Clint Torres

No, I just like to stay involved.

Not cheating. That is being artistic. Well, by pointing to mistakes you bring them to the attention of others. Only you know what you want. When you think it's right it will be. When you think it isn't right yet, but others like it. It is still right. Ha ha. There is nothing out there done by me. Not recorded. I never got that far. I had a couple of recordings once but they are long gone. I sang with a band for awhile. Had some vocal instruction (sort of) and I think I did pretty good. Spent many years singing, practicing, singing live. Up until a few months ago. I won't get into it and I'd prefer not to. But I don't sing anymore. It's all good :)

Nothing I can say about that but damn good. It would appear you already know what you are doing and I would be asking you for advice. :)

There is a fine line between singing softer or in a lower volume for softer songs and being breathy. You need to learn how to control the voice. Master support to control the volume. Even a breathy song has connection. Control of breathyness is an artistic choice not a default of singing softly. You still need to be able to wander in and out of connected and falsetto etc. Ask your teacher about it as it is better explained in person. :)

The trouble with low notes is that most people focus so much on hitting high notes they neglect practicing in the opposite direction. This too needs strengthening. You have to strengthen the voice to go low just as much as going high. For me I find some low notes require a lot of support so as not to become breathy while other low notes need less attention and and I focus on them as if I were speaking rather than singing. Just remaining chesty. In this song it may be a support issue. There does seem to be a big jump between the beginning of your cover and the rest of the song. You may need to balance it out somehow artistically while also adding more support.

Hi Bubbly. I think you gave yourself your own constructive criticism right there in your own post Your tone is wonderful. I would tend to think that you can sing well but at this point it is hard to tell because you're holding back. This may not have been the best song choice because it is so low key and mellow which is causing more holding back and lack of support. You need to go for it! How bad do you want this? Just do it. SING! Let people hear you and make them believe. Once they start to compliment you it will get easier! When you get low and soft and don't put any drive or oomph into your voice you go off pitch. There is no pitch at that point. There is no note. Only a whisper. Pump up the volume on the music and the vocals. Support and stand tall. Sing it girl!!:)

POW! Right on the nose. That was on the money son ;)

Hey MDEW. I was in the car today and this song came on the radio. I'll be damned if this doesn't sound like you. (well, to me anyway). I think this would be a good cover for you. As I was listening I was thinking about what I mentioned above. Notice how he adds color and texture and interpretation to his vocals by weaving in and out and up and down in the melody. Man, you guys sound alike Anyone else think so?

Just to be clear. I am only referring to the vocals and maybe a little more contour. On this particular song, your, interpretation was a little straight lined and static. I bit more contour may have made it a bit more interesting. Singing isn't only about staying on pitch and following a melody. Interpretation is a key element as well as feel and overall composition.

Warning! This post contains a BUT. I really enjoyed both versions. Contrary to your assertion that the first sample had tone issues, I disagree. I thought it sounded really good. Are you playing guitar? Really nice job man. As for the second take that was also very good. The guitar was a bit modified (bordering on rock) but it worked. However i found the vocals pretty much the same. Still good but the same. Now here comes the dreaded BUT. (it's not really bad). Your vocals are sounding good MDEW. My only critique or rather suggestion would be that I was a little bored or rather left waiting. I'm not much of a blues fan but I do understand what makes it tick. In a 12 bar blues you have a progression of I IV V. The one,four, five. The "I" is the root. The IV builds tension and the V resolves the tension. Ok, your song wasn't blues or a I IV V but still. The point is that it lacked a tension or resolution. I was left waiting! In other words, it got boring. The tone was really good. Pitch was good. The whole damn song was good. but I wqas waiting for something interesting to happen. Learn to play man! play with your voice. It's a little difficult with a static backing track but if you're in control with your own instruments go for it dude! No matter how pleasant your voice is it gets tiresome listening to Bum, bum, bum BUM BUM,bum bum. I prefer Bum, bum, bum, BUM BUM< BUUUUUUUM, BUUUM, BUM BUM, BUUUUM, bum bum. Overall: Well done:)

