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Negoba

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  1. What would you do in the audience of a rock concert during a guitar solo? Basically watch with attention and cheer the guy on if he's kicking arse. Give him his time in the spotlight and share the enjoyment with the audience of seeing some great music. The worst singer we ever had would act like he was too cool for the solo sections. We would do "War Pigs" and I would be playing most of the stuff straight off the record. It wasn't like I'm yanking my own chain. Those guitar parts are essential to the song. If you don't communicate that your band members rock, the audience won't think so either.
  2. I found the free videos from rockthestagenyc on youtube pretty useful. He has quite a bit of material on the subject you asked. Despite what some here have said, technique is important. If you want to sing gigs, knowing the difference between shouting your voice to crap and normal tension can make all the difference. Personally, pre-technique I could do 4-5 songs live before I felt the voice crapping out (and being sore as he11 the next day), and doing it right I can sing over an hour every day without trouble. My voice didn't magically become beautiful, but at least I'm not hurting, and at least I can do my bit at gigs without worrying about my voice giving out.
  3. I saw GnR on the Use Your Illusion tour in Alpine Valley outside Chicago. Axl made us wait an hour or more but once he was on, it was a great show. There are certainly great singers that have their crap together enough to come out on time and still nail it also. But it's rock n roll. I've seen sloppy pathetic performances too by other bands and singers. Bob Dylan is so unprofessional, it annoys the crap out of me that people will go and see him. (Though he still does write some good songs). It's just like Bobby Fischer in chess. The guy was a racist nutjob, but that doesn't mean you can't learn from him.
  4. Basso-baritone is probably where I'm at. My calm speaking voice is probably about A2 or so. I've written songs with E2s and they require some warmup to hit good tone, but it's comfortable enough that I'm counting on that note to always be there. C2 is the best it ever gets right now and that would require swallowing the mic for use. Right now I'm working on tone and making C4 up usable. So thanks to Steven for some pointers. I'll be trying them this week and see how it goes. Played a little already, but it will take some time and experimentation. I've been singing for a long time but only very recently learning to do it right.
  5. Right now I play in a duo so the only other wrinkle is how to harmonize with the other guy. He's definitely a tenor with a very good upper range. Harmonies sound better closer, so my range has been pulled up substantially to accommodate this. I guess one of the things I think about is where I should expect certain things to happen. I know where my breaks are right now, and I'm working to figure out how to bridge. Despite what Rob says, mix voice has been a very useful way of thinking (it's all one voice, right) and I can bridge to that fine. (so my C#4 break is a thing of the past). But now around G4 where I truly have to go into full head voice, that's still a problem. I'm probably getting Pillars for X-mas. It's awhile to wait but I do have a day job...
  6. I do Americana stuff so yeah it probably doesn't matter. I guess if you know your own voice and what notes work for you, that's all that matters.
  7. This is a very good thread so I'm reviving it to tell me favorite story. I'm first and foremost a metal guitarist and my first true model was Randy Rhoads. Rhoads' mom ran a music shop and he gave lessons forever. Lots of famous California guys from the 80's took from him. But more importantly, the legend goes that at every stopover, he'd step into the local shop and ask the teacher for a lesson. Now he's frikkin' Randy Rhoads so half the time he ended up GIVING the lesson. But half the time he ended up learning some new little nugget to add to his bag of tricks. I have taken that life-long learning approach to heart ever since I first read about it 25 years ago. I'm not saying that the grab bag method of learning is good for beginners..it's not. You need an organized practice to get good fundamentals. But as you get good, the pattern gets more and more where you're learning every time you watch another musician perform. Every time you listen to a new performance. And sometimes there's not a lot to learn. Usually there's a little. But the idiots who brag about being "self taught" or even worse fail to give credit to their teachers, that's lame.
  8. I'm still trying to figure out whether I'm a bass or a baritone. My untrained voice has been able to do G2-C4 since puberty. I remember songs with C#4 and D4 being a stretch even 20 years ago but being able to stretch down to D2. I still break somewhere around C#4 but with only a little twang can get to F4 pretty consistently. I can hit C5 in a kind of reinforced Falsetto that's usable but more pretty than rock. Higher than that is just squeaky or airy noise at this point. G4 is now where things get wierd for me now. If a song calls for a G4 I can make it happen well enough to do it live, but I wouldn't go higher than that. But I still have to think and use technique to get above D4. So someone help me out. Someone here said Axl was a bass. Well I'm that low, but not as low as some of the basses in the Country vocal groups like Statlers and Oak Ridge Boys.
  9. If it doesn't hurt in falsetto, you should be able to convert it to head without strain. The process of getting that to happen is hard and I think involves some muscles developing over time.
  10. Your voice fits these songs well. You turn on a little blues growl here and there that adds alot. Rhythmically I think you nailed "Leave Your Hat On" better than "Letter" but Cocker himself made the latter, "Letter," massively loose so I get that that's the style. I'd come see you sing.
  11. There are alot of things that can be happening. #1 is headphones vs. small space resonance. It's just like monitoring live, you respond to what you're hearing back and if it's not what you expect you might not respond the same. Getting a good headphone mix makes a big difference. #2 live sound is very forgiving. little bitty inaccuracies don't come into your attention as easily. Recording is indeed a different level of scrutiny #3 the flow of a song. In your car you can just come in where you want, you don't have to nail the cues. the lack of pressure makes it easier to relax and just do your thing. So some suggestions. #1 - try to make what you're hearing work for you. You might have to experiment. It may be more of your voice in the headphones or less than you expect. #2 & #3 - you get as many takes as you want in your home studio. Do scratch takes where you assume it's not going to count. Keep those takes if you can. Often you can cut and paste good phrases, etc. But sometimes those scratch takes end up being great, and sometimes they just get the jitters off.
  12. Yeah, I should respect him. Kevin has given us all some good content for free. Thanks. Interestingly, if you type in "Resonant Tracking Singing" in the youtube search engine, response #1 is Kevin and #2 is Tibetan Monks doing "Throat Singing" which is an interesting sound...
  13. Get an SM58, and get used to using that. It's the most common live vocal mic and going to generalize the best. Mic technique in a studio with a condenser is different than with a dynamic.
  14. Thanks for the suggestions. I'll fold those things into my practice. Having a significant commute is a blessing because I get to practice 60-90 minutes a day. Amazing how things improve more quickly that way. But I also need to be patient and consolidate the gains made already. The guy from Rock the Stage NYC, who has alot of videos for free, had one where he has you doing some resonant falsetto and then switching to witch's cackle, and trying to feel the difference. The thing that happened was the realization that Axl was singing in this all the time. So I spent a few days singing my favorite GnR songs like the witch and it was one of the 1000 little steps you take. Dopey Witch's Cackle. This should be fun.
  15. I used to intentionally give just a little extra so that it felt sharpish while I sang it and then it would be actually right on playback. Now that I'm concentrating more on support and resonance, it's correcting itself. I used to think "I friggin know how to breathe, these exercises are useless," but this singing thing really is 80% about breath.
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