Bono

This is really really nice...you have a beautiful voice... though I wonder why are you out of the camera???

Please die, Ana...
 
Almost 15.000 plays in Soundcloud!
 
My personal lab for this tune: Two fasting days to understand how Daniel Johns felt about anorexia... Pure madness for the music!
 
 

Some found me covering a quintet of lead singers a bit much, so rather than compete with 5 lead singers, I grabbed some Four Tops:
 

 
Levi Stubbs and the Four Tops are still a lot to compete with, but I put a lot of passion into it and have been trying to work on letting my emotions steer my voice now that I can do this again.

Good Day TMV Community.
 
I am completely new to the forums and I am hoping to share, hear and hopefully contribute to the community.
 
Would love to get some constructive criticism on my vocals.
 
Sample here:
 

 
Thank you for your valuable time.

Hello Killer, I would like to do a deep feedback on your song as you deserve since you always do that with mine and the rest of the fellows. So, I promise I´ll do. In the meantime, let me tell you two things:   1) I glad you recorded your voice with a bed track 2) I would like to listen to you singing other kind of song with less changes, a more stable song

This is a great song to work on, I'm working on it too but you will get the most benefit if you practice it the way my coach has told me to - trying to imitate every little nuance and subtlety that Peabo does. You can always go back after you've learned the exact way he sings it and make it your own but the main problems with you are NOT range - your range is completely there and fine and your mindset being caught up on that (btw this is happening to like 75% of the people on this forum, either with range and/or power) has distracted you from other subtle weaknesses you have as a SINGER and if you compare back and forth between yourself and Peabo you will hear them very profoundly and you will be like WOAH that's why Peabo is so amazing and I'm just another singer. So then you practice those amazing things he does and try to learn them exactly and you become a better singer! This is a commonly overlooked aspect of vocal training some folks don't seem to be aware of.

Your main areas to improve to bring your singing ability closer to the original version are:
 
-singing the exact lyrics with good diction. 
-learn every "riff" he does exactly, nail every little pitch even if it's fleeting.
-learn every dynamic subtlety (changes of volume anywhere in the phrases) he does exactly. You are already doing okay on this but there are a few key moments you missed
 
Work on this song phrase by phrase (play a phrase of the original, pause it, listen back and imitate and keep working to do all of the above at the same quality he is, repeat this until it sounds the same, then move to the next phrase. You will become a KILLER singer if you work on ALL your songs that way!!!
 
Just some main critiques to start you off:
-really nail the pronunciation of "shimmering", he sings it as three syllables not two.
-On "tell me Princess" notice how Peabo backs off to nearly a whisper on the syllable "ess" - make sure you catch that
-The lyric is "when did you LAST let your heart decide" (you sang JUST). Also, pay attention to the transition from "did" to "you", you are not doing it as smooth as he has
-you didn't do his incredibly beautiful riff on "ride"
-you didn't do his incredibly beautiful riff on "world"
-(there are some other incredibly beautiful teeny riffs and subtleties you missed, i want you to see if you can find them by ear  )
-the lyric is "where to go" not "where we go"

Now I don't really know what kind of person you are but there are a lot of people who will look at this type of training negatively as trying to become a carbon copy of the original and thus losing your originality. The problem is that all the greatest singers in the world have carbon copied a handful of singers and mixed that with their original style too and blended those qualities into a refined original style and THAT'S how they sound unique AND amazing. A lot of people use the desire for uniqueness as an excuse to never pay attention to anything other brilliant singers are doing and frankly that's why they just never become good singers. And since Peabo is really a master, I highly recommend you really STUDY what he does and CRAVE to live up to it rather than just ignoring his mastery in fear it will take away your uniqueness. It will not, it will make you a way better singer. As far as the risk of carbon copying - this is why you do this kind of practice with 5 or 6 master singers and combine it into your own style. And be sure not to ignore your unique strengths as well, just don't let your unique weaknesses bring you down! I'm not sure what your unique strengths are from hearing this, maybe your tone (usually I recommend imitating Peabo's tone too and that's what I'm doing, but yours seems great for the song too so maybe keep it) but I'm sure you'll figure them out over time. Most singers have no problem maintaing their individual strengths.

