Gsoul82

I'm actually cool with you choosing the first song, since you came up with the idea in the first place. And we can figure out a way to pick the song for June before May is done. As long as everyone else is cool with it.

Looks like it's going to be Hard Rock for this month, gentlemen. How shall we go about deciding which song?

Rock: 4

-Hard Rock: 3

R&B: 1

- Neo-Soul: 1

Blues: 1

Well, you did hide it about half the time. Like I said, it's not anything bad, but just wanted to let you know what I heard.

Oh, okay. Straining is bad. If you can't hit a note without straining, don't do it. Hit the highest notes you can hit comfortably, and hit them regularly. Do exercises as high as you can comfortably do, and your upper range will get stronger as well as increase.

Rock: 3

-Hard Rock: 2

R&B: 1

- Neo-Soul: 1

Looks like it's probably going to be rock. Let's give it another day of voting.

I'm not sure what you're saying about tone, unless you're actually trying to make it sound like he does in the song, but he actually goes into falsetto. And you're fluctuating back and forth with your pronunciation. It sounds okay some places in the song, but other places, things end up coming out Country'ish, which is also okay if you were going for that, but if not, listen on. Like at :32 seconds. Try to tone down on the twang, because he does use it, but not in that way. And also say "brown suga". Leave the "r" off of the end. You didn't sound bad at all, but this is all for style purposes, because from what you said about tone, I get that you're trying to sound more like he does on the song.

Finally another deep-voiced guy! As a classical enthusiast, I really enjoyed that.

Alrighty, that makes two!

Rock: 2

-Hard Rock: 2

I never heard you with that much power before. I like it. Actually have heard a few 80's singers attack in that way.

Hi everyone! This is my cover of You Raise Me Up

any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

 

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When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;

When troubles come and my heart burdened be;

Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,

Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;

You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;

I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;

You raise me up... To more than I can be.

 

Great job. Very nicely done. If you're trying to really get the Josh Groban effect, he's a classically trained singer. Classically trained singers are trained to keep their tongues at the bottom of their mouths while they sing. Other than that, great job. Felt the passion.

I would vote for blues or rock but im down for anything.

Cool. We should probably get to voting, because May is coming soon. I'm actually interested in trying Country or Rock, but I'm going to go with Rock. If that genre gets enough votes to be chosen, my vote would be for the Hard Rock sub-genre. Let me know exactly which one it is you want, Elvis, so I can put your vote down.

Rock: 1

We're running short on time, so lets hold the voting for 3 days and have the song chosen by May 2nd, so we can start.

I'm on the fence on that one. It sounds fun, maybe if it was specifically recommended to not force distortion and do another take if it's not something you can do healthily, but it does tend to be one of the vocal techniques that people would be most prone to forcing.

I put a glaring warning up by the Metal section. Just trying not to alienate anyone who might want that.

Here's the thing. When I was maybe 7 years old, I started really loving singing and doing it for the first time. I had a family member tell me my singing was awful beyond belief and I had to stop. It was said very seriously and I took it to heart. They were older, they seemed wiser. So I being kid who was used to listening to authority figures, I did.

When I was 20, I was a musician who fell in love with the Beatles and realized, I had to sing. So what happened, is I basically resumed singing with the skills of a 7 year old beginner. Minus half a decade medical hardships, I have probably at least 4 years of singing training so I sing like an 11 year old now, maybe going on 12.

Nobody would even think of not singing if it wasn't for other people. I just sing like I'm 11 years old with the wisdom of an adult who is wiser and doesn't take 'advice' about whether I should sing. By the time I'm 20 something years old in singing years, imagine that? Even the idea of stopping singing for any reason seems unwise unless you hate singing.

As for a critique of your voice. It's starting from an really unique position and I like some of the character of it already. It has a vulnerable quality that I can relate to, and a unique identifiable timbre. Pitch is better than expected from someone who is thinking about stopping. But the critique isn't that important compared to the mindset. Wherever you are in your development, sing like that.

Michael Jackson started singing at like 3 year old so by the time he was in the Jackson 5 he was already singing for longer than I am. He probably had influence from people in the church or family who sang who could guide him a little. But the time I have 9 years of experience, who knows? I don't care. I just sing. You should too. That's the natural state of mind of our species, until other people plant doubts. Singing to me is 'sustained noise that feels meaningful.' Some people are relate to the noise, others don't. I'm willing to bet cavemen made sustained noises that felt meaningful too. They might have even sung before they learned speak. Ooooooga booooga!!!!!

His family actually really embraced that kind of thing. They would harmonize while doing house chores. Everyone from the kids to the mother (not sure about Joe Jackson). You see what kind of thing that kind of support can give you? You could have one of the greatest voices in popular music!

