Gsoul82

That's probably the best way to go about things. It took me a long time before I felt an emotional connection to a song. I was never able to just bring it out. Would you be down for that monthly thing I sent you a PM about?

  Oh wow. I'm a Jersey boy myself (Jersey, not "Joisey". No one from here says that). I'm not even necessarily speaking about the word structure, but the way you round out the bars is a cool touch. Like how you said "kicking me out".   I don't get into physiology that much because I find things easier to explain differently. I will say yes to the support part, because vibrato is used a lot. It's often as if you engage your diaphragm so you can cut it on and off at any time. Lots of movement around your entire range as well. There are very few R&B guys I can think of that I haven't heard use falsetto. I'm not going to link my version in your topic, but you can hear mine in the original challenge topic, and what I said above is pretty much my mindset while singing this song.   You've got a good ear, because he told me Michael Jackson is his biggest influence.

Nice effort. You have this cool way of pronouncing things. I actually recognize it from somewhere, but can't recall at the moment. A few people on here told me I sounded like John Legend. The thing about him is he uses his lower range a lot and he really makes use of vibrato. I wouldn't be surprised if he came from a classical voice background. It would make sense because of his piano skill.

Re-recorded the song acapella. I wanted to clean up some of the falsetto runs, which were a little sloppy before, and I figured what better time to do it than right after being up all night?   I recorded it in my bathroom, which has some nice acoustics. Also, that humming sound isn't present any longer.   http://picosong.com/X4UU/

Do another cover, Umesh. I'd love to hear it.

  I thought it was adorable. Almost like a chorus class was going on.   Thanks, Ronws, for bringing this guy up. I really like how he tip-toes through his melismas, and thanks Killer, for posting those videos.   I guess if I had to critique myself, it was pitchy here and there. Probably should have warmed up first. It was fun anyways though, so I didn't want to do re-do it.

  Yeah, I've heard of the Osmonds. I just thought it was cute that they were singing along, even though it might be a strange song to sing along to.   Thank you. Tried to put in a few different elements here.   Who's Neville? I've heard that name before.

    Just listened. I didn't know the song "Story", but I saw that you also recorded "Hero", so I listened to that one too. It's good that you have the "never say never" attitude. You have plenty of time to turn singing into a career. The mistake people make a lot, and I blame the media for this, is that you either make singing into a career immediately, or you don't make it at all. They'll have you believe, if you haven't been singing since you were a kid, you've got no chance. And they'll develop these made-up stories about people to fool you. You can work on developing a different career that will support you while you're getting your voice ready for a career. You've got a lot of time.   As for your voice, there are some things that need to be worked on. You are singing as if you're talking, but the two are different. You likely haven't learned how to use your diaphragm yet. You need to learn that, because, if you keep singing through your throat, you're going to ruin your voice. Work needs to be done on pitch as well. You can fix all of that and still have a career in singing though. If you really want this, you just need to practice everyday and it's going to come. It's just like working out. Like I said up there, you have a lot of time. There's no reason why you can't develop an amazing voice by your mid-20's. Want bigger arms? Do arm exercises. Want a stronger voice? Do voice exercises. If you want to know how to practice, post a thread in the "vocal technique" section saying that you're a beginner who is trying to find out where to start.

I don't like James Blunt and I've never heard the song before, but it sounded nice when you did it, so that's cool.

My bad, man. I watched all of the recordings a few days ago, but forgot to reply. I'm probably the only person on this forum who even knows who Drake is, lol. You've got something coming along there. There are people that really like that way of stretching out the phrasing that you use here.  Some work should be done on pitch. Besides that, I don't know what I can really speak on, because I'm not sure what you want to be able to do with your voice. Who are your influences?   As far as Drake goes, that's a low bar to rise above singing-wise, lol.

Very good. You actually do sound like Amy Lee.

I have something a little different this time. I've been working on my improvisation a lot lately. I did this cover with somebody else and tried to fill in some of the silence and add to the song while they were singing. As some people may know, this is a pop song. I'm not really a pop guy, so I put my own spin on it.   http://picosong.com/Xy7m/   Don't get creeped out that some little kids are singing a love song with me, LOL. I sang first and they joined me

    Not bad. Only thing I would say is the music is up too loud.

Thanks a lot. Really pleased to see a lot of people appreciate this. It never was my goal to do anything other than sing for fun, but it's nice to know there's potential for something more.

  I thought the Soundcloud recording was higher than the guy singing in the YouTube video.

    I know exactly what you mean. I play the piano while I sing sometimes. I just haven't recorded it. Very nice playing, by the way.

I'm not a folk guy, but well done. Seeing everybody recording stuff while playing instruments makes me want to do the same.

It's cool. Always nice to have someone check something you did out. Thank you.

Nice! I'm a sucker for vibrato :p

Wow, never thought I'd see a gospel cover in here. Nice one.

Are you sure you didn't accidentally post the original song? Sounds professional. That's a hard song for you? O.o

Very nice. Solid!

And I thought the falsetto was a nice touch. Sometimes you need something light to get the panties wet

Yeah, I think we can all get something out of doing that.

Looks like I forgot to reply to this one for some reason. I just played it and I know I heard this one already. Smooth. This is cool. Maybe we should get into the habit of choosing one song each month and everybody will try to sing it. Not necessarily a monthly contest where a winner is chosen, but something where everybody just does their own take on the song. And it should change genres every month. Like, this is considered an R&B song. Maybe next month it could be a rock song. Or maybe a country song? Maybe I'll make a topic about it.