Manolito Mystiq

I wasn’t critiquing you any more, Robert. I was replying to Phil, just as you replied to him. No need to roll your eyes for it.

That’s how you perceive it, because you start your post saying: “Most of the posts in this thread are pretty ridiculous”. Obviously that is your opinion, but you are here as well, stating it as fact. Obviously one can state everything it’s her or his opinion about what she or he is about to say. We don’t do that, because we don’t talk like that. There, I said “we” as if we all don’t talk like that, why I meant to give a point in general writing. Obviously—at least to me (to make it clear that this is an opinion as well)—it was MDEW’s opinion, just as your points were yours and my points were mine. According to that food critic, to his standards, the sauce was too thick. If someone says, “you’re a good singer,” does that imply there’s a factual measurement of what a good singer is—now? Of course it doesn’t. That someone is just expressing her/his opinion of what a good singer is and saying to you that you fall into that level to her/him. Here, this is all you stating it as a fact. I’m not disagreeing. I just wanted to show you that to me your first argument made no sense, since you’re doing it yourself. You just said that “outside of technique it's just opinion.” What is wrong in sensing no emotion from an otherwise technically good to great singer, resulting the listener to say, “there is no feeling in it” (again clearly pointing out that it is the listener’s opinion)? Joey Tempest (to me) is an amazing technical powerful one-of-a-kind singer, but a ballad like Carrie, to me doesn’t have any feeling in it. To others it might. So what? To me, the second run of the crying/screaming, as pointed out earlier had some intonation problems. Indeed, just a detail of the whole singing, but everything counts. Besides, it is (or TO ME, it is) part of the most crucial part of the whole song. It repeats 3 times throughout the whole song. I just pointed out that I felt that could be better and that to my experience and views he didn’t have full control at those parts. You’re not sure I care. How would you know? I have a hard time listening to Dream Theater’s live performances, because to me, James LaBrie seems like he has a hard time. I found it pitiful that a song like, One Last Time, he’s going flat in pitch at the chorus (fact), and not even a bit (opinion). Don’t you want to aim to be pretty much on pitch all the time? Now, Robert stated that it was his intention to get out of key. Fair enough. If it wasn’t, this would’ve been an issue to work on. And Gilad noticed it too, as well as a singer I know from the Netherlands. Okay, so that only makes 3. To you, about anyone else doesn’t care. Well, I’d say that (to me,) it’s more than you think. Are you a drummer? I’ve studied flamenco guitar, where we as guitarists are the main beat, where it is of utmost importance to be spot on, so we can accompany both the dancers as well as the singers accordingly. I’d say it depends on genre. A progressive metal band like Meshuggah would most definitely care if the drummer isn’t spot on, where a Schübert piece is more organically flowing towards the singer’s needs. And yes, we are human beings, we make mistakes. We always have margins of error. It matters how high we allow them to be. I’d like mine to be lower than yours, that’s all. This is a “Review & Critique My Singing” forum (to me, it could as well be called “Review My Singing”, though). I reviewed performances to what I think is good what I think could improve. Obviously, the person in question doesn’t have to take it. But then, why post it here in the first place?

Anytime. I might as well sing some Disney songs, too. A girl I really, really like, would like to sing together with me, so it would only be a good idea to work on some of them.

Yes, I meant the mix of the recording.

I’m listening. I like the sound. The mix could be a bit better. Not sure why, but something seems off. Not that I’m an example of good mixing. I especially liked the Michael Jackson cover. You’re clearly not imitating, but your own sound and style sounds pretty good for the song, which seems so hard with MJ material, because it’s so much MJ all over.

I do believe there is a thing called gifted. It’s like the best track runners of the world. By a lot of training every human being (who can walk) can run pretty fast, but there are some who have such a skeletal and muscular build that make them go faster and with more ease. I could run as fast as a runner who was a national contestant (winner). My technique was pretty inefficient. Prior to that, I only worked on stamina, because of Taekwondo. He also had benefits: he was tall with long legs. So, going back to singing, yes there are singers who can pick it up faster and who can probably hit notes with that much more ease. However, singing is part of art, and part of taste, and style. Bryan Adams never was a technical, powerful singer, but he most definitely is/ has been a well-know, well-respected artist and singer. And actually, I really like your sound. Your lows could definitely use more presence, but overall, it’s solid. You could be more stable with your phrasing, but most long notes don’t sound like they are off-tuning here and there.

You could cut ’n’ paste Enander’s submission into that thread, then.

What will be the main thread for submission? I mean, we have three threads now.

Hehe, C6! Actually that was a pretty good and surprising line. As Owen mentioned, the second part of screams is quite soft. It could need some more body to fit better in between the first and the last part—a better build up. Pitch is pretty much spot on. Timing is very laidback. You could make it more steady. Beautiful tone, though.

