I hadn't submitted anything to the forum for critical review on here when I initially joined as I thought it was more for KTVA students already working on the programme, so my apologies if I'm posting inappropriately or anything.
I've been singing since I was about 14 but stopped for quite a while, only really getting back into professional, paid work in the last year or so. Singing in rock and metal bands for years with a bad technique took its toll on my voice, but fortunately I came across Ken's videos on YouTube and basically started again from scratch as a complete newbie.
Prior to that, I'd started posting some vocal covers on YouTube, so I can already look back at those and hear the difference that even the most basic exercises have brought! I wanted to post a few examples of my voice to get some feedback/criticism from yourselves, so please feel free to be as harsh as you want; I'd much rather that than any pussy-footing around as you guys seem to really know your stuff and I trust your opinions based on what I've read on here so far.
I think I'm naturally a baritone, but I'd be interested to hear your take on it as I think it'd help me focus more on the areas I really need to work on to make the most of my instrument.
Here's my vocal cover of "Ore D'amore" by Fred Bongusto (you might know it better as "The World We Knew" from Sinatra's version, or maybe from Mike Patton's Mondo Cane project).
Another, post-Ken's videos cover I did was "Overkill" by Men at Work. I'd approached this with a much cleaner tone that I'd been using for years and had developed more volume control that I'd ever had, thanks to Ken's YT videos.
I'm currently singing in a rock/soul covers band at the moment, so I'd been trying to bring some grit back to my voice on this cover of "Green River" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Unfortunately, and rather stupidly, I was singing at this gig while trying to recover from the 'flu and then do another two 3+ hour shows the following two nights...yes, I'm a total fool. Hahahaha!
Any advice or feedback would be appreciated. I should hopefully be starting a new job at the end of this month after eight months of unemployment and low-paying gigs, so KTVA's at the top of my list of purchases but unfortunately I'm not enrolled or using Ken's programme fully at the moment.
From your low tones you sound like a baritone. Tenors can't quite get that rich of a low-end on their voices. That said, you sound fine on a B4, which is a very respectable note for a baritone. Your tone and pitch are very good. On the scales up on the last verse of overkill, you could support those notes more to keep them from punching so hard. Those would be better if they were finessed and compressed just a bit, to get a little more consistency, but it's a good run of notes.
Thanks Bob, I really appreciate your time and comments. I know what you mean about the support and keeping the notes from punching so hard, it's something I've been continually working on as I was still falling into bad habits like using too much pressure, pushing rather than releasing into it, etc.
I was able to consistently hit and sustain a G5 before I stopped singing full-time, so to know that my B4 sounds anywhere near acceptable is a great boost.
@everdrone definitely agree ... very bright sounding.
@highmtn@bentk I've been working on pitch. I did this at the lowest end of my voice as soft as I dare. I sense the most resonance when soft and that low. This down to E2. I can go down to D2 but can't sustain as good as E2. Does this sound in tune to you guys? @highmtn bright enough?
Nice bright tone. On the "I'm found" you slide down into the pitch on "I'm". You could try to hit it with a bull's eye and it will be even better. On those notes (the F# and E2, you could experiment with being even a little brighter. I know that seems a little counterintuitive, but keeping it really bright can help you to hear the pitch down that low with greater accuracy, which will help you to bullseye that note more quickly and confidently.
Good support on those low notes, by the way. Our lowest notes will wobble on us if we don't hold on to a very steady stream of air. That's hard to do, because we are singing on the full length of our cords and that requires a slightly greater quantity and consistency of air flow to keep an even volume and pitch.
Ive been studying vol 1 for a month would like some brutal feedback and suggestions on where to focus pretty please thanks
theres tons more on me soundcloud if ur interested nothing like finished state lol but its useful to see if im getting better, be warned i make a lot of weird guitar impression noises to try and figure out how to make sounds i like lol you may find it odd i find it hilarious and helps me relax when practicing
I thought you were doing quite well with Mr. Crowley for the first two verses, but after that it went downhill.
Right before the solo, you missed the high note. It goes up to G# on the word "birth". There are more G#'s in the last verse too that you weren't singing either. The last verse sounded much worse overall than the first two.
Your excessive humming and "dadadadadas" during the solos is not necessary, and the more it goes on, it just gets more and more annoying. Please don't do that. Just don't.
Like I said, you were on good pitch for the first two verses, and your tone wasn't bad either.
Overall I rate it 5/10. You asked for brutal feedback so there you go.