Wow thank you, that means a lot to me! I don't know what to work on or how to improve but I'll check some tutorials on youtube and figure it out.

And thank you MDEW I'll take your words into consideration and practice.

I'll send you a message in a little bit

Thanks a lot fot the encouraging words, i guess i won't give up singing but as far as progression goes i'm not sure if i even have potential to get better. I guess i'm just looking for feedback and tips on how to improve, i'm very self-conscious about singing and my voice but i'd prefer if you guys would just be honest with me.

Everyone has potential. I could probably show you recordings from back where I started and I was worse than you. And your tone actually reminds me of babyface. You fix a few things and you'll sound great.

I would advise removing death metal Just because a beginner can make some serious dmg trying to sing those heavy growls and distortion.

Yeah, I know what you mean. Although, one thing with this challenge is you're not supposed to purposely try to sing it like the genre the song is from. That's up to the interpretation of whoever is singing. I'll leave it up for now just in case other people out there want to do pop interpretations of metal songs about killing and all that good stuff

If a couple other people agree though, I'll take it down.

Updated the list again. Holler if anything is missing.

I think it is very intriguing. We should all be forced to learn a foreign language song at least once and pronounce everything wrong.

I gave Por Volare Ti a shot a while ago, but butchered the Italian of course. I'd like to learn it for real.

Edited the list. I figured, why not do sub-genres? And I have no objection to doing international music if everyone else is okay with it.

Yeah, clearly I'm being very general with the genre stuff. I don't know how I left out jazz, I was just thinking about it, lol. I didn't mention old school soul because I figured that would fit into R&B, but of course I'm a soul man who wouldn't mind that. Let's see what some other people are interested in and them we'll vote I guess.

I've been talking to a few people about this. The All of Me Challenge has been something really cool that brought the forum together. It's been nice to see people come out of their comfort zone and attempt something that they aren't used to attempting, whether they tried to sing the song R&B style or they took the song and tried to sing it in a way that feels natural to themselves. Both of these tasks are tricky things to do.

I thought it would be pretty cool if we did this every month. We could vote on a genre each month and choose a song to attempt. Each month would be a different genre. Also, it's important to note that this isn't a contest where somebody wins at the end. Think of it as a forum-wide project where everyone will be approaching something new quite often. You may even find something new in your voice that you like while trying to attempt the monthly challenge. So, who's interested?

We would start in May, but it's important to make a topic about a week beforehand so that we have time to deal with genre selection and song selection, which might be a tricky decision to make in itself. We may have to use some random song finder that will find songs in a particular genre.
I'm thinking maybe even use one of those radio apps that will find songs from the genre you want to listen to.

This month, we already did R&B, so lets find something else.

R&B

-Motown

-Doo-wop

-Neo-Soul

-Funk

Country

-Bluegrass

-Rockabilly

Blues

-Electric Blues

-Old School Blues

-Blues Rock

-Delta

Rock

-Hard Rock
-Alternative Rock

-Punk Rock

-British Rock

-Indie Rock

Pop
-Bubble Gum Pop (60's and 70's)

-Teen Pop

-Euro Pop

Folk

-Celtic Folk

-Indie Folk

Classical

-Opera

-Baroque

-Chant

Metal

DO NOT TRY TO SING THESE SONGS EXACTLY LIKE THE ORIGINAL ARTIST IF YOU HAVE NOT MASTERED DISTORTION. TECHNIQUES USED IN THESE SONGS CAN CAUSE SERIOUS DAMAGE. IF IT HURTS, STOP.

-Death Metal

-Heavy Metal

Jazz

-Bebop

-Latin Jazz

-Big Band
-Swing

Gospel

Reggae

(Let me know if I'm forgetting a genre here.)

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?

 

   Having an RnB background do you believe the RnB sound is from a firmer closure on the vocal folds? My description above was not quite accurate, I am singing soft like in an intimate conversation yet loud enough to be heard. It seems that DStarr has a firm closure and compression and support. You can even hear the breath escape in a little gasp between phrases, sort of like Michael Jackson in "Billy Jean". Just curious.

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.

Thanks for listening.

I decided to stick with the piano track Because it is out of my comfort zone.

I wasn't trying to sound like John or anything like that but I was hoping to kickstart some vibrato. Didn't Happen.

I think part of the difference between me and typical RnB guy is that I was singing this with a kind of airy sound to get a smooth laid back feel/sound.

The last few guys like Dstarr and OldPainless had a more firm adduction but also had maybe a fry sound to get that coolness where I was using air. Their vibrato sounded awesome.

Anyway, I am learning and you pay attention more when you have to work at it.

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/