any input on this?

[bigwon]

hiya folks! just wanted to know you thought of this particular one.

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/435332

lots of love!

[KillerKu]

First, that was good pitching. You did a great job of not using too much air in the sound, which often was a problem with for me with the lower notes. I like the lower overtones in your voice quite a bit and it fits well with the kind of electronic soulful grooves going on there.

I've had to sit here and think a minute, but I have a few ideas that might be worth looking into. First your voice sounds a bit talky at times. That might be intentional for a more hip hop style and it's effective, but I think your voice had a lot of potential when you moved up in range, and got that stronger vibrato. If you could bring that vibrato sound a bit lower into the voice at times, that might be interesting.

The other thing I noticed, was sometimes the voice sounded maybe a little flattened, not in pitch but in tone. I was wondering if you were to apply just a bit more singer's formant, or 'twang' or whatever they call it, you'd have just a tiny bit more cut. As a general rule, what I've found with popular music styles, is the lower the voice, the more and more important it is to get some 'cut' in the mix of your voice so it balances out some of the lower overtones. You've got some already, but you might want more. A lot of people on these forums use extreme amounts of twang way more than you'd want, but being able to control the amount might be very useful for this style of music and in giving your lower voice more definition.

When I heard you, I was thinking of singers like Isaac Hayes or Barry White, the lower end of soul. While I'm not sure you're as naturally low as those two, you fit in with a soulful groove like a glove, you seem to have a good feel for it. It was already interesting to me as is, but I suggested the above ideas, because I think with some work and probably a few tweaks, you're on your way to a commercial groove there. Way beyond this forum, way beyond Newgrounds. Something to think about, we lost Barry White and Issac Hayes. As of this moment, we don't have many sexy low voices in the mainstream music industry. You've got the potential and voices like that are needed. So keep working your thing. I would suggest if you aren't already doing so maybe taking lessons, not because of lack of talent, just because it's safer when trying new things to have someone there to make sure you're doing it right.

[bigwon]

yeah, I really agree with getting more a grasp on singing range as opposed to that sort of rapping/talking/morse code delivery. I've just wired my brain from all of these years of rapping i'm thinking...still no excuse i've got to keep pushing. I really understand the advice and appreciate it, I'm going to have to copy this into a note pad for reference.

Thank you so much for the encouragement though, I really oughta just work singing lessons into my budget.

My main concern is that the singing teachers in my local area would have a hard time with the style of singing i'm looking to do (soulful,funk,blues)

but i'm not doing anything by just concerning myself with it...lol

[KillerKu]

You know you might not be able to get everything out of a single singing teacher, unfortunately, especially if you go local, but there are definitely useful aspects of classical that shouldn't be ignored.

Those genres (Soul, Funk, Blues) do all have pretty good breath support as a core part of their sound, and having more range and using that bit of vibrato more would likely suit your voice quite well. I actually really like your natural timbre, but I'm very partial to soul kinds of singing.

I honestly agree you'd definitely have to find a teacher that didn't insist on 'opera-izing' you too much. It's tricky, because while most of the good teachers will teach you enough to improve, a lot of them do seem to be specialized. Some are more open to other styles than others. You might consider Skype lessons with a good one for your genre. I honestly wish I knew a great one that specialized in soul style singing.

You may not want to toss the hip hop vibe completely if you came from that background. While I'm more partial to soul (though I'll throw on the occasional Tupac), I think if you could combine the two, like Lauryn Hill, that actually might be a good selling point. Most rappers can't sing all that well, and if you can, you'll have something extra to work with. It would make you stand out more, not to mention it combines two interesting talents.