Gsoul82

​Don't worry about it, Dew. It's great to have as many people as possible get involved with this, but everyone knows that life can get busy at the drop of a hat, and suddenly the time isn't there. I managed to get an attempt off and tried to get a second version done, but the time wasn't there. I didn't manage to record anything with a backing track this time. I want that to be different this month, so I'm going to see if I can make that happen. Speaking of this month, it would be great if you could be a part of it. We're running two challenges this month: Jazz and Country. And it would still be nice to have you post a Highway Star cover in here.

​Very good!

We will be discussing song selection shortly.

Alright, everyone. Voting has now finished. It's interesting how things happen, because we decided to do two challenges this month and it just so happens we ended up in a tie. Both of the tying genres have been selected. This month, we're going to be doing Country and Jazz!

​Hey GSoul, I could not even see the attached file. It shows an empty window in my screen. What am I doing wrong? ​I think that must have happened because I changed my soundcloud link a couple days ago. I'll put the new link in a little later.

​I wouldn't "scream" anything. It's important to keep in mind that you should be singing from your diaphragm. Nothing should be felt in your throat while you sing. You'll increase your vocal range by singing the highest and lowest notes that you can sing without straining, and singing those notes again and again.

Hey Nick, Welcome to the forum. Sasuke is a wise choice, by the way. Doesn't sound that bad at all really. Many people hate the sound of their own voice at first, because you don't sound on recording like you sound when you're talking, and that's because things like temperature affect your voice when it comes out of your mouth. When you first start singing, your voice tends to sound a little bit like you're speaking voice. Over time, you gain texture, and there are bunch of things you can do to change the sound of your voice (utilization of different resonators, techniques like twang and vibrato). After working on your voice for some time, you may find that you end up with several different ways that you like to sing. You shouldn't sing the same exact way for every song though, because your singing should reflect the tone of the song that you are singing.

Thanks for the feedback Sexy Beast. I noticed after practicing a bit more in the car that I can definitely sing this with lighter mass. This rendition was too heavy giving it the shouting quality you described. I think it can still be medium mass and belty, but not sound like shouting. Thanks again! ​Just keep working at it, Jabroni. Pitch comes in time, whether you focus on it or not.

​Those styles have a lot in common, and people often crossover. Besides Jessie J, a lot of Pop artists do sing with an R&B style. Usher is actually R&B, but his last album was mostly Pop. Justin Bieber grew up singing Boyz II Men and Brian McKnight songs. Then there are a bunch of people in Country who sing with a style that's very R&B-like, like Brad Paisley and Gary LeVox. Lionel Richie and Brian McKnight have crossed over and put out Country-influenced stuff too. You should continue to mimic. Everyone does it. Its influence. Even Jessie J used to post videos on her twitter feed of a certain gospel singer she was inspired by. And here's the proof: http://www.mtv.co.uk/jessie-j/news/jessie-j-wants-james-morrison-duet Now, her singing and his singing. So, you see? Everyone mimics.

Yeah, Rob. We're avoiding consecutive genre repeats. However, just because we're choosing songs this month from different genres, it doesn't mean that people can't sing those songs with a Rock or Metal styling. It's encouraged.to approach songs from different genres with vocal styles from other genres. Country is doing good right now, so if that gets selected as one of the genres, I may approach it and try to interpret it from an R&B place. It's all about mixing things up one way or another. I mentioned this in the thread addressing rules and guidelines, but I've also edited the instructions in my first post here, in order to make things clear.

​Hey Naomi, Welcome to the forum! What's your name on Smule? I'll follow you. Your style is pretty much shaped by whoever you listen to and the kinds of songs that you sing the most. Who do you listen to? Jessie J has a lot of stuff that's categorized as pop, but she has an R&B style. If you like trying to sing like her, I'd say the same for you. If you mean you can't reach certain high notes without the sound thinning out, everybody's voice does that at some point in their range. So, that is still your voice. Your range will increase over time though, so you'll be able to make more notes sound fuller in time.

​Cool, Jabroni! Kate Bush sounds cool. I thought Journey would be Rock, but I guess we'll see what the other guys say. As far as Pop goes, something from Michael Jackson or Phil Collins might be cool. Maybe even really take a dive and choose something current from the top 40. I know a few gospel songs as well. Take my Hand, Precious Lord is one of them. Country and Blues sound great too.

Hey all, For those of you that are wondering what this about, check out the following link and please join us: It's about that time. It's been decided that, this month, we will run two challenges at once. Two separate challenge threads will be created. Everyone is greatly encouraged to participate in both of these. Even if you don't have time to mix two great tracks, try to get something done for each and post it in the corresponding challenge topics. Given the goal of these challenges is to get everybody really racking their musical brains and get everyone out of their comfort zone at one point or another, we did Rock this month, so Rock will not be an option for June, but it will show back up in the poll that will be created on June 26th for July's challenge. HOWEVER, just because a Rock song won't be chosen this month, it does NOT mean that you cannot take one of the songs that we end up choosing and sing it Rock style. As a matter of fact, if Rock is your absolute favorite style, it is encouraged that you do take one of these songs and sing it that way. It is also encouraged that you try to learn to sing in the style of the genres that are selected. We are NOT prohibiting styles, we are switching genres. There are 7 choices for this month's challenge, and the two genres with the highest number of votes will be chosen. Voting will go on until May 31st (120 hours from now). At that point, we will go about selecting the songs we will be singing during June. June's challenges will begin June 6th and end on July 5th. Voting for the genre selection of July's challenge will begin on June 26th and end on July 1st. July's challenge begins July 6th. These are the choices for this month's poll: R&B Country Blues Pop Folk Jazz Gospel Let the voting begin!

