ElWin

Hey Manolito - You have a very resonant and powerful tone and a fairly natural sounding vibrato. Yes I could hear the pitch problems but if this is from 2010 and you have been taking lessons then why not post something recent? I wouldn't worry to much about the accent - it is not a big problem as long as you are understandable which you were. Liam

It isn't so much training yourself to hear pitch as to replicate what you hear. I generally take the view that if you just listen and sing along with the track quietly in the background then you will hear where your pitch doesn't match. Also - slow it down a bit to give yourself more time to visualise the next note - you were singing Man In The Mirror a lot faster than the original. Obviously the surefire solution is to get a vocal coach but if that isn't an option there are some good online courses and loads of videos on YouTube that are very good.

Really nice job on this. Very smooth. I also like the added backing vocals from the dogs in the background!

Dio is one of these vocalists who I never used to appreciate how good he was because he makes it sound so easy. Then when you try and sing along you realise it really isn't. You've done an excellent job here. Well done.

Ron's right about the changing of keys. It is strange because you can obviously sing a melody (as opposed to someone who is obviously tone deaf) but you obviously just aren't hearing it right in your head. As has been said on the Hallelujah post - try singing to a backing track and try to find a way to listen to yourself as you sing using monitors or headphones.

Sassy! On the money pitch wise. Just a couple of points really. You could do with playing with the dynamics. It was all pretty much belted out and could do with some sections being toned down a bit I think (just my feeling as not familiar with the original). Also the diction could do with being cleaned up a touch - I had to really listen to understand the lyrics a couple of times. There were maybe a couple of points where you were a touch nasal as well but not really enough to ruin it. But overall I enjoyed it - I think it sounds like a challenge to sing as the melody is all over the place and you did it well. And how long was that note at the end? I ran out of breath listening :D

Hi Gneetapp. I really like your tone in the verses. I think everything critique wise has been said above so I won't pick on specifics but if you've got the basic tone that is listenable then all the rest can be worked on.

Have a look on the vocal technique page on here. There is a post from Phil about bridging which is good but if you look through you will find other useful posts.

I'd say falsetto. Again though it sounded right because it is a soft song. In addition to the other points I'd suggest find some songs with belted high notes because you will find it difficult to use falsetto on those. Think of something like the chorus to Adele's Someone Like You where she sings "Don't forget me" etc not exactly belted but a good example of head voice.

While I don't disagree generally with Jeff's advice I think it may have caused you to focus too much on aspects that in trying to resolve have caused your overall sound to worsen. I know what Jeff is aiming for but in the latest version of she will be loved it sounds like in trying to project you are throwing more breath to the front of the mouth. This will not help with projection and actually due to less control of the air flow over the vocal chords your overall resonance and stability has suffered. Concentrate on forming the sound at the back of the throat and directing it out more using the shaping of he mouth to improve resonance. You can't learn this from comments in a forum but there are lots of videos on YouTube on this if a personal coach is not an option. Also look up breathing using diaphragm as this also key to controlling the flow of air - not sure you are doing that presently. As for the head/chest voice - if you get the stability in the first place right where you are able to produce consistent tone using good support and breath control then you will be able to more easily identify where the bridge between chest and head naturally occurs. Doing scales is an excellent way to identify this as you will just feel the point where either your voice will break and you will have to change to head voice or if you are able to bridge seamlessly then you will feel the nature of the resonance change more from your throat to also in your head but the key to head voice v falsetto is that it will still be nice and resonant and you shouldn't lose volume. It's a shame that some of the other folk on here haven't picked up on this thread as there are some very good technical people on here but you know you have the basics of a good sound that just needs to be perfected so you are in a great position to improve. Just re Rons point on the reverb - what room was this recorded in as that can make a difference. Was it a kitchen or room with no carpets?

Hi Kendroid I couldn't hear a great deal wrong with this. Without having heard any other version of this it sounded like your pitch was spot on throughout. I detect a bit of a lisp? If you have a lisp when you talk then obviously that makes sense but if not then perhaps focus more on your diction. It also sounded like you were singing with a smile which while technically not a bad thing didn't suit the content of the song so as you get to know the song better try to put more emotion into the performance. Another thing to watch out for is nasality which came through on some of the phrases. I'm not going to try and give you detailed technical advice because I'm not an expert but they were just some of the things I noticed that you could try and do some work on either with a coach or by asking more questions in the technique section on here. Overall though I thought it was pleasant to listen to and I think you have a good voice that just needs some fine tuning.

Jeff is right of course that developing your head voice and bridging will improve your singing overall. You shouldn't be put off from a certain style if that is what you are aiming for but it is better to be able to come at it from a position of complete control.

Hi Elizax. I only listened to the cleaned up version and I didn't really feel that I heard you going into falsetto unnecessarily - it felt more of a stylistic thing. Your style actually reminded me of Florence Welch a little bit which I appreciate is nothing like Rhianna but then I've never heard the Rhianna version of this so maybe I had the advantage of not having any preconceptions. If I'd listened to that and someone said it was a Florence and the Machine song then I wouldn't have been surprised - whether you are into them or not (and I'm not really) you have to accept that Florence has a great voice so this is really a compliment! Of course if you are trying to sound more like Rhianna then that's a different story but I think you have a style going there that suits your voice and I liked it.

