I want to know what love is(Foreigner) - Take 2

[aravindmadis]

Hi Folks.. 

Wish the readers and the forum moderators a merry christmas.. 

 

I did a version of this song a few months ago.. I had a lot of technical issues then and I have corrected some of them, primarily singing with proper breath support and using appropriate vowel modifications.  What I am finding with improvements is that the ear becomes trained to spot all minute pitch errors.. . So to make that 1 to 2% improvement becomes more and more difficult... I now understand why professional singers take a long time to record songs in studio   and more importantly why they dedicate their lives to self improvement.. 

 

Please flag off any inconsistencies and errors.. 

 

[ronaldhutasuhut]

Very nice vocal, Aravind. As an arranger, with vocal like yours, I'd love to listen to this song in some R&B style.

[ronws]

trying out something.

 

 

https://soundcloud.com/aravind-madhavan/i-want-you-to-show-me-1

 

I was trying to see if the media buttons could make it an embedded player but my skills are lacking, just now.

[ronws]

So, anyway, I liked it. One of the most important things we can do as singers is pick the right song. Not just the right artist, but the right song. Because I am here to tell you, by reading so many memoirs and bios, not even the original singers themselves always have the right song. Or even the right role, to read of the struggles of Renee Fleming, sometimes being cast into a role and fach that did not suit her but was deemed necessary for her career at the time.

 

As for albums, back in the day, you were under contract to provide 10 or 12 songs for an album. Which means you sometimes ended up singing something just to fill out an album.

 

So, what I am saying, is that this particular song is good for you and you sound good doing it. I think you sound stronger about halfway through and on to finish. Like, you are a bit tentative at first and once you realize you will not embarrass yourself, you let it go. So, let it go from the first beat. And I know whereof I speak, for I have red light syndrome. Singing in front of people, no problem. Recording and having it there for all digital time and eternity? Yikes...

 

I think you have the right sound for this song, though you will never sound exactly like Lou Gramm. And that's okay, we already have a Lou Gramm and I think he's a nice guy.

 

I think you did a pretty good job on the mix, too, especially at the end, where your voice blends with the harmony in the backing track. Kind of like you walking back and joining the choir of singers behind you.

[aravindmadis]

Very nice vocal, Aravind. As an arranger, with vocal like yours, I'd love to listen to this song in some R&B style.

 

Thanks Ronald.. I don't listen a lot to R&B.  Do you feel my voice will suit a particular singer or song?  If so, please let me know.  I will attempt it first and then try to see how I can apply that style to this particular song.. 

[ronaldhutasuhut]

Hi, I started with your song list at soundcloud, and it says a lot. I’m not expert with vocal but I can try to describe what I heard. I think you have two types of vocal which has big difference between, ► Rock/Metal and ► ‘Pop’ type.

 

Your singing on ‘♫Bring Me Your Daughter’ is (as we know) typical Rock/Metal vocal type; very powerful and uses high notes (I don’t know if it’s head or chest voice or..). And you pull that Rock type and show your ‘Pop’ side of vocal with song ‘♫Let It Be’. I wouldn't know that two songs sung by same person if not listen to it on your soundcloud.

 

If you used vocal type number 1 often, you could have some kind of ‘breathe dilemma’ when singing slower song; I can feel this on the song from Bryan Adams: “When a part raise to higher note, should I use that ‘Metal high note’ like I used to or how should I prevent that happen because this isn't a Metal song”. . Something like that J

 

It happened to my Band vocalist (long time ago), we play hard rock, metal, rock and roll, I played guitar. When we try something else other than Rock, the vocalist complained about his breathing, ‘my heart used to pump fast’ said he.

 

Another interesting song is when you sing ‘♫Faithfully’; no ‘typical Slow Rock’ on the song and no Metal highs either; I think you can use that side of yours (like in ‘♫Let It Be’) outside the classic rock world like Pop or R&B. I can’t mention one; you should sing what you like.

 

Again, I’m not expert in vocal (I can’t even sing), it’s just a general opinion from what I heard.

 

Best wishes.

[aravindmadis]

@Ronald... Thanks for your patience for listening to my soundcloud songs and secondly for taking the time to give a detailed feedback. This is very valuable to me as no one has put their opinion about my singing in this fashion.  

I have evolved a great deal in my singing over the last 1.5 years.  Some of the songs are from my earlier attempts and I am pretty sure I can do the same songs much better now(like Faithfully) and possibly employing a slightly altered technique.. 

