Amazing Grace (My chains are gone)

[Bono]

Hey guys, this is my first attempt to this beautiful gospel song.

 

Please let me know what do you think

 

thank you!

 

 

https://soundcloud.com/matias-azar-1/amazing-grace-my-chains-are-gone-cover

[Sexy Beast]

Hey Bono!

 

Your vowels start to go wide and the larynx too high in your 1st passage (top notes in the song). You are making it but the tone becomes strained and shouty. You loose the nice warm tone you have in your lower range which I like. A couple of tweaks and this cover will be very good

[KillerKu]

Hey Bono!

 

Your vowels start to go wide and the larynx too high in your 1st passage (top notes in the song). You are making it but the tone becomes strained and shouty. You loose the nice warm tone you have in your lower range which I like. A couple of tweaks and this cover will be very good

 

I would have never picked this up in a million years. Is this the Speech Level Singing stuff? You two in the secret club. Laryngeal control, no shout. I liked it Bono.

 

For my tastes, I might have preferred even more shout, so I dunno what to say on a technical level as it sounded pretty controlled. But I'm not about to say 'stop controlling your voice so much' as singing advice on a singing forum.

 

How does it feel in your body? I guess that's the question, if you were to follow Sexy Beast's advice and compare it to what it felt like to sing? What did it sound like to you? Very interesting.

[Sexy Beast]

 

I would have never picked this up in a million years. Is this the Speech Level Singing stuff?

 

Just singing technique really... He went for a kind of "unsupported shout" on the G4s, so more belt type vowels but without the necessary energy/body engagement. You need to make a choice: belt it and really go for it or sing them in more of a mixed quality. Makes sense?

[KillerKu]

Just singing technique really... He went for a kind of "unsupported shout" on the G4s, so more belt type vowels but without the necessary energy/body engagement. You need to make a choice: belt it and really go for it or sing them in more of a mixed quality. Makes sense?

 

I don't really understand either/or situations with voice. A lot of my singers don't really modify vowels much at all.

 

Most support fairly well, but not all do. Neil Young might do a good version of this song with a wavering falsetto.  Bruce Springsteen probably might do a good one with a pulled chest sound. A young Bowie might use a very slightly strained nasal sound during the Ziggy era. Old Bowie might use a lower larynx, kind of woofy sound with mad vibrato and wail up to it.

 

I do believe I understand the suggestion, but 'necessity' is a pretty strong concept. Not really sure what Bono wants. He's a cool guy, with a cool voice. I don't know if he wants things to be one way or another so if it's a detail like how he hits a note, I'd figure he knows more than I do. It probably could be done more efficiently with less effort the way you're describing though.

[Sexy Beast]

KillerKu, if he sings this way by choice but at the same time knows how to sing it "correctly" we are fine. In that case it is a stylistic choice. But I'm not sure this is the case.

 

A lot of singers sing with bad technique and some people call it style. In my opinion it is still bad technique... Bono, I'm not saying you have bad technique btw

 

If he was to sing a song that lies more heavily in the E4-G4 range with that same approach it would not feel comfortable to him and not sound good to most people.

[KillerKu]

KillerKu, if he sings this way by choice but at the same time knows how to sing it "correctly" we are fine. In that case it is a stylistic choice. But I'm not sure this is the case.

 

A lot of singers sing with bad technique and some people call it style. In my opinion it is still bad technique... Bono, I'm not saying you have bad technique btw

 

If he was to sing a song that lies more heavily in the E4-G4 range with that same approach it would not feel comfortable to him and not sound good to most people.

 

I sing pretty comfortably in the E4 to G4 range with various styles (creaking rasp, chesty shouting, super twangy and witchy, falsetto, extremely heady, crying stuff (guess it's closer to a mix voice). So I've hit G4s in like maybe 20 different ways now.

 

If an approach works for a singer, it works. I'm the type of person that separates efficiency from 'good or bad' technique. I don't believe there is a 'correct' way to sing anything. Correct for opera, folk, jazz, punk, roots rock, pop, soul, smooth RnB, modern pop, country, and metal, are all already different in the public's mind, so correct for each singer who may not even be singing one of these genres is a pretty huge stretch.

 

Some singing schools have a 'sound ideal' and some don't. SLS works for you so you should use it. But have you looked into some other vocal study programs intellectually as a curiosity?  Even the one that seemed the least emphasized on sound ideals (Complete Vocal Technique) has had to revise things, cause they were too limited in the amount of vocal modes the voice could produce and had to create subdivisions in modes between their origin concepts. The voice could do too much.

 

Rob is constantly working on his TVS stuff from the sounds of it. Puts huge work into staying up to date for singers. It's a really broad instrument. Just because you or I might not know how to make a sound comfortably ourselves, doesn't mean someone else doesn't have a technique that can create this sound comfortably or healthily. Sometimes we simply can't do it cause we ourselves didn't learn the technique, other times it really is uncomfortable and feels like crap in their body.

