Gill Appleby

HI Gill, Welcome to the forum. I love Janis. My favorite is Take a Piece of My Heart. I do not know what is is about that song but it gets to me.
Try this song a little less "Singy" and more "Conversational" and almost like pleading. The idea behind the song is "Please lord won't you help a girl out? All my friends are getting something in this life and I am being left behind. I try Hard. Please? "

Gill,
Nice work getting rid of the noise in here... now we can properly hear you.
This is better. 
Do it again and I want you to do two things:
1. watch your timing. You are rushing and jumping in front of your cues. Its rushing... so lay back.
2. Laying back more will also... get you to sing it a little more softer. It is a bit eratic, attacking too hard... soften the vocal mass just a bit.
Stop rushing the cues, get tighter on the timing & lay back more... a touch more "sleepy".
take 3!

This is the link to the new recording Rob 

https://www.smule.com/recording/bette-midler-wind-beneath-my-wings/1088277799_1483226920 This is a warts and all presentation of my singing. I tried a different intro to Bette Midler. Be interested to know whether you guys think that is works. I was going to re-record correcting any vocal errors but i feel to get the best from a review I need to show where I'm actually going wrong as well as the well-executed parts  currently I have quite a poorly chest. Any thoughts on speeding recovery? Thanks guys.

https://www.smule.com/recording/janis-joplin-mercedes-benz/1088277799_1420463658/ensembles Please excuse the outro. And yes it's me singing with JJ in the background. Thoughts? 

Fun Gill. I can sort of hear your country draw... can you do this without the back vocals of JJ so we can hear your voice more clearly. It is masking your voice too much and sort of getting in the way. Let's hear YOU do it alone.

https://www.smule.com/recording/janis-joplin-mercedes-benz/1088277799_1420463658/ensembles Please excuse the outro. And yes it's me singing with JJ in the background. Thoughts? 

thank you so much for your feedback

I'm, unsurprisingly, 100% in agreement with Robert. I adore your voice. Absolutely incredible.
For those low notes, it might be worth attempting a few things to stabilize:
Bring the voice more forward, edging, harsher, and then open to more air, which naturally modifies to a more curbing position. Dampen the larynx a bit more to taste, while adding slightly more breath support and locking down on the diaphragm. Do tuning exercises downward. This has been incredbly helpful with my female students who want to sing lower.  Start with tuning slides E4 to A3, working your way down in half steps (D#4 to G#3, D4 to G3, etc). The main point is tuning as your voice and pitch moves. By tuning, I mean paying very close attention to a well balanced placement, musculature, support, and anchoring. For the higher notes, do you feel relaxed or like you're pushing? It sounds great, but I know that sound can be produced by either pushing a LOT of air/volume, or by relaxing completely and adjusting tiny things (like vocal twang and jaw placement) to get the same sound color. I've blown out my voice before from pushing too hard. I would hate to see that happen to you.

1:09 - "and..."  a bit pitchy. sharp.
Elise, pay more attention to the lower notes, "some..."... they tend to feel a bit abandoned. The hard stuff, melisimo sounds good. Don't take your eyes off the road on the low notes as you prepare for the high notes... Your looking down the road, preparing for the big "money" note and taking your eye off the low note that is happening in the moment. Try to be aware of both.
SOUNDS EXCELLENT!!  KEEP GOING!

 

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.

Your welcome, glad you found it helpful.
 

ROBERT IS A REALLY CONSIDERATE AND THOUGHTFUL GUY THAT GAVE ME A LOT OF FREE ADVICE TO HELP ME. I REALLY APPRECIATE THAT, EVEN THOUGH IT HURT MY PRIDE A LITTLE BIT. WHAT A GREAT GUY! 
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS FORUM TO ANYONE THAT WANTS TO GET A REALITY CHECK ON THEIR SINGING AND GOOD ADVISE!
ROBERT AND DRAVEN ARE SO COOL!

Hi, 
My daughter is 9 yrs old, likes to sing, she tries her best to take part in any singing opportunity that she gets.
I would like to get some valuable and honest inputs from experts here about her singing.
what can be done to improve here singing ability and voice quality. 
What kind of songs should she be singing  when it comes to competition / performances, specially the songs that  can increase her chance of securing better position in  singing competition.
Looking forward for your valuable inputs.
Thanks,
Avinash
 
 
 
 

