This is an online collaboration video I made with a dude named edgespear. He did an excellent job. Everything turned out really nice. There's also a little story to it in the vlog at the end. Enjoy!
@overdriveisclassy This is nice. Your co-collaborator did a good job, as well. This is a little more production than most of your recordings, and it sounds good. Bob
Something odd with your video posts. I can see them as YouTube embeds, but when I click on "play" they disappear and nothing happens. I'veNever seen that before. Troubleshooting time.
Your godsmack song worked OK, and you seemed to be doing the best you ever did. ;^)
Hi guys, while I've been working my butt off on Vol 3 workouts, I decided to cover something that is more about feelings than a killer technique, a piece that has a special meaning to me and here is how it sounds Comments appreciated.
Something odd with your video posts. I can see them as YouTube embeds, but when I click on "play" they disappear and nothing happens. I'veNever seen that before. Troubleshooting time.
Your godsmack song worked OK, and you seemed to be doing the best you ever did. ;^)
Bob
lol at best I ever did
not sure, they look fine here on my end. I never had that problem before but on this forum my posts dissapear even with my old computer or brand new computer with windows 10 so I am suspect. I wonder if it makes a difference what type of youtube link I post. Just for reference all my videos are here:
Nice Shot with "Nice Shot". That one plays fine. Sometimes it's a browser thing when you get random results with posts here. That said, Your videos are no longer disappearing when I click play. You're sounding good. You sound a little like Ray Davies of the Kinks. I mean that as a compliment. You still have your own style, but there are some similarities in your tone and delivery to Davies.
Are you gigging, or still looking for good fit with a group? Your chops seem to be up to par.
Thanks much brutha! Ya I only use google chrome, I might try IE though in this regard. Ill check out Ray closely, cheers :-) Im glad you think my chops seem to be up to par. Ive only been singing a year so I wanna keep on working out and strengthening my voice and recording my original songs for another year or so and then join. I wanna make sure I am doing my techniques and especially my vocal distortion properly so I do not cause myself an injury or major setback. I have the PA system so that is not an issue.
my cover I recorded tonight of the song "Head Like a Hole" by Nine Inch Nails:
Before taking KTVA, if I would've tried singing this song either online, at a bar, or -- just basically anywhere, no doubt I'd have a sore throat afterwards and possibly not be able to sing again for a while.
Doing the program gives me not only the tools but also the confidence to try something like this - and do it safely.
My distortion is getting better - sometimes it kicks in and kicks out, but I can honestly say that after singing this one, I did several others - no problem What definitely helped was doing the full warm up exercises before.
Here's Superunknown - Soundgarden (one of my favourite bands)
Here are 5 tracks recorded to backing tracks. I would say it sounds a bit better through headphones. Maybe a tad too much reverb ...I know... sorry about that. Always get a bit carried away with it. Hope you enjoy them though. Much love to KTVA. Hope you are all progressing well.
Thanks Bob... Always feel like im heading a little more towards that too. Are we ever truly happy though eh. We can always do a little better.. Maybe thats a good thing...i dunno thats how i think anyways..
@opgalliano I have had comments like that before. I agree and it would be interesting to try some of Geddy Lee's vocal range. I haven't tried this yet but I have listened to some Rush material and I feel it's about a semitone higher than where I'm comfortable. More KTVA practice and selecting a particular Rush song would be the way to go for me to work towards that. I feel in about 2 years from now I could tackle anything. Thanks for the comment
@everdrone Thanks as well, man! Glad you like it as well The mic I'm using is a Rode NT-2A. Quite happy with what I've been able to accomplish with it thus far. I'm really happy to hear that you've joined Bandhub, dude! My username is "SOULSTOKED". Let's add each other up! I'll be a bit less active as of tomorrow since my uni courses resume, but I'm hoping to work on at least 2 collabs/month. Right on!
Ill add you next time I log in at bandhub, I got a bunch of project invites that got snapped up really quickly, so I dont wanna log in until I have time to commit there, since I am working really hard at KTVA strengthening my diaphram and have a ways to go. I am thinking about starting the female KTVA course.
Hello! I am new to the forums. I have purchased the KTVA course and look forward to starting to become a better singer. My main goal is to be able to sing a song without losing my voice. I do lead some songs on our church praise team but I am usually spent after that. Anyway I have attached a link to me singing a cover song I recorded to give you an idea of what I have to work with so feel free to comment. I hope this link works.
