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I also wrote a punk song that was certainly bound to upset more people than the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen ('cause she ain't no human being)." Mine went a few steps farther down a dark road. But at least the Pistols got banned from the BBC and all they did was make a silly comment about a member of the Royalty.

Luss gave a really good answer.
 
The main thing about being a professional singer is getting paid to sing. That is root difference between amateur and pro. I am an amateur. No one has ever paid me for singing but thankfully no on has ever paid me to STOP singing. 
 
Then, again, I am tall and scary-looking and they may just be waiting for me to get tired and go away with no confrontation necessary. 
 
I will try to condense this, having studied several sources on the music biz.
 
Luss asked if you write your own songs. If you do, this is what you must do. Create a copy of it, either on paper or some recording, whether audio tape or a burned CD. If you burn a CD, choose audio cd or if the software offers, choose "Redbook" format. If you don't, then the music will only play on a computer. Redbook format plays on any CD player. Send it and a form and a small fee (yes, you can pay one fee for a collection of songs on one CD) to the US copyright office. This makes it official, although the informal and first copyright is the date stamp on your file. Copyright is also established the first time you publish the title in public or on the internet with the copyright date. 
 
For example, I have a song called "Gimme Some Time," copyright 1990. That is when I wrote it, regardless of when I made a digital file. After you have copyrighted it, get yourself listed with ASCAP. They are an org that watches over and collects copyright fees. You write a song called "I don't grow potatos" and copyright it. Then, you list it with ASCAP. Then, let's say, you pitch the song to Miranda Lambert or Carrie Underwood. They like it and want to put it on their next album, entitled, From the Heartland, or something equally corny.
 
Their record label pays a yearly fee to ASCAP to record anything in the ASCAP catalog, which includes "I Don't Grow Potatos" by Hazel, copyright 2015, all rights reserved (by author.) They record the album and it is distributed and people buy it. You get a fee for every album sold containing your song. The record company decides to make it a single. You get a fee every time the single is played on the radio, or if it is sold as a single, you get a fee on every sale. This works by ASCAP using a monitoring service and they write a check to Hazel, not a record company or anyone else but Hazel but I think it is quarterly (every 3 months.)
 
If you record it, you get mechanical rights in a deal with a record company and you get a fee for every unit sold.
 
But you don't have a record deal, just now, or a record company to back you. "Just" a country girl singing art songs and arias.
 
Basically, you sing anywhere they will let you. The best way for people to hear you sing is for them to hear you sing. And yes, you can do the pub and bar scene and learn a lot of things there, including how it helps to have an assistant who looks like me and has my skills in hand-to-hand to make sure that you get paid. (think Richard Grant when he was tour manager for Led Zeppelin.)
 
But for your style of singing, you might be better starting in local and community theater. A place where it doesn't matter if you have academic creds, or not. Just being able to show up and sing on key makes you golden. The pay, if any, is miserable but the experience wins out in the end. That is something that goes in your "story", the evolution of Hazel. Just to be able to say that you sang a part in "Oklahoma" in Iblinkedandmissedit, Idaho is better than nothing. (I don't know if there is a town with that name there, but there are countless small towns, everywhere.)
 
The other option is to start writing and recording your own stuff. The more pro you can make the recording, the better. You can release without a label through cdbaby.com. They will place your stuff with itunes and amazon. Eventually leading to hard media pressing and distribution. Or, you could record all yourself and press your own copies and sell at your own performances.
 
Judging from the sound quality of your recording, either you or someone you know has skills and a good set-up, for it does sound radio ready. So, you already have the recording thingy nailed down.
 
If you are going to release on your own, then you should start your own music publishing company. For probably 10 to 15 dollars, you can register a business name in your county and it is good for 10 years. Have copyright fees payable to your publishing company and then cut yourself a paycheck. Keep receipts for everything. As a company, you are more likely to be audited than you would as a only a person. The other advantage of being a company is that the company could be sued but not you.
 
You can release your own and its possible, later, that a big label will notice how people are buying your CD and paying to see you sing. And they will bring contracts to you.
 
So, rule number one in the music biz, get a lawyer, one who specializes in the music biz. You won't have enough for a retainer, so you will have to cut him a percentage, payable by your publishing company, not you.
 
