BetterThanFine

​I just did. What a fun song! I'm not sure who's singing this one, but there's a whole lotta rasp in his voice. Very cool.

​Sexy Beast has some great advice. It felt a little like you were holding back with your breathing. I noticed in another thread that you usually sit down when recording songs. Maybe try standing up and see if that helps? It certainly feels better overall to sit down, but I think you get a better sound and more control over your voice when you stand. I very briefly went to a vocal coach, and the best piece of advice she gave me was to take the biggest breath I could -- a gasp, as if someone had just scared you -- and then slowly breathe out on one note for as long as you can, like with a "Hmmmmmmm" sound. It doesn't have to be a pleasant sound. Imagine holding your breath but using just enough breath to make a consistent sound, and no more. It sounds silly, but it helps. When I first started doing it, there were a bunch of breaks in my breathing. After about a week, I was able to go a full 35 seconds without any breaks.

This is awesome. I haven't heard the original, but I really like your interpretation. I'm not sure if this is a cultural thing, and this has nothing to do with your singing, but the only thing that stuck out to me is that your expressions and body language didn't really seem to match up with how fun the song is. With a song like this, I'd almost expect you to be jumping up and down and kicking walls and stuff. Haha. And don't get me wrong, I don't record videos of myself singing, because it's too much for me to focus on at once -- trying to control my expressions and voice at the same time. So kudos to you for doing both at once.

​GSoul, thanks a lot for the feedback. Much appreciated. You and Denis both had similar suggestions for more "powerful" songs, so I'm on the lookout. I have a few in mind. Maybe something by Jill Scott? I think some of her songs would kill two birds with one stone, so to speak -- she's in my upper range and she has a powerful voice. Can you believe I've never listened to Anthony Hamilton until today? I've been missing out big time. I've had "Best Of Me" on repeat all day. So good. His voice is really smooth, and his vibrato is perfect. Thanks so much for introducing me to him.

I want to respond to GSoul more thoroughly once I get home tonight, but I just wanted to respond to the avatar requests. I've been here off and on since 2012, and this is the first time anyone's asked me to upload a picture, much less twice in a row! I didn't realize not doing so was discourteous... Rest assured that I'll upload one as soon as I'm able.

​Thanks! I did a bit of that near the end of Sun In My Mouth. I'll try to find something that does it a little more -- maybe some Radiohead or Coldplay tracks.

Otherside of the Game - Erykah Badu CoverNo editing, except some compression to even out the volume a bit.Sun In My Mouth - Bjork Cover​Added some reverb.Save Room - John Legend CoverEnhanced bass and treble dB because it didn't sound as "full" as I expected it to, but listening to it now, it sounds kinda warbly. Let me know what you hear.Hi there. Long story short, I have a hereditary high-frequency hearing loss -- high tones sound louder to you than they do to me; lower tones, as a result, sound louder to me -- and I'm curious to hear how I sound to normal-hearing people; do I need to enunciate more, do I need to "lighten or darken" the "color" of my voice (not sure how to say this), etc. You guys have given me great advice before, but I've recently had my hearing aids turned up, so I'm having to "retune" my ears, and you can help me do that! My main problem is that my tone sounds totally different to me if I'm not wearing hearing aids. I sound like a straight-up tenor with them, but without them, I sound like I have a baritone... color/tone, even if the notes are in the tenor range. Hopefully this is making sense; I'm not well-versed in musical terminology. This also obviously affects how I sing. Where I used to over-enunciate (because it sounded like proper enunciation to me; everyone else sounded like they were mumbling), I now feel like I'm under-enunciating. I barely open my mouth when I sing anymore, because if I do more, it feels like I'm overdoing it. I'd kinda like to have a general conversation about singing with hearing loss, but I'm not sure where I'd go for that. In the meantime, please let me know what you think! As an aside, I'm planning to record some covers that actually have instrumentals. I didn't include the instrumentals for Save Room or Otherside of the Game because they're copyrighted, and I couldn't find one for Sun In My Mouth. Thanks!