@everdrone If you could clone yourself into a headless quintet, you wouldn't need any bandmates. This is the complete doom metal sound, vocals, instruments... This is ultimate doom. It doesn't help that there's a full moon outside right now...
You are ready for the doom room. Full Moon Doom Room.
Just passed 2 years. I can do the vol 3 exercises with no trouble at all and now trying to use the techniques in songs. It's weird being able to do all those vol 3 exercises easily but struggling when applying to songs ... slowly making song progress though. Been working on my pitch heaps too.
Here's some examples of me pulling back air as much as I can. I think I might be using glottal compression but unsure.
It's time to start doing a few tunes on vowels only, starting with the LAH. No consonants. Sustaining contiguous vowels to the melodies. Working on supporting the notes. After the Lah, then the vowels transitioning on the actual vowels. Just take one song at first. Make it your laboratory. Line-by-line. Finally, adding only the minimum consonants required.
There's a little bit of wobble, or unevenness in your breath. You'll want to hunker down on that a little bit, even though you're cutting back the breath. Appoggio means literally "to lean on". Cord closure can help to cut back the amount of air you use, but mostly it comes from overall conservation of breath. But you have to keep it moving smoothly. There's a balance you have to find to regulate an even, smooth, low flow. Closure helps to keep that from being a slow leak.
@stratman like your new SoundCloud posts. Your really learning to hold that breath in gives that nice soft warm sound to your voice. Good job keep it up!
@everdrone Two seconds to Insanity. You really getting a nice sound compared to when you first started out. You used to sound like you were hurting your voice by all the extra air that was escaping. But now man your voice is really coming out. Great job on this.
@highmtn I'm still hanging out listening and the voice is still growing. Different muscles are beginning to get involved holding back my air. I'm recently getting into trying to get a good sound with Jonny Cash "Hurt". It's coming but will take time to get that extra slow air air. I'm learning to get past trying to slow that air in my throat which has been a major problem of mine. Now I have to get my new muscles built up we'll see how as time goes. As always thx for being there to help us all grow our new voices. Steve
@SteveK thanks. I was away on a work trip last week and was doing vol 3 practice in car park at airport. I had a definite aha moment that I'm desperate to achieve again. I was holding back air well and the high notes were effortless with what I felt was great tone.
I'm a little frustrated because I haven't been able to do it since ... if I could get back on to that and get it into my singing, I will be well pleased. I often use the dude exercises where ken is singing (not piano only) so I can match his vowel mods and tone. I used an app called mp3directcut to extract the exercise bits.
I've found that when I'm "in the zone" high notes are effortless with good tone. Unfortunately, being in the zone hasn't happened while in front of my recording gear (yet). Thinking about it, I need to install a recording app on my phone to capture those moments. Maybe the SoundCloud app can help
@stratman I'm starting to be able to get a nice gentle massage feeling on my cords. It used to be massive air pressure and holding back air like my cords were holding the air back trying to do all the support. Hopefully soon I'll have something good to post but my lower muscles are still building.
@SteveK I did notice a little discomfort at the base of my neck after doing a full vol 3 while holding back air. Felt I was doing something wrong but it was the only way to get the better tone. The discomfort is subsiding so wonder whether it's just muscles that haven't been used before.
Here's the part of my range I want to strengthen. This is what those higher notes currently sound like with as much compression as I can muster (what a work out the support is for these notes) ... still a bit pitchy but that will come with time
@stratman, remember that those notes up at that A-C jump will be miniature versions of a note like a G4. Taper those down in volume and in girth and hold them down at the gut. The smaller they are, the easier they are to manage. Then, once you can contain them, you can worry about whether they're big enough. That's seldom the problem. The problem is more one of getting them down to a manageable size in the first place.
Learning support can drive you crazy. I had the same thing, as far as being able to duplicate it after stumbling onto it. You just have to keep repeating and when you have those lucid moments where you suddenly are hitting those money notes and they're relatively effortless when compared to the way those same notes feel when you're killing yourself to fail on them... THAT's where you have to pull the car over, or stop the band in the middle of the song, and turn on the recorder (just kidding, but being able to RECALL it can even be difficult, because it's just the summation of the things you've been trying to put together, and suddenly it just clicks.) . After a while, yes, you can recall it on command, or catch yourself not supporting and just go "Ungh!" and instantly support. But that magic word doesn't work unless your body knows how to do it, and your voice knows how to sit on that cushion of air.
@SteveK, glad you're still fighting the good fight! Sounds like some of this is beginning to take hold with you.
