Kevin Ashe

It's so true what you say, Kevin. It's all psychological. I still suffer from constriction from time to time as my mind gets in the way and my body interprets the coming note as a "high note".  If I remember to step back and use my prominent leg and backside muscles on the higher frequency, it tends to help a great deal as it takes my mind off the "high note" and mentally changes it to what it really is: tilted T.C and thinner chords. The results are amazing once I remember to take the thought of the high note out of it. 

That siren wasn't horrible. You got a little shaky right at the passaggio. Now I would check with Robert Lunte on this but I would say
1- your right about diaphragmatic support, that will stabilize some on this and is important for most all phonations.
2- It sounds like the shakiness has to do with the weakness in your passaggio, your trying to make a good connected sound when it's not easy for you, and your probably worried (at least subconsciously) about pushing/choking, and that just adds to the tentativeness.  I think if you look up the "lift up, pull back" vocal exercise found on Rob Lunte's Youtube channel, that is a passaggio tension releasing exercise that should help you.  It allows you to engage the passaggio with zero tension, then add in more connection as you move past the break.  It's an easy tension free falsetto phonation that over time, you begin to add in more and more vocal fold connection or mass (within the passaggio).  I never had this exercise when I was training for more strength and connection at the break, it's a brilliant innovation that will keep your constrictors at bay, and ultimately leads to more power with no tension as your strength on those passaggio notes grows!
good luck Bro!
k

hey sp3c.....,
I forgot that the review my singing cost's like $10 in here. Either Draven or Robert (there may even be others now - coaches) will review your material and refute or confirm the advice I gave you. Plus answer any further questions you may have.
 

spc3c...,
Excellent composition! Great style and arrangement, good air play material, catchy hooks, lots of melody! Very good musicianship!  Your voice is very marketable as well! Reminds me a little bit of Tyler Joseph (21 Pilots), maybe a dash of Matt Shultz (Cage The Elephant)!  I like it a lot! 
When you sing the lyric, "with no place to go home" - Sounds to me like you're singing with good connection in the lower realm of your head voice!  Double check with a coach, but I'm fairly certain. I would predict that with just a couple months of committed training with a good coach and training system, you will sing much higher!
You should check out Robert Lunte's Youtube channel and search for lectures on the subject of Baritone's singing high notes.  Lot's of good solid facts that will power you up with confidence about the reality of expanding your range to include notes more common to a tenor. The truth is, you'll learn in those videos that vocal "Fach," (Bass, Baritone, Tenor, Alto, Soprano) are essentially a distraction in vocal training. Proper training leads to expansion of range, coordination, strength, respiration, and also, confidence, projection, release of tension, vibrato, distortion, . . . . the list is long! The point is, it takes work in the vocal "gym" so to speak, that being vocal workouts that bring the above mentioned qualities to your singing voice.
Are you training? Do you have a vocal training program or a coach you are studying with?
It's never been more affordable than today!
peace,
k
 
 

spc3c...,
Excellent composition! Great style and arrangement, good air play material, catchy hooks, lots of melody! Very good musicianship!  Your voice is very marketable as well! Reminds me a little bit of Tyler Joseph (21 Pilots), maybe a dash of Matt Shultz (Cage The Elephant)!  I like it a lot! 
When you sing the lyric, "with no place to go home" - Sounds to me like you're singing with good connection in the lower realm of your head voice!  Double check with a coach, but I'm fairly certain. I would predict that with just a couple months of committed training with a good coach and training system, you will sing much higher!
You should check out Robert Lunte's Youtube channel and search for lectures on the subject of Baritone's singing high notes.  Lot's of good solid facts that will power you up with confidence about the reality of expanding your range to include notes more common to a tenor. The truth is, you'll learn in those videos that vocal "Fach," (Bass, Baritone, Tenor, Alto, Soprano) are essentially a distraction in vocal training. Proper training leads to expansion of range, coordination, strength, respiration, and also, confidence, projection, release of tension, vibrato, distortion, . . . . the list is long! The point is, it takes work in the vocal "gym" so to speak, that being vocal workouts that bring the above mentioned qualities to your singing voice.
Are you training? Do you have a vocal training program or a coach you are studying with?
It's never been more affordable than today!
peace,
k
 
 

This song is out there.  I like it, I'm happy with it, but I want to learn how to take my voice higher obviously.  I'm a baritone I think.  I can hit A4 but not with agility.  This song goes up to F#4 which is typical of baritone.  Constructive criticism is appreciated.  Take a listen to my voice and let me know what you hear.  Thank you!
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1socIDJTGXkjGqf01oIiebfCOlYT3M06d

Agreed.
There is a lovely voice here, but it isn't being utilized to its full aesthetic potential. Draven is correct on his point about resonance. You are resonanting too much in a lower position ( throaty )... with a little bit of good direction and practice, you can learn to lift your resonance to higher positions where it can sort of "float" more. A more "top down" resonance is more maneuverability of your voice because your resonance will not be tethered by the bulk of a more primitive, throaty position. The result of this will also be a much more beautiful timbre and sound color in your voice, in particular for this kind of singing in your sample.
Yes, my program The Four Pillars of Singing absolutely will help you if you choose to make a commitment to the training. 