That was really good. I'm not familiar with the song but you did a great job. My only standout point was the first "Amen's". Around 49 seconds in the words amen were a little bit too hard to me. By hard, I mean the A was too hard and I felt it should have been softer. Maybe more of a breathyness to it or an "H" sound to soften the hard A. The second time around toward the end of the song the amen's were better. A minor point and one I'm sure an audience wouldn't notice or even care about. Just something a singer might consider to be even better! Nice:)

I think the questions you ask, have already been answered in my original post:) Yes, you have potential. What I was saying above is that everyone does. It is only a matter of instruction and learning how. Your tone doesn't sound bad. But as I said above. At the moment you aren't singing but only talking with a bit of melody thrown in. Get some instruction and learn how to let your voice go and project. It isn't going to come from a few forum posts. Everyone (everyone, includes you) can sing. No matter how bad they sound at first. In almost all cases (barring any hearing or speech problems) it is only a matter of learning how. Most people forget that the voice is an instrument like anything else. If this were a guitar forum and you picked up a guitar a few times without any instruction then decided to try strumming a tune, how could you possibly ask if you had potential? Of course! But first you'd have to learn how to play. It's the same with the voice. Get some books and or digital courses but the best course of action would be a teacher.

I see this so often. The can I sing question. Then potential singers get discouraged. But what they don't realize is that the question is not correct. The real question is "how can I improve?" Suppose you never played Golf in your life and one day decided to head out to a Golf course and play. You would probably suck. Is that because you can't play golf? No! It is only because you don't know how to play (YET!) You need to learn technique, the do's and don't's, how to hold the club, how to plant your feet, how to turn your hips and probably a hundred other things. Singing is no different. We all have the tools but most don't have a clue how to use them. At the moment, just like most asking the same question, you aren't even singing. You are only playing a track and talking along with it. Once you learn how to "sing" with the song and project more as well as use your breath you'll be fine. Your only problem right now is you don't know how. You have golf clubs, a ball, a golf course but all you are missing is proper instruction on how to use all this. Don't be afraid to let your voice go. That's the first thing. Don't sing like you are in a movie theater or church trying to say something to your friend and don't want anyone else to hear you. Sing like you want everyone to hear. Like you are calling out to your friend across the room!

Actually I didn't think the opening word (fly) was bad. It was strong and sounded fine. But at 13 seconds the word "mars" was dead. No support and you lost it. Throughout the song, anything that might be considered off would be for the same reason. The note got weak (no support) and due to the low pitch you lose it. I'm guessing English is a second language? Some annunciation problems although minor. But that still effects the note. Not bad though...minor details. :)

That's what I meant in my statement above about forgetting the vowel you know and learn a singing vowel. It's more standard and moves you away from speaking accents. Like imitating another voice so you don't sing as you speak. But I also believe that the ability to control the vowel (rather than over shading) gives you the ability to be more artistic and not sound overly controlled. Well, imo :)

Maybe some shading on that particular vowel. Forget about the "o" you know and learn a singing "o." As if it were a different letter. Maybe shape your mouth differently as well as placing the sound somewhere else like further back in your head rather than forward placement. A rounder vowel. Add uh to it maybe? Good job though:) EDIT: With all the above noted you may also consider that nothing is really wrong. It all depends on style. If someone sings Journey for example, the listener automatically (usually) becomes biased and is listening and comparing to Steve Perry. But what if a country singer covered a Journey song? Diphthongs are a no no in conventional singing but what if that's your style? It isn't such a no no in country singing and it fits in well. So something has to be said about personal style and sounds. As well as stylistic choices. Some critique and say a singer sounds too airy or breathy. Ok, but maybe that's his/her style. What about John Mayer? He is breathy.

I liked it. It sounded like something I would listen to in a lobby or restaurant or someplace where a background music (live) would be playing. Your tone is nice although in parts it is kind of like a spoken voice rather than a singers voice which makes it preferable to a background music type. The pitch was good as was the tone. On the word "hope" the "O" is a little odd. Sort of not really an O or "OH." It's a bit more spread. Kind of spoken rather than sung. Hard to explain. Kind of like there is an a added before the o sound. On a few parts the "a" vowel as in when you sing "bad" is a bit the same way. It's almost like "bed" instead of "bad." Good job though overall.