@highmtn@SteveK I managed to capture a moment where I felt I was doing my best like the experience last week in the car. I hope to sing songs like "everyone's a winner" with this more resonant sound. What I posted yesterday was to show the extreme opposite I.e. I was using huge force on my stomach to sing that high .... noticed a headache coming on too
This is more relaxed. Maybe too relaxed as I lose support on some of the lower notes. Don't focus too much on my pitch but rather the tone, particularly when I descend after hitting E5
I like how open, light, and relaxed it is on some really crazy-high scales. It's not hooty-flutey high, either. Nice work. You're getting some good traction, moving ahead. Every note isn't perfect, but there are a lot of really good moments here. That's the path to better and better. You're letting the vowel mods take their natural course. Very good.
Was having a listen to some of my favorite male singers isolated from the backing music. Is very interesting as you can hear the compression some are using. I did upload a video here but youtube muted it due to copyright
Take a look on youtube for "isolate vocals" for some of your favorite singers
This is probably your best tune you've posted here. Interesting. Has a hook. I like the tempo. I like the vocal doubling here and there.
Thanks for commenting on the tempo. I think it fits too even though some people want it to go fast. I dont wanna redo everything hehe :P. I guess people will always have different opinions when listening to songs. Of course! I'll keep posting songs here maybe It is KTVA that started my singing, like really started.
This is a little bit beyond your present skill-set, but I have to say, I wouldn't have believed you were capable of being even this far along, based upon your first demos in which you couldn't even hit one note in the same key as the song or exercise you were singing.
I'm really encouraged by your effort and dedication to wanting to really learn to sing. I'm looking forward to where you are going to take this.
You have a lot of work to do. You're still very pitchy, but you're getting closer every day.
Start working the KTVA exercises more, and keep doing your pitch drills. You are improving. You have a lot of work ahead of you. Your determination will go a long way towards getting you there. I repeat: Start doing the KTVA EXERCISES MORE.
You have a lot of work to do. You're still very pitchy, but you're getting closer every day.
Start working the KTVA exercises more, and keep doing your pitch drills. You are improving. You have a lot of work ahead of you. Your determination will go a long way towards getting you there. I repeat: Start doing the KTVA EXERCISES MORE.
Technique first. Songs after. Pitch always.
You'll get there!
@highmtn Thanks! I need to work my vocal weight,though.
Btw,seems that the more brightness I add to my timbre ,the more vocal size I lose. Therefore it usually sounds like I'm whispering.
Plus,even on my current highest chest notes (from C4 to F and F#4),my voice isn't "little boy's" enough.
I want my vocals to be "little boy's voice" from my lowest to highest note. I try using that sort of timbre all the time,even when speaking,yet seems like I'm doing something wrong because I never seem bright and "little boy" enough.
Please tell me more ways to improve my little boys voice,other than speaking with it all the time (because I already do that).
Nice c5 on the Neil Young song. I was wanting more brightness on the Bad Co. That one seems a hair flat. Brighter would help you to home in on the center of the pitch. Maybe needing a bit more support on the Bad Co. The Neil Young seems much brighter than the Bad Co tonally. Your Vol 3 practice has a good, bright tone, as well. Good intonation also. Great support on that long-scale.
Me trying to cover an acustic version of circa survive`s get out. Couldn't menage singing those high chest notes yet... Anyways here it is. https://youtu.be/cmapagyr_0M
I sound pretty much like a tenor,though I'm unsure whether I'm a Tenor Leggierio (high tenor) or not. Anyways..
Begun doing vol1 a few days ago,after 2 months and a half training basic pitch.
This is still out of pitch, but amazingly closer than when you started a couple of months ago. Get to work on the actual lessons now, and let your voice start to grow and stabilize.
This is still out of pitch, but amazingly closer than when you started a couple of months ago. Get to work on the actual lessons now, and let your voice start to grow and stabilize.
Thanks very much. Aside from pitch,is every other aspect of my voice good?
I'm having quite a hard time with using little boy voice below the 4th octave,though I've been trying my best to do so all the time,even when speaking.
Fortunely,(in my opinion) my timbre is closer to "bright" than "dark" on the 3th octave... thats an accomplishment.
That's kind of hard to say, because you are still kind of birthing your voice, and you're struggling to hit notes that are still in the baritone range. But you sometimes get everything aligned to get a good sound higher up. So I wouldn't be too certain just yet. Let's see what you can do a few months down the road...