It is a post on facebook so you have to be signed in to facebook to see it. I don't know how else to get it off of facebook since it was my sister-n-law that posted it.
3 short clips for you guys to critique. I'm just starting to feel a little more control on notes on and above my passaggio but interested in your thoughts.
I am signed in to facebook, but your link took me to a message that said: "Sorry, this content isn't available right now". So maybe where it's posted, only your church members can see it or something like that?
You're sounding good. A few thoughts hit me as I listened to your new samples.
On the first tune, Sweet Child O' Mine: The G#4 has too much wobble. I think you will like the sound of it if you remove the "caprino" vibrato and sing it as a well-supported straight tone. It just tends to sound wobbly with the fast "goat's wiggle" (as Ken would call it) vibrato. A straight tone with a ton of support will get rid of that effect entirely.
Another comment on lyrics like "minds" you are sustaining the "n" too long. We don't sing on consonants. Especially N's, will make you sound "nasal". We can cut off the end of a sustained vowel with a quick "n" on the cutoff, but don't dwell on it with a pitch. Same would be true for M's and Ng's, T's and R's... They're just cutoffs or onsets, not notes. When you hit that "N" it sounds like it's not "open" like it would be for mask. It's more a muffled "N" like when you're congested. So when you DO make an N, think "Robert Plant" with a frontal, open sound, wide in the pharynx, rather than dark and in the back of the vocal tract. Any air in the nose needs to exit brightly, not sound like it's muffled in congestion. So what I'm trying to say, is Brighten your N's and use them for cutoffs or if appropriate, onsets, but not sustains. If they happen, let them ring brightly, don't supress them.
Removing the wobble will make this sound more confident and consistent.
On the other hand, on the Neil Young song, your vibrato sounds killer and much more appropriate, and even at the proper speed. It's just a difference in the two songs.
Nice C5. Flawless Victory.
When you do "Feels" up high, those "EE"s are a little brutal. The way to soften them up is on the attack. Use what Ken calls the "A-EE" or the eh-EE to open up to that high EE vowel. It's gentler on your cords and on the ears of the listener. F-aye-EEls. It is done so quickly that it just rounds off the onset of the EE and is better on your voice in the long run.
Very nice notes along the way in your sirens. You've got the range and the notes. You just need to polish up some of the stops along the way.
Ok. Let's see if this will work. Hello. My name is Raymond and I just purchased the full coarse the other day. I am wanting to learn how to sing a song without losing my voice after performing. I have attached a video of a song by Charlie Hall that I recorded a version of to perform. Please feel free to leave feedback and pointers. Thanks!
Your song doesn't sound bad. In general, the training you are just beginning will teach you many things that will help you to preserve your voice. Learning to sing with less air, more cord closure, and other techniques will come along the way to give your voice more consistency and resiliency.
Dig in and start grasping some of the fundamentals. There will be more specifics as you get deeper into the course.
My name is John Shane Sebree; I'm new to the forums, but have been following Ken for a couple years now. I've been singing for quite awhile, but haven't really taken much of a technical approach to it until the past year; I've always just went by the "feel" of it and did not really know what was actually going on during different techniques. I did a little medley in the hopes of getting some feedback on where I'm at since I really have no way to judge myself (and that can be quite difficult to do anyways). I did about 4 takes one day (after like a hour warm-up) and this was done the second day (after a couple takes). I know it sounds like I'm tearing my chords to shreds, but I wasn't horse at all and sang more the next day.
You're getting up into some of the upper register belting. Up there you are going to need a lot more abdominal support to keep from killing your vocal cords. You are pushing the limits of your current range and sometimes a bit flat for the notes the songs call for.
On the verses of Feel Like Making Love, you are needing more support. The limited support you are using is making the verses a little pitchy. You use a more supported sound on the choruses. That's a little more on the mark.
The Audioslave tune also needs strong support for the verses.
Some of the distortion you are using does sound like it will eventually wear out your voice. Just because you are holding out OK so far, doesn't mean you'll be able to keep that up indefinitely. The distortion in Oh, Darlin' is pretty raw stuff, and can put excessive wear on your voice.
Much of what you sang in this demo seems to be pushing the limits of your range. You would do well to do exercises that will grow your range beyond its present limitations, so that the tunes you did in this demo can be done more in your stride, rather than at the edge of your voice breaking up.
It is time for you to really focus on reliable technique to keep you from being at the brink of vocal breakup most of the time. You have a pretty decent range, but you are singing songs that require a little more range than you presently can handle safely.
