[Excerpt of] The Final Countdown - A Capella

[Manolito Mystiq]

N.B.: I use EVT terms, and sometimes CVT terms.

No mode in mind, but it sounds like ORAL TWANG, too light for it to be BELTING

Here you go: Click!.

This is without adding reverb. The reverb you hear is the room I’m in. I’m twanging. I actually feel my timing and my pitch is alright (there’s one noticable off note, though). And it doesn’t seem that much like I’m holding back, like I use to sound (to my ears).

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Definitely some AES in mind, but also some Thyroid Tilt, which I didn’t succeed in doing

Second try, now with my SM58 and a backing track: HERE.

Actually, I sound a lot better with my LS-10 Tape Recorder (the former recorder), probably because it’s a condenser mic. At least, it’s a lot more sensitive. I have to set my SM58 up to almost max in the mix in order for it to be sensitive enough to let me sing more in the background, with could easy create unwanted distortion as a result (as you hear).

I seem to twang way too much, so I will try to get it rounder, now.

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CRY in mind, CRY, CRY, CRY, but it didn’t really work

Third try, same setup as Take 2: HERE.

I first sang using as much dopey sound as possible, and then I went back. I seem heavily influenced by how I hear myself while singing, because this time I held just one cup of my headphones to one of my ears, so that I could hear some of the environmental parts of my voice. It’s like I have a better reference of myself, while I sound dead when I put my phones on on both ears.

I like this better. Still, twangy, but it seems less, or I might do something else that makes it sound better.

It seems as if I’m overaccentuating my vowels on Take 2. The overall sound is probably a bit warmer, because I changed the microphone sensivity and my position towards it a bit (I didn’t tweak anything with the Joey Tempest reverb in Studio One 2).

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SOB / CRY

Fourth take: HERE.

I got this sound by starting an octave lower with this whiny like voice saying the lyrics, then singing, and raise a step or two, until I was back in the original key (and octave). Here, SOB is quite present. Sometimes it’s more CRY. It’s too unbalanced. I should probably find a sound in between. Joey Tempest clearly has some thyroid tilt going, especially the way he starts (‘We’re leaving to…’).

Again, I don’t want to be Joey Tempest. I want a sound that’s balanced, not too twangy, not to hooty. Imitation can be good way to find it. At least, I think it can. Obviously it should be my sound in the end, but really, I’m not that satisfied, yet. I’m getting there, but I’m not there. It’s either too twangy, too compressed, too hooty, etc.