Rate my singing :)

A lot of people come in here and ask to have their singing rated. I think this is an extremely hard thing to do, I can rate your pitch and tone perhaps but more important than what I think of your voice is what do you think of your voice. Some voices are very stylized - Dylan, Young but how would you rate their voices? Never the less, everyone can be helped by working on their voice - learning proper singing techniques, singing scales etc which is best done with teacher. What do you think you need to work on? Here's a website to help you out without a teacher since it is rather expensive (but recommended): http://www.vocalist.org.uk/voicetraining.html

Didnt't listen to all of the songs but there is one song on there that seems to be a little out of your range. Your range can be improved with a coach - your range is something you are born with and can only increase into notes that are already present but don't have the physical capability/know how of reaching (bummer I know). Usually, once you start working on your voice you only increase your range upwards (although the pitch of your voice will slowly drop due to age or environment (smoking) - also male voices aren't fully mature until the late 20's(??I think??). When ever I listen to the 'listen to me sing topics,' I notice the same thing over and over. Everyone is holding back - you close of your throat, I think to help stay in tune. Part of your holding back may be in pronunciation - I see you are Aussie and I am not sure if you that is your natural Aussie accent or if you are trying to sing with more of an American accent (most your covers are british but they sing with an american accent). You want to be completely relaxed while singing and open - open your throat, even your mouth more if you need to. It sounds like you are singing from your head and not your chest - when singing let the notes resonate in your chest (except for perhaps falsetto which is called your head voice). You're voice and pronunciation of words reminds of a famous musician, can't think of who! Lastly, don't ever strain for notes, any pain while singing is very bad. I have never had voice lessons but these are just the bits I have picked up while going along.

Hope that helped,
purple

You have a pleasant enough voice, I listened to 3 of the slower songs and enjoyed them. You did have a couple of spots where you hit a bad note and sounded like you where a little up tight. Nothing practice can't help, keep at it. That site purple posted the link to is a good one.

Hi, thanks for the responses guys, it really did help.
I've never had any vocal training of any sort and when singing, i only try to imitate the pitch of the singer but apart from that, i dont really have much of an idea of vocal techniqes and such. I had no idea i was singing with an american accent.
i dont really understand when you said 'sing from your chest'? anyway when i try to reach for higher notes, it feels tight in my throat. how do i get rid of this feeling? One last thing. Is there some vocal program or anything which i can download to help?

Hi, thanks for the responses guys, it really did help.
I've never had any vocal training of any sort and when singing, i only try to imitate the pitch of the singer but apart from that, i dont really have much of an idea of vocal techniqes and such. I had no idea i was singing with an american accent.
i dont really understand when you said 'sing from your chest'? anyway when i try to reach for higher notes, it feels tight in my throat. how do i get rid of this feeling? One last thing. Is there some vocal program or anything which i can download to help?
The singing with an american accent is very common but it seems you are somewhere between Aussie and american, albeit, I don't know what your Aussie accent sounds like. Sing a line from one of the songs you covered and then say it and see how different the accent is. This is a very common phenomena. You sing a Led Zeppelin song, British band, but Robert Plant sings with an american accent and usually when covering a song we try to imitate the original. Most music has an american accent. I wouldn't worry about it, I just think it is something to be conscious of (but not so conscious of it is going to confuse you).

The chest thing, I don't really know - again I have limited knowledge plus it is hard to full understand what someone does while their singing just by listening. Maybe saying from the chest is wrong but you should use your diaphragm to push out notes. Sounds like you use the back of your throat to push out notes - not all the time but some times (WYWH) and especially on higher notes. Hold a note (aaahhh) around your talking range and consciously relax your throat, let it feel open, and open your mouth at least 2 fingers apart. Breathe in by allowing your stomach to expand naturally as you inhale. As you exhale with the note let your stomach slowly shrink and use it to control the amount of air passing out of the lungs. See how that feels and then, to help with range, move up and down by whole steps never hitting any notes where you have to push to reach, stay completely relaxed. Tensing up is your worst enemy while singing. For the higher notes, like the Jeff Buckely song, just try to stay open and relaxed, let a more air go through in order to sustain them better and open your mouth wider. Again never strain. Check out that website, it is great. There are scales on their you can sing too.

Hoped that helped,
purple

Thanks for your patience. That really helped.