Support is the engine that drives your voice. Build monster support and the notes will come.
Thank you very much for your detailed and knowledgeable response; I plan to buy the course as soon as I have the money (I'm a broke college student), but in the meantime do you think I am having wishful thinking with the range I am going for or is it a good possibility I could get there? This was on the extreme side of what I sing (more of a wow factor) I mostly do folky singing and very light distortion. Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. You guys are doing great work!!
You have every capability of attaining the range you are trying for, but you don't yet have the technique to do it safely. You could hurt yourself singing at the edge of your range without the proper singing methods. You need a "from-the-ground-up" approach to your voice so that you learn to get to those notes and sounds safely and more efficiently.
Be careful in the meantime to not stress your voice. You don't want to damage your vocal cords and then decide to start learning good technique.
wow AnthonyV that is amazing! very on pitch and great vibrato.
my 2 cents:
I would say try and avoid distorting all high notes and sing some clean, then sing some lower notes with distortion.
I think you could get fuller tones if you relax the larnyx some and allow for a different vocal placement so you can feel the vibration more in the roof of your mouth. Ken Tamplin gets some great full tones and definitely advocates the bright ping note placement for training, but he relaxes into some fuller sounds when he sings bolder passages in songs.
Pretty girl wont you come this way I see you trying to look away Somehow we meet, honey that sweet Your honey oh, bring it lets go Inside the furnace I turn on the heat Running fast in the last lap I see gold and I go for it at all costs Picking up speed flying fast Im drinking southern comfortably numb, I feel high life Im burning my gasoline fires going blind, I feel numb Im drinking southern comfortably numb, I feel high life Im burning my gasoline fires going blind, I feel southern comfortably numb
Well make this work well make real right The shining stars are southern comfortably bright Ive been drinking and bar fighting all last night So lets turn down a notch and feel real right
Pushin’ 90 miles an hour aint the best way to go Speeding past the limits the only way I know Shootin’ stars makes me feel all right Shootin’ everything and shoot out the lights
Inside the fears that you hide Destroy the dead inside Every turn you look you see your past Every time you spiral into the past
Focusing on the past and future You keep repeating your past ride the storm into the now find eternity in a moment
You could leave the past for gone Would you know your face You could leave your fears long gone Would you know who you are
INSIDE FOREST, THE TUNNEL INTO THE MIND THE TRUTH IS THERE, IF YOU LET IT BE Let go of what pulls you down, Its dragging away from who you are Let go of your demons, disappear into the night RIDE THE SUN RAY, INTO THE LIGHT
PUSH THE PAST, AWAY FROM YOUR MIND THE FUTURE A MIRAGE, A FIGMENT OF THOUGHT DIE TO THE PAST, DIE TO THE FUTURE, Can you find a way, can you find the now ITS THERE IN FRONT OF YOU CAN YOU TAKE A CHANCE ITS THERE IN FRONT OF YOU CAN YOU TAKE BACK
Pretty girl wont you come this way I see you trying to look away Somehow we meet, honey that sweet Your honey oh, bring it lets go Inside the furnace I turn on the heat Running fast in the last lap I see gold and I go for it at all costs Picking up speed flying fast Im drinking southern comfortably numb, I feel high life Im burning my gasoline fires going blind, I feel numb Im drinking southern comfortably numb, I feel high life Im burning my gasoline fires going blind, I feel southern comfortably numb
Well make this work well make real right The shining stars are southern comfortably bright Ive been drinking and bar fighting all last night So lets turn down a notch and feel real right
Pushin’ 90 miles an hour aint the best way to go Speeding past the limits the only way I know Shootin’ stars makes me feel all right Shootin’ everything and shoot out the lights
I mixed it a bit more, free download here:
Love this track...wouldn't sound out of place on Superunknown!
Thanks so much UnderTheEaves, I am glad ya dig those! I really like the Superunknown album, one of the best ever, Chris is such a mega legend. I mixed and edited this song some, free download here:
@everdrone dude you been really laying out some good stuff. Your sound is really coming along. I'm still hanging around been having some crappie health issues with home and family but still around. Keep at it you can really tell your practicing...
@everdrone dude you been really laying out some good stuff. Your sound is really coming along. I'm still hanging around been having some crappie health issues with home and family but still around. Keep at it you can really tell your practicing...