7/10.* Your accent is almost imperceptible, but it does come out on some words in particular. For example, when you say "blue," something sounds different. Here's a recording (). I exaggerated the way that I'm hearing you say it to show you what I mean, and then I put the way that I would say it afterward. I also hear it on "Between the velvet lies." "Between" sounds like "betwin." This also might just be something you can integrate into your style? To give an extreme example, Bjork has pretty much made a career out of sounding as "foreign" as possible and not trying to achieve the standardized English "musical accent." I'm not sure if that'll work for everyone, but it's a thought.

Gotta admit, I'm not a fan of the video itself -- the green screen effect is super distracting --, but you sing really well. I don't know how you get your voice to sound raspy like that, but it really suits this style of music. Nice range too.

Thanks for listening. As an aside, anyone have suggestions on how to find a balance between loud/nasally and soft/breathy? I feel like I have to hold my voice back a lot to keep it from sounding nasally, but then the sound is a little boring because I'm not singing the note as well as I could (if I weren't trying so hard to sing "pretty").

I haven't heard the original, but I have a few ideas on how to improve your sound. I'm not a vocal instructor nor an expert vocalist, just someone like you who's learning, so take my ideas with a grain of salt. 1.) I would recommend using backing instrumentals. They help you learn timing and give you a point of reference for the key your voice should be in. If I'm singing a cappella (and I used to prefer singing a cappella), I have a tendency to change octaves after the chorus; my tempo also changes dramatically as the song progresses. Instrumentals also just enhance your voice and make the song "headnodic", as Pandora might call it... They just make a track way more interesting, and people are more likely to listen to it. 2.) It sounds like you might be singing through your nose and/or that you're singing too loud. The sound is pretty nasally. This might just be personal preference. 3.) Are you using your diaphragm when you're singing? That made a HUGE difference for me when I started doing it consistently. It added a whole range of notes that I couldn't reach comfortably before. 4.) Be confident when you're singing -- visualize, feel, and hear the right note and KNOW that you're going to sing it well. Put your shoulders back and sit or stand up straight if you normally slouch when singing. Ooze confidence. If you ever watch any pro live singers (Amy Winehouse is one of my favorites*), you'll notice that she never shows any signs of self-doubt. She 100% feels the music, she's in the zone, and she's not really thinking about what she's doing. It's become second-nature. If you turned the sound off, she could just as easily be talking. That's the kind of comfort level you want with singing, because that's when you'll really free your voice. 5.) Try to practice every day. Because you love singing, you're probably doing this anyway. I don't personally do lip rolls or warm-ups (not recommending this) but I do sing "easier" songs and I hum a lot before singing more challenging songs, and that helps. Hope this helps! *Here's one of my favorite videos of Amy singing "There Is No Greater Love." You can tell that in her head, in this moment, nothing exists except her and the music.

Thanks, Jugulator! I love me some Michael Buble. I used to be able to reach the higher notes in his songs, but -- unexpectedly -- my voice has gotten a little deeper in the past couple months so I can't anymore! I need to find some way to gently stretch the chords out to sing those notes again. I'd love to cover Quando Quando Quando sometime. Not sure on your age, Ron, but the disadvantage of being 23 is that I haven't heard awesome music like this before. Feel free to share more. That song is badass! I'm going to learn it. Thanks for sharing, and thanks for the comment.

A bit genderbending.

Your countless contributions to the forum aside, here are my honest feelings about this version... Firstly, and I can't quite put my finger on it, the whole song sounds just slightly off-key to me. Is this in the same key as the original? Secondly, I'd like to hear more OOMPH! In my humble opinion, this song is supposed to be belted drunkenly and merrily; this rendition sounds like how I'd feel the morning after an awesome night -- reminiscent and regretful instead of friendly, buzzed, and reckless. This might have to do with your phrasing, which sounds way too precise and self-aware for this song (particularly in the chorus) in my opinion. More twang would be great. - Southerner

Suggestions for improvement? Uh, I think you've got this style down. As far as personal preferences go, I might like a more toned-down version of this -- the same amount of blues and emotion, but with less belting. The whole song is belting, and that kind of gets tiresome (again, for me personally) after a while. I feel like belting should be used to punctuate a song instead of defining it. You have a really interesting voice, though. I like the gritty texture you add in certain parts.