You have  a great voice! Good choice of song too. However, most of your singing and resonance is being placed in your throat, in more of a speech mode. This will make higher nd lower notes more difficult, even if your more relaxed chest voice range is easy to control. It's also apparent in some of the dynamics of your plosives, the low level of breath suppport, and some of your curbing vowels (vowels resonating further back). You are, however, always on pitch in the more comfortable parts of that range.
What I hear you need is better resonant placement, more lifted to the soft palate and a bit forward. A bit more push or lockdown in the diaphram area (your solar plexus specifically) will support that better resonant placement and give your voice more body too. But that's only a start. One way to begin training yourself to resonate and support in this way is to start humming songs while buzzing your lips. This is called "Tracking". Another that I teach is to place a finger across your bottom lip and try to sing up and over it.
Are you training? Do you have a teacher? I highly suggest you check out the course, The Four Pillars of Singing, created by the owner of this forum.

Improving resonance is not going to directly produce a natural vibrato, BUT... it is hard to have nice vibrato, without good resonance. Good resonance is one of the "ingredients" to getting vibrato to work and sound good.

Exactly, buddy. Keep practicing.

MDEW,
Nice, soft acoustic version. Kinda reminds me a bit of Bob Dylan, but I dare say, your a better singer then Dylan.
At this light and soft approach, there is little risk and therefore, little to critique. 
But I would say this... Why are you allowing your sound color to be so thin Joe? It sounds like there is no larynx dampening and/or added warm vowels to your resonance. I would like to hear this again, same approach, but conscientiously try to "man-up" and warm the sound color. Let's get more beefy modal voice behind this. It is kind of thin and tinny. I don't believe it has to be.
Shoot again Joe.
Hope this helps.
 

Thanks for listening. To be honest I ran through this song quite a few times trying different things. My first approach was heavier and more matter of fact rather than soft. I viewed a few covers by other people to get a handle on the acoustic guitar rhythm. Most of the other singers used a lighter approach and I guess I let myself be influenced by them. I will rerecord this and see how it goes.

Hi Ryan!
First, I must confess, I'm not as familiar with some of the terms geran89 is using. However, I would agree it sounds as though you may be using "true folds" in some of your vocal effects. I agree with geran89 that you should be wary of any discomfort.
I thought I would leave a comment since many years ago I had the same questions you have. I did a lot of experimentation and research to discover what it really meant to be able to sing with distortion, rasp, grit, etc. and not cause any damage.
I would underscore two main ideas as answers to your questions which I discovered made all the difference for me in being able to apply said vocal effects without damage or strain.
1- appaggio - without proper support of the breath, NO distortion technique will effectively avoid damage or discomfort.
2- Never with "true cords" - only false cord distortion will avoid damage. (only one exception - refer to #1).
Good Luck dude!
k

Hey Shoe,
LOL... that is SO Gothic bro... funny that you don't sort of know that.
Thats ok, its cool.
Great song... I would give you the same advise I gave you on the other song. Try to jump up and sing higher on a few parts for contrast.
 

I thought I'd post an official review my singing thread for my new EP "Blink of an Eye" available on all major music platforms. What are your thoughts? What do you like? what do you not like? whats your favorite song?
iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/blink-of-an-eye-ep/id1208272015
Spotify
 

Hello I just need to know if my singing is very bad, or is it possible to do with it something.
I do not like color of my voice, when I listen the recording and also know, that there are a lot of mistakes. It was just quick recording, when nobody was at home
I love singing, but the problem is, that I am shy, and never sing in public. Only in my car or when I am alone
I would like to know your opinion.
Thank you very much in advance
 
 

Done:
Okay, so it's two years old. Does it still count? I wrote it, and even edited the video. That has to count for something.

