Don't stop me now - Queen(Challenge accepted!)

[aravindmadis]

Before I give the link to my recording, I have to share how I feel about attempting this song..     

 

 

Now for the link.. 

 

https://app.box.com/s/az6jzsweecrmhl4w6kkr19u7r24cnafd

 

Thanks for your comments, feedback, critiques 

[Elvis]

Very interesting!! Hard song to take on! I like what you did there. Actually my only suggestion would be to try add mass to the higher part just a bit and cleap up on pitch, otherwise very very good take!

[JW10]

Great job with hitting the notes.  Impressive range.  I can't come near this song.

 

I would work on your tone though.  But I'm no expert

[ronws]

I liked it and you had really good articulation. And the spirit of your performance sounded close to the original, for me. That is, you were very "Freddie" without sounding exactly like him.

 

Good job.

[Gneetapp]

Hi Aravind, let me start congratulating you for the balls to try such a hard song. I liked your pitch in general, and that you didn't try to sound like Freddie and were able to sing without the shouting quality for the vast majority of the song. However, after saying that I have to say that I didn't really like the final result, especially after seeing (hearing) what you are capable of doing when you apply yourself to it. I think your tone in most parts of the song was bordering that old cartoonish voice that you got rid of in all your recent covers. So, IMO you just need to work a bit more on this song to make it worthy of being part of your recent covers. You are doing great man, and you know that. Just work a bit more to polish the sound, you got the range for it. Keep on rocking!

[aravindmadis]

Very interesting!! Hard song to take on! I like what you did there. Actually my only suggestion would be to try add mass to the higher part just a bit and cleap up on pitch, otherwise very very good take!

Thanks.. It is too difficult for me to do a higher mass on the higher notes.. It is right up there ​in terms of how high and heavy I can sound

Great job with hitting the notes.  Impressive range.  I can't come near this song.

 

I would work on your tone though.  But I'm no expert

​Thank you

 

Aravind

 

Kudos for taking on these tough songs - and being able to hit the notes!

 

The next step is: how do you want to present the song? Do you want to match the kick ass attitude of the original, or do you want to do your own take on it and maybe make a softer version that might suit your voice more? Right now you are kind of in the middle. Which is not necessarily where you want to be. See what I'm getting at?

Bzean, thanks and it is certainly food for thought.  I love Freddie, but perhaps my voice is a great fit to sing his songs in the way he sings. ​Let me try something out next time around.  It will be more an interpretation if I were to do it my way(which is through light mass co-ordination).  I guess singer can convey energy without belting it out(e.g. Steve Perry singing "Dont stop believeing").. This song I was too happy to just be able to sing all notes.. 

 

I liked it and you had really good articulation. And the spirit of your performance sounded close to the original, for me. That is, you were very "Freddie" without sounding exactly like him. 

Thanks Ron.  I am glad you noticed the articulation. I worked really hard to pronounce the words right.  I noticed that in some of my earlier songs, the words were jumbled and that too for the pace of this song it was an extremely difficult thing to do!  ​

Hi Aravind, let me start congratulating you for the balls to try such a hard song. I liked your pitch in general, and that you didn't try to sound like Freddie and were able to sing without the shouting quality for the vast majority of the song. However, after saying that I have to say that I didn't really like the final result, especially after seeing (hearing) what you are capable of doing when you apply yourself to it. I think your tone in most parts of the song was bordering that old cartoonish voice that you got rid of in all your recent covers. So, IMO you just need to work a bit more on this song to make it worthy of being part of your recent covers. You are doing great man, and you know that. Just work a bit more to polish the sound, you got the range for it. Keep on rocking!

​Gneetapp, thanks for your honest feedback.  This is a significantly tougher song than some of my recent work.  This is way tougher than songs with higher notes coz it keeps jumping up and down from Bb4, which is the absolute limit to which I can push my "Chesty" voice.. It is perhaps likely that the song is not a match for my voice, and I would be better served trying to sing it very differently using a light mass co-ordination, which I can definitely do, but not attempted here.. Me, I am thrilled with the outcome.  That is because I have tried so long to sing this song and sucked so hard at it!   

 

[Gneetapp]

​Gneetapp, thanks for your honest feedback.  This is a significantly tougher song than some of my recent work.  This is way tougher than songs with higher notes coz it keeps jumping up and down from Bb4, which is the absolute limit to which I can push my "Chesty" voice.. It is perhaps likely that the song is not a match for my voice, and I would be better served trying to sing it very differently using a light mass co-ordination, which I can definitely do, but not attempted here.. Me, I am thrilled with the outcome.  That is because I have tried so long to sing this song and sucked so hard at it!   

 

​Hi Aravind, I agree with you about this song being tougher than it looks. But I respectfully and humbly disagree about this song not being a match for your voice my friend. I would say, tone wise, that this song lies between the first ones and the last ones you have posted, because of that cartoonish sound you worked so hard to get rid off. I know really well what you mean about trying to sing a song for so long and finally being able to do so. But trust me on this my friend: if you keep working on this song, even sporadically, you will experience the improvements. I have been and still going through that on several songs. Unfortunately, lately I haven't had the time to practice, but I still see the results on songs I haven't practiced diligently. And just to clarify, I don't think you sucked at this song, But I know from your previous covers that you can do so much better. Keep rocking man, and keep those covers coming!