That's kind of hard to say, because you are still kind of birthing your voice, and you're struggling to hit notes that are still in the baritone range. But you sometimes get everything aligned to get a good sound higher up. So I wouldn't be too certain just yet. Let's see what you can do a few months down the road...
The only information I have on my current voice is: my first passagio is on F#4 or F4. Nowadays thats the note on which my chest breaks into head. By adding futher size to my chest,though,I can go much higher...
Anyways,in my current rehearsals,should I go as high as B5 with my head voice?
That's the thinnest note from the work outs.
The highest I can sustain through head is E5 right now,yet I've hit notes even higher than B5 before,just for fun.
@viniciusoliveira you have a very nice voice. Great potential. Im no professional. But highmtn is looking for your voice to smooth out and get brighter as you sing. Its very soft spoken in some places as you work the program your voice will smooth out and you will have more control. Highmtn will be glad to help you thru your growth. He has given you the best advice he can at this point. Work the program he will be able to help you grow your voice if you take the time and do as he suggests.
@viniciusoliveira you have a very nice voice. Great potential. Im no professional. But highmtn is looking for your voice to smooth out and get brighter as you sing. Its very soft spoken in some places as you work the program your voice will smooth out and you will have more control. Highmtn will be glad to help you thru your growth. He has given you the best advice he can at this point. Work the program he will be able to help you grow your voice if you take the time and do as he suggests.
Sounds good, Jacob. Be careful with that distortion. Make sure you don't sing those parts too loud, or you could hurt your voice.
Thanks man! And yeah absolutely, however I find that singing aggressive parts like that require more volume than most clean parts I've ever sang. The way I do it in this video doesn't hurt or cause discomfort though!
Awesome, Konrad. I even heard a little vibe from "Dear Prudence" in there, about midway. Very, very nice songwriting and singing. Difinitely some Robert Plant flavoring in there, too. Delightful!
Hi @KonradSzymanski, great tune, man! During the intro I thought I was hearing new hit from Ed Sheeran. Nice production, overall very good recording. Let`s play it again!
Hey guys, i am new to the sight. I have been singing for a number of years but only just decided to work on improving my voice. I don't have as much time as i would like to commit to the programme and have only done some of the stage 1 vocal exercises. I hav already seen an increase in my range. I have attached a link for don't stop believing by journey. It doesn't sound great but i wouldn't even have tried it before!!! See what you think. Sorry i don't know how to embed it into the forum!!
I just thought i'd add a second as a recording as a contrast to my previous one. Any advice on either would be great. This one is Moondance in the style of Michael Buble. soundcloud.com/gareth-peebles-645507322/moondance
Sorry to be a complete dunce, having listened to these would you be able to help me. I have no idea what kind of singer i am and what my range is? I have very little musical knowledge as you can clearly tell.
Actually, you're pretty close to the tone Steve Perry uses on the Journey song, and you've got a good Buble sound going as well. Songs have a lot of moving parts, and can tend to be composites of several takes, so sometimes it's hard to make judgements, especially deep within a mix.
We can be more helpful to you on some of the simple scales, where we're looking closely at your individual vowels and what you're doing with them. Also, after you've learned some of the KTVA techniques we can look at how you're employing those into songs, but again, there may be hundreds of notes in a song, and sometimes getting the basics right first is a better route to apply to songs. Then we can talk about where you need to apply this or that more or less.
You really have a pretty good voice going on to start with. We need to strip away the song-singing for a while and look at the core of your voice and how you're producing it.
A basic Lah scale will give us a lot of information to start with.
after a month of struggle I was finally able to beat this nasty laryngitis. My voice still isn`t in best shape but I kept practicing, anyway. Just a quick recording from my practice, tried to open up my tone even more to achieve the relaxed Sam Cooke/Steve Perry`s round, warm sound:
vertidog Posts: 8Pro 5:14AM Flag0 ("I thought i'd add another for people to have a listen to and any comments and advice would be great.")
I enjoyed your cover! I think the characteristics of you voice are great! You have been doing wedding singing? Do you gig as a solo act with backing tracks, your own PA etc?
Wow! You created such a beautiful recording, great song and your voice is so good!!! You are very talented. You definitely need to keep going. This is what you should do in life!
viniciusoliveira Posts: 189Enrolled March 20 Flag0 "Me trying to cover an acustic version of circa survive`s get out. Couldn't menage singing those high chest notes yet... Anyways here it is."