Thanks SteveK for the listen, Im glad you dig this! I have been working on my singing for 1 to 2 hours every day and doing the whole volume 3 KTVA workout for over a year, I keep trying to find ways to improve. I hope your health issues with home and family get better and you crack through that glass ceiling! cheers
I recorded this one tonight, its a cover of Nine inch Nails song "Terrible Lie" with lots of vocal distortion at the end of the song:
@wesme cool song dude! not pitchy either. nice playing. I like smashing pumpkins! I wanna hear more support, maybe different vocal placement to get away from the "little boy" voice some.
Thank you for your feedback everdrone. I hear you in terms of 'little boy' voice but unfortunately that's kind of my natural tone I guess it's more of an artistic choice too.
Thank you for your feedback everdrone. I hear you in terms of 'little boy' voice but unfortunately that's kind of my natural tone I guess it's more of an artistic choice too.
Wes
cool man! as long as you are not limiting yourself. KTVA ken tamplin talks about ping sort of bright little boy note tonal placement for workouts only and not for performance unless an artistic choice.
Little boy voice is not only for workouts. It is an effect that normally can only be achieved after working out on high exercises for a while. Then the voice becomes placed in a higher, thinner tone. So you can't normally get there without working out for close to about an hour, but it's a great place to go onstage and perform after having accessed it. It's a better way to sing higher songs, without a lot of girth.
Just like you don't want to sing distorted, loud, belting songs all the time. But you certainly want to be able to do that when you want to go there.
You don't normally want to sing with ONLY little boy or little girl voice, but you do want to have it at least as one of the tonal colors and variants that are in your toolbox. It's one of the reasons why we have to warm up. We can't normally just walk on stage and be able to reliably and consistently sing in a more fragile way. We have to get "set-up" for it. We also should not walk out and start distorting on song #1 (especially without warming up) if we want to have a long-lasting singing career.
I liked the tone in the demo. It sounded very genuine to me, and was well-executed.
Sorry this sounds bad it's karaoke. It's been awhile since I posted something. I'm not expecting a break down of this song. Just talk about support in the song. Which I haven't heard this song in like forever. Don't know all the words. Here goes.
Listen to Moose karake by Steven Kindig #np on #SoundCloud
Your pitch and support are improving, as is your range and consistency. You still can use a little more consistency, but you're getting there. Good job on thinning out the chest sound up high.
@highmtn thx for the feedback back. I know I've takin the long road. But I think it's been a necessary evil. My muscles are finally starting to feel more natural and not like a 10 pound dude trying to lift a hundred pounds.
guns and roses at karaoke, cool man! @highmtn says it well, there are some exercises but I think pitchiness will improve with time. I would like to hear the axl rose type vocal distortion too.
@SteveK ya true best way is to practice the workout regularly/daily (even if only 20 minutes) and focus on doing it as quietly with as little air as possible let out, use tons of compression. my stomach muscles get sore from the diaphram compression so I gauge how extreme of compression I can do. gotta do it daily just like a weightlifter weightlifts or a runner trains.
Just me and my guitar on this one. I recently sang this song at my youngest son's wedding. Recorded it for them to share with their friends. "You and I" http://www.singsnap.com/karaoke/r/b77ea9c1b
Hi, I fell in love with this song a long time ago, but wasn`t able to sing it through until now. I watched the instructions and Ken`s fabulous demonstration of this classic over and over again and after weeks of hitting the wall I finally realized my overuse of consonants and overall pronunciation. I also throw a bunch of "h" on places I used to slam the sound, it`s a lifesaver! Still needs a lot of polishing, more continuous phrasing with better support and maybe more "drive", but this is where I am now.
Nice start on that song. You're right, it needs more support and polish, but you've really got the core of it working well. You've got some really nice moments where the tone and the note come together and make magic.
Keep working with it and get a little more swagger going. Make it your own. I look forward to hearing your progress with this number.
Yes, folks. A lot of people don't want to have to download your demos onto their computers, because the download sites often put program changes into your computer when you download. I know I don't like that.
Semi had to put his demo on YouTube because Souncloud blocked the song. That's the way it goes sometimes, but just be aware that more people will be willing to listen to your demos when they don't have to download it onto their computer or open an account with some third party site.