Avinash,
Your kid is cute.
And I can confirm for you that she has a gift for singing. You are not delusional or just the "over zealous parent". For her to even DARE to try to sing this song at 9 years old, and then actually ... sort of pull it off, is impressive. 
It does need a lot of work, but that doesn't hide the fact that for her age, there is something here that is promising.
For example:
- Here pitch is not perfect, but for her age and the difficulty of this song, not bad. About 80% in.
- Notes such as at 1:40, are very nicely resonant and pretty. Foreshadowing what she could do with a more mature voice , more consistently. 
- She seems to have a rather darker tone to her voice which is unusual for girls. Girls tend to be very shrill and it is nice to NOT be hearing that ear piercing shrill from a little girl, but some more warmth from her sound color. Again, another hint at potential here.
As far as competing for talent shows are concerned, I think she could be competitive IF she trained and got serious. Does she have a voice coach? Without professional coaching and someone to really raise the bar to prepare for auditions, she would not be competitive. I believe she can do it, but you and your family are going to have to make a decision to commit to hard work and serious training, not just singing songs for fun. Is she ready to make singing her "job" and study it like she does homework at school?  If so, she has a chance.
I am available to help you and your daughter if you are looking for a qualified coach. I have a training program that would do a lot to clean things up and get her stronger and more serious about what she is doing. Feel free to give me a call or send me a private email.
I hope this helps.

Uh,...Ya, ... its not better.
One of the things you learn as you evolve into a conscientious singer that is serious, is you get a lot of practice shelving your ego and exercising the courage to humble yourself, especially when you get feedback you don't want to swallow. Being humbled from time to time is part of the lifestyle of being a singer. For everyone, at all levels. Until you can be open to this, it won't happen for you.
At the moment, you are sort of... pretending to be a singer. To be clear, If you sounded exactly the same, but were being accountable by taking our advice, you would appear to be more real to me. Your attitude, not your singing, is what weakens your credibility at this early stage.
Either you are a bit delusional or this is a joke. Maybe this is a joke? I suppose its possible, but I fear it isn't.
I don't feel like protecting your feelings. I feel like giving you the tough love truth, because that is what you are going to need to make any kind of progress. I did my part.
Good luck on your journey.

Have fun. We tried to help. Let me know when you're serious about getting feedback.

I agree 100% with Robert.
To be straight: You're yelling, not singing, especially on the verses. It doesn't have to be loud to be yelling. Yelling is a vocal configuration/mode. Sometimes you sing out some notes here and there, but it's very inconsistent in placement, timbre, support, and pitch.
What's your goal in singing? Are you just doing this for fun and to sing at Karaoke bars? Or do you want to be taken seriously and sound professional?
If it's the latter, then you need a coach and training routine. Hell, if it's the former, you would still benefit highly from training. You can't simply will yourself into being a good singer. If you think you're good now, start taking feedback seriously (from the audience, your friends, coaches like us, peers, etc), and see what others think. As a performer, it ultimately doesn't matter what you think about yourself, but rather what your audience thinks about you. You can become a MUCH better singer than you are now, but it likely won't happen until you listen to others' feedback and start correctly training proven techniques.

Its better then the last sample you shared a couple days ago, but it is still a complete mess. Honestly, its not good enough to capture an audience. Just being honest with you so that you will take action.
You need to train, you need to practice, you need to learn how to sing.
Stop trying to 'wing it'... if you really want to become a singer, you have to take it seriously with lessons and training. Not much is going to change until you do. This is how you are going to sing, which is not good, until you choose to do something about it.
Although I do give you an A for courage in your decision to share your singing with us and trying. That IS the first step, so take the next step.
This will help you immensely. For you, this would transform your singing forever.  If you do the routines and what it teaches you to do. You have just about everything you need to become 95% better in about 30 to 90 days. The choice is now yours... how important is singing to you?
Is it worth $197 and approx. 90 days of hard work? Only you can answer that question.
https://thevocaliststudio.com/the-four-pillars-of-singing/
 

Hi Gilly!
I think you get off to a strong start on this more or less... providing insight to what you could do with this. Stronger up to :29.
Very interesting... however,
At :30 you let go of your compression and what TA strength is still there and it leans into the falsetto spectrum.
I think this is a very good opportunity for you to do some A/B testing here. Listen to the color, attack, strength and confidence up to :29. Then notice how that all weakens at :30. Can you fix that by just having it pointed out to you?
Put another smule in here of the same song and pay attention to your support... musculature support; twang, TA "chest pulling/narrowing".. not respiration. I'll bet you can fix this easily if you just pay more attention to what your doing and someone such as I points it out to you.
PS:
Can you please embed the iframe code from your smule so that it is embedded into your post here and plays here, instead of tossing people out to smule. Not a big deal, but its more cool that way.
 

https://www.smule.com/recording/aretha-franklin-respect/257692681_1165069493

OMG started today and the difference is already very apparent. I can see how I've not been using my voice correctly now. Thank you SO much Robert. 

https://www.smule.com/recording/aretha-franklin-respect/257692681_1165069493

Thanks Gill,
Again... if you click the upper left corner of the video it will reveal a menu / playlist with other songs.