berniemcpeak

You sound like a tenor to me. On the low side of tenor maybe. And yes, your speaking voice is kinda quiet. Maybe you should try some annunciation exercises that speakers use, so that they can be heard towards the back of a room. I believe operatic singers to similar exercises.

Very good. You were a little pitchy in a few parts (more so when you start getting louder), but overall a well done effort. Also, I've always liked that song ;-)

Thanks Ron I was nervous as the first high note approached. I closed my eyes and had to reach down to the "special place" to get it! ;-)

BTW, I just came across an epic email you sent me a while back about what kind of music "fits" the voice. Sorry I didn't see it sooner. It ended up in my spam folder and I usually don't check that one until I'm ready to dump it. As for the content of that email, I totally agreed with everything you covered in it. Funny you mentioned in it that I usually cover "ballad" style songs, regardless of genre. You're absolutely right about that. I love singing a "musical" song, usually with a soaring melody. I've been venturing away from that lately and experimenting with different vocal styles. This one and my Alice in Chains cover or two examples. I'm glad you liked it.

And yes, I can see you covering Glen Campbell doing "Black Dog" lol

Nothing to say but kudos to you sir!

Even the mix is great. What equipment did you use for recording/mixing?

First things first. You need to correct your link.

Now, onto the tune.

Great song! I really liked the tune. Your tone is good and I can sense some feeling/emotion behind the singing, which really helps a song.

Now for the negative.

You seem to slur a lot and you sound a little like your sinuses are plugged up. The lyrics are VERY hard to understand and the muddiness of your voice is very distracting. I don't think it's in the mix.

You should try re-recording that song and specifically focus on your speech pattern while singing to try to enunciate the lyrics more clearly. I'm not sure what to suggest about the "stuffed up" sound. Perhaps you had a cold? If so wait till it clears up.

Eric

You have nothing to be embarrassed about. That was a good effort. You should leave it up so that someone with actual coaching experience can comment on it.

Very good Marcelo

A couple of flat notes (I mean just a couple. I think I only heard two of them) but great tone. Only critique is to maybe relax a little and breath more. Otherwise, very well done.

You sound pretty good when you start to "let it go" (pun intended, lol). But seriously, when you get to the chorus and you start to increase your volume you start sounding pretty good. Nice tone and form. However you do go a little sharp on the "go". During the the rest of the song it is difficult to hear you, other than when you go flat. I think you need to sing that song in the proper key for your voice. It just seemed too low for you and you were straining a bit.

Keep it up though. You have a strong start I think.

Eric

Here's my take on MJ's classic tune. What do you think?

https://app.box.com/s/68zahvtifa6of9rgzt7p

Nick

I was totally expecting this to not be very good, but I was pleasantly surprised. Although you were a little flat in places you have good tone overall. Having said that, you do need to work on a couple of things.

First it's your slightly flat delivery, which I'm finding is pretty common as I listen to more and more covers. I believe what I'm referring to is the intonation of the lyrics and melody. Basically the "feel" of it. It's like the difference between someone delivering a line from Shakespeare completely flat or delivering it with emphasis. Or how you can tell how someone is really feeling from the tone of their voice.

Secondly, you seem to be singing your high notes through your nose. Again, this seems common among many aspiring singers. I can't give you direction on how to do it (perhaps a voice coach could) but I think you need to bring your high notes down into your chest. I think it's referred to as your "chest" voice as opposed to your "head" voice. Many people discuss these techniques here, but I'm still blind as to how to do it. I'm lucky in that I think it happens naturally for me. My other "tip" for your high notes is to give them more air. Perhaps this is how one controls their chest voice? But I've always found that when I push a note a note up into my nose I use less air. When I open up my throat and control the air with my diaphragm it seems much easier to control the note.

Hope this helps, and keep it up. You have a good base I think.

Eric

I received an invite to jam/audition for a local band. They're a little bit of stretch from what I usually do but they seem pretty laid back and their musicianship is incredible. The lead guitarist sent me a copy of his instrumental cover of Whitesnake's "Still of the Night" in which he plays all of the instruments. I took the track and added my vocals to it this afternoon. It's a very rough cut as I didn't have much time to do many retakes and I didn't have time to do the backing harmonies. I used some heavy reverb and delay to mimic David Coverdale's sound. Metal is not my forte but this isn't screamo or anything so I thought I'd give it a shot. Besides, I was a pretty big metal-head in HS.

The usual please. Hate it or liked it, let me know.

Eric Humphreys

Good points Ron. You always have a great take on these situations. Well, for as long as I've been around here anyway ;-)

Eric

And Stileto, keep it up. You sound great. Sorry if I hijacked your thread,

Thanks Rock. Yes, that is me in that pic and yes I am a big guy @ 6'6", 400 lbs (but losing! I'm down 25 lbs since Jan 1st). I've been told that I'm everything from a tenor to a high alto. I don't really know what I am.

