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A few songs and a few things to discuss about my voice

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Im on the hunt for my ideal voice...still need som guidance now and then! So I got some questions for you.

Do you think that my voice quality sound manufactured?

Am I doing anything that is particularly uncomfortable for the listner(nasality, whinyness whatever it may be).

The strongest/weakest aspects in my singing - if you can point out anything specific

I think I may be placing the sound too much forward at times..which I think result in a kind of shapeless quality. Placing it further back and I start sounding something like Tom Jones...Im looking for the key spots in these songs where my tone could use some other placement

Bad Company - Good Lovin' Gone Bad

http://www.box.net/shared/k4hvffakr9

Foreigner - Juke Box Hero

http://www.box.net/shared/0ch5z13dnu

Bad English - When I See You Smile

http://www.box.net/shared/pfkpupdbt6

Softer quality

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EDIT

http://www.box.net/shared/ua2yjmk4k7

I have uploaded three pieces of my voice right now. I have changed my voice colour quite a bit towards the darker/softer side. I would like to hear how you like this in relation to the earlier clips posted(Above the line).

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Freddie,

you know I support ya brother! You've got serious pipes. Instead of dissecting everything, I'll just state what I loved.

Good Lovin': starting at the bridge @ :45 - til the end. Your tone and timbre just locked into place. Sounded authentic to me. The first section was fine technically, but not quite right for my taste.

Also, I think your distortions are PERFECT. Never too much. I guess if you could capture the tone you had at that section in Good Lovin' and applied it to everything...would be a knockout. But I'm strictly speaking about MY personal taste. Not technique at all.

I think if you leaned a little more towards Tom Jones, it would balance your voice out. And for me, how you sang the above section in 'Good Lovin,' is how I would describe your vocals as "leaning towards Tom Jones." It had that slight lower larynx darkness that really worked for me.

Hope that makes sense. And kick ass job.

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This is what I need to hear! I guess the trick would be to find the balance between the sound colors and only add the very edge of each color as effect at times and otherwise try to stick to that balanced color.

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I hear glimpses of awesomeness in the Jukebox Hero recording! Great distortion. Just the right amount. I'd say your biggest thing to work on is your pitch and timing. Definitely have some really good potential! Keep it up dude! :cool:

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First off, well done. You hit those notes well. And you sounded a bit like Paul Rodgers here and there.

Jukebox Hero was also well done. I like the fact that in all of these songs, you're not trying to specifically sound like the singer of the original, whether you happen to match or not.

But, oh my goodness, "When I see you smile", man, you did sound like Tom Wait. Because even in the other songs, you have somewhat of a breathy timbre, which is not bad or a complaint. Some people would kill for that sound and have made a career out of that sound. And you've got it, as much as you have the color of your eyes or the color of your hair. You could step right into a group doing covers of song from the Babys and people would think Tom is making a comeback. You sound like him, which I don't often say, as I feel that we can never truly sound like another singer, except by whatever accident of genetics creates similar structures, etc. And maybe that is it.

In fact, I have no criticisms, just a viewpoint. It's okay to hit homeruns, once in a while and I'm not going to give criticisms just to be giving them so that I can feel knowledgable or important or whatever. Just pointers I might give to anyone, like remember to breath naturally. Things like that. The singer actually leads the music by a fraction of a second. If you wait for the musical phrase, you will be behind. Sing a song like you wrote it for yourself. If you have to re-arrange it, so be it. It's in your voice, so it's your song now, even if you are paying royalty to BMI or ASCAP because someone else wrote it. Bob Dylan wrote "Along the Watchtower." But that's Jimi's song, even though the record company has to pay royalties to Dylan every time it is recorded or played.

I was thinking about this the other day. Sometimes, when we give advice, it is not from an objective standpoint that actually helps the performance. People give stylistic advice from their own personal experience. So, this is not meant as a dig against anyone. But suppose you do a phrase sounding bright and shiny. And someone comes along and says you should darken that phrase. Their advice could be great and you could accomplish it and then you have made that song cater to one person. Sometimes having a dark phrase turned bright and shiny is a good thing. So, one more piece of advice. Take whatever advice or pointers and play with them until you have re-invented them. And then see if they fit. If they don't, no harm, you can use it on something else.

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The singer actually leads the music by a fraction of a second. If you wait for the musical phrase, you will be behind. Sing a song like you wrote it for yourself.

I like this advice and it is probably the one thing I do when covering songs which make me get slightly off in my timing at times.

Interesting comment on the John Waite ;) quality

Though I think something would have to have gone terribly wrong if I ended up with Tom Waits voice haha!

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Thanks for correcting me on names. My bad. At least you know what I meant.

As for timing, it has been an issue for me, for the same reason. When I play a song live, I am playing guitar and I don't have a timing problem. I reasoned that my timing is fine, live, because I coordinate singing with guitar playing and I have been using physical cues from my playing for the vocal.

