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Need constructive criticism

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(@oreochef)
Eminent Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 16
Topic starter  

I took this recording hastily and I know I'm going out of tune quite a bit. Made some mistakes on the guitar too, but it doesn't matter. It's only a temporary one to see what you guys think of my voice. My recording material is also very bad, so there is a bit of buzzing.I think i might have found mixed/head voice, and I'm using it on the top half of the notes on this song. I want to know if this is really true, or is it just falsetto with really good connection? I'll probably upload more recordings of better musical quality later.

I've taken down the Yesterday cover, as it was not in my vocal range and may not be the best representation of my voice. I recorded a short cover of Hallelujah in which I lowered the key of the song. Please tell me how I can improve.

http://www.zshare.net/audio/52753333615c3197/

New recording:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=908915


   
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(@jersey-jack)
Estimable Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 189
 

Sorry, dude, the link isn't working for me. I get to the site, but nothing loads in.

By the way, you might find a more family-friendly site to use--there are lots of them. Not that I mind a little eye candy, but if you want folks to focus on your voice the bikini babes are distracting! :roll:


   
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 KR2
(@kr2)
Famed Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 2717
 

Unfortunately, that link worked for me . . . singing "Yesterday"
Constructive?
You are NOT hitting the notes . . . even though you are straining.
And the sound of you straining to hit them is really irritating.
You don't seem to have the breath to sing.
I don't know much about singing but you have a lot of work to do.
Good luck with it.

It's the rock that gives the stream its music . . . and the stream that gives the rock its roll.


   
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(@dylanbarrett)
Prominent Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 628
 

Top marks for giving it a go...

You certainly know what tones you want and you are getting them, but as KR2 says, you really are all over the place and probably trying too hard - I have the same problem as you when trying to sing certain high notes, so, try my trick and drop down a range and make the song your own by approaching it differently.

Unless you're going to have some lessons, I should ditch the falsetto and go for more midrange stuff where you don't have to strain - you're going to hurt your voice if you keep trying.

Breath and let it out from the chest - keep it out of your head and nose.

Don't give up, just try a change - the range your trying to sing at is NOT the range of your voice.

Rock on!
D 8)

I'm nowhere near Chicago. I've got six string, 8 fingers, two thumbs, it's dark 'cos I'm wearing sunglasses - Hit it!


   
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(@nathan080)
Estimable Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 131
 

You seem to have issues with support, staying in tune and your higher registers sound disconnected. IMO you need to start from the beginning. Get either some lessons, or a book, or research into the fundamentals behind singing and start practicing. If you need help along the way, you can always message me if you grow tired of needless comments, not that I'm any sort of expert, but i'd like to help anyone who asks for it.

FYI

From Your Influence...
http://www.overplay.com/BandProfile.aspx?BandId=e78b497f-4f31-4182-8659-e8b6fa91d582

http://www.youtube.com/user/FromYourInfluence


   
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(@oreochef)
Eminent Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 16
Topic starter  

Alright, I did this as a quick recording, it took about 5 minutes to do because I was pressed for time. I know that i was out of tune but I didn't this it was that bad. I also should have done it in a lower key, but was too lazy to transpose it. The thing is I don't know how to get good breath support. I've read about it but I can't seem to get a hold of it. I also have a problem with singing flat, but yet again I don't know how to correct this problem.

Please help me.


   
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(@jersey-jack)
Estimable Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 189
 

There's really no substitute for lessons. Invest in yourself, your voice, your career, your joy, if it is at all possible; you won't regret it!

If it's truly impossible, try Roger Love's Set Your Voice Free. This is a good book to get you started. Expensive DVD singing courses are also available, but I've never tried one--moreover, I'm not sure they're worth it, as a vocal teacher needs to provide feedback, and this is plainly impossible on DVDs! :roll: Try Love's book and see where it gets you.


   
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(@oreochef)
Eminent Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 16
Topic starter  

The thing is I really don't want to buy any singing books, dvds, or anything else. I might go for a voice lessons, but I'm too lazy to find a good one where I live. So any advice you guys can give to me about exercises and such, feel free to give them to me.

By the way, I've taken down the Yesterday recording and put a short Hallelujah cover in its place. Hopefully it's better.


   
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(@nathan080)
Estimable Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 131
 

The thing is I really don't want to buy any singing books, dvds, or anything else. I might go for a voice lessons, but I'm too lazy to find a good one where I live. So any advice you guys can give to me about exercises and such, feel free to give them to me.

By the way, I've taken down the Yesterday recording and put a short Hallelujah cover in its place. Hopefully it's better.

You will never improve with that attitude... the fact of the matter is:

You're voice is an instrument if you want it to be, and mastering any instrument takes time, effort and perseverance among many other things. I wanted to learn to sing so bad that I bought books, DVD's, invested in lessons, spent time with many other singers and am always doing my own research too... AND i'm still nowhere near where I want to be! If your not willing to put the time in, just stop now, that's the best advice I can give you...

