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For once in my life

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Hi, I'd like some feedback on this one!

This is me singing "For once in my life" by Stevie Wonder. I haven't practiced the song before so this is as "raw" as it gets. My apologies to Mr. Wonder for messing up the lyrics... ;)

Basically, all critique is welcome! Just tell me what i can do to sing better and i'll do it! :)

Also, I'm very interested in the following:

- Am I twanging? Am I nasal? Is my tone ok?

- What am I doing wrong when I'm not hitting those high notes?

- When I do hit them, what am I doing right?

http://www.box.com/s/fbc09272c1d8956890df

Thanks,

Nick

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Sounds pretty good to me. Although, I am not sure what you are doing, but you're enunciation seems "funny" .. Like you have a small cotton ball inside your mouth. Maybe you are levereaging your tongue too much, or when you don't need to. I don't know. I'm no pro lol. Do you hear what I hear when tyou listen back?

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I thought that was good. Sorry I can't help you with any technical stuff. Someone will, I'm sure. But as a listener I can tell you what I hear. Someone else will tell you how to fix it (or tell me I'm wrong and to shut up!) :D

First I am considering that this is a new song for you. I think once you own it it will be really good, your voice has a nice sound to it.

In a few spots it sounded like you were holding back. Like you hit a ceiling and wouldn't go any further with your voice. This put a slight strain sound into some of the higher parts. Like you sang from the top of your throat or a closed throat sound. I'm not very technical :) This is something I know I do a lot too.

In a lot of spots the phrases sounded chopped and cut short also. This kind of stopped the flow for me. Also maybe because you don't own it yet or maybe because of the phrasing, it kind of felt like you may have been slightly rushed on the timing. Just a little playing catch up. Just a hair. Maybe, I'm not sure.

And of course a couple of pitchy spots.

BUT, I really liked it. I think you are going to sing the shit out of that song very soon.

Sounds pretty good to me. Although, I am not sure what you are doing, but you're enunciation seems "funny" .. Like you have a small cotton ball inside your mouth. Maybe you are levereaging your tongue too much, or when you don't need to. I don't know. I'm no pro lol. Do you hear what I hear when tyou listen back?

I thought it was an accent like English wasn't his native tongue (?)

Tommy

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Thanks both of you! My voice is basically a "work in progress" and I don't really know how to use it yet. I'm posting here so I can get a better understanding of my voice. ;)

Keith: I don't really know what you're referring to. I'm not a native English speaker: I'm Danish/French. But I guess this is more a technical issue.

Tommy: I'll re-record it in a few days and post it back here. Timing and flow will get better I'm sure. The strain on the high notes shows up from time to time when I don't sing them with proper technique and I'd love to be able to do them more consistently but I don't know how.

Nick

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Good job Nick, sounds good. You've got a nice tone to your voice, it's clear and warm and strong.

I'll echo what Tommy said and say that it didn't sound like this was you going for it 100% and I'm guessing that's because you haven't really practiced it. Your lack of familiarity with the song is my biggest problem with this because it gets in the way of your singing too much, you're having to think about it as you go rather than knowing it well enough to tackle it with real feeling.

Something I noticed is that the way you enunciate and control your voice changes quite a lot as you go up your range, and that affects the quality of the sound. You have a full sound going on during the mid range parts and you are filling your mouth and using it to shape the sound and help it resonate so it sounds full and rich, but, when you tackle the high parts, it starts to sound like you stop controlling the sound and allow it to just come up and out, scraping off the back of your throat and the top of your mouth without much control or any shaping while at the same time cutting back on power and volume. You can hear a lack of confidence with those notes and to me that suggests that you know they don't feel right when you are singing them. You have the range, the notes are there, so I think it's a case of thinking about where and how you place your voice as it travels through you your body, and how you use your mouth to shape the sound and allow it to exit.

I'm no teacher, and I can only talk about singing in the way that I visualize it because I don't have any training, so forgive me if this is confusing or doesn't make sense.

Overall, good job, I'd love to hear you sing it again once you know it inside out.

Max

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  • 2 weeks later...

Quite nice man, its sounding good :D. I like it.

Still, whats with this hard left pan on the vocals? Just center it! A few eq ajustments will help a lot, try a little cut around 1,5k and a small boost around 7k.

About technique... Many important things are working as it is now. Your voice is sounding natural and open. Consider very carefully before applying exercises without orientation.

If you want to develop technique, look for a coach, and search carefully for someone that you trust and that CAN sing very well. I would recommend a classical coach that agrees to work with your voice towards a pop repertoire.

For now, aim to keep it comfortable and easy. Do not worry about tone.

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Thanks Felipe :)

I have a lot of strain in my voice and just resumed lessons with a coach, recommended to me by a friend of mine. I get the feeling singing stuff like this could get pretty easy for me, if I have the right guidance.

Technique is so important for me. It means freedom. So I can just forget about everything and just sing!

Don't know about the left pan, still new to garageband... I'll try do the things you suggested ;)

Nick

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I liked it, Nico. And I agree with Felipe on the eq and mix suggestions. Instead of hard left pan, you could either center it or do 60 left 40 right, to compromise. Slightly less echo on the pan right echo only because it delays too much and could create a tonal issue for the listener. But those are just ideas about the mixing of what you did. Your version sounded to me more of like how Chicago would cover this song than how Bruno would.

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