Feedback on my latest Christmas Cover?

[h4zel3yes]

Give me feedback please...? What could I work on to improve my voice? 

 

[978699]

My goodness, what a holiday delight. You sing beautifully and you look quite fetching, so I guess you're down to the very finer points, huh? ;-)  I'm afraid I can't offer any guidance in that area. Your lovely singing really captures the true spirit of Christmas. May I ask where you shot this video? 

[h4zel3yes]

My goodness, what a holiday delight. You sing beautifully and you look quite fetching, so I guess you're down to the very finer points, huh? ;-)  I'm afraid I can't offer any guidance in that area. Your lovely singing really captures the true spirit of Christmas. May I ask where you shot this video? 

hahaha. well thank you very much. I appreciate it. I just shot it in my back yard actually. I live in North Idaho.

[SickXamedhi]

Well, I listened just as I would listen to any other song on the radio or on a youtube playlist, and there was nothing that would throw me off. It was pleasant the whole song, you did great, and I wouldn't change anything.

What to work on your voice?  Whatever you want. You already sing very well, control your vibrato, pitch, dynamics... now get even better at doing that, and work on your vocal range and power if you so desire.

Good luck Hazel Eyes   

[h4zel3yes]

Well, I listened just as I would listen to any other song on the radio or on a youtube playlist, and there was nothing that would throw me off. It was pleasant the whole song, you did great, and I wouldn't change anything.

What to work on your voice?  Whatever you want. You already sing very well, control your vibrato, pitch, dynamics... now get even better at doing that, and work on your vocal range and power if you so desire.

Good luck Hazel Eyes   

Thank you so much for the lovely comments I will do just that.

[Bono]

I really really like your voice, beautiful voice, it has color and body and beauty, your technique and the way you express are also great... keep recording and shearing, I would love to hear more from you 

[KillerKu]

No critique. If I go to Idaho can I sing that polished? It ain't 'that' far. Something in the air.

 

Seriously though, you have a fully developed style, your performance is technically solid while still vulnerable. It would take a dumber man than I to suggest changing it.

 

I might have heard a microphone overload one time. I'll take that as my cue that you aren't already a professional singer pulling our legs.

[h4zel3yes]

No critique. If I go to Idaho can I sing that polished? It ain't 'that' far. Something in the air.

 

Seriously though, you have a fully developed style, your performance is technically solid while still vulnerable. It would take a dumber man than I to suggest changing it.

 

I might have heard a microphone overload one time. I'll take that as my cue that you aren't already a professional singer pulling our legs.

Hahah...Nooo I'm not already a professional singer...not even close... Thank you so much for the encouragement though. Hopefully some day I will be

 

[h4zel3yes]

I really really like your voice, beautiful voice, it has color and body and beauty, your technique and the way you express are also great... keep recording and shearing, I would love to hear more from you 

Thanks so much! I will keep them coming!

[ronws]

I think you need to be on the radio. I was listening to this at work on my desktop with the really good speakers and it sounded like something I would hear on the radio.

 

As glamorous as living on a ranch can be, you might consider a professional singing career.

[h4zel3yes]

I think you need to be on the radio. I was listening to this at work on my desktop with the really good speakers and it sounded like something I would hear on the radio.

 

As glamorous as living on a ranch can be, you might consider a professional singing career.

HAH.  Oh the stereotypes I get from living in Idaho...hey well at least you don't assume I grow potatoes like most people do.   Seriously though. I'm amazed by the positive feedback. I didnt expect it. Thank you. And I would LOVE to sing professionally...the question is..how? I have no idea how to go about singing professionally...any advice on that?

[ronws]

Luss gave a really good answer.

 

The main thing about being a professional singer is getting paid to sing. That is root difference between amateur and pro. I am an amateur. No one has ever paid me for singing but thankfully no on has ever paid me to STOP singing. 

 

Then, again, I am tall and scary-looking and they may just be waiting for me to get tired and go away with no confrontation necessary. 

 

I will try to condense this, having studied several sources on the music biz.

 

Luss asked if you write your own songs. If you do, this is what you must do. Create a copy of it, either on paper or some recording, whether audio tape or a burned CD. If you burn a CD, choose audio cd or if the software offers, choose "Redbook" format. If you don't, then the music will only play on a computer. Redbook format plays on any CD player. Send it and a form and a small fee (yes, you can pay one fee for a collection of songs on one CD) to the US copyright office. This makes it official, although the informal and first copyright is the date stamp on your file. Copyright is also established the first time you publish the title in public or on the internet with the copyright date. 

 

For example, I have a song called "Gimme Some Time," copyright 1990. That is when I wrote it, regardless of when I made a digital file. After you have copyrighted it, get yourself listed with ASCAP. They are an org that watches over and collects copyright fees. You write a song called "I don't grow potatos" and copyright it. Then, you list it with ASCAP. Then, let's say, you pitch the song to Miranda Lambert or Carrie Underwood. They like it and want to put it on their next album, entitled, From the Heartland, or something equally corny.

