Bruno Mars: Locked out... chorus 1st Try. Please review!!!

[joshual]

Hi there,

I just love this song and decided to give it a try.

please review, be honest with me, good or not tell me what you think.

My question is: how can i add a little more "chest".

thanxs a lot

here's the first try:

https://www.box.com/s/vhqsb4nwy5r1ac184ttk

have a great weekend!!:D

[khcodesrikurawks]

Oh my goodness! That was really impressive! I wish I could even have THAT much chest with those notes. Only a few SMALL issues to my ears but all of them were with pronunciation. I'm not even sure if you have an accent or not but some of the words like "Heaven" sounded like "evan" but that's minor and easily fixable (I"m sure you were focused on getting the sound more so than the word with how high it is)

To answer about how to get more chest, I would just do a lot of exercises that focus on developing the mixed register so you can add more chest to it as you get the note down. Take that advice with a grain of salt however because I'm only 18 and I'm no vocal coach lol. However, very impressive work and I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors! :)

[devaitis]

My question is: how can i add a little more "chest".

Why? You have great tone and excellent portion of chest IMO of course!

Great try! Keep it up!

[OldPainless]

First off, props for doing this difficult song. I'm digging the uniqueness in your voice, but I also think you need to add a bit more chest like you said. What could you do? I'm not entirely sure, I just think the high notes sound a bit thin and you could sound better if you did something differently. The classic advice I always give for adding more "fullness" is to check out support techniques on youtube if you're not practicing them already.

Best of luck!

Edit: It's only in the chorus where I think something should sound differently. The "ooh, yeah yeah!" parts and the bridge both sound great to me.

[joshual]

Thanxs to all for the compliments.

@justinothersinger

Yep you are so right!

My biggest problem is support and breathing. Seems that i can't connect it. I always end up by tightening the abs too much and strain or push too much on my vocal folds and throat and end up straining.

Do you have Any exercices that could help me?

Thank you again!

Josh

[jonpall]

I just thought it was bloody good! Very tough song for most guys. Constant Ab4s and A4s throughout the song. I DON'T think you need more chest - otherwise it would just be pulling chest. You might want to improve your vowels even more than you already do and also sing "heaven" instead of "Evan" Who's this Evan, btw.? Friend of yours? Just kidding. You've got a tone to die for. That slight rasp - do you know how you do it? It sounds so great. Make sure you don't lock your abs when you sing. This will give you more stamina and protect your throat better. When you sing the word "like" in the chorus, try singing more of an Oh sound than an Ah sound, because it will sound bigger. You might want to have a bit of Uh in there as well, because you most likely want to stay on the curbing side rather than overdrive. But singing A4s with an Oh vowel in CURBING with almost no shade of Uh seems entirely possible to me - since you're not yet at C5. You kind of do this Oh vowel when you sing "heav-OH-n", so you already know how to do it. The word "heaven" sounds more full thatn "like", as a result, but both words could be equally full and magnificent. You've got great control of your voice even though you may feel that singing like this is sometimes borderline too tough for you. You get into your mixed voice very nicely and really get rid of excess weight in those high notes exactly how you should do. Cheers!

[Seth]

You mean make sure you DO lock your abs, right jon?

[MDEW]

:) I do not think that you need to add more chest( Only my opinion ).

If this was your first try (or first recording after practicing for a week) You did exceptionaly good. The more you do this the easier it will get. The easier it gets the more relaxed you are doing it. The more relaxed you are the fuller it will sound.

I am no teacher but if I sounded like that I would be giving myself High Fives.

[SkyKnight]

Catchy. The ooh yeah yeah parts are rock solid. They could use a little more prescence. What mic are you using?

For the most part on pitch. You have a good ear pitch its just a matter of vocal control after that and your control is

95 percent concrete.

You do have a unique voice. Trying lying down and re-recording the parts you want to re-record. I find that lying down while I'm singing tends to help my higher notes sound better. But I could be crazy.

A little more prescence maybe a little more vocal prescence and I would buy original songs you came out with.

Best of luck I want to hear more from you

[jonpall]

You mean make sure you DO lock your abs, right jon?

No I really meant NOT locking them. Contracting them, yes, locking them, no. There should be a slight, constant tension but if you really LOCK them, they won't move at all, and for support it's important that there is movement in the abs. Movement as if you're working against resistance. The abs should go slowly inwards while the lower rib cage stays mostly in the same place as you sing a phrase.