[BlackieJane]

Really beautiful voice. You have a great vibrato and the accent is charming. I remember one of my marketing professors telling us that a lot of people see their accent as a disadvantage, but it doesn't have to be. If you sound confident, the accent will actually make people listen to you actively and more carefully. I really like your voice. I hope you are getting out there and sharing it with people who pay you money, so you can make a living and keep focusing on your music. You have the potential to be a really huge voice once you carve out your path.

[Sexy Beast]

Hey KillerKu,

 

I sing pretty comfortably in the E4 to G4 range with various styles (creaking rasp, chesty shouting, super twangy and witchy, falsetto, extremely heady, crying stuff (guess it's closer to a mix voice). So I've hit G4s in like maybe 20 different ways now.

 

 

I just wanna clarify that I am not talking about style, genre, sound color or anything like that here... In my opinion he could retain more of the beauty of his voice in the chorus when he's singing "and like a flood". I really think he would like that.

 

 

 

Some singing schools have a 'sound ideal' and some don't. SLS works for you so you should use it. But have you looked into some other vocal study programs intellectually as a curiosity?  Even the one that seemed the least emphasized on sound ideals (Complete Vocal Technique) has had to revise things, cause they were too limited in the amount of vocal modes the voice could produce and had to create subdivisions in modes between their origin concepts. The voice could do too much.

 

Also I don't want to start a debate on SLS vs other schools of singing... Yes I do know Estill and CVT. To me there's just good technique and bad technique...

[KillerKu]

Also I don't want to start a debate on SLS vs other schools of singing... Yes I do know Estill and CVT. To me there's just good technique and bad technique...

 

That's fair enough. It's interesting and your thoughts should be useful from that perspective. So all is well.

[ronws]

What? All this grief. Well, go ahead and call me an uncultured redneck. I thought it was just fine. Then, again, I don't have a need to prove myself to be an expert. I am just a guy who spends hard-earned money on good music. And I would buy this.

 

And I live in a small town where people would love it if someone could sing this as well as you did, bono, in their church. No, I don't go to church but I appreciate a well done performance. Then, again, what do I know? I prefer Bon Scott to Brian Johnson with no offense meant to Brian. 

[Bono]

Hey guys, first of all thank you so much for the listening and comments!

 

 

Hey Bono!

 

Your vowels start to go wide and the larynx too high in your 1st passage (top notes in the song). You are making it but the tone becomes strained and shouty. You loose the nice warm tone you have in your lower range which I like. A couple of tweaks and this cover will be very good

 

I think you are right. In fact my biggest problem at this moment is my first bridge E4, F4, Fsharp, G, Gsharp. There is a gap between my vocalization and my singing, when I vocalize I can go through the first, second and third bridge with no problem... but when I sing everything changes. It seems that I still put too much weight into my first bridge

 

 

I would have never picked this up in a million years. Is this the Speech Level Singing stuff? You two in the secret club. Laryngeal control, no shout. I liked it Bono.

 

For my tastes, I might have preferred even more shout, so I dunno what to say on a technical level as it sounded pretty controlled. But I'm not about to say 'stop controlling your voice so much' as singing advice on a singing forum.

 

How does it feel in your body? I guess that's the question, if you were to follow Sexy Beast's advice and compare it to what it felt like to sing? What did it sound like to you? Very interesting.

 

Thank you, Killer. I always like your comments

 

The true is that I do not feel really good on the high notes of this song but neither so bad.. I mean, I´m pretty sure I can hit the note but I do not have any control of the quality of the sound... 

 

 

Really beautiful voice. You have a great vibrato and the accent is charming. I remember one of my marketing professors telling us that a lot of people see their accent as a disadvantage, but it doesn't have to be. If you sound confident, the accent will actually make people listen to you actively and more carefully. I really like your voice. I hope you are getting out there and sharing it with people who pay you money, so you can make a living and keep focusing on your music. You have the potential to be a really huge voice once you carve out your path.

 

Thank you very much for the compliments and for liking my voice! I´m working to give this hobby (think is more than that) the space it deserves  

 

 

What? All this grief. Well, go ahead and call me an uncultured redneck. I thought it was just fine. Then, again, I don't have a need to prove myself to be an expert. I am just a guy who spends hard-earned money on good music. And I would buy this.

 

And I live in a small town where people would love it if someone could sing this as well as you did, bono, in their church. No, I don't go to church but I appreciate a well done performance. Then, again, what do I know? I prefer Bon Scott to Brian Johnson with no offense meant to Brian. 

 

Thank you so much, Ron! BTW I´ll send you a link to my itunes so you can buy my music