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I could use your advice on this song ....

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sjs94704

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Hi, ALL!

My name is Steven and I am from Berkeley, California USA and I am an amateur singer.  I have my own home recording studio. I use Reaper as my recording software. I download my background music and then I sing to it and have lots of fun doing all kinds of cool stuff with it!

I am currently recording music in the style of Karen Souza.  I am a Baritone, so I have to make a few adjustments to the original song which can get a little too high notes for me and sound like ....... Yuck!

Here is the song 'Every Breath You Take'  I have highlighted the phrases that seem too high to be comfortable for me and so I would like to make a smooth transition downward in notes vs. upwards as the original goes, but, I would just like it to be smooth and to begin going down in the right place. I don't want to break from the original tune too much, but, I could use some suggestions of what to do here so that as I sing the song as a Baritone that it sounds smooth as if it was meant to be that way!

See below ......

Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
Ill be watching you

Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
Ill be watching you

Oh, cant you see
You belong to me
How my poor heart aches
With every step you take

Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
Ill be watching you

Since youve gone I been
lost without a trace
I dream at night I can
only see your face
I look around but its you I cant replace
I feel so cold and I
long for your embrace
I keep crying baby, baby, please...

 (Break)

 Oh, cant you see
You belong to me
How my poor heart aches
With every breath you take

Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
Ill be watching you

Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake  (sing 4 times)
Ill be watching you

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So you have to change the key. That much seems clear to me. Does Reaper have a feature that allows you to do that to an instrumental track? If not, just see if you can buy an instrumental track of that song that is transposed for a baritone range.

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You could also work on expanding your range through training with The Four Pillars of Singing. I'm a baritone that can sing up to C6. It took me a long time to get there, but not too long to sing an A4 comfortably, and then up to C5 and beyond over time. The largest contributor, where I see countless students of mine immediately expand their range by quite a bit, is learning cry vocal mode. If you have the course, or the lighter Udemy version, then focus more on cry vocal mode and then the messa di voce  and extreme scream pitch exercises. Using a top-down phonation from cry vocal mode with a slow crescendo of volume got me singing in the Soprano range pretty quickly and without added effort.

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27 minutes ago, Draven Grey said:

expand their range by quite a bit, is learning cry vocal mode. If you have the course, or the lighter Udemy version, then focus more on cry vocal mode and then the messa di voce  and extreme scream pitch exercises. Using a top-down phonation from cry vocal mode with a slow crescendo of volume got me singing in the Soprano range pretty quickly and without added effort.

Got the fist bit but now you have lost me, where do you get this extreame screem exersise from?

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I'm referring to cry vocal mode, not sob. Robert and I mistakingly used to call it sob vocal mode. It's actually Cry Vocal Mode. There are particular lectures on this in the course I mentioned as well as in my distortion course. It's not sobbing in the throat, but rather a top-down whimper like a puppy, to activate the cry reflex near the third formant - giving the voice the feeling of lift in the back, thinning out the glottis for easier phonation, releasing constriction, and much more. Robert and I have multiple videos on YouTube about Cry, if you look. However, quick tips from forums and YouTube will only help a little, if at all. You won't find a better or more comprehensive singing course than the one I mentioned.

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Yes, Reaper can adjust octaves.  And, I'm not looking to take a long time as Draven says to work on being able to reach higher notes and is the reason I asked:

"I have highlighted the phrases that seem too high to be comfortable for me and so I would like to make a smooth transition downward in notes vs. upwards as the original goes"

So, if anyone has any suggestions, great!  Otherwise I consider this post closed!

PS- I'm not here to get solicited to buy a singers training program. Just some advice ....

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1 hour ago, sjs94704 said:

Yes, Reaper can adjust octaves.  And, I'm not looking to take a long time as Draven says to work on being able to reach higher notes and is the reason I asked:

"I have highlighted the phrases that seem too high to be comfortable for me and so I would like to make a smooth transition downward in notes vs. upwards as the original goes"

So, if anyone has any suggestions, great!  Otherwise I consider this post closed!

PS- I'm not here to get solicited to buy a singers training program. Just some advice ....

 

Right, you're not here to get solicited to buy a singers training program, but think about it; you can be in here getting help for free because you've been granted free access. Think about that :D

As for the song, if you're suggesting that you move those highlighted parts down but keep everything else the same, I wouldn't do that. You risk messing with the feel of the song that way. So, I'd go with what I said.

 

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@sjs94704: I fail to see how offering you exactly how I expanded my range as a baritone, including the exact exercise written out in my post, is soliciting a training program; especially when I wrote it out after I said "if you don't have [said training program]..." The program mentioned that helped me also happens to be the program that this website was built around, created by the owner of this forum. The Cry Vocal Mode I mentioned (and explained) will also smooth out your lower range.

If you're not willing to work and train to extend your range or smooth out your lower range like you asked, or use the advice given you by experienced professionals, then why are you here? There is no magic pill. There is no quick fix. There is no quick tip that will turn you into a magical singing unicorn. But there are ways to train your voice and get the results you're asking for, exactly the results you're asking for. 

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2 hours ago, Draven Grey said:

@sjs94704: I fail to see how offering you exactly how I expanded my range as a baritone, including the exact exercise written out in my post, is soliciting a training program; especially when I wrote it out after I said "if you don't have [said training program]..." The program mentioned that helped me also happens to be the program that this website was built around, created by the owner of this forum. The Cry Vocal Mode I mentioned (and explained) will also smooth out your lower range.

If you're not willing to work and train to extend your range or smooth out your lower range like you asked, or use the advice given you by experienced professionals, then why are you here? There is no magic pill. There is no quick fix. There is no quick tip that will turn you into a magical singing unicorn. But there are ways to train your voice and get the results you're asking for, exactly the results you're asking for. 

WOW!

Now I am SURE I'd like to close this topic.  I thought I was very clear in my original post that I wanted to find the right way to go DOWN with my notes vs. trying to take so long to train myself to hit the high notes!  Tells me you weren't really listening in the first place!  My purpose in singing is just for fun!  I am not and do not intend to be a PRO singer and never did expect a 'magic pill'. 

The attitude here turns me off!  See you later.  Really F***** up attitude!  Not for me!

 

 

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22 minutes ago, sjs94704 said:

WOW!

Now I am SURE I'd like to close this topic.  I thought I was very clear in my original post that I wanted to find the right way to go DOWN with my notes vs. trying to take so long to train myself to hit the high notes!  Tells me you weren't really listening in the first place!  My purpose in singing is just for fun!  I am not and do not intend to be a PRO singer and never did expect a 'magic pill'. 

The attitude here turns me off!  See you later.  Really F***** up attitude!  Not for me!

 

 

I'm surprised you can tell my tone by my text, haha! Seriously, man, I'm not copping an attitude. Sorry if it was taken that way. They were legitimate questions. And what I said about quick fixes was very legitimate too. As stated, cry vocal mode will help with going lower as well. I also posted one way of starting to get the feeling for it. Thank you for pointing out how my post was taken though. It wasn't my intention.

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