The "All of me" Challenge by John Legend

[Felipe Carvalho]

Hello!

 

As proposed by Elvis_Osmanovic we are organizing a friendly competition, to stimulate everyone on their studies and just have some fun.

 

Due to the friendly nature, there are no prizes and no strict rules about it.

 

The song of the Challenge is : "All of Me" by John Legend

 

I´ve linked here a backing track that I found and that seems acceptable (although it has backing vocals, and they are auto-tuned   ). But, feel free to record the song in any manner you want, accapella, guitar+vocals, a different version, other backing tracks, etc.

 

I know that not everyone has the condition to do an overdub recording, so my suggestion for those that may like the idea but don't have the means (or the time) to do so is:

 

- place a cellphone on the room 2 or 3 meters away from you;

- set it to record;

- play the backingtrack on a good stereo (set the EQ to flat);

- sing on top of it.

 

This way you can balance the sound on the room and you will record what you are hearing. The result will not be hi-fi but at least will not get in the way.

 

Auto-tune won´t be allowed, for obvious reasons. And I also kindly ask the participants to go easy on the editing.

 

To participate, all you need to do is send your version on the review section, on a new thread, and send the link to your thread here.

 

I will keep this thread clean so we can organize it better, to talk about the Challenge, please use the >ORIGINAL THREAD. Postings made here with any other content other than the link to your song will be moved over there.

 

You can participate up to April 30th, I believe its enough time, if you guys think it needs to change, let me know on the original thread and we can adjust it.

 

The winner will be decided by voting right after that.

 

Good Luck!!!

John Legend All Of Me (Karaoke).mp3

[JackCee]

Hi I did some of the song "All of me" and also a lower song a few minutes a part to inspire some of the baritone or bass guys to sing   Hope I get a prize or something (just kidding!)

[MDEW]

    Here is my first draft, I know it is a little fast but my slower version really sucked. Any tips appreciated.

 

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[Gsoul82]

I did an acapella cover of All of Me a couple of months ago. I'm not really posting it to enter the contest, but you can accept it as an entry if you just want to put sombody else in.

 

http://www.smule.com/recording/all-of-me/299988988_100691364

 

 

[8tor]

Hi everyone,

 

This is my humble attempt.

 

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Thanks

[D.Starr]

No attempt yet, but check this beast out

 

[Gsoul82]

No attempt yet, but check this beast out

 

 

Was a little distracted by the guy in front of the camera picking his nose and eating it. WTF?

[D.Starr]

HAHA oh wow, I was listening off screen on another tab so I didn't see it.

 

 

Just recorded this,

 

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[Robert Lunte]

Wow, you guys are doing great with this Challenge... nice work!

[napoleonboot]

My attempt

 

George

[ronws]

I didn't know ELP covered this song. 

 

Excellent job, George.

[napoleonboot]

thanks Ron

[Gsoul82]

thanks Ron

 

 

I like how you used slight hints of vibrato throughout.

[MDEW]

Thanks for joining George, Great Job.

It has been real interesting to hear all the different styles and strategies for singing this song.

I am glad that Elvis suggested this.

[Ed-Win]

Hey guys! 

 

I love this Idea of a contest with the same song - Thanks Felipe for that.

And since I startet training with Robert, I thought i should upload my version to.

 

I know, there are some tricky parts I always struggle. So Tell me what you think. 

 

Edit: after reading all the comments, I uploaded another try.

https://app.box.com/s/lxjbw31ez54hkc1ge0qg0itwqn5sygj0

[Pekka]

I like it, it´s getting better after first " cause all of me" ... don´t know why.. i listen it four times. Mayby it´s just me

[Ed-Win]

THanks. I think you are right, I found I sometimes get better during a song, but cant really tell why

and yes I do warmups before I start.

[joshual1]

Hmmm i think i'm gonna try do enter the challenge, just love this song. but very tough song ^^.

Count me in guys.

[Mivke]

Hey guys, heard alot of awsome entries!

 

I will give it a go aswell, though I must agree with Joshua, it's NOT an easy song

[Jarom]

Thinking of doing it but i'm feeling kinda lazy......I dont know the song to well 

[Matakka]

Couldn't help...   love the song and love the idea! And I can't stop singing ))

sorry for the short version, but I had to do it in a higher key and the minus track I found turned out to be a short one...

 

[Gsoul82]

Couldn't help... love the song and love the idea! And I can't stop singing ))

sorry for the short version, but I had to do it in a higher key and the minus track I found turned out to be a short one...

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Nice! I'm a sucker for vibrato :p

[ronws]

 

Hey guys! 

 

I love this Idea of a contest with the same song - Thanks Felipe for that.

And since I startet training with Robert, I thought i should upload my version to.

 

I know, there are some tricky parts I always struggle. So Tell me what you think. 

 

https://app.box.com/s/1g8gzgyba2sbf7hqrqo3gyq0gfhgf61m

 

I liked it. You started out fairly bright. After the first chorus, you softened a bit, which I really liked. That is, you did well. My preference was the slightly softer sound, which is different than the original, When I hear John do it, it is almost like a belt, which is cool, for him.

 

I think you did well.

[Robert Lunte]

Ralf,

 

Sorry to keep you waiting, I finally got some moments to listen to your contribution here.

 

For starters, complements to anyone that contributes, that says a lot about your courage and willing to learn... 

 

I enjoy the light mass approach you are using here, it is probably appropriate for this song ... I think it could use just a touch more compression, but not too much.

 

Where it could be improved:

 

1). Intonation... the intonation needs to be better... you are singing flat a bit too often... this is probably because of a lack of respiration or anchoring. A little more muscle might fix this a bit... but listen more closely, because some of these moments that are flat, I think they don't have to  be... 

 

2). Your diction of English needs some work. I know that is difficult, given that German is your native language, but that doesn't change the fact that it needs to "sound" more like English.. btw.. NOT UK English, but American English... they actually are a lot different... not the same thing.  Try to move your tongue and lips more.. engage your articulators more to complete the diction of the English words, they are a big "foggy"... you need more articulation on the tongue and lips.  Also, having been to Germany many times, teachers there, and I was once married to a Frau... I know that Germans struggle a bit with /th/... /s/ and /f/ are NICHT replacements for /th/... also, /v/ & /w/ get mixed up too.  Your /w/ sound like English /v/ and your /v/ sound like English /f/... check your IPA...

 

Id give you a B for execution and an A+ for effort and courage. Fix the intonation and your English ... and you can get an A for execution... or as it is in Deutschland, a "1". 

 

Seien Sie ein Gesang Athlet und weitermachen! Du machst mich stolz wie dein Lehrer!    

[ronws]

Also what I noticed, and my background is 2 years of german in high school and a few years after high school, is that americans are more hyper nasal in the south and generally have more nasalance all around than the germanic and northern european languages. American dipthong is an actual changing of vowel sound within a syllable, almost creating two syllables. As opposed to the german dipthong, which is a name only, because it is really more of a solid sound. And hard for most americans to do. For example, the umlauted A can be spelled in old German with AE but it still sounds like eh. Umlauted O spelled as OE, such as the poet Goethe, is ER in american. What throws off most americans is the umlauted U, UE. It's almost like an american Y sound. "Fur Elise." Most americans would pronounce that as fir eelees. When really, the closer pronunciation would be fyuh ehlees.

 

So, basically, to get some american accent, you either have to dirty up the vowels or stay clean as possible. Though I like the german accent. You could always hear Klaus Meine's accent, he never straightened it out. And I am glad he did not. It would just not be Scorpions if he succeeded in sounding totally american.