berniemcpeak

Yeah, I know I'm not posting this on the "official" Queensryche thread but I'm hoping to get some more ears on this one and some comments/critiques. I re-recorded this with a much cleaner track that was sent to me by Manolito (Many thanks!). I listened to previous comments and tried to address them in this recording. hopefully I start off stronger in this version (I think I do) so please, listen and comment :-)

BTW, would anyone have a clean copy of a backing track for Alice In Chain's "Rooster"? I'd like to do that one next and I can't find too many out there...

I have what can be considered as close as the master track as you can go and can make a karaoke track out of it.

I would very much appreciate if you could do that! Could you email it to me pr post it on something like Dropbox?

I have what can be considered as close as the master track as you can go and can make a karaoke track out of it.

I would very much appreciate if you could do that! Could you email it to me pr post it on something like Dropbox?

Awesome, Bernie.

Thanks Ron. What did you think of the mix?

Thanks Keith. I was a little hesitant because I strained my voice just before Halloween, but I felt good and I'm happy to hear it sounded good as well.

Olem, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I agree that the mix isn't as clean as I would like it. This backing track sounded much cleaner in the clip that I listened to prior to purchasing it. I suppose when you can't provide your own instruments and talent for the backing track then you have to take what you can get. Unfortunately there aren't too many quality karaoke offerings for Queensryche. :/

Two thumbs up Ron. :)

So my voice got kinda trashed over Halloween and I've been nursing a sore throat for a few weeks. I've been wanting to get back in the saddle but every time I tried I got frustrated. So I took a break for a while. Well, the last few days I've felt my voice coming back and I've been listening to a lot of Queensryche again. Low and behold I see a Queensryche thread! Really?! Sweet!

So I found a decent backing track on iTunes for one of my favorite Queensryche songs, "Jet City Woman". I wanted a track that had no backing vocals but i just couldn't find any like that, so on this one I sing harmony along with the backing vocals as well as lead vocals (obviously). I read the thread and I tried to follow the rules but I ended up doing this in two takes, mainly because I totally botched the lyrics. Obviously I had to go back and record the backing vocal harmonies, but i didn't count those as extra "takes" ( I did those in one take, btw).

So, without further ado here is my cover of Queensryche's "Jet City Woman"

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/140458649/Jet%20City%20Woman%20mix.mp3

(I had to use my dropbox account because lame Soundcloud wouldn't allow the track due to "copyright infringement"... :mad: )

I loved the sound you have in this. I am not the kind of guy who needs a cover to sound exactly like the original. Most of the time the original was by someone we never heard of. I know Elton is the original on this song but the Idea is the same. Sing as YOU sing. Be the one to be emulated by someone else later.

The only thing that I noticed is that on a lower pitched "Holy Moses" you sing "Hole-lay Moses" and on the higher pitch you sing "Hole-lee Moses". It is a small thing but consistency makes a difference. The subconscious picks up on it and you just think something is odd but you can't put your finger on it.

Keeping Hole-lay throughout may be easier on you.

Thanks for both the compliment and critique. I honestly didn't notice it until I read your post and listened to it again. Sure enough, there it was. This is exactly why I joined this board. After hearing your own voice sing a song over and over you kind of glaze over smaller things. And you're right, they do make a difference. I will take your advice to heart and keep my ear tuned in to my pronunciation in the future. I may re-record this song and try to correct the issue.

This singer certainly has the chops to make it. I was supremely impressed with his voice and the band as well. That was a very professional mix. I liked the Indian part too. Very beautiful and he blended so well.

I give him and his band two big thumbs up!

I strained my voice a bit participating in a "Haunted Hayride" this past weekend. I played the Park Ranger who is attacked by a den of Cub Scouts turned Zombie. It was a blast and the kids were great, but all of the screaming as I was being "eaten" by 8-10 juvenile zombies took its toll. I wanted to do another Journey/Steve Perry cover but that'll have to wait several weeks for my vocal chords to recover.

I decided to try an Elton John song I've always liked. Please give me your thoughts on it. Does it sound harsh?

Hi Sleepdeprived,

I posted a response to your post on Harmony Central, but I copy and paste it here too.

First things first... No. It is NOT bad. Not bad at all.

Secondly - Johnny Cash was the wrong choice to start off with, and here's why. Because JC has such a distintive voice and his range is MUCH lower than yours. So when you try to sing his tunes it almost comes off as a parody. And that's not your fault. Almost ANYONE who tries to mimic another singer that is beyond their range risks coming off like that. My only other negative critique fo the JC cover was that you were almost OVER-pronoucing some of the words, which only added to the parody flavor. I love JC's music, but it is certaily something I would not attempt myself. It's just too easy to pick apart because he had such an iconic sound. And I think we can all agree that JC wasn't that great of a singer, but he had a great sound.

On to the other tunes covered. So, I am only mildly familar with The Gorillaz and with Muse so it is difficult fo rme to speak to those covers. However, I thought your cover of Marcy Playground's "Sex and Candy" was pretty spot on. The only real critique I can give you is that there was a bit of a "flat" feeling to it. When I say flat I am not referring to your pitch, but to your delivery. It's hard to pinpoint. Otherwise, I really liked it.