To be perfectly clear, you still did a good job overall. I just wanted to drive home the point that Peabo is still MILES ahead of you and I and everyone on this forum, in his mastery as a SINGER - he is nearly a perfect model singer, and you have a golden opportunity to become a much closer to that, right in front of you, ready to study, the second you stop being afraid of imitating him. I've just learned a lot personally from working on singing this song with the intent to absorb Peabo's mastery rather than just singing through it in with the same mediocre habits I've been singing with for years.

Cheers and have fun with this tune. If you seriously work on improving it for a long time it will build your voice extremely well. Great start 

Here it is, check it out. I tried to turn things around a little bit with this one. 

That's a really good sound man. I think I'll come back with a better critique as I got to go somewhere, but it sounds beautiful and accessible. Not muzak 'beautiful,' not generic beautiful, it is still filled with emotional depth.
 
Don't stop making ones like the last one, even if it is less accessible. It's all real expression, but just know this is a beautiful sound. It explores less painful, but also meaningful places.
 
Ok... Real quick before I go, I showed my friend again. And she says she is very impressed with this song. So it's a hit.

An iphone production of my student and teacher in training, Fabricio Fonseca from Brazil, performing "Man In the Box" by Alice In Chains. This is actually a great song to learn and train for technique. Especially higher belts, forward palette vowels and distortion. Enjoy!
 
Learn more about The Vocalist Studio training program, "The Four Pillars of Singing" .
 
 
Alice In Chains - "Man In The Box" - Fabricio Fonseca - TVS Student / Coach
 

Yes, Bono, the music comes from hell, my hell. I am a young person in an old man's body. Just got some AARP stuff in the mail, yesterday. 
 
Thanks guys. It was a lot of fun. So, to answer your question, MDEW:
 
I did the drums first. Found a patch that fits this kind of song and then slowed the tempo down to where I usually play it and am used to hearing it. Then I recorded about 4.5 minutes of it, which is more than enough and it served as both drums for the song and sort of a click track to line up everything else.
 
I did the main guitar or Malcom part next. Then the solo or Angus part. Then the bass. Finally, the vocal track. The only thing on the vocal track is some volume boost and reverb.

The second listen i put the speakers and my wife yelled: "where does this music come from, hell?" (but in spanish, of course); she doesn't like rock at all but sometimes show some good instinct...    Now, seriously, this is good stuff and your voice sounds freaking young... I wonder if a teen is hidding on your profile pic 

It's difficult for me to tell, as I suspect you are a bit of a lighter voice type than I am, but it sounds like you could maybe have a bit more twangier configuration on the upper notes just to make them easier. It sounds like you're relying mostly on the plaintive kind of sound. I've done this before, but it doesn't get there as easy for me if I rely on it too much ascending.
 
You're approaching the upper limits of my comfortable full voiced sounding range on this song with an A#4 and in order to get that functioning I have to 'sharpen the tone.' It's not that it sounds bad, you have a great round, smooth, relaxed tone in the tenorish range that is polished and beautiful, but even lighter voice types often have to get a bit more pharyngeal or whatever to get those notes comfortably. It doesn't have to be that noticeable like a witch cackling.
 
But that's the best advice I have is to experiment with increasing the twang and pharyngeal presence so you don't have to cry harder and harder at the notes.
 
It's really promising though. Heading in a good direction and it's cool you're exploring.

Awesome! 

Nailed it.

Totally freakin awesome.
 
When I saw the title and your name and knowing the songs you have done in the past, I have to be honest, I thought you would murder it because I did not think you could bring the tone for this song.
 
I am glad to be proven wrong.
 
Not only did you sing this well and as good as the original, but the mix is star quality. You had mentioned before about producing and recording others and I thought, okay, anyone could say that. But this is an excellent production. I can hear your voice in the backing and harmony vocals. Not only are they done well, but mixed well. Most amateurs mix backing and harmony too prevalent and it competes with and distracts from the lead line.
 
This should be an example to others of how to sing rock, record it, and mix it.
 
Bravo, Maestro.

Hey there, first recording I send on the new forums.
 
Hope you guys enjoy it
 
https://app.box.com/s/c5ttf3yee0rtsat2383cf8eijsdybcl1
 
 
Let me know how its sounding please!