@highmtn, you really made my day! Trying to learn this song showed me a lot of things regarding vowel transitions, glottal stops and how to keep my throat continuously open, and suddenly my singing is much more effortless. Can`t wait to practice and record new songs!
how bout alice and chains? they have good harmonies for collabs and are not as extreme with the vocal distortion. I dont really like doing that extreme of distortion, Godsmack is as far as I go because they have cleans in Sully's singing.
you could work on one of the Alice in Chains songs and get the note pitches right, and then send me the files and I could harmonize. I plan on getting over to bandhub one of these days. I tried to collaborate with a dude on a guitar forum 4 months ago but he never did anything with the recording files I sent him, so I just harmonized with myself on an Alice and Chains song:
Some really good progress made by you guys. ... really liked the cover that @wesme did. I'd like to be able to do the 'little boy' voice people discussed. Quite full on GnR from @SteveK ... Inspired me to have another go at Sweet child of mine. @Semi ... nice! @everdrone ... Very cool heavy.
I plucked up enough courage to video myself today (all my other posts have been audio only). I'm now 18 months KTVA and certainly gone well beyond my C4 limit
@stratman thanks man, I have put in a lot of KTVA work, 1+ hour every day for a year and a half now. always trying to compress and work the diaphram muscles harder, like weightlifting. I like it that you commented on people's stuff; Im gonna make sure to ask for constructive criticism when I post here, I learned a lot from yalls comments and wanna keep the constructive criticism going so that I can learn further.
Cool GnR cover! Ill have to have a go at that song. why do yall keep picking these songs that are so hard to sing lol I remember befor KTVA thinking how could I ever sing GnR high notes powerfully with distortion and not in the RnB headvoice reserved for light singing (I like that for the Queens of the Stoneage stuff though like Monsters in the Parasol)
For me, I don't feel like it's little boy voice rather my natural tone. I guess I do prefer a brighter tone and try to add a fair amount of nasopharnyx in my sound but if I were to do the Lah exercise it's just as unmanly
Sounding good, bro. I'd kind of like to hear some more support in your voice. You've got the notes, but I think if you compressed more, it would be more consistent in the tone. A little more gut and a little less throat, if that makes sense.
This section of the forum is very alive! It`s great that we can encourage each other to post something. Good job, @stratman! You`ve made such progress! I`ve decided to pick something more "soulful" this time, another try from my "All-time favourite song list".
You are brave! That's one heck of a song. It's been one of my favorites for a long time. I would like to hear you eventually put some more gut/compression into that. It's kind of heady sounding right now, but you're getting the notes right on pitch. Nice job on the F#5's and the intervals between Bb4 and Eb5 ("He's Lost!")
It's cool to see so many students really going out on a limb with very difficult songs and starting the process of working through them and beefing them up.
it`s an awesome song and by doing it over and over again I had another "AHA" moments. I finally realized that I was singing my lower notes with too much pressure, I was tensing my body there and only then trying to relax into the higher notes. I was just complicating things for myself. This time I tried to sing lower notes in more opened and relaxed way, didn`t care about the volume and all the other notes were suddenly in ballance! Now I can go through this song 4-5 times in a row without any troubles. Of course, in the future I would like to go for a more compressed, "manlier" sound and taste the hyper-glottal compression, but one step at the time. I think some things must mature first.
Comments
Bob
Good bunch of guys on this one. 2 dutchmen: Krizz (on guitars) and Edgaronline (on drums) - and Jungle Jim from England (on bass)
Enjoy!
Peace,
Johan
This is nice. Your co-collaborator did a good job, as well. This is a little more production than most of your recordings, and it sounds good.
Bob
Something odd with your video posts. I can see them as YouTube embeds, but when I click on "play" they disappear and nothing happens. I'veNever seen that before. Troubleshooting time.
Your godsmack song worked OK, and you seemed to be doing the best you ever did. ;^)
Bob
Cheers, Konrad
Bob
not sure, they look fine here on my end. I never had that problem before but on this forum my posts dissapear even with my old computer or brand new computer with windows 10 so I am suspect. I wonder if it makes a difference what type of youtube link I post. Just for reference all my videos are here:
www.youtube.com/user/ronsimpsonesq/videos?shelf_id=0&view=0&sort=dd
I have not deleted them or anything, hmm...
this is the Filter song I tried to post, Ill try again:
Are you gigging, or still looking for good fit with a group? Your chops seem to be up to par.
Bob
my cover I recorded tonight of the song "Head Like a Hole" by Nine Inch Nails:
The fun continues at Bandhub - and I've a good 'belting' / 'distortion' challenge.
