tmacuf

Just updated videos with replaced high "stay" and have a version with effects, see original edited post! I think I lightened the tone a bit, but still went with a powerful belt as opposed to a soft controlled note.

thanks

Is the high "stay" flat? Or just different tone because of the belting? I guess it is flat...

thanks for advice and comments. gotta sort through some of it haha. still wondering if this particular video sounds better or worse with compression. could upload a 2:1 or something tomorrow. sounds like the chorus is a little smoother/less abrupt. but maybe takes too much dynamic out overall?  this was the one with 4:1 ratio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J01RGahgkxE#t=56

so, lemme start by saying i don't really know what i'm talking about, but am wondering #1 how do opera singers/broadway singers sing like that and not fatigue (i don't really fatigue but I can get a little pitchy around G#/A, and #2 if i should even be singing that A in chest or mixed voice other than once in a while. If it's something that scales upwards like in stand by me it's easy, but to stay above E for a while is not where I feel my voice belongs. I really don't think I have a "tenor" range and other than for a few power notes I would have guessed I should be in head voice by G# most of the time. Or I could have the ability and just not know it i guess... i remember in grade school our music teacher one time told me i was a bass baritone or baritone

i've heard of some of these terms on internet etc, but never had any training so i find alot of this stuff to be confusing. like for instance, i've heard people say falsetto vs head voice vs mixed voice vs chest voice. i would think im using head voice, not falsetto, as it is not particularly breathy. contrary to what someone said earlier, i think i actually have a middle/deep singing range. i can go as low as C two octaves below middle, and i would definitely never write a song in the range of stay with me. pretty much just picked this key cus of the karaoke background and to play around with head voice more. 

Here is the video with compression. it's a 4:1 ratio. does that make the chorus sound better? or does it take away from the dynamics of the verses too much etc. options are pretty limited since the background and vocals all on one track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J01RGahgkxE&feature=youtu.be

honestly, for whatever reason, the softer mixed voice has never worked out for me other than for short stretches. it feels and sounds great for like 20-30 minutes, then my voice feels a little rough and it's a little harder to do runs/stay on pitch. i notice when i sing that way for an hour or so my voice is tired/dry/sore the next morning. when i sing clear and keep notes above D/E loud/full/clear, i can literally sing for 3-4 hours with no fatigue whatsoever... I probably could get the chorus sounding smoother if i wasn't singing the verses so soft and smooth ya know. it's tough to transition to borderline broadway belting from smooth pop singing without having some crazy dynamic changes. that's why i was thinking about adding a little compression to the video to smooth it out.

avatar added, didn't really think about it..

yeah, i realize that the "stay" is in full voice. thing is, the real song's chorus sounds very powerful in part because of the perfectly mixed background chorus. I didn't feel like any type of head voice could give that kind of power recording with a camcorder so i went full, which is obviously at the upper part of my range. i could sing it softer in full voice but my voice wouldn't hold up doing that regularly. maybe in a studio or something. The other thing i was thinking about is would it sound alot better with some compression plus or minus some reverb. smooth it out ya know? or is it just the character of the note and not really the volume that makes it sound a little out of place?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sLWluSMlE0

funny part is that all i had for this one was my iphone as opposed to my zoom camcorder

honestly i didn't think too much about it-I knew I was saying me differently but didn't mind it. i can't remember for sure, but I don't think any of the "me" notes were very high so I don't think it has to do with range. can't really think of another song where i do that. i kind of chalk it up to being similar to things like when elton john says "world" in your song. I always thought he was saying "woods" when i was a little kid lol. sometimes you just have to listen to yourself and you catch weird things you're doing and then decide if you want to change it i guess

Thanks, but which one sounds better?

Any comments? Too much vibrato?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWhEYYa8iBQ

In a half-step lower key-better or worse?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uThpmthE78

Thanks!