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My cover of Europe's Carrie

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Ok, here it goes...

My first attempt at high range rock vocals - I've just been told that I don't have the voice to do this stuff so please be kind with me ... ;)

No seriously, I know myself that reaching the high parts was really a struggle (not in terms of strain but in navigating the thin line of losing connection/compression) and I had to give way to a very heady sound quality (especially on the closed vowels such as OO as in "goodbye"), though I wish I could have carried (Carrie'd? ;)) more bottom-end into the high notes but I guess that comes with more practice.

I consider myself a singing novice, I started serious (more or less daily) training about 5 weeks ago (at home using a singing course) and so far I am very excited about discovering new stuff and happy with my progress but I really want to know what you guys think about it and maybe share some tips on how to improve the weak parts.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/48158209/Carrie%202012-09-15.mp3

Oh yeah, and of course I didn't do this in a single take - I couldn't do this at this point of my level.

Thanks very much for your assessment!

:)

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Not bad at all for only 5 weeks of training. Keep going, and give this another try later down the road. Tonally, your voice fits well with this song.

I always thought Europe got a bad rap. They were bashed incessantly for their pretty image and "cheese factor", but there was some very legitimate talent in this band.

As for being told you "don't have the voice for this stuff", there's no other way to put it than "don't listen to them."

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Thanks Validar, for the encouragement!

Yes, I think it would be exciting to give this another shot in a couple of weeks and see how much I will have improved by then. I discovered the "high-gain head voice" only a short while ago and I'm really super-excited about it right now so I just couldn't resist picking a tough song... :D

I like Joey Tempest's clear vocal timbre, as for cheesy I don't care too much. I think he has written some fine songs (I'd be proud if I had a hit like The Final Countdown) and performed them very convincingly - despite all the glamour and glitter.

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Thanks Keith! :)

I'm especially glad you like the tone, I was really trying to get a lot of resonance and edge into it and I guess I went the right direction.

try to support the last word of the phrases more. You're kinda letting those words dump.

Do you mean I should sustain the volume towards the end of the phrases more other than letting the "tail" of the words fade out? Good point, I really didn't notice this, but you're right - it would certainly make the words clearer to understand for the listener.

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Joey's got a good voice. Your's is just as good, though you don't sound like a carbon copy of him. I agree, you have the right voice for this song.

The only pointers I could think of is on the word pain and again, use the eh sound that you used in carrie. You were using too much 'ay' and it was pulling you down about not quite a 1/4. Just a minor change in the vowel and that's only to tune up those few spots. By the end of the song, you had the right vowel. So, basically, do that some more.

Most people don't realize how challenging it can be to do a ballad like this. It is a voice-prominent song, not hidden by pyrotechnics and flashy fills from other instruments. It's akin to singing a capella.

Well done, Hai.

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Yeah, Joey Tempest never really got the credit he deserved. (for the same frivolous reasons I mentioned in my other post, most likely)

If you ever want to tackle some other Europe ballads later down the road, check out "Open Your Heart" and "Tomorrow". "Tomorrow" is just amazing, and virtually unknown. I don't know how it wasn't a monster hit for them.

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Hey Ron, thanks for the positive feedback. I'm really flattered ;) don't worry it won't get to my head...

Thanks also for the pointers about vowels. Actually I'm really only starting to get into vowels (and their effects on my voice) right now, I've never paid attention to them and it'll be fun disecting them a bit technically and conquer them one by one.

Cheers

haiduc

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If you ever want to tackle some other Europe ballads later down the road, check out "Open Your Heart" and "Tomorrow". "Tomorrow" is just amazing, and virtually unknown. I don't know how it wasn't a monster hit for them.

Just listened to them.

Tomorrow is great, a bit more interesting from the composition's standpoint, I'll give it a shot in while. :D

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Hey, man! It's not bad for a beginner. But you seem to feel much tension in your throat. Think about finding the support and an appropriate larynx position.

Hey, thanks!

Yeah, tension creep is always a danger, especially for me who used to shout on chest voice only before I started training my voice and discovered mix / covering / curbing (whatever ;)).

I guess I tend to apply too much air pressure sometimes, when doing the high parts I was cracking pretty often until I reduced the amount of air pressure - of course the tone got more heady. I didn't feel much fatigue after doing the song though, so I guess my vocalization wasn't unhealthy per se - but yeah tension can creep in anytime so it's good to be aware of it.

As for the larynx position, I'm trying to keep it balanced during vocalizes but doing a song I'm probably getting carried away and it'll start moving up (a bit, not into any choking extreme). I find it hard to keep it dead-on constant, not sure if it makes that much of a difference but I'll pay special attention to it from now.

As for finding support, the only thing I'm doing is breathing naturally. I'm not doing any "abdominal compression" or anything like that on purpose (maybe subconciously). Anyway, I know that I need to work on it. Do you know of any particular exercise to strenghten that area?

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