Cheap Trick - Reach Out And Take It
I think my support has improved and wasn't too bad on this one.
Any comments, observations and feedback welcome! :-)
Peace,
Johan
Before taking KTVA, if I would've tried singing this song either online, at a bar, or -- just basically anywhere, no doubt I'd have a sore throat afterwards and possibly not be able to sing again for a while.
Doing the program gives me not only the tools but also the confidence to try something like this - and do it safely.
My distortion is getting better - sometimes it kicks in and kicks out, but I can honestly say that after singing this one, I did several others - no problem What definitely helped was doing the full warm up exercises before.
Here's Superunknown - Soundgarden (one of my favourite bands)
Any comments / suggestions on technique(s) much appreciated!
Peace,
Johan
:^)
Bob
Musicians from the UK, France, Guatemala & Canada
Enjoy!
Musicians from the US, Brazil, Spain & Canada
I also posted my first youtube cover.
Tell me what you think
If you're liking my stuff, then please like my facebook artist page https://www.facebook.com/ozzyslantofficial/
I would say it sounds a bit better through headphones.
Maybe a tad too much reverb ...I know... sorry about that.
Always get a bit carried away with it.
Hope you enjoy them though.
Much love to KTVA.
Hope you are all progressing well.
1.Runaround Sue (Dion & The Belmonts)
https://clyp.it/3knurchh
2.Honky Tonk Woman (Rolling Stones)
https://clyp.it/znb1cd3s
3.Stand By Me (John Lennon Version)
https://clyp.it/zgybft44
4.Let It Go (James Bay)
https://clyp.it/k1xo5i0l
5.Human (The Killers)
https://clyp.it/bfgubfkj
I just sing in clubs and pubs so like to keep a bit of variety on the go.
All the best in your singing
Wayne
Bob
Are we ever truly happy though eh.
We can always do a little better..
Maybe thats a good thing...i dunno thats how i think anyways..
Keep going everyone
https://youtube.com/watch?v=H6YJ4CSHiHU
A new original song that I put together today.
"Now Is The Time"
Do have a listen and let me know what you think!
Peace
Peace,
Johan
Ill add you next time I log in at bandhub, I got a bunch of project invites that got snapped up really quickly, so I dont wanna log in until I have time to commit there, since I am working really hard at KTVA strengthening my diaphram and have a ways to go. I am thinking about starting the female KTVA course.
https://facebook.com/donnabob/videos/10203507454927082/
I am signed in to facebook, but your link took me to a message that said:
"Sorry, this content isn't available right now". So maybe where it's posted, only your church members can see it or something like that?
Just thought I'd let you know.
Bob
You're sounding good. A few thoughts hit me as I listened to your new samples.
On the first tune, Sweet Child O' Mine: The G#4 has too much wobble. I think you will like the sound of it if you remove the "caprino" vibrato and sing it as a well-supported straight tone. It just tends to sound wobbly with the fast "goat's wiggle" (as Ken would call it) vibrato. A straight tone with a ton of support will get rid of that effect entirely.
Another comment on lyrics like "minds" you are sustaining the "n" too long. We don't sing on consonants. Especially N's, will make you sound "nasal". We can cut off the end of a sustained vowel with a quick "n" on the cutoff, but don't dwell on it with a pitch. Same would be true for M's and Ng's, T's and R's... They're just cutoffs or onsets, not notes. When you hit that "N" it sounds like it's not "open" like it would be for mask. It's more a muffled "N" like when you're congested. So when you DO make an N, think "Robert Plant" with a frontal, open sound, wide in the pharynx, rather than dark and in the back of the vocal tract. Any air in the nose needs to exit brightly, not sound like it's muffled in congestion. So what I'm trying to say, is Brighten your N's and use them for cutoffs or if appropriate, onsets, but not sustains. If they happen, let them ring brightly, don't supress them.
Removing the wobble will make this sound more confident and consistent.
On the other hand, on the Neil Young song, your vibrato sounds killer and much more appropriate, and even at the proper speed. It's just a difference in the two songs.
Nice C5. Flawless Victory.
When you do "Feels" up high, those "EE"s are a little brutal. The way to soften them up is on the attack. Use what Ken calls the "A-EE" or the eh-EE to open up to that high EE vowel. It's gentler on your cords and on the ears of the listener. F-aye-EEls. It is done so quickly that it just rounds off the onset of the EE and is better on your voice in the long run.