I remember one of my first lessons with Liesbeth Korpershoek, a EVT instructor and vocal pedagogue, back in 2006. I had to make this bite configuration and ‘ay’ all through a note at a time, and did so up to F#5. Obviously, I was already mixing, but then I knew what I could do to reach the highs without much effort (but with presence). M1, I can do quite well up to B4. C5 up to E5 (as I did in that one Queensrÿche cover and Maiden’s Children of the Damned) seems definitely going somewhere else (but who doesn’t?).

Lots of credentials doesn’t make a good singer. Actually I seem to be the opposite of how you handled critique here. I get lots of compliments for what I can do around here, what I am capable of doing, my timbre, etc., yet I don’t seem to acknowledge that, feeling I’m still so far from really being a singer. Even with all the credentials of IPA, General American and Recieved Pronunciation, I really don’t like my—to my ears—overly present accent. I’m a leggiero tenor, which can have a lot to do with it. I mean, it’s pretty cool having this smooth and easy high voice, but I feel at times I sound like a 13-year old. It can be done, I mean, James Labrie with his pretty light lyric tenor voice managed to cope with the heaviest album of DT: Train of Thought—even though at times I felt it sounded quite funny: this super light lyric voice with blazing heavy, 7-string guitars. Currently, I have lessons with this amazing (and again, I must say, beautiful) classical teacher Florien Hilgenkamp, superb Dave Brooks ((former?) Singing Succes), and Mony Wouters for the EVT Certificate Course. To some extent, I now understand why you’d like someone to have credentials, but I still kindly ask you to overall (also to the ‘non’-credentialized) be more…appreciative and receptive.

Sorry, I only listened to Queen of the Reich. Your first two verses are a bit flattened in notes. By that, I mean, you stay in key, but you don’t reach the higher notes of the melody, like Tate did. But pretty good voice. I’d suggest you to smooth out your lines more. You could improve your recording setup for the better, too.

I’d rather call them chromatics. And out of key is not necessarily a mistake, either, even though here they seem to be. And yes, they do create this ethnic sound, but the inconsistency makes them sound unintentional.

It’s not out of pitch, but out of ‘key’. You have a line that goes: E-D-C#-B-A on A minor.

According to a CVT instructor, I developed this habit of singing in Curbing because of not daring to sing in full volume, because of not being open so much. It took me quite a while to sing without holding back because I might disturb someone. Or, because I’m trying way too hard to match the dynamics of a studio recording. I was (and probably still am) equalizing my sound heavily, compressing even. I just couldn’t believe that singers like LaBrie or Dio were singing with much more volume. I felt that their soft parts sounded full, but not loud. A better example could be Joey Tempest. He sings high, strong, but to my ears, he didn’t sound like he was having a lot of volume.

Hey geno, I sometimes hear this closing down of the voice, this held back sound—more than should, but just a bit more so that it actually isn’t all that audible. Part of this has to do with the fact that you’re Curbing, probably the way for you to stay light. I recognize my closing down of my voice, but that is far too much. As you may’ve noticed, I’m working like crazy to find my balanced voice. It’s helps that I read your story of working on this sound for months. I know it takes time. I think I want the opposite of what you want. I want to have more heaviness in my voice. I still feel I sound like a 13-year old. Great job, man.

Who wrote the song? It’s beautiful! So is the clip, your singing(, and you). All your videos are done with an exceptional film standard for singers filming and posting themselves on YouTube. Way to go!

Your timbre definitely fits this Disney approach. You’re a pitchy, though. Nothing terrible, quite enough that it’s distracting. Your sister has much clearer pitch. I think it has to do with not having enough balance of air pressure and airflow. You do a much better job in the Beaty and the Beast song, though. Interestingly, your pitch is rather okay on the Sound of Music song, even though that’s the hardest of the three when it comes to modulation, melody, etc. Still something to work on, though. I have pitch problems, too, though.