Hi Keith, I liked it. It's amazing how many slightly different takes on the same song we can manage between us. I think your backing track was a tad slower than the one I used which made the verses sound very mellow thus creating more contrast in the chorus in which I thought you put quite a plaintive inflection in your voice. Good job.

I think one thing you will probably realise as I have on here after asking similar questions about my own range is that unless you are taking about auditioning for a role in classical or musical theatre then there is no real benefit in trying to classify yourself. By that I mean that a lot of people can sing a G2 all the way up to a G5 with practice but it might not all sound as consistent as the mid range in which the voice is most comfortable. Sing the songs you want to sing in whatever key you want to sing them. Work on diction and technique where necessary but don't worry about always trying to be singing low or high etc because songs might have one or two money notes but all of the other notes are just as important! Will check out Stone Sour version as Corey Taylor is one vocalist I admire.

Hi Ozzie, The accent wasn't such a big deal - there were some parts where words were not pronounced properly e.g. fing instead of thing - but not enough to matter. Most English people don't speak English properly anyway. I would say that you are possibly in the tenor range as much as baritone - that's where your voice sounded most comfortable. All of the low stuff was not really that low to my ear - other people on here may disagree. I thought this was a pretty interesting version - I haven't heard the HIM version but quite different from the Chris Isaak original.

I can't second guess everyone but following from Ron's comment I wonder if people don't really comment on your posts because your voice is so well trained and everything is so well produced with the accompanying videos that it seems that it isn't really that you require critique and just want to share your music with an audience. So not really much advice people can give. Also not everyone is in to classical music. I think that just sharing on here is fine and it might encourage other classical singers who do need critique to post. Personally I do enjoy your videos and think that with the voice you have and the support you have at your age then you could have a long and rewarding career. Now I know you probably don't do requests but perhaps due to the rock orientated audience here you should have a bash at the Queen of the night aria from the Magic Flute - I think that is one piece that even if you aren't an opera fan you have to admire the vocal gymnastics required to sing it!

Very good in terms of matching the melody etc of the original. I would maybe say that a bit more projection is needed as although Ed Sheeran has a soft voice it is not as quiet. Alternatively you could use a compression effect in the mixing stage to boost the volume of the quietest parts but I actually think you should work on increasing your volume in parts. The dynamics in any song are quite important and if you listen to Ed's delivery on the "she don't want to go outside" you'll hear how he uses dynamics to good effect. Otherwise really good - you have the right tone for that kind of song.

Ah my mistake. I considered Dutch but then found some German lyrics and one of the lines matched. I studied German at school and also have a friend from Eindhoven so no excuse really!

The Counting Crows auf Deutsch. That's a new one for me but it sounded good. Very mellow delivery suited to this song perfectly. Well done.

Good job. I think apart from the "oh" section the power was fine. That section sounded just a bit too polished really and not sung from the core. Trying to copy Dave Grohl is risky because he can so effortlessly switch between distorted and clean vocals and trying too hard to imitate the distortion can really mess up your throat. There are quite a few people on here who should be able to offer technical advice - for me, on the whole I liked it but having listened to your cover of With or Without You I think that suited your voice much more and was actually one of the best covers I've heard of that song.

Hi Sionna I think you have a potentially nice voice but as you say the recording quality wasn't great and also you were singing too softly. There is a way to sing softly but still get enough breath into the delivery to maintain a reasonable volume and it sounded to me like you were feeling a bit self conscious and deliberately keeping it quiet? There are others on here who can offer more technical feedback but my non technical advice would be to sing out loud like you don't care who's listening. In terms of equipment - really that depends on your budget but you can pick up a decent USB mic for about £35/$50 in the Samson Go Mic and Audacity is a free recording application which will let you make reasonable quality recordings. Obviously another advice would be to have lessons but that's not always an option depending on cost - regardless I'd love to hear another recording from you sung with more confidence and using better gear.

George - that was fantastic. What a talented bunch of musicians you have there but most of all those layered vocals! You really nailed those harmonies. I love the mood of this song which you capture perfectly. I have a friend who is in a Pink Floyd tribute over here in Manchester which I considered joining on vocals so I spent some time learning the vocals to various tracks which I found pretty tough. I think you do an excellent job and actually I think you are a bit more controlled on the more aggressive parts than the original. Well done.

Analog - like I said earlier, you could hold your own professionally. I'm a big Van fan and I thought this was excellent. I loved the backing vocals at the end. As it stands I now have a John Whitten album on my phone because every time I listen to something on box it downloads it to my music library - I'm looking forward to it growing! Can I ask what your recording setup is?

Wow. I was just about to post a recording of this as there seemed to be a thread going but having listened to yours I think it should be left at that. Personally I wouldn't pick any faults with that recording -you have a great quality to your voice and were able to put your own voice to the song. Your Cochise cover was also exceptional and you could certainly hold your own on a professional basis. Well done sir.