I'm not sure if you were flat. Definitely off pitch but I can't be sure how. Rather than flat, maybe, you were just singing in the wrong key compared to the track. Either way it was wrong. Your voice sounds nice and your tone is pleasant. It sounds like you can sing well. The problem in this attempt was you and the track were off.

Yea, sometimes the recording program has a bit of latency. The song is very fast paced though and that doesn't help. It ain't an easy one. You may be right about the "burn' thing.

I thought it was a good effort. I don't really have any technical notes but as far as execution two things stand out for me. One is the drive behind the vocal. It was just a tad weak compared to the original especially on the word "burn." But that may be my personal taste as far as this song goes. Who knows? The other thing was the timing. It felt/sounded to me like you were playing catchup throughout the song, which is understandable because this song is a monster! Overall, nice job man :)

Honestly I don't think there is a whole lot to say. Some people know a little something about singing and then record a song and ask for critique. Others want to learn to sing and ask how and/or what is wrong with my voice at this point. I think you may fall into the second category It isn't a matter of critiquing. First off the recording is terrible so it doesn't give an honest representation of your voice. There is a lot of back ground noise also. I hear annunciation issues among other points. But these are all things that can be overcome with instruction. In my honest opinion asking on a forum isn't going to help as much as a teacher will. You need to learn. Not be critiqued. Critique comes later :)

Excellent job! I didn't think any of the recording effects were overdone at all. Nice. :)

Hello again Amy I hope my above postings weren't taken in the wrong light. As I've stated your singing is good. But what happens after you post something and I or anyone else approves of it? Do you think to yourself, ok I'm done. No more work to be done? I don't know you so I have no clue what your work ethic is so I paint with a broad stroke. If you were a professional singer then you'd post a song and say look at what I do, here is my latest song. For more look here or for instruction click here. But this is a forum and a critique section so I assume we are friends and working together and that you are looking for help or tips or ideas ar another ear. Sort of like: "great job Clint!" hey check this out, have you ever tried doing this when you hit those low notes?" That's all. Fellow singers/students working to improve. I don't disagree with anything ronws said. Well, maybe the Steven Tyler lips thing or shape of your mouth. That isn't what I was alluding to. Not the shape but more what you do with it. But I digress But I approach what I listen to here a different way I suppose, that others here might. It seems you have some training so I am guessing you have a teacher. Have you ever worked on something and couldn't wait to sing it for your teacher expecting him/her to say wow, that was really good, only to have them say "that was good but..." then have you work on a few things? That's because we are either students or teachers and if you're not the latter then everytime you get to what you think is the top you find another step. But that's good. That's what learning is. If we think we know it all we stop learning. The idea is to keep going. So while I can agree with ronws, I didn't post similar thoughts here. I didn't because this isn't a Hey look at me section it is a review and critique and I believe that even though something is good, a bunch of unbiased ears are a good thing. They are the ones to point out, not flaws necessarily, but points that can be improved upon. (maybe). Otherwise there is the danger of complacency. So I point things out not as mistakes, but things I hear or see or notice only to encourage a continuous improvement. or to see if you take another look and either agree or don't. It's just an idea or a discussion. Not an instruction. Something all of us, as students, need. Do you want to become the best and then just stop learning? IMO that is a quick way to UNbest yourself. ;)

I didn't hear it as much in this recording. But at the start, my first reaction was that is sounded the same. Than at about 28 seconds (I think it was the word MISTAKES) it filled out nicely. This song was much better however there were still a couple of areas where it was a little pinched. Overall it was not as much as the others though. Once again, I have to stress, that your singing is good. And this may just be a personal thing for me that I hear and isn't noticed by anyone. But for me there is just that one thing that I can't quite put my finger on that would make it a bit better. And perhaps its the recording. :)

And by the way. Don't go by me anyway. I'm just one listener. It's early yet. Once people start coming on line in the evening you'll probably get more replies and varying advice. Some of which might say I'm nuts!!! :D