Think about where you can advertise your music, besides itunes and amazon.
 
M Shadows, the singer of Avenged Sevenfold is a geeky gamer in his personal life. And decided to marry the two. So, he wrote a game app for phones that will develope into a game station platform. "Hail to the King Deathbat" game will include the music from their latest album. I think, later, a game package will include the album in CD. He is targeting the exact market that listens to heavy metal music.
 
You could do something similar. For example, if I were to write country music, I might get links to my music in websites that deal with hunting and fishing, since there are a number of hunters and fishermen who like country music.
 
How do you perform in public? Well, do you play an instrument like guitar or piano? You would play in public with that. If not, do you have a friend that plays? If not, can you go to karaoke events? Point being, get out there and sing.
 
Is it possible that someone who could help your career will be in the audience some night? Yes, the world is a crazy and serendipitous place. Luck happens to those who are prepared.
 
Aynslee Dunbar from Journey was surfing through youtube one day and saw this phillipino named Arnel Pineda doing a Journey song in a club, somewhere. And now, Arnel is the singer for Journey. Not a guest singer, THE singer.

So I wrote a new song today, some of you might have listened to my song "Don't be Strong," this new one is a little different. Please share your thoughts kind people

I think you need to be on the radio. I was listening to this at work on my desktop with the really good speakers and it sounded like something I would hear on the radio.
 
As glamorous as living on a ranch can be, you might consider a professional singing career.

I agree. I don't have absolute pitch. Mine is better than most non musicians. But there is definitely a subjective element in pitch detection.
 
Just look at the new overtone thread (which I'm thrilled to see). People singing two pitches at the same time. One might be right on the dot, one might something else. I've called it very early on with your voice, that you have an unusual timbre. Even though I've decent pitch, I have more trouble dissecting your voice than I would another singer as I have to wrap my head around an unusual timbre to grab the fundamental. The timbre is foreign. It's cool though.
 
I've heard violin players can have good pitch 'on their instrument' but poor pitches on others.They are familiar with the timbre, and all of the overtones, but when exposed to something foreign, their pitch detecting accuracy can decrease.
 
I don't have absolute pitch with fundamentals and I can't dissect the overtones either. Maybe if you tuned a formant differently people would say you were in tune more often? Who knows?
 
Regardless, people drift. Sometimes intentionally even. Sometimes it's helpful to point out, other times (and imo more often) it's more helpful to try to give them mastery over their instrument so they can choose the note they want, whether we like it not.

Nah, I've never tried that song. I'll be sure to check it out. I've got a friend who is learning to sing, but she didn't  have any female idols so she would lose inspiration. So I have this strategy of getting her hooked on girl groups. I've got quite the little catalog of female singers now to get her hooked. I've found singing along to women really helps me train my falsetto/head voice a lot too. It isn't a 60s girl group, but recently I was training to to my favorite Fleetwood Mac tune: 
 

 

 
So yeah, you can sing girl group stuff in baritone/tenor/whatever or in a falsetto/head voice kind of setup. Don't be afraid to try mixing things up and even if it isn't a final sound you're looking for on your first try, it can be really helpful. I find it helps my chest voice.
 
Yeah, I was curious if some of those ideas would help. My voice feels most comfortable with a slight cushion in it. A lot of singers here sing with like a metallic tight closed phonation. I find that little cushion in my voice is most comfortable for me, but I think it depends on the singer and the style. My bridge is a little lower I think when I put that little extra cushion, but it feels more right.
 
I can hear pitch drift now and then on your performance, but pitch is a weird one. A lot of times it does no good to simply point at a pitch drift. I'm a drifter, both intentionally with bluesy rebellious pitching, look here:
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_note 
 
But other times it's unintentional and a genuine flub. I know Ronws would drift too. People would tell him. "Yo dude, entire song ain't pitch perfect!" But that doesn't really help." Cause it's like, well, what should I do differently? Which note? Where? Practice ideas?
 