I started early with a much chest heavy approach and over the last year and a half have morphed completely into a head voice/mixed voice style.  I am finding that I am capable of employing this style to reasonable effect in both Rock(like Iron Maiden) or Pop style(like Let it be), both are work that is relatively recent.  What I am definitively not is a chest puller/Belter(a la Bon Jovi), but this is something I have consciously stayed away from, because of fear of damage to my vocal chords.  My head/mix voice has become quite strong and I am actually using the same technique in both "Bring me your daughter" as well as "Let it be", which is a combination of Head voice + Support + Mixed voice belt. I am finding that I can use this to sing Michael Jackson(will cover "I just can't stop loving you" one day as well as Led Zeppelin(To me it sounds like I do a mean "Babe I am gonna leave you") and do them reasonably well.. The trouble for me is that this is very complicated way to sing.. It gives me a lot of flexibility, but I still haven't found a conclusive way to bring it all together.. The other big problem for me is doing lower-middle range(third octave notes) in my chest voice.. This is the weakest part of my skill set and I haven't found a way to connect when I sing like this.. 

 

It will take me another 6 months to a year to put it all together, till then I can only practise.  About what I like to sing? I love songs across genres, and sing songs that I love to hear and ones that challenge me.. 

 

Once again thank you for your detailed feedback.. 

[ronaldhutasuhut]

you can have some fun too by writing a song of your own just to find out more about your style, how the song would be. 

 

Happy singing!

[mrloud]

Enjoyed this a lot. It sounds like you are constricting a bit on the 'change this lonely life(?)' parts.  Maybe try for a vowel modification on 'lonely',  instead of 'oh' try 'ah'?

[aravindmadis]

Enjoyed this a lot. It sounds like you are constricting a bit on the 'change this lonely life(?)' parts.  Maybe try for a vowel modification on 'lonely',  instead of 'oh' try 'ah'?

 

Thanks Mrloud, yes, that is the part of the song which always gives me trouble.  If I have understood you correctly, the dipthong would be like l-ah-ohn-ley la-ay-fee.. Correct?  

[mrloud]

Thanks Mrloud, yes, that is the part of the song which always gives me trouble. If I have understood you correctly, the dipthong would be like l-ah-ohn-ley la-ay-fee.. Correct?

Yeah, just something to try if it works better for you.

[Sexy Beast]

Hi Aravind,

 

This is what I hear: you are singing it with a whiny high larynx sound which might have helped you in the past thin out your voice and get to the high notes but the thing is this sound is tense. At least some of your pitch issues will be corrected as you find more relaxation in your voice. So maybe it's time for you to find a more relaxed sound closer to your speaking voice?

 

Do you work with a teacher?

[aravindmadis]

Hi Aravind,

 

This is what I hear: you are singing it with a whiny high larynx sound which might have helped you in the past thin out your voice and get to the high notes but the thing is this sound is tense. At least some of your pitch issues will be corrected as you find more relaxation in your voice. So maybe it's time for you to find a more relaxed sound closer to your speaking voice?

 

Do you work with a teacher?

 

Sexybeast(awesome name BTW). It has been pointed to me by others in other songs that I may have a low soft palete/low larynx issue. You are right in saying that the "whiny" sound was easier to help me reach higher notes.  I have been trying to shed the nasality and I am practicing singing now in front of a mirror.  I find that I have to unlearn some of my habits and practice singing songs as though I am singing them for the first time again.  I am having some promising initial results and find that I can indeed sing in another way which is not as nasal, but it requires me to develop muscle memory for that configuration.  I am continuing to work hard and I think I will see some improvements over the next few weeks. 

 

I don't work with a teacher.  I am a self taught singer and this may be the reason why I take a long time to fix some issues.  I have been meaning to set up time with Rob over skype(I am in India), but I have made it a resolution to spend on it only when I get income from singing.  It is not easy to get vocal coaches in India who can teach me the way I want to be taught(especially the genres of music that I like to sing).. 

[Sexy Beast]

Aravind,

 

 

Sexybeast(awesome name BTW). It has been pointed to me by others in other songs that I may have a low soft palete/low larynx issue. You are right in saying that the "whiny" sound was easier to help me reach higher notes.  I have been trying to shed the nasality and I am practicing singing now in front of a mirror.

 

Ok. In my opinion raising the soft palate is not the best way to go about this. Also, if you think about raising this, lowering that, tilting this etc... it all gets a little too complicated and you could easily end up with a sound that is fabricated and unnatural.

 

I would simply try to get the sound more relaxed and closer to the way you speak. Most likely you can just take the same exercises you are used to doing and move them one step closer to "normal". Let's say that on one extreme you have the very witchy and bright sound on the other the overly dark "dopey" sound. In the middle of those 2 there's your natural, "spoken" sound.

 

You could also exercise on vowels like "oo", "uh" and "oh" since those will tend towards a less forward sound. As a matter of fact I will often use "g" and "b" as consonants together with the "oo" vowel for nasal students.

 

Simply speaking the lyrics before singing them could also help. You should use the same voice for singing as you do for speaking. A lot of people go into "singing mode" and sound completely different.

 

 

It is not easy to get vocal coaches in India who can teach me the way I want to be taught(especially the genres of music that I like to sing)

 

You could also look for a good classical teacher? Since for males the technique is basically the same.