Very nice notes along the way in your sirens. You've got the range and the notes. You just need to polish up some of the stops along the way.
:^)
Bob
https://youtu.be/QpKry4uxKPk
Your song doesn't sound bad. In general, the training you are just beginning will teach you many things that will help you to preserve your voice. Learning to sing with less air, more cord closure, and other techniques will come along the way to give your voice more consistency and resiliency.
Dig in and start grasping some of the fundamentals. There will be more specifics as you get deeper into the course.
Welcome.
Bob
My name is John Shane Sebree; I'm new to the forums, but have been following Ken for a couple years now. I've been singing for quite awhile, but haven't really taken much of a technical approach to it until the past year; I've always just went by the "feel" of it and did not really know what was actually going on during different techniques. I did a little medley in the hopes of getting some feedback on where I'm at since I really have no way to judge myself (and that can be quite difficult to do anyways). I did about 4 takes one day (after like a hour warm-up) and this was done the second day (after a couple takes). I know it sounds like I'm tearing my chords to shreds, but I wasn't horse at all and sang more the next day.
Thank you,
John Shane Sebree
You're getting up into some of the upper register belting. Up there you are going to need a lot more abdominal support to keep from killing your vocal cords. You are pushing the limits of your current range and sometimes a bit flat for the notes the songs call for.
On the verses of Feel Like Making Love, you are needing more support. The limited support you are using is making the verses a little pitchy. You use a more supported sound on the choruses. That's a little more on the mark.
The Audioslave tune also needs strong support for the verses.
Some of the distortion you are using does sound like it will eventually wear out your voice. Just because you are holding out OK so far, doesn't mean you'll be able to keep that up indefinitely. The distortion in Oh, Darlin' is pretty raw stuff, and can put excessive wear on your voice.
Much of what you sang in this demo seems to be pushing the limits of your range. You would do well to do exercises that will grow your range beyond its present limitations, so that the tunes you did in this demo can be done more in your stride, rather than at the edge of your voice breaking up.
It is time for you to really focus on reliable technique to keep you from being at the brink of vocal breakup most of the time. You have a pretty decent range, but you are singing songs that require a little more range than you presently can handle safely.
Support is the engine that drives your voice. Build monster support and the notes will come.
All the Best!
Bob
Be careful in the meantime to not stress your voice. You don't want to damage your vocal cords and then decide to start learning good technique.
All the Best!
Bob
Sounds good. Your voice fits like a glove.
my 2 cents:
I would say try and avoid distorting all high notes and sing some clean, then sing some lower notes with distortion.
I think you could get fuller tones if you relax the larnyx some and allow for a different vocal placement so you can feel the vibration more in the roof of your mouth. Ken Tamplin gets some great full tones and definitely advocates the bright ping note placement for training, but he relaxes into some fuller sounds when he sings bolder passages in songs.
my original song lyrics:
Pretty girl wont you come this way
I see you trying to look away
Somehow we meet, honey that sweet
Your honey oh, bring it lets go
Inside the furnace I turn on the heat
Running fast in the last lap
I see gold and I go for it at all costs
Picking up speed flying fast
Im drinking southern comfortably numb, I feel high life
Im burning my gasoline fires going blind, I feel numb
Im drinking southern comfortably numb, I feel high life
Im burning my gasoline fires going blind, I feel southern comfortably numb
Well make this work well make real right
The shining stars are southern comfortably bright
Ive been drinking and bar fighting all last night
So lets turn down a notch and feel real right
Pushin’ 90 miles an hour aint the best way to go
Speeding past the limits the only way I know
Shootin’ stars makes me feel all right
Shootin’ everything and shoot out the lights
I mixed it a bit more, free download here:
Here are my lyrics:
Inside the fears that you hide
Destroy the dead inside
Every turn you look you see your past
Every time you spiral into the past
Focusing on the past and future
You keep repeating your past
ride the storm into the now
find eternity in a moment
You could leave the past for gone
Would you know your face
You could leave your fears long gone
Would you know who you are
INSIDE FOREST, THE TUNNEL INTO THE MIND
THE TRUTH IS THERE, IF YOU LET IT BE
Let go of what pulls you down, Its dragging away from who you are
Let go of your demons, disappear into the night
RIDE THE SUN RAY, INTO THE LIGHT
PUSH THE PAST, AWAY FROM YOUR MIND
THE FUTURE A MIRAGE, A FIGMENT OF THOUGHT
DIE TO THE PAST, DIE TO THE FUTURE,
Can you find a way, can you find the now
ITS THERE IN FRONT OF YOU
CAN YOU TAKE A CHANCE
ITS THERE IN FRONT OF YOU
CAN YOU TAKE BACK
Paradise City (Guns n Roses cover):
I recorded this one tonight, its a cover of Nine inch Nails song "Terrible Lie" with lots of vocal distortion at the end of the song:
Been doing KTVA for about two years now but I've only really recently felt like my voice was good enough to share.