I can help with some of the stuff I've discovered in training. For example. Step one, might be to take your guitar and simply sing as perfectly to the pitch as is possible. Use scales, melodies, different vowels.  Step two might be to try to sing the next note you're going to play before you play it. Visualize it in your head, then try to sing it correctly, and confirm it with a guitar. Step 3 might be to try to learn to sing any interval on top in perfect harmony? I've been working on step 3 lately, so I can get my harmonies spot on every time out of my head with no reference. I'm not there yet but am improving. It really helps to use an instrument for comparison.
 
Anyway, that kind of thing seems to be best solved with some extra training and self discovery. Good exercises, good musicianship. Ears, listening, all that stuff. You already got ears.
 
Nah it wasn't a conscious choice on picking Jerry Lee Lewis. I haven't actually taken on the Killer yet, I'll have to do that. But actually, now that I'm thinking of it, as little epitaph for this post. It ties in well with the pitch subject and roots rock and roll. I didn't take on the Killer, but did take on the architect himself:
 

 
Lots of blue notes in there. But you know, what? Sometimes that's just rock n roll folks. To quote Jagger, "I like it."

Actually, too, there have been a few times I posted a song and where people thought I was pitchy, I was not and where I was pitchy totally got missed.
 
Another time, I sang a song with true pitch, more pitch accurate than the original singer, in spite of the guitar going out of tune and other environmental issues and was round critiqued in negative direction for that, as well. I am not complaining, just saying that perceptions can sometimes differ.

Give me feedback please...? What could I work on to improve my voice? 
 

Hey guys, after some oldies I decided to record something newer
 
Please let me know what do you think!
 

I`ll give you some emotional feedback cause a can not put my thoughts in a clear way. I see a route, a kind of desert with some trees and stones, could be that is dawning or dusk, i hear some radiohead, some country, something special, you are special man... I like it

Can you critique  

I wrote you a post that got removed in the transition from the old forum. Basically, I showed your self penned tune to a known Nick Drake fan and she was feeling it. I think you're closer than you think to capturing a kind of vibe that his fans would appreciate.
 
The issue basically is: Nick Drake was a very subtle guy, and subtlety was a really hard art form to be heard in those days. Nick Drake wasn't heard too much until after he died, so it was hard back then, and even harder now. In the modern age people are always moving, with a constant stream of 'stimulation' from the internet, from their phones, from work life, driving, there's constant movement, constant stimulation.
 
To catch people's attention, it usually takes a spectacle. Neon lights, loud bangs, naked people, meat dresses, frog suits, cosmetic butt surgeries. To sum up the difference to me, it feels like we live in the kind of world that is no longer fascinated by Mona Lisa's smile, but is genuinely confused why she isn't naked.
 
My thing is I hear you, and if you're content to be a subtle artist, it's cool stuff man. It sounds fulfilling and like a deeply personal journey for you. On the other hand, I hear something else in you, that maybe with a bit more hook might capture more attention. I mentioned in another thread, if Radiohead never wrote Creep, it's very possible few people or even no one would have heard Kid A, or liked it if it was released. they basically gained 'license' to do material that required a bit more effort to digest, by first gaining a fan base.
 
One way would be to try to write hookier songs at some point. Supposedly even Drake made sacrifices to try to achieve that goal, as even the folk listeners found his stuff too subtle, without major choruses, and practically booed him off the stage. I'm just wondering if there is a way you can make a bit of a bang or spectacle to catch attention in this life. It could be musical, it could be visual (dunno if Gaga has done a lizard dress yet, ).  It'd just be cool if you could capture some of Drake's inspiration and reach more audience than he could in his life. I know my friend has listened a lot to Pink Moon. She digs subte, vulnerable sounding artists.
 
But it's about what you want as an artist. You're pretty good at what you do. Either way, I'd recommend you keep writing your own tunes as well as covering 
Drake and being inspired by him. You him well, but he had enough trouble himself getting heard. At least with your own tunes, maybe people will discover you at a later date.

I had to listen to the original song, as Ronws was saying it was altered in your rendition. I wasn't familiar with the original, so I had listened to your version and it sounded like a cohesive song as is. Then I listened to the original and was almost disappointed as the melody line you chose was maybe a little closer to what I wanted.
 
