaceful Easy Feeling" was the best so far at taking the Sleepy sound out. I watched Glenn sing it a few times "Live" with minimal backing.

     So many good Eagles songs to choose from it is hard to settle on one. I may even try a Prince song just for the sake of doing it. "Purple Rain" or "When Doves Cry".  I had Forgotten that Natalie Cole passed this January. So many Good singers and entertainers have passed............

Good song. Wish I would have thought of it.

I think you are just trying to go a little too heavy on it. Sounds pretty good anyway.

If it makes you feel any better John had a hard time singing this too.

Write this on your song list to sing for people. Keep a list and sing them often. Then when opportunity strikes you are ready to go.

12 minutes ago, Bzean123 said:

Your singing gives me a peaceful easy feeling MDew!

 

 

Thanks........ You sure that's not a boring Sleepy Feeling?  I've noticed that about my singing. It may have something to do with recording between 12am and 2 am.

Here is one for Glenn. I decided to just go ahead and post it as is. The more I messed with it the worse it got.

Comments welcome anyway.............

5 hours ago, Simon Öhlund said:

I deleted the link and now i quit singing. I have tried for over a year to become a better singer. I have tried to improve tone quality,mixed voice and belting. I have always thought i sounded good in my ears but you know sometimes the mind can trick you into thinking you are good when on the outside you are not. Music is not just for me and i have come to realize that. I have had alot of fun on this journey of training rock vocals but this is not just for me and i think it is good that i have come to realize that. I wish you all good vocalists a good future. But i failed so now i will get back into gaming.Bye

Quit singing? Never!   It is true that we do not hear ourselves like others hear us. That is why you post on a place like this. Even when someone here tells you that you sing through your nose or your singing flat, it is not to make you stop. It is to give you directions on how to improve.

I went through the self learning and buying books on how to sing, singing techniques, and have been "Singing" for over 30 years. Even singing in public and getting paid for it ........... Guess what? I have(had) a terrible sound(I am now improving).

Even when you know in your heart you are doing everything right you can still have misguided concepts about your own voice  and what needs to change to make it better. How have you been trying to improve? what type of exercises?  Have you been recording yourself, listening to it and hearing where things sound wonkey and trying with a different type of sound? Using different amounts of Fold closure, Different intensities? Different vowels?   Or just singing the same song again the same way and having it sound the same over and over? There are certain ways to exercise that helps and certain ways that will hinder your progress.

Put the Link back up. Let more of us hear it. Realize that when or If we say something is bad or not working that it is meant to help you NOT discourage you.