Testing the waters
Anarchaotic
Member Posts: 6
Hello, I'm 30 years old, and live in Washington State. I was in choir in school, but I never got any real vocal coaching. I've always loved mimicking the styles of my favorite artists, and I try to add their inflections when I do covers. From my own perspective, my main weak point is warming up. I have seen Ken's videos on warmups, and how long he does them, but I just can't quite tell when I'm fully warmed up, though I suppose that would be when I can sing exactly what I want to sing without any tension. lol. I can tell in some of the recordings (Fly Me To The Moon is an example) that I start off a little cold and under-supported, and end warmed up and clear. I'm aware of some pitch issues, and I am working on improving my overall sound. I quit smoking 10 months ago, and some of the recordings were done within the last couple of months that I was still smoking, but all were done within this past year (With the exception of the song "My Crucifix", which is an old song from a band that I was in back in 2009).
I would appreciate any feedback/links you can provide to help me get better.
https://soundcloud.com/levi-ksi-anarchaotic-howard
All my recordings were done using my phone, and a karaoke app, and all in one take. I don't really have a lot of privacy where I live, so many of the recordings were done sitting in my car. I apologize for the quality of a few of them. That app doesn't have the best volume mixing, or effects.
I would appreciate any feedback/links you can provide to help me get better.
https://soundcloud.com/levi-ksi-anarchaotic-howard
All my recordings were done using my phone, and a karaoke app, and all in one take. I don't really have a lot of privacy where I live, so many of the recordings were done sitting in my car. I apologize for the quality of a few of them. That app doesn't have the best volume mixing, or effects.
Comments
all the covers is the Starmaker karaoke app.
Making things sound less sharp changes the vocals and washes out important attributes used to evaluate. It is very difficult to give proper evaluation of any fundamentals without clean vocals. We have people provide vocals from their phones and as long as they have proper distance from the mics and are in a relatively sound free area, their phone is adequate to provide a decent evaluation of the vocals.
Can you record something clean? It is hard enough working with songs let alone with effects or overlays.
That you think that anyone can help you with what you are providing tells me that your seeking evaluation is for a good reason.
If you want, I will stop responding and maybe someone else can provide you the feedback that you are looking for.
Also keep in mind that you presented a small mountain of songs to listen to, which would take a lot of time, which we don't have. All of us here are volunteers donating our time, of which HuduVudu (Shane) is extremely generous. So, going forward, if you could direct "us" to one or two of your best songs that also have quality recordings, that would be better for you and for us.
I quickly listened to parts of many of the songs, trying to find one that had little effects / artifacts and stumbled across
Sex And Candy - Marcy Playground (Vocal Cover by Levi).
Overall, I think you have really nice tone, and certainly a good musical vibe and feel. You clearly have a feel for where your weaknesses are as you mentioned. As for warming up, I find that even after warming up with the exercises in the course, that generally my voice gets better as I continue to record / perform. That's normal. I'd expect your warm-ups to require less time than mine because you are younger.
Keep up the good work! Keep hitting Ken's youtubes. Rewatch them. You'll pick up new little things along the way.
If at some point you can swing buying the course (no pressure), consider it. You won't regret it. Either way, work hard at your craft.
Good singing to you!
Chris
Folks...I'm glad to see that you're active on the forum. That's awesome! That's what makes this place fun. But here's something to consider....
When the original post is really old and no one has commented for a long time, and especially if the original poster (OP) hasn't responded (as in this case), you might not want to comment on the thread because it brings the dead thread back to life, notifying all of those who commented, like me.
I'd especially keep that in mind on the non-member side ("blue" areas) of the forum where users come and go quickly and usually aren't actively engaged. This particular post is on the non-member side of the forum and the OP never responded to my last post in August 2019.
No worries, mates.
Good singing to you!
Chris