But in singing along with playback, I was waiting for the phrase. So, such a criticism or pointer was given to me, and was certainly warranted. My timing in recording has been a smidge off, here and there. Then I read that bit about how the singer actually leads by the slightest bit, almost imperceptibly. And that makes the difference. Just know that the music will be there.

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Freddie,

one more quick note: I was rushed for time yesterday, but re-listened to Jukebox tonight. Man...you're chops are sick! I hear what you're doin' there...and all I can say is wow. That amount of metal and control is harder than a lot of people realize. Seriously...couple of tweaks and you're stickin that at least as well as Lou.

Just wanted to add that.

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I agree with the above posters. You've got a great voice, and the distortion is placed just right. However, in the last "When I See You Smile," I would use a slightly darker sound as in lower laryngeal position.

It's a bit nasally, but other than that, it's good.

Keep up the great work! :)

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Sounds to me like you're struggling with keeping your throat open. I hear you pinching the higher stuff because you're closing down the throat. (sounds nasally and pinched). When you add the distortion you're opening more and that's why it sounds cooler ^^. It's the clean stuff that sounds pinched a little. Keep your throat open, and don't close down the vowel sounds. Good luck bro!

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How do I work to get rid of that habit?

Edit:

I think when I use the lower laryngeal position my throat is less pinched. I got this habit of using a very high laryngeal position when copying my favorite singers that may sound very "on the edge" but in reality are very open.

So I think I developed a habit of singing on the very edge if you see with I mean. I often hear this about nasality but when I test to pinch my nose when singing my voice does not change. Guess it has to do with me creating nasal sounding harmonics with the high laryngeal position?

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Sounds great to me. Like snax said you have great distortion and just the right amount. The tone sounds really nice. If you think your placement it too up front you could experiment with slightly larger vocal tract to darken it up slightly as CVT would say. You may find bigger resonances with time as the songs settle in more to your voice.

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I'm sure timing issues are easy to fix - excitement plays a major role in this department. What I'd like to know is how you produce your distortion.

Are there any sensations you feel each time, is there a sound you use to initiate it ?

Thanks in advance,

akarawd

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As i wrote in the recent distortionthread over in the technique section I have have two different sensations when I produce distortion.

I mainly use the one that I would call compression which is has a more strained feel to it(soundwise). The other sensation is more like Jens described distortion to me once. Like putting a lid on top of the voice. It is more aggressive but also more steady sounding and this is what you hear at "Baby Im a bad man" in good lovin gone bad towards the end.

The reason for these two sensations are probably the underlying mode. The compressed type is when I use a heavy mix or curbing in cvt and the other one I generate from overdrive(cvt).

I find "compressed-distortion" harder to achieve in my low registers. There I often use a slight amount of air to get it going.

In general I use this distortion just for coloring with small bursts.

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  • 3 weeks later...

concerning the edit:

I listened to it twice.

"Waiting for a girl like you" - first hearing, I thought I heard pitchiness, going flat to be exact. When I listened to it again watching the timer, I couldn't hear it anymore. So, it might have been something wrong with me.

"Urgent" - straight-ahead, unadultered power. I would ease up on the r consonant. More of uh sound than an er sound, but that's just a pronunciation suggestion. You did fine, I was not used to hearing the r so pronounced.

"That was Yesterday" - The vowels do sound covered in the beginning but you open up later for the chorus. You used a bit more bluesy distortion, more than the original but I liked it and I think this was the strongest perfomance, especially with the twang on the high parts.

You did great on all of these and I think any discussion, at lest from me, would simply be stylistic choices. That is, don't make a change because I thought something might be interesting stylistically. Do what makes you feel comfortable and expresses what you are trying to express.

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haha yeah you are right ronws I did pronounce the "r" heavily in urgent! Didnt realise until now :)

Good input ronws.

Apart from this input...how does this voice configuration(slightly darker quality) stand against the previously posted clips. Personal/subjectively rooted opinions is what I need :)

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Freddie they all sound terrific, my personal favorite is That was yesterday because of the "intimacy" in your voice.

It is my humble opinion that this type of darker quality applies better to the "pop-ier" material so the song choice was wise. Great job.

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Hi,

Without "seeing" you sing, I am hearing that the challenge with pitch lies in the vowel modification and in dropping the jaw a wee bit more when singing. It sounds like your mouth is not quite open enough in other words. I say this because when you do open up with the larger higher parts, the pitch is good. Changing the vowel slightly will help with the delivery of the note as well. Steven Fraser has a post about this somewhere on this forum. He posted it not that long ago.

Timing is about relaxing into the song. Feeling it...being one with it. I think also if you relax, alot of the other stuff will fall into place as well. :)

Keep working......you're just about there!

cheers!

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Hi Freddie Ive only just signed on so Im a bit late to this forum.Now regarding your voice.The first thing you have to have IS A VOICE and you've definately got that but It needs polishing. I would advise you to get hold of a "good"voice coach who should help you with your timing and phrasing.You have a fantastic range but seems to me that you are overdoing it when attempting to hit those very high notes.(this is where good voice coaching comes in) Persevere and who knows what the future might hold for you.Cheers Frankie:D

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