So here's my Landslide cover. Enjoy!
Issues- The Langdon House (Vocal Cover)
Bob
Thank you for your feedback everdrone. I hear you in terms of 'little boy' voice but unfortunately that's kind of my natural tone
Wes
Just like you don't want to sing distorted, loud, belting songs all the time. But you certainly want to be able to do that when you want to go there.
You don't normally want to sing with ONLY little boy or little girl voice, but you do want to have it at least as one of the tonal colors and variants that are in your toolbox. It's one of the reasons why we have to warm up. We can't normally just walk on stage and be able to reliably and consistently sing in a more fragile way. We have to get "set-up" for it. We also should not walk out and start distorting on song #1 (especially without warming up) if we want to have a long-lasting singing career.
I liked the tone in the demo. It sounded very genuine to me, and was well-executed.
Listen to Moose karake by Steven Kindig #np on #SoundCloud
Catch ya later
Steven
@Semi it says that your video is private so I cannot see it
Nice start on that song. You're right, it needs more support and polish, but you've really got the core of it working well. You've got some really nice moments where the tone and the note come together and make magic.
Keep working with it and get a little more swagger going. Make it your own. I look forward to hearing your progress with this number.
Bob
Semi had to put his demo on YouTube because Souncloud blocked the song. That's the way it goes sometimes, but just be aware that more people will be willing to listen to your demos when they don't have to download it onto their computer or open an account with some third party site.
@highmtn, you really made my day! Trying to learn this song showed me a lot of things regarding vowel transitions, glottal stops and how to keep my throat continuously open, and suddenly my singing is much more effortless. Can`t wait to practice and record new songs!
Sam
you could work on one of the Alice in Chains songs and get the note pitches right, and then send me the files and I could harmonize. I plan on getting over to bandhub one of these days. I tried to collaborate with a dude on a guitar forum 4 months ago but he never did anything with the recording files I sent him, so I just harmonized with myself on an Alice and Chains song:
I plucked up enough courage to video myself today (all my other posts have been audio only). I'm now 18 months KTVA and certainly gone well beyond my C4 limit
Cool GnR cover! Ill have to have a go at that song. why do yall keep picking these songs that are so hard to sing lol I remember befor KTVA thinking how could I ever sing GnR high notes powerfully with distortion and not in the RnB headvoice reserved for light singing (I like that for the Queens of the Stoneage stuff though like Monsters in the Parasol)
For me, I don't feel like it's little boy voice rather my natural tone. I guess I do prefer a brighter tone and try to add a fair amount of nasopharnyx in my sound but if I were to do the Lah exercise it's just as unmanly
Great job on the White Room - one of my favs!
I think that I probably used too much volume.
Sounding good, bro. I'd kind of like to hear some more support in your voice. You've got the notes, but I think if you compressed more, it would be more consistent in the tone. A little more gut and a little less throat, if that makes sense.
Nice job!
Bob
I`ve decided to pick something more "soulful" this time, another try from my "All-time favourite song list".
Sam
You are brave! That's one heck of a song. It's been one of my favorites for a long time. I would like to hear you eventually put some more gut/compression into that. It's kind of heady sounding right now, but you're getting the notes right on pitch. Nice job on the F#5's and the intervals between Bb4 and Eb5 ("He's Lost!")
It's cool to see so many students really going out on a limb with very difficult songs and starting the process of working through them and beefing them up.
Bob
it`s an awesome song and by doing it over and over again I had another "AHA" moments. I finally realized that I was singing my lower notes with too much pressure, I was tensing my body there and only then trying to relax into the higher notes. I was just complicating things for myself.
This time I tried to sing lower notes in more opened and relaxed way, didn`t care about the volume and all the other notes were suddenly in ballance! Now I can go through this song 4-5 times in a row without any troubles.
Of course, in the future I would like to go for a more compressed, "manlier" sound and taste the hyper-glottal compression, but one step at the time. I think some things must mature first.
Sam