And thanks Cat. I think I mixed the backing track too high and the mic i had at the time wasn't very compatible with my iPad. It was hard to get much gain on it. Also, I was moving away from the mic when the power notes came up because I was afraid of drowning everything out. I've learned not to do that since then, at least when recording.

I understand what you're saying. I guess because of my lack of any kind of vocal training a lot of these concepts fly over my head. I just don't spend too much time thinking about what I'm doing. I just do what feels like it will work. I honestly can't tell when I'm using my head or my chest voice. My ear tells me what sounds good (or at least what my brain thinks sounds good) and I go with it.

I have a request, then, of you and RockNSoulLover if you two would be so kind to indulge me. With your ear and understanding of what's going on within a vocalist's performance could I ask of your critique of one of my Journey covers?

The first would be my very first actual recording of myself doing a full cover of "Faithfully"

Man, you guys overthink things WAY too much. Just sing. If it sounds good, that's all that matters. It sounded good man, just sing it.

Yea, I might try and do that. I probably should not have posted this though. I listened to it this morning with fresh ears and it doesn't sound to hot. I don't care much for the tonal quality and now the little things that annoyed me at first sound huge.

Oh well.....

Dude, whatever. It sounded good. Bottom line. The "wail" was very nice. I realize how "little" things can bug you and make you think it wasn't good, but you hear them because it's your voice. To the listener it just sounds good.

So suck it up and do the whole song. I think you'll rock it!

And yes, Mr. Perry is DA MAN! I'd give my left nut to be able to do what he does, or did. IMHO, in his prime there has been no better male vocalist. Those are BIG shoes to fill. Not even Arnel, as good as he is (and I admit, he's VERY good), can compare to Perry in his prime.

bernie,

Hoping you can get those settings back ! Otherwise, you sounded awesome !!! :cool:

Thank you :)

Tell me please what are good and bad moments....

I still learn to sing without singing teachers.....

You're a natural. Your tone is excellent. I don't think I heard any off notes. The only thing, and this isn't really a negative, is your accent on the pronunciation of certain words. I personally don't mind the accent. I think it lends a nice "texture" to the vocal melody. But if you want to be more accepted to the general listening public it would probably help to soften it.

That's it. That's all I got. You nailed both of those songs. Great singing my friend

Eric

That was pretty cool.

I don't have a comment about your singing, other than it was awesome.

Your vocals were a little muddy in the mix though. I don't know much about recording so I can not give any advice on how to clean it up, but I am sure it was in the recording process and not your vocals.

Such a little thing why even mention it? Because a little cleaner would have been perfection. :cool:

I agree about the muddiness of the vocal track. I can't seem to get that clean sound back. I left my iPad out with the app open and my son, who is 7 years old, thought it was a game and started playing with it and totally changed the settings I had. Unfortunately I hadn't saved my mic and effect settings and now I can't re-capture them. I'm pulling my hair out trying to get them back, but because I sort of stumbled across the original settings I'm lost. I really know nothing about sound engineering and do everything by ear. Also, the mic I have is a cheap stage mic. I'm hinting around for a better mic and a pair of professional headphones for Father's Day :cool:

Thanks for the kind words re: my singing. :)

Many thanks to Felipe for sending me the backing track. I hope it's as well received as yours

And just a note that I mentioned to Felipe that I had been considering doing this tune for quite a while but I could not find a decent backing track for it. He did not hesitate to send me the track he used. I love this board

Anyway, here it is. Compliment, criticize, or other. But please leave a comment and let me know what you thought about it.

bernie, check your mail!

Thanks Jugulator!!

Got the file, thank you!

I'll try to get it recorded today and post it up :-)

Thanks Olem. It really helps when one can find a good backing track. I've been looking for a band to jam with in my area but unfortunately most of them are way younger than I am and into "screamo" metal.

Here ya go people. I recorded this one this afternoon. I wanted to venture out of my "regular" genres. I've always appreciated Layne Staley's unique voice (I like unique voices in general) and the harmonies he and Jerry Cantrell could make. Rooster is one of my favorite AIC songs and I've been singing it in the shower and the car for years. This is the first time I've recorded it and I try to capture some of Staley's brooding sound. Please, let me know what you think of it and any areas where I missed the mark. I'm pretty happy with the end result.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/140458649/Rooster%20mix.mp3

Soundcloud wouldn't let me post it due to "copyright infringment" >:-(

@Adolph thanks man! Really? Extreme is awesome!

@ keith got it! Thanks man!

@mdew yep, its really important I will definitively give it another shot and see if I get it right. We dont have a closed ih!

@bernie ahaha thanks man! I will send you the BT tomorrow, no problems.

Thank you so much Felipe! I don't think I can do it justice like you did, but I'd love to give it a try :-) My email is berniemcpeak@gmail.com

Kicked a**!

Yes, you were a bit flat through the first half but your energy and overall performance rocked! This is one of my favorite Extreme songs and you did it justice.

I was going to post my own cover of this a while back but I couldn't find a decent backing track. The instrumentation was excellent. Was that a backing track or was it you as well?