Looking for overall feedback on my voice (original song)

[Drewb]

Heya,

This is the first time I've posted anything here, so apologies if I'm breaking protocol. I'm just really looking for some feedback on this track:

 

 

I've been taking lessons for just over a year now, and I'm slowly starting to be able to listen to and record my voice without cringing! I'm in a band and this is one of our songs. I've wanted to put vocals to it for a while, and this is the third attempt I've ever made at recording this idea. I didn't take long, perhaps an hour or so one evening two weeks ago after a lesson - consequently it is a bit rough. But I think the idea is quite good.

 

I'm going for a sort of Thom Yorke/Maynard James Keenan type of thing. Trying to use more head voice and get a good mix, but I sometimes feel a bit constricting when I do this.

 

I'm going for a mixed voice, but held back in terms of volume until the very end. I want to be able to add a bit of extra press to certain notes, which I think I've got down fairly well, certainly on the long held notes where I sing the word "sigh" - I quite like the tone on those notes, pitchiness aside.

I don't really like my tone on the first word, which is 'grief' - it sounds constricted and muffled, and I don't quite know how to fix it. I think it might be vowel choice, but not sure. Would appreciate a bit of help on that.

The only clue I really have for myself is that when I'm doing low notes, I find it fairly easy to find frontal resonance. When I'm doing mid or high notes, I find it much more difficult. I think this might be my issue with some of these parts.

 

Any tips you can give me would be great!

 

[Adolph Namlik]

Drewb,

Welcome to the forum.  Kindly upload a picture to your profile. It really helps the forum and gives YOU identity !

Please click on the following link >>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5shcSf9VXs

Thank you,

Adolph

[Drewb]

Drewb,

Welcome to the forum.  Kindly upload a picture to your profile. It really helps the forum and gives YOU identity !

Please click on the following link >>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5shcSf9VXs

Thank you,

Adolph

 

​Cool, thanks and done!

[Drewb]

Do I just massively suck, or am I too much of a n00b to be given advice right now?

 

I'm reading lots of stuff here and on the Reddit singing subreddit, as well as taking lessons. I just ordered the CVT book as well, which should arrive next week!

[Adolph Namlik]

Drewb,

Thank you for uploading a pic.... Again, a Sincere Welcome !!!

Patience..... Give it some time for some replies. If you read some other posts, you'll notice that it takes some time for the other members to reply.

No, you don't suck !!!

Regards,

Adolph

[Gneetapp]

Hi Drewb, welcome to the forum! I think you got a good voice, and your song is pretty interesting. As I'm an old guy, I'm into Classic/Hard Rock way more than the new styles of Rock. So, even though I have no idea of who those guys you mentioned are, I sort of liked your song, especially towards the end, when it gets more powerful. If you think your voice sounded muffled on the first word, you may have to get it out of the throat, placing the resonance more in your front teeth, and probably increase vocal compression, so it doesn't sound too airy. But in the end, it really depends on what kind of sound or effect you want to use. Cheers

[Kevin Richards]

Hi Drew,

Interesting song musically. Vocally it's a little repetitive and although I like the echo effect on the vocals, it's difficult to decipher the lyrics at times because of it. It seems the song is cut off at the 2:49 mark as well.

Technically the vocals are OK, nothing outstanding. You have a good voice but this particular song doesn't showcase it. Keep writing though and be sure to challenge yourself not only with your training, but with your songwriting.

[Drewb]

Heya Kevin,

 

Thanks for that! Glad to hear at least technically I'm doing alright, still a bit of a worry there! The song cuts off because it's the beginning of a looooonnnnggg instrumental post-rock/post-metal type of song. Here it is instrumentally when we played it live last year, if you're interested:

 

 

So I didn't want to bore anyone with the whole thing  (I'm the guy with the black left handed Les Paul btw)

 

Vocally I wanted to do something pretty low-key, this is pretty much the first time I've ever put vocals in a song, save a few experiments previously. But as you can hear from the song, it's a builder.... and I think doing anything too up front and impressive would most likely detract from the atmosphere in the song. It's also only the 3rd time I've ever recorded it, so it'll get better with time.

 

Small baby steps for me - confidence issues and all that... it took me a bit of courage to even sign up and post this here! But I do value feedback, because I want to get better and try to get some more songs under my belt.

 

The sort of bands I really like and that inspire me: A Perfect Circle, Tool, Karnivool, Lesser Key, Circa Survive, Radiohead, and Deftones. So I'm heading roughly in that direction!

 

I've been watching your videos on Youtube for a good while as well Kevin, really helpful stuff, so just wanted to say thanks very much for those!