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Been a member for a while, but just finally getting aroud to post

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Hi All,

I joined TMV some time ago, but have had so many other things going on that I'm only now getting around to put something up for comment.

I just did the songs in question about an hour ago, after a long day of practice and other tasks around the house, so take them as what they are :)

I took 20 years off from playing and singing, and have been working my way back since late 2008.

I used some MIDI sequences along with live guitar for these. Four tracks have some harmonies added with the TC-Helicon Voicelive2 harmonizer.

Looking for suggestions on things to focus on, observations etc.

Here's the link, it's a private section of one of my sites for now. Working on a new site specifically for music related stuff, but that is not ready yet.

http://www.bicksoft.com/Music

You will need Flash to be able to play the tracks.

Thanks in advance,

Burt

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Hi Burt, its fun music that you sing along too. You are pretty darn good. Every day with you had a couple of pitch areas such as 52-54 seconds in and 59 and 100 seconds.

"Much Too young to feel this" is better; more upbeat and nice sustained tones.

"Stuck on You" not bad, I would not stray away from "Guess I'm on my way" from the original, I think it would sound better if you stuck to the original version. The Harmonizer sounds great.

"Lonesome town" is good

"Amie" is good...

Sounds like you are on the right track...you should work on scales; you need to work on expanding your range and this can be done either on your own singing scales with a guitar or other instrument and go as low and as high as you can without cracking. You have good singing skills. I think if you work on more dynamic range; you could be really good.

Keep singing.

I would recommend working with a voice coach a few times to observe your singing posture and breathing technique, I do detect some areas you could have better control of pronouncing words in correct pitch.

Byron

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Thanks for the feedback Byron,

Yes, I was a little "pitchy" on Every Day with you.

Stuck on you, I actually hadn't gone back to listen to the original, so I'll do that and adjust accordingly. That's the problem with doing a cover song from memory.

Yes, I'm working on pronouncing. I've actually improved several words/phrases that were causing me issues when I was first getting back into it.

I've just started working with the Robert's course so that should help speed things up too.

Thanks again for the valuable feedback.

Burt

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Looking for suggestions on things to focus on, observations etc.

Burt: Thanks for posting these. You have a nice sense of the style of the songs, and your delivery reminds me of the kind of direct-from-the-heart singing I've heard in some of the nicer Texas honkey-tonks... with the couples out swirling on the floor in lively dance.

I heard a couple things that I want to mention. First, at the beginnings of phrases which begin with vowel sounds, you onset the notes fairly strongly and then back off into a more airy, laid-back vocalism. My ear wants to hear this equalized out a little, so that the onsets are less like 'attacks', and with the remainder of the notes in the phrase a little more substantial. For a reference of another lower voice, I think Johnny Cash did this particular thing pretty well.

Someone else mentioned pitchiness, and I agree. As an aspect of your style, you often begin a note below its eventual pitch. That's up to you. However, your portamento up to the sustained pitch needs to make it. Sometimes it does not, and it just sounds a bit sour. As an exercise/recommendation, sing through the songs a bit and try to sing them 'cleanly', i.e/., beginning each note right on the note it should be. Just a little practice at this will influence the overall pitch of your singing, whether you re-employ the stylistic portamento later.

Keep it up, and put some more clips out there for us to listen to. It was a treat hearing you.

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Thanks Steve,

Thanks for the kind words, I've made some significant improvements in the last year, after barely singing or playing guitar for almost 20 years. Life and the day jobs got in the way, but now working hard on getting back in the groove.

Great points, and I will focus on those issues. Not that it was an excuse, but I did those tracks at the end of a long day and was a bit tired, which didn't help.

But I know that I have a tendency to "slide" into some notes if I don't focus on it, so I'll work on tightening things up. I have some others that I have been working on where I corrected the "slide up" so I know that I can do it :)

I'll have some new tracks up along the way in the future.

Thanks again,

Burt

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