Some things I noticed about your voice: for a baritone range song, your voice has abnormal clarity which is cool. I think it comes partly from twang, nasal resonance, and you also sound a bit mixed forward which works. Your resonance is actually pretty strong as is in quite a few places. As mentioned, nasal  resonance is already pretty strong. If you wanted to experiment with a little more 'booming' sound you might be able to open up the area near the back of your throat a little more? It's a bit difficult to explain accurately, but for me the sensation feels almost like the beginning of a smiling yawn that 'expands not just downward but a bit sideways comfortably.' Another way people have described it is like 'minature egg sized opening in back of throat.' You sound like you already have a comfortable amount of openness, and anymore would be to tastes, but when I'm singing with more resonance that way that's one way I do it.
 
Another thing I noticed which might be interesting is the onsets of the vowels can sometimes have a lot of glottal attack. This is cool, can work well and is used a lot in various styles, but you might find it interesting to try an invisible H. When I say invisible, I mean very small, not breathy, it's almost like a tiny cushion. This can help you ease into a note. You could compare the sounds and sensations versus initiating the vowel 'suddenly.' Just know that some sounds require more or less airflow, so focus on the sensation in your body to steer you. Right now it sounds like you're making pretty big sound without loads of excess air which is pretty effective.
 
Another thing, is I noticed you are a fellow Ronettes fan. I was stoked when I found you singing Baby, I Love You. Ronnie Spector is one of my favorites. I cover her stuff sometimes and I enjoyed your rendition that segged into Brian Wilson/Beach Boyss Don't Worry Baby.
 
Anyway, basically you've got a pretty cool rootsy, laidback sound. You can keep training it as is and imo It will improve naturally to some degree as your foundations sound solid enough. You can increase agility and precision more quickly with some isolated vowel work (scales, intervals moving smoothly between both the same and different vowels). Loads of ways to increase range, which get covered a lot here (people write whole books on that, heh), but you're already sounding pretty good down there in the baritone range.

You have a very nice voice, I don´t think you have pitch issues at all... I agree with you your voice could be a lot stronger, I would add with training, practice and time (and patience)
 
To the classical school you could be a "lyric tenor", according to my brother who sings opera i´m a lyric tenor too; but in popular music could be whatever... there is already a post in this forum you may be interested in 
 
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Back to the old school I´ll give you some examples of different kind of tenors starting with the lighter and finishing with the deeper, all of them can hit the same notes but they have different repertoires, at least theoretically because in practice most of them, specially young tenors sing most of all and that is how they end up ruining their voices at an early age (i´m repeating what my brother says).
 
The aria is called Che gelida manina from the opera La Boheme, composed by Puccini. This opera was written for a lyric tenor.
 
Leggero tenor
 

 
Lyric tenor
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHkTqNx5eDw
 
Spinto tenor
 

 
Dramatic tenor
 

 
Now, returning to the subject, I think killer gave you a good advice, George Michael is an excellent option for you so far, you may also try with some luther vandross now that I see you like RNB

It's a pretty cool listen. I'm not extremely familiar with the melody, but I think acapella you're altering it. It's not out of tune, but like sounds jazzy like you might be shifting a semi tone here or there.
 
I wouldn't be prepared to know what kind of voice type you have, especially given this vocal style you've presented. People with relatively lower voice types can 'lighten their voices a great deal' and sound very 'light.' As an example, something your voice reminded me of a bit was George Michael, who in my opinion has a pretty rad voice:
 

 
He sounds realy 'light' and high, but he's not like a super light voiced tenor like Stevie Wonder, imo. It's just in that song he was singer with a lighter coordination. When he uses his voice more engaged to resonate bit 'fuller', for example singing Stevie Wonder's own song you can her a lot more weight and fullness than Stevie at a similar age likely could even do. 
 

 
Going back to W772, I'm unsure of where you want to go with your voice. So it's honestly difficult to give a direction of where to start other than 'vague training' possibly with a teacher.
 
If you were to twang this tone a bit and make it a bit less breathy, while supporting a bit better, it could get a bit more definition without necessarily losing the style. If you were to slide this town down repeatedly to your lower notes, letting it fully slip into a chest voice, you could get a better 'idea' of what kind of voice you have. There are ways you could take it more typical R n B by playing around with vowels and adding a slight moanish sound. You could learn to yell like James Hetfield, or do metal head voice like Geofff Tate.
 