Finally, the Radiohead covers. Again, here is a very iconic group with a very distict sound. And with a rabid fanbase. Add all of those up and you're sure to get some negativity back when covering this band. Having said that I thought your covers were very good. I think your voice suits their style of music. And I think that is where your primary issue may lie. When covering songs you should always consider whether or not the tune you've choosen suits your voice and vice versa. There are a lot of songs I would LOVE to cover but I know that my voice and singing style is not suited to them. So I don't do them. Every now and then I will tread out to the deep end and try something out of my comfort zone but I always try to keep it within my range, i.e no Johnny Cash songs.

Bottom line: You have a good voice that comes off with a very clean sound. Look for tunes and styles to compliment that. It might not always be the songs you love or the style you're accustomed to, but we sing for the love of singing. At least I do.

Good luck with your endeavors and try not to take the comments of internet know-it-all's to seriously. ;-)

And get some sleep!

Eric

MDEW - Thank you

Ronws - are you requesting "I feel Pretty"? Lol

Geno - Thanks for the tips. I looked up a few videos on YouTube and will start incorporating them.

Sounds fabulous. Your harmonies are very tight, which is not always easy to do. And the main vocals are superb.

Thank you. I felt I was a bit flat near the beginning. I always seem to have issues starting out a little flat. I think it's because I'm not as relaxed as i should be. Perhaps some warm up exercises would help. Any suggestions?

I've wanted to try this song for a while. It's not a particularly difficult song to sing, but doing the harmonies myself is something I've never tried. I listened to the original a few times before trying it to isolate the harmonies. As far as I could tell there were two distinct vocals going on, with a third that seemed to double the second to give a chorus effect. So on the first vocal track I sang the main melody with a little reverb and delay, the second I sang without a filter, and the third with just a slight chorus effect to fill it out. Please let me know what you guys think.

The link isn't taking me to the specified track. Can you repost the link? I'd recall like to hear it.

Okay, this one is for Validar and Ron....

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/140458649/Live%20Like%20You%20Were%20Dying%20mix.mp3

Keep in mind country is not my forte. I'm less than a casual listener of Country music and it's pretty far from my comfort zone. Please let me know what you think of my attempt, and don't be afraid to let me have it with both barrels (gratuitous Country pun). :)

Let em know what you guys think. Feedback is always welcome, positive AND negative (just be constructive please)

Well done sir! This song is much more difficult than it sounds and you did it justice. I agree with ronws on just about every point he made, especially about going after the first part like you did in the second.

As for your accent, it was more than "a little" noticable, but it worked well. Halfway through I was thinking "I bet this would sound good in spanish." Maybe do an english/spanish version, with the chorus in spanish?

I'm not familiar with the song, but I think your voice is very good. The only thing I noticed was that you seemed "breathy", and you took breaths maybe when you shouldn't have.

But your tone and pitch seemed very good (again, I'm not familiar with the tune so I can't really speak to wether you were in tune with the original)

me too!

Very good sir! It's nice to see another big man singing . My only real complaint is the constant wobbling of the camera. Please invest in a decent tripod if you're going to continue to produce videos . You were a little flat right there at the end but I think being able to control your breathing will help with that. As another big man I can tell you it's easy to run out of air if I don't keep my stomach (diaphragm) tight while exhaling. Learning when to breath in and taking a quick deep breath helps me too. I'm no pro or coach or anything, this is just what I've figured out for myself. Hopefully it can help you too.

Also, I must say that I am always impressed when someone can sing as well as you do AND play the guitar at the same time. Kudos to you sir!

Please review my cover of "Send Her My Love". I would appreciate honest feedback. I'm a complete amateur so I'm not really sure where I need to improve.

Thank you.

Really good job. I guess you are just looking for applause. Well, you got it. Sometimes, nothing "needs to be fixed." And that's okay, too. And I liked your cover of "Cold as Ice." You should post that for the benefit of our admin, Bob (videohere.) Sometimes, I get the impression that he is a fan of Foreigner and maybe, even, a fan of the singing of Lou Gramm.

I assure that I'm not fishing for applause, but I certainly appreciate your kind words. I suppose I need to more specific about what i want to learn and where I would like to improve. I'm not even sure where I'm going with this singing thing. I've always enjoyed it and maybe I can find a local band to hook up with, but at my age they're hard to find. And most bands out there now are younger and prefer screaming or rapping to singing.

I'll post up a couple more covers I've recorded to expose myself a little more to the rest of the board and then I'll refrain and only participate with questions and reviews of others until I can figure out what I'm doing and where I want to go with this.

I recorded this using the VocaLive app on my iPad2, with IK Multimedia's iRig microphone adapter and a Samson R11 microphone. I used a backing track I found on iTunes from "MIDIfine Systems"

Please let me know what you think of my performance. Any constructive feedback you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

<---- click me!

Great song and cover of it. I think your voice is very good, especially for that type of song. As for a critique I'm not a pro or anything, but I'll tell you what I hear that I think you could easily improve. First, I think you're over-pronouncing the words. Maybe losen up a bit and let the words roll out just as you would in a casual conversation. For an example, when you pronounce "waiting", you emphisize the "ing" at the end and proceed it with a heavy "T", so it sounds like 'wai-TING". Try to make it sound like "way-den". The other thing is that it's a long song and you sounded a bit flat towards the end, kinda like you were tired.

I hope you accept these critiques in the spirit in which they were intended. You did a great job on that song, far better than I could have. With a couple of tweaks you'll own it!