Faithfully - Acoustic

[MDEW]

I just learned this today. Hope to get some feedback. Journey.

[MDEW]

Thanks for the feedback Owen.

This was the 4th recording and I did sing it overly bright on the last take. Sitting down playing guitar in a cramped space is not optimal for recording the voice. As it was getting late and I wanted feedback I took that last recording good or bad.

I also noticed the wobbly pitch on things like " We all need the "Clowns". I was trying a new coordination for me. As you mentioned, letting more air in and less compression. I also know about the Flat G4. I worked that line several times on its own. I kept tripping on the phrase "Two strangers learn to FALL in love again" It almost seemed like there were too many words for the melody. I kept stopping for breath after the "TO" I finally decided to keep "Two stangers learn" as one phrase and "To FALL in love again" as another. Taking a breath between the two. That helped and I did nail it before recording.

On this take I did not scew up the guitar or singing too bad to scrap it. I can use the guitar and redo the vocals when I get some alone time. Too many distractions tonight to concentrate.

[MDEW]

Owen Wrote:

"I tell you this every single cover you do, you need a darker tone. The way you are getting your brightness is inefficient, not elegant sounding, and is directly causing your range ceiling. Try finding more relaxation by singing darker at first (find a fairly dark sounding singer you like and imitate them in your comfortable range) and thinking of an open throat. However, when you go for this darker tone, do not let the sound drop into the throat. The higher placement you're using now is correct, it's just the way you're shaping the components of the vocal tract around it is interfering and forcing the brightness in an ugly way."

You make this sound as if you have told me this on every cover I have done.

I looked back over my cover posts for the last 6 months. I had not received comment from you. A year or two ago I did a cover of a Bob Seger song in which you mentioned it, But not any other follow up posts saying that I still was not improving on this. I wish you had.

On earlier posts I practically begged for input of this nature. I even mentioned that I would need to Post songs by Foreigner and Journey to get someone to give input other than Ronws and an occasional other member. And so I did.

Ronws has been very helpful. I am paying more attention to dropping my accent but it still comes through.

Conflicting insights on Higher singing. On this song it is true that my tongue is higher placed and the larynx raises on the high notes. Supposedly for high belting this is required. My source? Several places. CVT for one and Estill for another. This song is probably the wrong situation for that, at least when the song is dropped to G4 being the high note instead of B4.

In other songs where things are going wrong for me I may have gotten the responce. "sorry Man, No good" without a reason for why it was no good. To get a reason I had to create a conflict. Sometimes that did not work.

I do believe you are correct in your assessment. I have been working on Roberts "Wind and Release", "Quack and Release" and "Dampen and Release". I recently found a video of his on youtube and have only been doing this for a few days.

So I am aware of some of the problems that I am facing.

Thank you for your post. This is the kind of responce I have been looking for. I do not post a song because I thought I did a great job on it(But it is good to get a "Good Job Man" every now and then). I post it to get feedback.

[Gneetapp]

Hi MDEW, I'm with you regarding the trying a new coordination and playing guitar at the same time can be a mess. I first noticed that when I started to record on my cell phone my practice. I usually skip a beat or mess up the strumming on very easy songs (e.g. Knocking on Heaven's Door) if I'm focusing on the vocal technique. So, after finding this out, I started to pay more attention at my band practice, that I now have to play the bass for lack of bass players. So, I realized that some songs need way more practice to achieve a decent level of quality. I actually like your voice for this song, and I'm pretty sure that it is within your range, but you are probably still struggling with accessing your high range for not knowing how to "mix" or "bridge" to higher gears. I think you would benefit from Owen's tips, but I would like to suggest you something that has helped me a lot, which is singing through the straw. I don't know if you are aware of this technique, but you may easily find videos on youtube about it. The benefit is to keep a higher placement and work on bridging the registers avoiding tension. I am no teacher nor experienced vocal student, just sharing something that has helped me tremendously. Keep rocking! ;)

[MDEW]

Thanks Owen I was not meaning to give excuses just giving a picture of my environment and this particular recording of the song. Head straight and relaxed, Posture perfect or close, full breath..... Very good for Training, not always posible in real life. Also to say that you where spot on this time and the environment is conformation for you, along with the overly bright sound. That was my last attempt for the night ,I had promised my wife I would stop after that recording. For some reason I purposely sang overly bright(Twang) to see if it would help with the transition.