Nice and funky. Interesting production group name (Norman Bates Family).

​Damn, this is great. Makes me really want to learn this stuff. Take 2 for me is coming soon. By the way, voting starts in about 24 hours for next months genres.

Hey Stahhr, Welcome to the forum. It's nice to see another R&B guy here. Please upload a picture to your profile. It helps the forum. If you're not sure how to, please check here: https://youtu.be/o5shcSf9VXs?list=PLzvXyyJTjIJaSSmFNo8McrMih8jN6Vn-x Thank you.

Hey Ale, Please go ahead and upload a picture to your profile. It helps the forum a lot. If you don't know how to do it, please watch this video: I'll let you know what I think after you upload a picture. Thanks, Ale.

​Thanks a lot, Dew. Can't wait to see what you end up with.

​Your delivery was, to me, soft and laid back. Like I was in a piano bar listening to a smoky singer while sipping on scotch (with a soda chaser.) ​Hmmm. Yeah, that sounds like it would be solved by fixing the compression. Thank you.

Just a reminder for everyone, we will start voting on next month's genre on the 26th. It's been decided that we'll be doing two challenges at the same time next month. The two genres with the most votes will be chosen. Everyone is encouraged to get involved with both. Remember, your submission does not have to be anything very specific. It could even be an acapella recording. Its encouraged to use production software and a backing track, because production is a very valuable skill to have if your seriously considering pursuing music as a career, or even a hobby. It's also a skill that several of us will be working on developing here, so it's all the more encouraged that people do try to use software and put something together. See this link for backing tracks: http://www.karaoke-version.com/?aff=548 We will learn together.

Alright, Rob. Will do. No problem. I think it's easier for people to learn and get involved with things, in general, when other people are working on the same thing.

​Hey Killer, was wondering when you were going to pop back up. Yeah, D'angelo was not what I was going for, so this needs refinement. On the "I love it" part, it's kind of hard to explain. Kind of like I jumped into falsetto, going into it, and I did something different on they way back down. It sounded cool and didn't hurt, so I let it rock. The rasp actually turns out to be something a little different and I use it in head voice. I tried to use vocal fry to get a similar effect around a year ago, but it didn't happen. I just get into this certain placement and it comes out. It can be more or less depending on how I manipulate it. I want to get this style down though, so I need to work on more compression. Eddie sounds good, but he sounds a bit like what I'm used to, and I'm trying to work on being able to get away from that if I choose to. I think you were the one who first told me that the placement I was using for this kind of thing before sounds similar to Al Green sometimes. How are you coming along with this, Killer? I know the last thing you said you were doing was working on interpreting the song.

​GSoul... I thought I owed you some feedback on this... for starters, way to step up and lead by example on the campaign... that alone is admirable. Ok... You need to compress the vocal folds "G"! This is, for practical purposes, Falsetto... the vocal folds are open and respiration is escaping, making the sound color "windy"... I think this sound works a lot with soul and R&B... but if you want to get this rock/metal sound color... you need to torque down on the glottis brother... a lot more... so... You need to maintain good, strong TA engagement up to the G#4 and then sing "through" that configuration/anchored position... not easy! lol... Try getting a good onset that compresses the vocal folds; Q&R, D&R, or T&R onsets approximately a melodic 5th or octave below the G#4. To get into this configuration, ... start lower... the siren & "pull" up to the G#4, not letting the compression/adduction blow open... do so with the following vowel modification formula that might help. eh < > ou (would) The narrowed vowel will help support or maintain the musculature anchoring and keep you twanging into M2/head.... Remember, when you narrow vowels, (and relevant to frequency as well... ), you need to lower the acoustic mass to keep it resonating and connected. Don't "pull" to the G#4 with the same mass as the more open, singer friendly "eh" vowel... so as you go higher... the vowel narrows and the acoustic mass lowers to keep the physics (formant) aligned and amplified. It is going to be harder then hell at first... Here is a little routine I would advise trying: First just work on the onset and pull and keep the configuration and then sustain at the top note/s... just to get a feel for it. Then, onset > siren > G#4 > SLOWLY begin to articulate the lyrics and get a feel for maintaining that configuration as you phonate through the "chaos" of consonants and other vowels to accommodate the lyrics. Then work up your speed until your musculature is solid and understand how to remain anchored and your articulators learn how to articulate the consonants without shitting out your configuration.... simply put, this is twanging like hell in the head voice, while balancing the mass of the narrowed vowels... it might take about a week or so before you can really get this to work... but you'll get a lot out of this for all songs and styles of singing.. Routines like this are inside my training program, "The Four Pillars of Singing"... This is 1 of 8 specialized onsets that are in the program that TVS students learn about to help them train and trouble-shoot vocal challenges... Let me know if it helps. This is not a demonstration of the routine above, but it is a demonstration of an onset that I think will help you to get into a good connected, fold compressed configuration that you can then siren/"pull" to the G#4. ​ Wow, Rob. I really appreciate you taking the time to come in and coach me on this kind of thing. I really want to get this stuff down and there's nobody better to get advice from. I guess this is what I'm missing. I wanted to use some rasp for this song, which I get by experimenting with twang, but it naturally comes out lighter and higher. This also made me realize, I haven't really experimented with this kind of thing in chest. I'm going to work on this.

Hmmm. Never saw that coming. Any idea as to what made it sound "jazzy"? I was going for something else.

​Thanks, J. Getting used to singing this type of music. I think I've just about found the balance with rasp.