Judas Priest - The Sentinel - please critique

[Olem]

A little rougher Judas Priest cover this time. Tips are always welcome. Thanx in advance.

 

http://yourlisten.com/ola.lemos/judas-priest-the-sentinel

[ronws]

You are so close and especially since Snax doesn't visit any more, you are the closest in sound to Halford that we have. You are carrying a lot of weight up there. I mean, you can do it but I notice that Rob has a lighter or narrower sound. And actually, I noticed more on your sample of "Another Thing Coming," which helped me put "The Sentinel" into perspective. 

 

That is, I think you did well. I also think you can do the Sentinel "lighter" in your voice and it will sound closer to the original, if that is what you are intending. If not, then you are doing fine the way it is.

[Olem]

Thanx for listening, Rob, i mean, Ron  When you say i carry alot of chest, do you refer to a specific part or the whole song? You mean i carried a lot more chest in my "Another Thing Coming" sample? Do you think my Bloodstone cover was lighter or the same. Thanx alot for helping me out Ron, appreciate it. 

[ronws]

It sounded like you were lighter in Bloodstone.

 

I think the amount of chest-carry, whether it is an actual physical thing or not is also a matter of tone. And maybe I am comparing too much to the original, which is easy to do. If I had to describe it cryptically, I think your chesty sounds are "wider" than Rob's. Not a bad thing, just different.

 

Your pitch and volume was good and I can tell you are committed to the song. So, the points I am making are aesthetic, rather than technical. And my opinion is just like my armpit, socially acceptable after a shower, some deoderant, maybe some cologne.

[KillerKu]

I remember Snax, yeah. He'd do a lot of these style tunes. The number one problem I got Olem, is I can't sing this style properly. I can listen, I can get a kick out of hearing it, but I drop my weight long before this point.

 

That said it does sound like you could maybe go a bit more heady compared to the original singer, as the sound is a bit more pressed sounding to my ears compared to Halford.

 

I can't compare sensations properly in my body. So it's kind of a foreign zone. You're doing well and way better than I could do, but I guess to an untrained audience, which might be useful, it sounds like it might be able to be more relaxed and resonant if it shed a little more when I compare the sound to Halford, or Geoff, or Bruce, or other singers that can sing up there. It might be just your voice in that region too.

[olanyg]

Thanx for listening, Killerku. Yes this one sounds more strained. I can go more heady and girly but i also want a more raspy tone and when i try to add that is where i get trouble - the tone often comes out strained and too constricted.

[KillerKu]

Thanx for listening, Killerku. Yes this one sounds more strained. I can go more heady and girly but i also want a more raspy tone and when i try to add that is where i get trouble - the tone often comes out strained and too constricted.

 

Yeah, I can't add rasp to my highest range without occasionally crazy results (they sound cool, sometimes). I think I have a more creaking soulful style rasp (I can pull a pretty mean Little Richard) and metal vocalists often have the over twanged distortion kind (like Dio). Once my voice thins out, whatever I'm doing 'shifts' and I have to rethink it.

 

This stuff you're doing is really hard any way you look at it. It's expected to find a bit of strain from time to time when exploring, but the best you can do is try to 'go away from it' whenever possible, keep searching for less strained, right? These more extreme phonations aren't found in every day life, it's uncharted for most people, including myself. I just bombed out on a Journey song in the "how to sing like  Steve Perry thread' to test the waters with some upper ranges. I never sing up there, not really one of my life goals currently, but I do know there are all kinds of vowel mods that I don't do to keep things under control.

 

So I have vague ideas of the kinds of things that are going on, but it's a really extreme coordination. If you can afford it, keep in contact with a expert from time to time. In the time between, keep doing your stuff, but you've gotta look for the one that isn't strained and still gets the sound you want.

 

Final thing, I think all singers of any genre have to consider, is sometimes how 'weighty' it 'feels' is different from how it sounds. Without any vocal technique knowledge at all, I would anchor from like my toes and just like have a heaving mass of weight that couldn't quite bridge. But if range is at all important, thelightening process is part mental man. I've never bee up there with Halford, but I'd imagine the same concepts will apply for the rest of your time with voice, that you'll have to separate a little of how it feels one way or another as otherwise you might keep grabbing for that extra weight. Sometimes it sound good, but other times it just holds you down.