N.B.: I use EVT terms, and sometimes CVT terms. No mode in mind, but it sounds like ORAL TWANG, too light for it to be BELTING Here you go: Click!. This is without adding reverb. The reverb you hear is the room I’m in. I’m twanging. I actually feel my timing and my pitch is alright (there’s one noticable off note, though). And it doesn’t seem that much like I’m holding back, like I use to sound (to my ears). -- Definitely some AES in mind, but also some Thyroid Tilt, which I didn’t succeed in doing Second try, now with my SM58 and a backing track: HERE. Actually, I sound a lot better with my LS-10 Tape Recorder (the former recorder), probably because it’s a condenser mic. At least, it’s a lot more sensitive. I have to set my SM58 up to almost max in the mix in order for it to be sensitive enough to let me sing more in the background, with could easy create unwanted distortion as a result (as you hear). I seem to twang way too much, so I will try to get it rounder, now. -- CRY in mind, CRY, CRY, CRY, but it didn’t really work Third try, same setup as Take 2: HERE. I first sang using as much dopey sound as possible, and then I went back. I seem heavily influenced by how I hear myself while singing, because this time I held just one cup of my headphones to one of my ears, so that I could hear some of the environmental parts of my voice. It’s like I have a better reference of myself, while I sound dead when I put my phones on on both ears. I like this better. Still, twangy, but it seems less, or I might do something else that makes it sound better. It seems as if I’m overaccentuating my vowels on Take 2. The overall sound is probably a bit warmer, because I changed the microphone sensivity and my position towards it a bit (I didn’t tweak anything with the Joey Tempest reverb in Studio One 2). -- SOB / CRY Fourth take: HERE. I got this sound by starting an octave lower with this whiny like voice saying the lyrics, then singing, and raise a step or two, until I was back in the original key (and octave). Here, SOB is quite present. Sometimes it’s more CRY. It’s too unbalanced. I should probably find a sound in between. Joey Tempest clearly has some thyroid tilt going, especially the way he starts (‘We’re leaving to…’). Again, I don’t want to be Joey Tempest. I want a sound that’s balanced, not too twangy, not to hooty. Imitation can be good way to find it. At least, I think it can. Obviously it should be my sound in the end, but really, I’m not that satisfied, yet. I’m getting there, but I’m not there. It’s either too twangy, too compressed, too hooty, etc.

Here’s Someone Else?. There are quite some pitch issues. It was my second take. I like this sort of ring I seem to have, with this clear heady tone. I will practice the song some more, but this shows my problems if I don’t. There are some parts where I’m on pitch, pretty well, and others where I seem to know the notes but just don’t hit them correctly. Mind that I was performing along with the piano. Clearly I’m just a beginner pianist, so it could affect my singing as well (pitch). I’ll see how much I can improve this song.

Japan, Japan, Japan. What a country with the best of transcribed books. I have Someone Else fully transcribed for piano and Geoff Tate vocals. Nice, because otherwise I would’ve spend my time transcribing it by ear. I’ll try to make a backing track, either playing it live or using MIDI. Actually, I plan on accompanying myself with my cover of the song. Just wait, okay?

Hmm, I still feel like I’m missing something. I just tried ‘Jet City Woman’. I can hit all the notes with ease and I do have some nice vibrato going (and at times, nice power), but it’s off. Actually the very light approach in the beginning of Suite Sister Mary is pretty spot on when it comes to intonation, at least when it comes to my intonation (it might be still off, you judge). Still, I feel like I’m holding back there as well. Here, I just feel I’m lazily doing all the runs. I’ll post it when I get it done. Obviously, a proper microphone setup is a thing I need to take in mind. But then, I heard some pretty good recordings with a SM58. A good mic can only do so much. It’s the source that’s obviously far more important. I know my voice is different from Geoff’s: way lighter and cleaner. It might be that I just really need to understand that this is my voice. This is my sound. I think it’s a bit similar to James LaBrie’s in that it’s so very light. He seemed to try to make it heavier by using a lot of growl and rasp during the Awake-era (and from the I&W touring, already), which, in my opinion, did him only harm, because he was constricting. I like his cleans, anyway, so why don’t I like mine?

I know all of that. But where did you get the term artistic range? Because if I would sing The Killing Words with a low F♯ somewhere, I’m not singing artistically? And again, there is written classical material where a tenor has to extend below C3. On the one hand, I’d consider my range from C3 down to F♯2 part of my modal range. They just wouldn’t make me a baritone. It’s weak, yes. But so is the low open G-string tone of a violin compared to that of a viola, cello, and double bass. It’s still part of a violin’s range, though, even though you can’t get it as powerful, resonant, as the higher range. On the other hand, from that C3 downwards, I can’t stay in this singing formation (tilted thyroid cartilage). Actually C3 is already pretty low to have any dynamics at all in this singing position. I can go lower, but then I switch to the speech setting, if I want to make it sound with (some) power. Here is (most of) my full range: And it doesn’t make sense the way you say it: Artistic range is where you have the greatest control of dynamics… If I’d agree on using artistic range, I’d say the range that can’t be dynamic, will be the absolute range, because dynamic range suggests that the range can be dynamic. All of the artistic range will be inside the absolute range. But some of the absolute range isn’t part of the artistic range.

Hmm, I wouldn’t say, below C3 is not my artistic range. Amplified, it wouldn’t really matter, anyway. Even in some classical repertoire, it asks for tenors to go as low as A2 (as far as I know), but with the knowledge that it wouldn’t sound so powerful as a baritone’s or a bass’s A2.

Thanks ronws (& Keith), I can go as low as F#2 with some volume. But indeed, from C3 onwards I start to get power in my voice. But in SL there are some low C’s (C2’s) if I’m not mistaken (more saying it, than singing it, but whatever). I’ll look into it.