Grenade - Bruno Mars cover

[andyravelo]

Hey guys,

When I was in high school, I sang tenor for four years. I've had no formal vocal coaching otherwise. Please let me know what I should work on in terms of singing and let me know of techniques and exercises to do to help strengthen my voice. BTW, this song is old but I finally had the courage to tackle this difficult song. Thanks.

[andyravelo]

BUMP.. please your feedback is wanted

[andyravelo]

bump

[andyravelo]

Thanks for your feedback! I just started Brett Manning's Mastering mixed voice program, so I hope to improve on vowel modifications that you have mentioned. How can I improve the phrases for "bullet straight through my brain" and the D5 on "still catch a grenade for you"? Will those notes come easily as I grow as I am only 19?

Hi Andy,

You have a nice bright timbre and a nice balance of weightines in the voice. There are some things that I recommend you work on:

Notice how choppy you are with the phrases? This is why you are closing down on the sound. You are very hard on the consonants.

this closing down is what is making you sound nasal also because the sound has nowhere to go so it all crams into the nasal passage.

30 secs in "from the first KISS" see how you pinch and get closed down on kiss? you do this all throughout the song. What you want to do is avoid the harsh "ih" vowel and go more to the EH so it'll be more "from the fehst kehs" and glue them together, remove the space between each note so that the vocal tract can stay relaxed and open.

"but you never give" the reason you went flat on the give is because when you went down you let hte PLACEMENT ALSO GO DOWN, try to keep the sensation in the SAME SPOT (on the roof of the mouth rather than letting it drift down)

"had your eyes waaahd 'OPIN" again take it to OHPEHN on the EH". This stuff is ALL THROUGHOUT the song. You will have to really work these phrases separately focusing on vowel modifications in order to create space so that the sound doesn't tighten down on you. I recommend getting with a coach that KNOWS HOW TO CARRY OVER SCALES TO SINGING because it's not enough just to practice scales, you need to learn how to carry it over into the song.

try singing the song on a single vowel like AH, OH, EE, etc and making sure to modify the vowels as you ascend so that you can release the tension and create space to keep everything open and not clamped down.

You are doing well and have a nice mixed voice. You are not far off from where you want to be.

[andyravelo]

Bump

[MDEW]

The tone sounds good. For myself when I get a song this close it only gets easier. You know you can sing the notes so you can stop worrying about that. Now you can relax into it.

As Phil mentioned, consonants close down the coordination. You have to refind your settings with every word. Ride the vowels and just touch on the consonants. As a matter of fact just reread Phils post. :)

[andyravelo]

That's the thing haha..I'm not sure how to lower my volume on the D5. It sounds as if I'm straining or pulling my chest up. Just got to get my mix to sound chesty up there but less strained. Thanks again guys

Your D5 is great you just need to maintain the exact same level of compression and back off the volume a little so that you arent killing yourself on that sound.

"Bullet straight through my brain"

You are too pure on the vowels and hard on the consonants this prob is through the entire song not just that part.

It should be more like "tEHgAHH bOHlEHHd strEHD thrEHH mAHH brEHHn" and you want to shift the jaw the least amount throughout. You are not opening your jaw enough so the resonance is getting crammed into the nasal cavity if you open up more to the vowels I'm talking about you will get more of a balance of the chest and nasal/mask resonances.

Your mix is already excellent this is not the problem!! brett mannings program I dont' think will help you with the things I'm talking about as it doesn't address vowel mods or jaw shifting.

[Bay_Harbor_Butcher]

I like the rich tone of your voice. I also did a cover of the same song. Tell me your thoughts.

[andyravelo]

Thanks! I enjoyed your cover. You have a great vibrato and enjoyed the riffs you added to the song!

I like the rich tone of your voice. I also did a cover of the same song. Tell me your thoughts.

[andyravelo]

Does anyone know if the D5s I am singing towards the end in "still catch a grenade, throw my hand on a blade" is me twanging in head voice? I feel like that is not my head voice for some reason and I don't think I know how to twang. The notes however have a boomy chest sound to it though..

[andyravelo]

I know i've asked this already, but i would like a response. Will Brett Manning's Mastering Mix help me sing these higher notes more easily?

[gno]

Does anyone know if the D5s I am singing towards the end in "still catch a grenade, throw my hand on a blade" is me twanging in head voice? I feel like that is not my head voice for some reason and I don't think I know how to twang. The notes however have a boomy chest sound to it though..

Sounds like head voice to me. Twang is one of those things that is always there to some degree. I'm not sure you need any more of it on those notes.

I can't speak for Brett Mannings program - I've never tried it.

[Xamedhi]

I am using Mastering Mix at the moment and for me it has worked wonders. The difference is that I have the breath support very developed and my resonance consistent and relaxed, my issue is fold closure. I have sung airy for so long that my vocal muscles are pretty weak in my opinion, so Mastering Mix is helping me a LOT because of all the Edge and closure exercises.

I don't think you need to develop more closure for now, I think your voice is very strong, and what you need to learn is how to relax and keep open all your resonant spaces and learn breath support, which will make your singing 200% times easier and free ( and healthy, haha )

Keep up the good work, mate.