Really cool song Elise, good choice.
Review:
- Elise, your growing more confident. Nice stage pretense.
- Elise it is a pinch pitchy, tiny bits in the beginning. Not a huge deal, because it is not very noticeable, but given how hard you work on singing, you should strive to clean up your intonation even more. We all do, its not just you... 
- Love your passion, you are really crooning hard on this and you mean it. Its good 'mojo'.
- Tough love. Why does this entire song have a windy, open glottis sound color? Do you understand what Im talking about? Why not compress your vocal folds and have a more connected tone more often? I think you should.
- 1:34 - 1:40... now thats what Im talking about. More compression, more REAL tone... nice dynamic swell.
- .... Ok, I spoke to soon... the 2nd half has more compression ... GOOD!
- 2:30 ish... i like the "whooahs" .. pretty resonance / vowel dear...
- Cool ending...
sounded good... you did a great job Elise...
However,... 
- Elise, your being a pinch careless about intonation. I know you can tighten up your intonation better then this. It has nothing to do with your ears. Its all about... just paying attention more to the notes. Elise, this song in a minor key... that means you have to listen more closely on the intervals. Singing in pitch in minor keys is a tad more challenging then major... when you are singing a minor key song, ... hunker down and pay attention.
LOVELY as usual... your awesome.
I really wish you would take some lessons with me one Skype... I can help you take this song to another level for sure... Ive coached it a dozen times.

Kevin, You can purchase 1 review as well. See below:
 

Because I know how to properly do a Poll?  lol... ok... but seriously, thanks... I frickin work hard on it every day... I am a great coach... I think I have to confess... working on trying to become as good of a singer and human being as I am a coach... its a life journey... but thanks.  Do you have "The Four Pillars of Singing"?

- Good bridge.
But...
- Slow it down! This is too fast. You are cheating your body/voice from the opportunity of gaining more motor skills and strength. "sloppy" sirens equal, a weak voice and continuation of confusion and frustration about singing and your voice.
- At :50, you need to lift the soft palate and tune in more /a/ (cat) to find the resonance.
- The phonation needs to have narrowing to it. The embouchure and vowel are too splatty and wide on top... use the mid-narrowed TVS curbing vowel, "ou" (would) to narrow the vocal track and anchor the TA muscle more. No narrowing = In ability to articulate / sing in the head voice.
- At 1:01, your voice broke... why would you ignore that and then race forward to the next scale without working on that transition? You can't afford to have the voice break and then ignore it. That is your "cue" to pay attention and slow down and work on that movement!
- Good intuitive use of the onsets!  I hear T&R, A&R, W&R onsets in here and they are all used in a smart, intuitive way. GOOD JOB!!!!  That's the way to do the TVS Onsets... you notice how intuitive they become after a while.
 
Overall, I'll give you a B+... I can see you are practicing. Great work!
Coach
 

MDEW,
I like your voice! Your sound colors on this track fit the genre really well!  Cool of you to share your talent with us! Good song selection for your voice also. I could see you singing (as far as "covers" go) a few artists really well with this style of singing. i.e. John Prine, Dylan (as Mr. Lunte suggested), Arlo Guthrie, Jackson Browne, maybe Neil Young for some M2 challenges.
I would say, maybe if your appaggio was a bit more strong we could hear you sustain some more notes and let that cool, sweet vocal texture you have (rasp included) resonate a little longer! At the end of the song (about min. 3:00) you begin to retard and your singing sounds considerably more supported there! Well Done!

MDEW,
I like your voice! Your sound colors on this track fit the genre really well!  Cool of you to share your talent with us! Good song selection for your voice also. I could see you singing (as far as "covers" go) a few artists really well with this style of singing. i.e. John Prine, Dylan (as Mr. Lunte suggested), Arlo Guthrie, Jackson Browne, maybe Neil Young for some M2 challenges.
I would say, maybe if your appaggio was a bit more strong we could hear you sustain some more notes and let that cool, sweet vocal texture you have (rasp included) resonate a little longer! At the end of the song (about min. 3:00) you begin to retard and your singing sounds considerably more supported there! Well Done!

MDEW,
I like your voice! Your sound colors on this track fit the genre really well!  Cool of you to share your talent with us! Good song selection for your voice also. I could see you singing (as far as "covers" go) a few artists really well with this style of singing. i.e. John Prine, Dylan (as Mr. Lunte suggested), Arlo Guthrie, Jackson Browne, maybe Neil Young for some M2 challenges.
I would say, maybe if your appaggio was a bit more strong we could hear you sustain some more notes and let that cool, sweet vocal texture you have (rasp included) resonate a little longer! At the end of the song (about min. 3:00) you begin to retard and your singing sounds considerably more supported there! Well Done!