Wow, you have a really nice tone, smooth vibrato, and I can feel the emotion you're putting into the song. It's super sweet and endearing. I agree that there's a bit of tension on some of the high notes, but I think that can be fixed by warming up every day and practicing higher notes (gently). I like it.

I haven't heard the original, but I really like this! It started off a little rocky, but once you got into the groove, it started sounding really good! If I had any piece of constructive criticism, it would be that it sounds a little nasally sometimes. I almost wonder if you're not fully using your diaphragm? You sound like a soprano, maybe mezzo-soprano? I'm not sure if these fit your style, but my two favorite artists who (might) be in your range are Björk (on the very high end of the soprano range) and Corinne Bailey Rae. A little deeper is Melody Gardot, but her style is glorious. I've linked a few songs that might work with your voice from each artist. Hope this helps some. - Björk, "Jóga" - Björk, "I See Who You Are" - Corinne Bailey Rae, "Like a Star" - Corinne Bailey Rae, "Trouble Sleeping" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmcxvDCo_PA - Melody Gardot, "Baby I'm a Fool" - Portishead, "Roads"

https://soundcloud.com/betterthanfine/moodys-mood-for-love-smaller Would really love to hear any opinions -- constructive, complimentary, insulting, or otherwise. I need to know how I sound to other people! Do I sound uninteresting? Would you listen to me if I were on the radio? Why? Why not? My voice did get away from me in some parts, but I was having too much fun to worry about that -- particularly the "together" in "put our two hearts together" (1:22ish) and the low parts between 1:53-1:56.

So listening to this on my car speakers, I sound completely off-key, but I sound fine on my headphones or house speakers. My house speakers and headphones are higher-quality, so maybe that's why? Has anyone else experienced this? Do I sound off-key to you? Thanks.

I'm anxious to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

I have to admit that the 80's sound has never really won me over, and the accompaniment sounds a little cheesy as a result (in my opinion). I do think the countermelody has great potential if it were redone with different electronic sounds or instruments, though; I was nodding my head along the whole time. I also think your voice is pretty awesome, and it's actually what kept me listening to the song the whole time. The metal influence is pretty obvious, but it sets the song apart from other electronic music. I think it has a lot of potential!

EDIT: Looks like it got removed for copyright violation... Whelp! Anyone know where I can upload it that won't get me into trouble? ----- NEW SONG recorded with instrumental! Amy Winehouse's Wake Up Alone http://soundcloud.com/betterthanfine/wake-up-alone So sorry about the delay. I haven't really been in the mood to record my singing lately. Please let me know how I can improve. Do I need to keep working on the same things? Thank you!

!!! I couldn't hear anything that could be improved upon here, but I just wanted to say I really like this! I did have to turn my speakers down when you started singing that bridge, though. (I also have sensitive ears, so don't take that the wrong way.) :P

Hey there, Tommy. Thanks very much. I do think you're right about the timing, and I am actually surprised to hear about the pronunciation, but I agree with you after listening to it again. I'll practice on those. I'll record something tomorrow and post it tomorrow!

As you know, I'm no pro, but I like what I heard. The two main things that stand out to me are the loudness of the guitar compared to your voice and, as others have said, the pronunciation at certain points. However, these are possibly just issues with this recording and not your voice in general. If you're worried about volume because of your parents, I'd just wait until they leave and maybe try recording this song again with less guitar volume, if you're up for it? If you are too loud, your neighbors aren't going to complain about one recording session, I wouldn't think. The other area for improvement might be the nasal sound at some points, but I do think that's partly caused by the lack of support. Again, I'm not an expert, so please take this with a grain of salt, but that's what it sounds like to me. Keep it up! :)