benny82

Here is a video on the froggy sound btw.

Yes, it was like "quick and dirty" from the production side. I just captured everything through my condenser mic (guitar and vocals), setting the mic in a distance where it is about the same distance to my mouth and to the guitar. Of course I adjusted my singing to be able to carry over the volume of the guitar, but no post-processing of volumes etc. I agree, it is someting that makes Johnny's singing particularly interesting that he often switches to a more quiet, speech-like mode of singing which creates accentuation.

Check this out, I think its easy to hear which one is Kermit. It is indeed not caused by a low larynx, more like the mechanisms that lower and raise the larynx fighting each other too hard. I think in general this sound is heard more often on females (don't know why). Singers that do it from time to time are for example Shakira, Christina Aguilera and Demi Lovato.

Thanks guys! Yes I'm a bass pretty much. Took me some time to realize that though

Yes, exactly that, pretty strange thing

Somehow I couldn't get this song out of my head, so I just had to do a recording of it https://app.box.com/s/09w5zru9hcakz34m250ya21iwidv0xhc

You are already quite dark on the higher notes. I don't think you can make the sound darker than that without making it sound weird. The only possibility imo would be to modify to more classical vowels (UH -> OH, EH -> IH for example), but I think it would not really fit the song. You already sing darker than the original. Your embouchure is very good imo, don't mess around with that. Nice delivery overall, btw. As for the sound: I'm not an expert on mixing, but there are two things that of course have an effect on this: 1. reverb/EQ: acoustically in a room you usually have a bigger/different reverb and more low frequencies in the voice. Felipe once had two videos on his channel showing the "room vocals" and the "mixed vocals" of the same song (but I'm afraid he deleted the room vocal one). That was actually a very nice example. The problem is, if you leave a lot of "room acoustics" on your vocals it will sound very dull in the mix. Especially the low frequencies are often completely kicked out because of that (as Ron already described). 2. compression: The compression of the higher and louder notes in combination with the removal of the lower frequency room acoustics causes your voice to easily sound "thinner" and "more quiet" than it actually is in a room. If compression is too high it can lose "emotion" due to the perceived lower volume. Those two together make "mixed vocals" often sound quite different compared to acoustic live vocals. Unfortunately you cannot completely prevent this as vocals without these two adjustments will sound "wrong" in a mix.

Very cool Felipe, nice interpreation and you nicely get the atmosphere of that song. And yes, you are exactly right about the darkening. I still hear you struggling slightly on the lowest notes. A tip I can give you on those is that you try to brighten them, so not only "not darken" them, but intentionally sing them brighter than you would normally speak. In CVT they teach that you should go for what they call Edge mode on your lowest notes (below tessitura) and I think that this is exactly right. It basically means that you lift the back of the tongue stronger (twang more) and raise the cheeks (smile) a little, very similar to what a lot of people do in the higher range. I think the lowest notes are on the word "here" mostly, you can try to sing it like H-A-RE with the A as in "cat" for a start and then modify from there to the original word. Also add just slightly more support to the notes that go below your normal speaking range, at least that is what works for me down there. BTW: Are you playing the guitar there? This song is also really hard on timing imo in the verses, but you hit that very well.

Great job Felipe! Want to hear that original stuff now!

Thanks, I do have a Johnny Cash song on my channel (it's a few years old though), even though its not originally his song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3FBwRkToF0

Short acoustic cover of this song from the Hunger Games https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiIJtSfOdgE&feature=em-upload_owner Can anyone enlighten me how to post this directly as a video?

thanks guys!

Just transposed the song around a bit and thought that it sounds cool in a darker version   https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/69231116/sound of silence.mp3

Found a nice backing for the song, better recording too.

Just was in a mood of doing this. I think the lyrics and maybe pitch are incorrect, but hopefully still sounds decent ... https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/69231116/LordOfCastamere.mp3

Yeah, finding those is really awful. We're looking for someone to play a Cello or Violin (hell, even keys would be a good start) basically since the beginning of our band (which was over 1.5 years ago). 90% of those guys just want to play classical stuff :(

Very cool, love the groove and the atmospheric vocals. I can imagine the intro to sound awesome with real instruments ;-)

Wow 3:06, goosebumps! Your voice is fantastic. Just stick to what Ron has to say.

Totally awesome. Really cool balance of compression and air flow over your whole range. I'm deeply impressed. Want to hear more from you ;)

Seems to me like the pitch issues really come from the piano playing. I have them all the time when I sing and play guitar ;-) Hard to say why you don't like your voice. I think compared to LaBrie your sound is a little more twangy on the highs, maybe that is the issue? You could experiment with a little bit of a more covered sound. Try to project a little more forward and just put a little bit of OH into your vowels, darken them a bit. However, I like the clean quality of your voice.

Almost frightening how high you tenor guys are placed, considering that I am about a full octave lower if I should name the three octaves I am most confident in. Also interesting how much more "natural" those QR songs sound when sung by a real tenor like instead of a baritone like Geoff Tate. Anyways, great QR covers, keep them going!

I don't think at all when I'm singing. I'm thinking A LOT while training. Muscle memory is absolute key to all of this stuff. It is actually THE thing that allows me to keep it simple while actually performing.

Excellent job, Felipe. Couldn't agree more with what the others have said. Excellent high parts. The low parts seem to be a bit muffled, but this may even be an effect of the vox being not loud enough. As for the switch in the high parts. The high part "don't want..." and "everything..." drive you above the magical G4. At least for me (and I think at least for most non-tenor guys) there is a pretty noticable switch because the formant tuning changes. In classical singing, F#4 -> G4 is typically the point where the tuning is switched from F1 tuning towards F2 tuning. Additionally, there is indication that, if a non-classical technique (higher larynx) is used, the switch between registers (M1 -> M2) is also located in this place. In CVT terms this would be the switch from an Overdrive-like setup towards an Edge-like setup (or full Overdrive towards full Edge if you are loud enough). It is actually really a switch and not a smooth transition. If I sing loud on a G#4 I can really "feel" the switch back and forth between formant spaces if I go a little higher or a little lower in pitch. However, technically there is no switch, you just do what you always do and let the flip of resonances happen. I think this flip might be a little bit higher for higher voiced guys, but not much.

Yeah, I know what you are talking about. I always thought of me as a bass-baritone. Not a real bass, but a bass with easy access to bass range (at least easier as most baritones). While I can do notes as low as Eric, they just don't have the texture and "boominess" he can produce. Your voice is kind of similar, placed somewhere between bass and baritone. Your fry technique is cool however, and with amplification and using the mic bass boost ("kissing the mic"), you can get quite close to the sound of a real basso profundo.

Thanks for the comments, guys! Yes, let's make Rob do it I would really like to hear some lower stuff from him. I think he might have a really nice low end (like in that song 'Blue Rain', which is already a bit lower than his usual stuff). I really like these 'challanges', too. Because it gives you a really nice picture of how different singers and different voices approach a certain song.