But your starting tone here, is kind of just cool. I don't know if it's quite finished as is, but you could probably train, polish, maybe add some cool tweaks and make progress with this 'style.' In the meantime, I'd get a kick out of you singing George Michael. Here's my favorite of his songs "Freedom 90", in case you get the itch:
 

Moving keys works wonders. There are some cases you you can raise the key of the song and sing a lower vocal melody because of the new note value, etc.
 
As far as resonance, you already have a richness of tone that shines through here and there. It's a matter of your speaking accent and singing habits. Use ng sound only for training and warm-ups, don't spend a lot of time singing the n sound. The only reason for you to do the n or ng sound is a calibration, to make sure you sympathetic vibrations in the right places.
 
Your location and sound mean you are american. Watch your vowels, unless you were born italian or a polynesian from Hawaii. Otherwise, you butcher vowels as we all do. Stay away from the uh sound in love. Say loove or lahve. Also, a big problem in american english, especially southern dialects is the short a sound, like in cat. It involves a tongue too high and a horrendous nasal bleat, unless that is the sound you going for, and it could be useful some cases. Ronnie James Dio would use it to create distorted sounds.

Craig - many thanks for listening and the advice.
 
Sadly, I am not playing the instruments. It is a group of online musicians I have worked with on-and-off for a few years, and this the 5th in a series of prog-rock tracks we have done over the last year, maybe building up to an album. I did used to play guitar with the same people , but I moved to vocals about 5 years ago and my guitar playing has been getting a little dusty since then,

Hey Guys,
 
Just thought I'd get some feedback on my acapella singing, just to identify the areas in which I need to improve.
 
Personally, I think there may be a few pitch issues and vocally it could be a lot stronger. However, I was curious to know what other people thought.
 
Anyway, I appreciate your feedback and Merry Christmas!
 
Link: >

Yeah that's exactly what I noticed too. Stylistically this is actually a really successful technique. Lots of pop acts like John Mayer add loads of breath and there is a certain audience of listeners that love it. That guy breaths his way to the bank.
 
I would recommend taking Gorehax up on his lesson though. Cause even if you choose to use this effect, gaining more control over your voice is wise both for you as an artist, but also breathy voice is one of the more tiring types of phonation and if you ever were experiencing vocal fatigue you'd be able to nip it in the bud before it got out of control.
 
Overall, I get a pretty poppy vibe from these songs Rokas, presentation. It's not fully polished off yet and I feel like you still could gain a bit more mastery, but you're heading in a direction that could be successful and you're young enough to really make the younger ladies swoon.

hahaha. well thank you very much. I appreciate it. I just shot it in my back yard actually. I live in North Idaho.

What I hear right out of the bat is that you tend to a breathy voice. You are letting air to pass through the folds, which prevents maaany other things to work right.  The second song is a lot more breathy than the other one.

You can notice it in your lower notes, very clearly, because you just go full leak and lose the body, ping, cut, umm.. resonance. It sounds cloudy, "pillowy". Do you understand what I mean ?

There are a lot of videos on youtube that can help you get rid of airyness, though I highly recommend a teacher. Add me on Skype and I can help you with what I can if I see you logged in, mate.  My username is Gorehax.

This is an early version of an original song "The Game".
 
https://app.box.com/s/wkysh01q2qmx5oe35pof
 
Any advice on areas/spots for improvement is welcome  - including where I might put a harmony line?
 
Please excuse the "pops" in the backing, they will no doubt be eliminated before this is finished.

Good effort and it's nice to hear the warmth in the lower end of your voice. I think you could raise the key 1/2 to 1 whole step and put this right in your sweet spot.

A tribute to the king of rock & roll Elvis and to the art of the illustrator Pete Revonkorpi 

'>
 
Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays Everyone!  Its great to have our community here in our new home and to have you all here.  I did about two passes on this tonight.  Enjoy.
 
 
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11616972/White%20Christmas_Robert%20Lunte.mp3
 

 
 

 
 
FYI... I just pasted a basic dropbox link in here and the system automatically embedded this cool media player... very cool!