 

Their record label pays a yearly fee to ASCAP to record anything in the ASCAP catalog, which includes "I Don't Grow Potatos" by Hazel, copyright 2015, all rights reserved (by author.) They record the album and it is distributed and people buy it. You get a fee for every album sold containing your song. The record company decides to make it a single. You get a fee every time the single is played on the radio, or if it is sold as a single, you get a fee on every sale. This works by ASCAP using a monitoring service and they write a check to Hazel, not a record company or anyone else but Hazel but I think it is quarterly (every 3 months.)

 

If you record it, you get mechanical rights in a deal with a record company and you get a fee for every unit sold.

 

But you don't have a record deal, just now, or a record company to back you. "Just" a country girl singing art songs and arias.

 

Basically, you sing anywhere they will let you. The best way for people to hear you sing is for them to hear you sing. And yes, you can do the pub and bar scene and learn a lot of things there, including how it helps to have an assistant who looks like me and has my skills in hand-to-hand to make sure that you get paid. (think Richard Grant when he was tour manager for Led Zeppelin.)

 

But for your style of singing, you might be better starting in local and community theater. A place where it doesn't matter if you have academic creds, or not. Just being able to show up and sing on key makes you golden. The pay, if any, is miserable but the experience wins out in the end. That is something that goes in your "story", the evolution of Hazel. Just to be able to say that you sang a part in "Oklahoma" in Iblinkedandmissedit, Idaho is better than nothing. (I don't know if there is a town with that name there, but there are countless small towns, everywhere.)

 

The other option is to start writing and recording your own stuff. The more pro you can make the recording, the better. You can release without a label through cdbaby.com. They will place your stuff with itunes and amazon. Eventually leading to hard media pressing and distribution. Or, you could record all yourself and press your own copies and sell at your own performances.

 

Judging from the sound quality of your recording, either you or someone you know has skills and a good set-up, for it does sound radio ready. So, you already have the recording thingy nailed down.

 

If you are going to release on your own, then you should start your own music publishing company. For probably 10 to 15 dollars, you can register a business name in your county and it is good for 10 years. Have copyright fees payable to your publishing company and then cut yourself a paycheck. Keep receipts for everything. As a company, you are more likely to be audited than you would as a only a person. The other advantage of being a company is that the company could be sued but not you.

 

You can release your own and its possible, later, that a big label will notice how people are buying your CD and paying to see you sing. And they will bring contracts to you.

 

So, rule number one in the music biz, get a lawyer, one who specializes in the music biz. You won't have enough for a retainer, so you will have to cut him a percentage, payable by your publishing company, not you.

 

Think about where you can advertise your music, besides itunes and amazon.

 

M Shadows, the singer of Avenged Sevenfold is a geeky gamer in his personal life. And decided to marry the two. So, he wrote a game app for phones that will develope into a game station platform. "Hail to the King Deathbat" game will include the music from their latest album. I think, later, a game package will include the album in CD. He is targeting the exact market that listens to heavy metal music.

 

You could do something similar. For example, if I were to write country music, I might get links to my music in websites that deal with hunting and fishing, since there are a number of hunters and fishermen who like country music.

 

How do you perform in public? Well, do you play an instrument like guitar or piano? You would play in public with that. If not, do you have a friend that plays? If not, can you go to karaoke events? Point being, get out there and sing.

 

Is it possible that someone who could help your career will be in the audience some night? Yes, the world is a crazy and serendipitous place. Luck happens to those who are prepared.

 

Aynslee Dunbar from Journey was surfing through youtube one day and saw this phillipino named Arnel Pineda doing a Journey song in a club, somewhere. And now, Arnel is the singer for Journey. Not a guest singer, THE singer.

[ronws]

Wow, Luss, and I had to look at the BMI tm and that copyright date. Now, I am willing to bet my song is totally different.

 

And for others, it is also okay to have a song title that was used elsewhere. There are two "Stairway to Heaven" songs and only one is from Led Zeppelin and they are totally different.

 

It's also okay to use chord progressions that have been used before. Happens all the time. The chord progression from "I Want to Change The World" winds up in "Sweet Child of Mine" by Guns and Roses.

 

In the newest single from Foo Fighters is a progression lifted from "Holy Diver" by Dio. Ton Iommi made a career out of the Devil's Tri-tone and a drop tuned guitar (to make it easier on his injured fingers.)

[ronws]

I also wrote a punk song that was certainly bound to upset more people than the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen ('cause she ain't no human being)." Mine went a few steps farther down a dark road. But at least the Pistols got banned from the BBC and all they did was make a silly comment about a member of the Royalty.