Hi Aravindmadis,    Regarding your tone, let me tell you that in the technique I'm studying (SLS) there are specific exercises to build, temporarily, this kind of annoying sound that Jarom pointed. They call it nasty sound or funny sound because it sounds like a cartoon. This sound is really good (again, when it is temporarily) to remove weight to the voice and reach treble. So, I would not be too worried because you have already taken a big step to reach those high notes. Now you should focus on improving the quality of you voice to sound nicer. Sometimes, when we are on an extreme and want to find a center it is good to go temporarily to the opposite extreme just to know how it feels. The opposite side of the nasty sound is the goofy and the dopey sound, take a look on the internet, but I think it would be better if you take personal lessons.   You seem to be a very enthusiastic person, so I think if you took singing lessons with a teacher your progress would be very fast . You can find many of them who teach online if you can not find a vocal coach near where you live.

There is this warbling metallic sound that occurs when a note is subtly tuned. The voice will normally bend in a more 'organic' way which includes a slight vibrato but no real alteration of timbre. The phonation and airflow will have a logical sound to it. When a note gets tuned, it will often bend inorganically in a more digital warble that doesn't reflect the phonation, alters the timbre, and then 'tries to lock onto' the next pitch with varying strengths.
 
People have various sensitivities in being able to detect it. When it is done correctly only those sensitive to the warble will hear it. Whatever was done to this track was very subtle. This song was posted in another thread and the original poster admits to not being able to hear the auto tune:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUozJJTgXbM
 
Where to me it is painfully, in my face obvious, her timbre even mashes into a robotic sheen. It's for this reason that auto tune will likely exist indefinitely from this point on in every recording setup moving forward in the pop industry. People hate the idea of auto tune, but the average listener can't hear it unless it's really obvious, so they have 'nothing to rebel against.' It was easy to rebel against prog rockers. It was easy to rebel against hair metal, but if they can't hear it, they can't rebel.
 
That article I linked had a great example of how guys might hate the idea of 'fake tits' but in practice, they just like tits, fake or not.
 
It's pretty common for people to shake their fists at the T Pains of the world and go back to listening to their auto tuned records thinking, 'thank god these people aren't fakes like T Pain.' He's one of the most honest artists on the radio. I listen almost exclusively to recordings before 2000 and am an organic singing affectionado so I'm abnormally sensitive. When I turn on the radio, it's just a bunch of robots tugging ptiches to me. All songs pretty much use it.
 
It's almost less about authenticity to me and more so I just genuinely don't like the sound of tuned vocals. I like the organic pitching sound better. I like the way voices naturally phonate without a computer tugging on their pitches and timbres even if they are less in tune.

great!!!! I love it!!!

Hi all, 
Any feedback on this cover would be great, thanks! I'd love some vocal lessons but that's not a possibility right now, so feel free to be my online teachers
Thanks!
 
Http://youtu.be/901PVNRab5w
 

This was recorded recently with my band in a friend's home studio.
 
I'm singing the lead vocal, and all the backing vocal parts are also me - these might be incorrect though - it took me forever to figure out the harmonies as I don't have any real musical theory knowledge  :-(  They sound ok to my ear but that could just be me!!
 
In particular I struggled with the high notes on the lead vocal - especially the "I'm getting closer than I ever thought I might" before the choruses.  The more I listen back to those sections over and over, the more I dislike the way I sang them.  
 
Any tips or feedback - good or bad would be much appreciated!
 
https://app.box.com/s/bhaem69pl50osrr4yola
 
Thanks guys
 
Sean

It pretty much just rocks. It completely succeeds at southern rocking. I especially liked the bridge at 2:31, things got a little blue and super passionate sounding, it added a great contrast to the rest of the song. Your slide solo rocks to the end.
 
I think you're kind of just above technical criticism if this is what you can do. You've gotta keep rocking. I'm pretty sure where you're at right now with voice, you have to ask yourself more what singing means to you and how it fits into your life? Whatever else you want to achieve with your voice is likely optional. This works and it works well. Congratulations on getting there, man.

An original southern rock number called "Hey Bartender".    I did all vocals, plus slide guitar from 2'44 through to the end. All the other stuff is by my friends at www.musicianscollaboration.com.     I tried to make myself a little less British and bit more American, but I don't think my usual accent in my singing is all that strongly British anyhow?. By Jove, Tally Ho!   As usual, constructive criticism is welcome.   George

Enjoy... a beautiful song from Bonnie Raitt... Tracked it tonight while the Seahawks won their game to prepare for their 2nd Super Bowl win.  
https://thevocaliststudio.box.com/s/1ohay98iha0sdtjsyjkiwgd9h0mat2f8

 

It is interesting how .. when you record something, sometimes you initially think its great... but then when you listen a few days later with fresh ears, you realize its only "ok"... I need to make another run at this...