[aravindmadis]

And just to clarify, I don't think you sucked at this song, But I know from your previous covers that you can do so much better. Keep rocking man, and keep those covers coming!

​Gneetapp, I din't think you said that! Yup, more practice and I think in a month or two I am ready for a repost

[KillerKu]

I've been quite busy on other things and haven't been singing (or posting) much, so I missed your thread here. I finally sat down and gave it a good listen. I agree with others it's not quite dialed in yet. This song very difficult as we both know. I gave it a shot live the other day and wasn't satisfied. I think we both could use more work on the song. Both of us had a few moments were pitch was sketchy and moments that sounded a bit strained.

 

As advice, I actually almost have the opposite impression to Elvis in adding weight. I don't think it will help much.  My take on this is you might want to experiment with using curbing like vowels as you were using in Let it Be as a central point, as opposed to belting, and 'lean into belting' vowels and twangier positions from there.

 

The reason why, is your approach to belting has a high larynx, and large amounts of twang. The twang may indeed be  increasing mass, and there are a few high notes here that are possibly with more mass than I might sing with, but twang and a higher larynx accent nasality which might be why your voice is more nasal on this track. If you use slightly darker vowels the mass may not be as heavy, but it might end up less quacky. It can add a darker more covered tone and 'round' you out some.  To my ears, the very first line, is probably the most 'balanced' sounding timbre in this cover.

 

That said, I've said before that people in different cultures have different ears for nasality. I have a friend from southeast Asia and their native tongue there is often very twangy and nasal and even can sound whiny sometimes and their singers often have some of this inflection in their timbre. I've noticed some in native music from India as well. Ultimately you may always sing more nasal than is normal in western culture but I feel like you have room to explore in between and maybe find a balance that is still 'you.'

 

This song is fairly high and constantly in first and second bridging areas with varying vocal masses, but it's not to the point in my voice where I 'have' to quack or shriek to sing it although I do have difficulty keeping a pure timbre 100 percent of the time. I think you're close enough to my voice type that you could probably do it similarly. 

 

All that said, this was a good attempt. I don't see many others trying this song. It's not just power, it's flexibility and a rapid fire endurance to even keep up with the song. You're constantly on your toes and can't miss a beat, and then the guitar solo section comes in and is almost, harder, cause it's the first time you even have a moment's respite, and by the time you come back. Keep training, and when I get a chance to sing seriously again here, I'll give a 100 percent live version, flaws and all.

[aravindmadis]

I've been quite busy on other things and haven't been singing (or posting) much, so I missed your thread here. I finally sat down and gave it a good listen. I agree with others it's not quite dialed in yet. This song very difficult as we both know. I gave it a shot live the other day and wasn't satisfied. I think we both could use more work on the song. Both of us had a few moments were pitch was sketchy and moments that sounded a bit strained.

 

As advice, I actually almost have the opposite impression to Elvis in adding weight. I don't think it will help much.  My take on this is you might want to experiment with using curbing like vowels as you were using in Let it Be as a central point, as opposed to belting, and 'lean into belting' vowels and twangier positions from there.

 

The reason why, is your approach to belting has a high larynx, and large amounts of twang. The twang may indeed be  increasing mass, and there are a few high notes here that are possibly with more mass than I might sing with, but twang and a higher larynx accent nasality which might be why your voice is more nasal on this track. If you use slightly darker vowels the mass may not be as heavy, but it might end up less quacky. It can add a darker more covered tone and 'round' you out some.  To my ears, the very first line, is probably the most 'balanced' sounding timbre in this cover.

 

That said, I've said before that people in different cultures have different ears for nasality. I have a friend from southeast Asia and their native tongue there is often very twangy and nasal and even can sound whiny sometimes and their singers often have some of this inflection in their timbre. I've noticed some in native music from India as well. Ultimately you may always sing more nasal than is normal in western culture but I feel like you have room to explore in between and maybe find a balance that is still 'you.'

 

This song is fairly high and constantly in first and second bridging areas with varying vocal masses, but it's not to the point in my voice where I 'have' to quack or shriek to sing it although I do have difficulty keeping a pure timbre 100 percent of the time. I think you're close enough to my voice type that you could probably do it similarly. 

 

All that said, this was a good attempt. I don't see many others trying this song. It's not just power, it's flexibility and a rapid fire endurance to even keep up with the song. You're constantly on your toes and can't miss a beat, and then the guitar solo section comes in and is almost, harder, cause it's the first time you even have a moment's respite, and by the time you come back. Keep training, and when I get a chance to sing seriously again here, I'll give a 100 percent live version, flaws and all.

​Killer, I would love to do a skype session with you sometime.  If not, it will help us both exchange some notes, since we are both excited by the idea of doing this very song

I think I have narrowed down my issue to an extent that I know what the problem is.  If I forget about really making a powerful sound and just sing like I do normally, the notes are absolutely in my range.  I have a problem only when I try to sing songs in this range around the passagio powerfully.  Maybe I am using too much twang perhaps longer than what is necessary.  Strangely for me, this causes issues in my ah(as in cat) sound and I think this is what spills into the specific words.  I think Rob addresses this in his videos, where he says that twang helps in getting the high notes and the listener cannot make out the difference since the nasality is only for a fraction of a second(or something to that effect).  

To me, I think the solution lies in building the muscle memory to build the onset using twang, but releasing twang without losing the compression.  I think I have a much better version of this song in me in the months to come.. And I can carry over this lesson to other similar songs..