Again I am making no excuses for the out come, I am stating facts. I should have kept those things in mind but I ignored them. Good call.

[MDEW]

I thought I would give this another shot. Please do not say that it does not sound like Perry. Trying that makes me too nasal.

This is the result of doing things opposite to what I have read to be healthy and the proper way to sing. The result is a better quality and control than I have found before. What works for one may not work for another. I will give props to Ronws for making me realize a few things that He was aware of and I was not.

[Gneetapp]

Hey MDEW, I think you hit gold with this approach, it sounds so much better, and you seem to be so much more comfortable singing that if I didn't know better I would think this was an original song by MDEW. You still got practice more to really nail the performance. I think that on the 2nd part you started to drift away a little bit from your approach. Maybe you were losing focus, as this was probably a new coordination you were trying, or just getting tired, or maybe is just in my head, or my semi-deaf ear.

Anyways, just keep practicing on this coordination and you will get even more comfortable and consistent.

Good job man, and keep on rocking! :cool:

[MDEW]

Hey MDEW, I think you hit gold with this approach, it sounds so much better, and you seem to be so much more comfortable singing that if I didn't know better I would think this was an original song by MDEW. You still got practice more to really nail the performance. I think that on the 2nd part you started to drift away a little bit from your approach. Maybe you were losing focus, as this was probably a new coordination you were trying, or just getting tired, or maybe is just in my head, or my semi-deaf ear.

Anyways, just keep practicing on this coordination and you will get even more comfortable and consistent.

Good job man, and keep on rocking! :cool:

Thanks Gneetapp, it is a very new approach. Totally different from what I usually do. I pretty much did every thing opposite of what I read or heard was healthy and proper, But in that I found a way to drive my voice and smooth out some of the bad qualities of my voice. A work in progress but I think it is a good turning point.

[Slow Start]

The second practice recording you posted was much closer to what would be considered healthy singing, MDEW!

I think you may be coming to terms with the fact that you may have had the requisite amounts of twang already and were possibly just coaching yourself with the wrong cues. Also the recording sounds a little better mic'd as well to my ears... or was that just the difference changing your technique made on your sound/resonance?!

[MDEW]

Thanks guys. To be honest on this I did every thing I had read was damaging and hurtful to the voice. Maybe I just interpret things backwards. From using too much air to using a sound that is not easy and free to constricting my airway. But, Whatever works.

I first made a recording of this super constricted with way too much air but I think it helped me find what people call support. This recording was closer to normal phonation but still had the constriction to it.

There were several words that I could have pronounced better and this way of singing really makes the BAD stand out from the GOOD.

Legato from a musical standpoint would make the song better and I will work on that, but I believe the scooping and accented words help with the Feeling aspect.

[ronws]

What I heard that was most important to me, which I think helped a number of other things was cleaner vowels. The only wobbles I could hear was when you had an uh sound. Other times, you had a really good ah. And it almost sounds like a different singer.

Verily I say unto thee, thou wilt surely rock-eth.

[MDEW]

What I heard that was most important to me, which I think helped a number of other things was cleaner vowels. The only wobbles I could hear was when you had an uh sound. Other times, you had a really good ah. And it almost sounds like a different singer.

Verily I say unto thee, thou wilt surely rock-eth.

It was a different singer..... at least a different character. But I did try to concentrate on the Ah vowel as you have been suggesting.

[gno]

Mdew - I only listened to the 2nd recording and thought it was great. Good phrasing and rhythm. Did you record the voice separately from the guitar?

[MDEW]

Mdew - I only listened to the 2nd recording and thought it was great. Good phrasing and rhythm. Did you record the voice separately from the guitar?

Yes the voice is a seperate track. I have an old digital recorder. I originally sang and played the guitar together but after several false starts I kept the guitar even though I came in too early at the end of the last chorus and just rerecorded the vocals.

I think I am finally on track with the support issue but it is still new and there is a lot of work to be done.