Oh, and don't cover songs that Jeff Buckley has sung ;).

FYI

From Your Influence...
http://www.overplay.com/BandProfile.aspx?BandId=e78b497f-4f31-4182-8659-e8b6fa91d582

http://www.youtube.com/user/FromYourInfluence


   
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(@oreochef)
Eminent Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 16
Topic starter  

Well it's not that I don't want to put the time in. It's that I have already have read a lot of singing tips and theory off the internet and I don't really think that a book would give me much more. Correct me if I'm wrong about this, but wouldn't the stuff that I've read off the internet basically cover the information from books? I am considering voice lessons, but I don't know where to look for one. Would my school choir teacher know of the vocal coaches around my city? But for now I'm just going to do scales and warm-up exercises before I sing everyday.

Also, how long did it take you to hear improves in your voice? From what I've seen around this forum and my friends it takes quite a while. Would I see improvements in a few months? Not necessarily monumental ones, but improvements if I keep with the vocal warm-ups and breathing exercises.


   
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(@jersey-jack)
Estimable Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 189
 

The initial improvement depends upon where you begin. (I still can't access your audio file, so I'm not sure where you're at.) If you already sing well, your initial improvement will be moderate, but certainly noticeable. If not, the improvement over the first few months can be dramatic!

In either case, you'll then settle into the real work of vocal training, which takes a lifetime. The closest analogy is to a golf swing. A few lessons can turn things around for you, but then the fine tuning is a project. Some days you swing well, some days you can't hit the ball straight for your life; you isolate and fix one problem and then the problem you isolated and fixed last week returns. :evil: And so on....

But it's the old two steps forward, one step back thing. Over time, you'll notice genuine progress. Unless you have serious vocal training goals, you should be able to get going with just a few months of lessons. But do expect to return now and then for a tune-up.


   
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(@oreochef)
Eminent Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 16
Topic starter  

Ok, so I've decided to give my recordings skills a go again. It's a very rough recording and was not meant to be perfect. Sorry for the mistakes that were made from my lack of concentration. My parents tell me that I've improved some since a few weeks ago, but I'm not so sure about their judgment. Since, well, their my parents and they might just be saying that. I also found another site that seems more user friendly. Please tell me how it is.

PS: Hopefully I'll have vocal lessons in a couple of weeks

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=908915


   
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(@stikman)
Reputable Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 237
 

I am at work and can't listen to the recording here but at a minimum the Roger Love book, Set Your Voice Free, will help out because it has a CD with male and female exercises. I am male and there are 5 tracks on the CD that I do every day and they really help with pitch, breathing, range, ets.... So if you don't want to do a lot work or spend much money at least that much will help and keep you busy for months. So I read the book, do the 5 male exercises, and try to learn tunes in my range and it helps.

"All battles are first won or lost in the mind." - Joan of Arc

"It took me about 20 years to figure out how to write without inspiration. Thankfully, I got there." - Leon Russell


   
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(@jersey-jack)
Estimable Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 189
 

+1 on Roger Love's book--that's useful stuff!

I'm still having problems accessing your material. I routinely listen to stuff on Sounclick, but the link you sent won't let me listen unless I register, create my own listener account, password, etc. This is not something I want to do, and I know that others post Soundclick files that are accessible to everyone. Not sure what's up with this.


   
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(@oreochef)
Eminent Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 16
Topic starter  

Oh, I guess I posted an incorrect link. I think that i took the url from where i was editing my account stuff. But anyways here's a new link, and if it doesn't work, then I have no idea what's going on.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=908915

Also on the Roger Love's cds, I'm wondering about the different methods of learning how to sing. Because when I was surfing the web a while ago, i found this useful book preview.

http://books.google.com/books?id=4wNVqRG99b4C&dq=the+baritone+voice&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=I2QqzFV0UX&sig=S_XZLLqO0VgspvfGjrrfe1tW8yE&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result

It talks about doing descending scales with falsetto, as to stretch the falsetto range to overlap all of the 'chest voices' notes so it can blend the notes into a 'mixed voice'. And when the falsetto is developed to it's full potential (when doing this it strengthens the head voice's mechanism), the head voice will be discovered. There's more to what I said, but it's just a quick summary.

So I wonder, is there only one correct way of training your voice without damaging it in the long run? Or are there multiple ways? I know, people have gotten better at singing with Roger Love's cds and vocal lessons (each teacher has a different method), but what if these ways only led to potential vocal damage if they tried to increase their range too much? Or would it only lead to a small range increase? Please be patient with me, I'm just confused because I've read stuff that contradicts others.


   
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