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Kamelot cover - Sailorman's Hymn

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I've enjoyed Roy Khan's singing immensely for years, and have begun learning to sing. I'm enjoying covering old Kamelot songs. I know I ran out of breath at one point, feedback would be much appreciated on the rest of it. Thanks! :)

Note: Use headphones - I am in your right ear, the original is in your left.

http://cl.ly/153A0s2G060v

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Not bad. A bit pitchy in places, and there are some areas that need need better support. The enitre chorus needs a lot work. You start out pretty powerful with it, then for some reason, kinda lose it. Work on your:

1. Breathing

2. Pitch

3. Dynamics

4. FEELING - you have to sing this song, and thousands of songs like this, like you wote it. There is no soul in yours (yet). Practice Practice Practice. Also, this song is NOT easy. The entire chorus is, at least for me, hovering right around my vocal break. It is hard for me to not try to shout my way through it.

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Hey, I whipped off my version of this, which may help you with the breathing part. You can hear almost every time I took a breath. Also, I am just getting over Bronchitis, so don't expect this to be amazingly awesome lol.

http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=12347865&q=hi&newref=1

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There's almost too much to respond to here! I really appreciate the feedback you guys have given me.

A bit pitchy in places, and there are some areas that need need better support. The enitre chorus needs a lot work. You start out pretty powerful with it, then for some reason, kinda lose it.

Yeah, I lost the plot and went off-pitch a couple times thinking I was in the final chorus when I was in the second one, etc. I think I lose power because I only just got to the point where I could actually sing the chorus without it coming out as little more than a squeek, or changing up to full head voice. As such in this recording I was fighting just to stay up there and manage my breathing, and not comfortable enough to focus on sounding good.

1. Breathing

For some reason I have trouble managing my breathing when it comes to the chorus. I have a feeling I'm using far too much air to accomplish what I am in the chorus. Need to focus more on resonance and less on raw wind power perhaps...?

2. Pitch

I think the two main areas were me getting lazy on the sudden changes sometimes (re-SOUND, promising HEART), and when I lost the plot and forgot which chorus I was in.

3. Dynamics

Had to look this one up.

4. FEELING - you have to sing this song, and thousands of songs like this, like you wote it. There is no soul in yours (yet). Practice Practice Practice.

Yes, this is absolutely a problem I've been having. I'm not entirely sure how to solve it other than to try to immerse myself in the song. I try picturing myself in rural Ireland looking out at the sea, but it doesn't always work. Do you have any tips for how to get the feeling right?

Also, this song is NOT easy. The entire chorus is, at least for me, hovering right around my vocal break. It is hard for me to not try to shout my way through it.

Yeah, the chorus was tough to get to the point where it worked at all. Many miserable squeeking noises and curses were uttered in the process of learning that. :)

Hey, I whipped off my version of this, which may help you with the breathing part. You can hear almost every time I took a breath. Also, I am just getting over Bronchitis, so don't expect this to be amazingly awesome lol.

http://www.soundclick.com/player/single … p;newref=1

Very, very nice. I really like how you did this, especially the final chorus. There's a lot I could learn from you there, the main things that stand out to me are just the relaxation of your voice, the 'agility' of your voice (tone changes are light, not burdened), and how the vibrato is ever-present in a good way during the chorus.

True vibrato is something I only just started to be able to do a couple weeks ago, to get my voice relaxed enough to do it. It's still hit or miss, but overall, the harder I try the worse it is - I just have to have zero tension for it to work. I've always sung to myself once in awhile because it was something I enjoyed doing, but I've only been seriously working on improving my singing and taking lessons for a couple months or so. A year or so before that I had a horrible goat-operating-a-machine-gun-style fake vibrato that just sounded terrible. Yours seems relaxed enough to do it throughout the chorus, which I'm not entirely sure how to do. The chorus at this point is like I'm fighting just to keep my head above water. I have a feeling once I get better, I'll be relaxed enough in it to do that. Any tips there?

If you haven't heard it, here's the live version of the song. It sounds even more like you in the vibrato and power departments.

I have to ask, where did you find the karaoke track for this? I looked but came up empty-handed.

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Well, what I have been doing lately (which may or may not be wrong) is working on head voice slides. I start at Bb4, and go down as far as I can go. My chest voice musculature was sooo much stringer than my head voice musculature, that singing anything higher than A4 was really really hard for me. SAo, for the last month or so, I walk around the house talking in head voice, doing head voice slides (or decending sirens) and then I sing songs. I figure that as I strengthen my head voice, the rest will kind of fall into place. I used to have a terrible time with A Sailormans Hymn. I couldn't even sing it all the way through. Now, I can pund it out (like I did today) all the way through in one take. It is all about building strength and coordination. SO, ind a workout program, and drill it!

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