My song covers

[SofiaA.]

Hi guys

I would really appreciate if you listened to my song covers and critique them, and give your opinion about them.

I think I still have a lot to improve, and I would love to hear some feedback and constructive criticism about if the way I sing, for example, I sound too breathy or something else, and what exercises would help to correct that, or about my tone quality.

This is the link:

Thank you so much.

[Felipe Carvalho]

Ok Sofia...

I sincerelly dont like the recordings, there are some problems there that are not allowing your voice to come through, technical issues, that are somewhat easy to fix, but you will need orientation to get through it. The most relevant ones are nasality and a very pronounced inclination to scoop for notes.

Interval perception seems to be working fine, but you are comming out of pitch on lots of phrases. Since they are basicly one and the same thing, what you need is to listen to the songs more and get the melody together before recording.

As it is now I recommend that you dont use those recordings as promotional material, do not disclose it yet, first find a teacher that you trust, to get a more solid ground to perform. I do hear potential on the tonal quality, its very very veiled as it is now, you need to bring this beautifull voice out first. Its fine to show here on the forum, since its the idea of the community, but do not rush into openning to the public ok?

Please dont try fixing it on your own, its close to working nicely, its relaxed which is a huge thing in itself, a few ajustments and it will sound wonderfull. Doing wrong exercises could result in problems that will be a pain to get rid later on.

Good Luck, and please dont be discouraged if this seems too bad, its the normal situation with everyone, and its quite easy to solve these issues provided that you seek orientation and follow a trainning program, the same as with any other instrument.

[SofiaA.]

Thank you for your honesty. I will try to correct the nasality in my voice, but you mentioned other technical issues that are easy to correct. Could you maybe specify them please, and how should I correct them then.

Thank you.

[ronws]

Sofia, your pronounced nasality comes from singing through the nose, rather than proper use of the sinus to resonate. And actually, it's just a sensation in the sinus that marks a good resonation. The sound should be coming out of your mouth, not the nose.

And yes, you can do intervals, notes of different pitches that have a harmonic relation to each other. But often, you end up coming back to the same pitch, the one that you normally speak at.

The one time in one song that you need to return to the same pitch, you missed. "Rehab." On the lyric "no, no, no." Each repetition should be at the same pitch but you were concentrating more on the note crashes that Amy would do, rather than what your voice should do.

Scooping is where you ramp up to a note because you were either unsure where the pitch actually was or failed to onset correctly. And you are not the only one. I, too, have been guilty of scoops and crashes.

So, know what the note is before you start it. And to avoid a note crash (sudden inflectin downward due to release of tension or breath support,) imagine the note continuing after you stop singing.

A technical problem with the recording is that we just about cannot hear the background music. I had to wait for th guitar bridge in "Seven Nation Army" to hear that you were off pitch. So, possibly, your pitch problems are that you cannot hear the music as a reference, either.

Not knowing what you are recording on makes it hard to diagnose the technical problems in your recording. I know because my own recordings have technical problems and most anyone can mix my stuff better than I can mix it.

[SofiaA.]

Thank you so much for your response. BTW I record on Ipod Touch.

[mrrockinhome]

You definetly should resonate your sinus not nose(i totally agree). try to improve your diaphram. sing with more power. try to listen orginal song again and again. and try to give same feeling. i listened your Oasis cover. it is what i heard: you don't permit your larynx to sounds go freely. you don't control your air, you hold, you whisper so that notes are blocked in your mouth. you should learn to resonate notes with full-body

Also, you can try to sing little harder song to learn push the notes more clear with power from larynx .(be sure to don't force) when you try more harder songs, you proabably sing soft(as this songs) and so notes won't go freely and you understand what i mean. (don't afraid from your volume)

[SofiaA.]

Thank you for your advice. Regarding what you said, what is the best exercise to make sure I'm allowing my larynx to be more free?

Thank you.

[gno]

Sofia - besides the nasality thing, the other thing to work on is solid breath support. It seems that the support was hit or miss which gave a sometimes tentative phrasing. There are a lot of exercises to help this. Have you thought about a teacher?

[mrrockinhome]

Thank you for your advice. Regarding what you said, what is the best exercise to make sure I'm allowing my larynx to be more free?

Thank you.

Yes. you need it, but i don't mean force it or scream like a hell. I said, you should try to sound like "full of body" It takes time. You need more support, more "open your mouth with true larynx position"

[SofiaA.]

Geno I have considered a teacher, but there really isn't a lot of music teachers to chose from where I live.

[gno]

Geno I have considered a teacher, but there really isn't a lot of music teachers to chose from where I live.

Sophia - Nowadays it doesn't matter where you live. There are a lot of teachers on this forum that offer skype lessons from anywhere in the world. The other thing to consider would be a video program from Lunte or Tamplin or others. How badly do you want to learn? Are you just kind of experimenting with it? Do you want to get serious about it? You've got the potential to make huge improvements - it all depends on what your desire is.

[SofiaA.]

Geno thank you for saying I've got the potential to make huge improvements. I really love to sing and I am serious about singing. So, I will explore what you mentioned about skype singing lessons.