For me, anyway, I think that the exercises are great but then being able to apply the mass of instruction impeccably to singing actual songs is going to take time! That's where the patience and iron determination will come in! I get really inspired watching the pro video student demonstrations! Wow, every single one of those videos of student cover songs are amazing. Whenever is watch one I think, "Is THIS possible???" I want to do that well too, so I do my exercises 6 days every single week and I'm not going to give up! Just like me, we have not really been with this long enough to build the muscles or train muscle memory etc. yet. I bet you'll get the increased range you are after and when you have trained awhile pitch issues will resolve too. I like your voice! If you stick with it I think you'll be a wonderful singer!
vertidog Posts: 8Pro 5:14AM Flag0 ("I thought i'd add another for people to have a listen to and any comments and advice would be great.")
I enjoyed your cover! I think the characteristics of you voice are great! You have been doing wedding singing? Do you gig as a solo act with backing tracks, your own PA etc?
Hi Cherie,
I am just starting out, I have only done one gig so far. Just trying to push myself to improve as i know how competitive it will be.
Ye i use backing tracks, i bought a PA just hoping i can earn enough to pay it off!!
Playing around with some Rainbow/Dio. Only a small clip. I know for sure I couldn't sing this well a year ago. My voice is stronger in the higher register than it used to be. I definitely couldn't belt with as much clarity or power. Still have a tad bit of shakiness on a few notes, but overall I love the way my voice is sounding.
Yeah, improving your support can help settle those shaky notes. Still, you're playing around with Bb4, C5, and D5 in chest. Yes, I would say you are getting into some serious territory. What's cool is that you're in there, working those notes, starting to build some strength and endurance up there where only the brave dare to go.
@highmtn@Semi@Cherie Thanks, your comments are the most satisfactory reward I can get! I'm so glad people actually like what I do. Earn a living as a musician, that would also be nice Haha, I'm definitely not going to stop writing music in the near future as it simply brings me so much joy
Thanks Bob! I hadn't been singing for the last 4 months or so, I was working as a tax preparer and the season recently ended. Coming back into the singing is really exciting for me; I can't wait to see what this next year will bring. Gonna keep at it and maybe by next year I'll have grown another half note. One at a time. As long as it takes.
Hi all, i'm sat here with a broken ankle and a chest infection!! So I have nothing better to do than post some so tracks. See what you think of this ine. I tried to take on board some of the adivce Ken gives when he recorded this song. Cheers!
Okay. I’m totally new here but I would just like to share a few of the songs I’ve written and recorded so far. The first two are years old, but the last one is recent.
I will listen to some of the songs by others, posted above. But right now, it’s getting late out here (NL). I should be trying to get to bed. =D
And yes, I’m feeling embarrassed to share these songs. I guess I’ll have to share more embarrassing videos later on, actually showing myself doing exercises and stuff… =/
And my most recent project, my first project in Ableton, recorded around Christmas 2016 (lyrics are a poem written by a friend of mine in our native language, Dutch — and the thunder is a Spring Reverb plug-in! ).
Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoy though I really need improvement — it feels, having watched the first few of Ken’s lessons, that I have to start all over again unlearning bad habits and technique… but at least, this time it’ll be in the right way!
Please don’t hesitate to point out the problems with my singing voice that you hear. I’m posting here to get honest feedback.
I am very much looking forward to learning how to actually *sing* like a pro, through KTVA.
Hi all, I am still off work as mentioned above I have a broken ankle. I did some recording yesterday and again tried to use the advice Ken gives to reach the high notes in the song. It was tough asI was leaning on my crutches throughout so couldn't get that upright position that Ken talks about. I think there were some support issues but I did my best considering. Let me know what you think. Oh by the way it's a cover of 'Always' by Bon Jovi.
Kevin, the playback on your demo has a lot of warbly sound in it. I'm not sure what you recorded it on. You're using a lot of power to get up to those higher notes (B4, etc.). But I can hear that you're knocking on the door up there. As you get more accustomed to dwelling in those notes, you'll be able to relax more into those notes, and do them without hitting them so hard, more in stride.
You might want to try shedding some more weight as you get to G4 and above. It's hard to carry a lot of tone and girth up that high, without blasting to get the note to sound.
More support in opposition to, or resistance of, the tendency to overvolume on notes like that. i.e. push down on the diaphragm more, rather than push out on the air.
You might want to try shedding some more weight as you get to G4 and above. It's hard to carry a lot of tone and girth up that high, without blasting to get the note to sound.
Indeed it is. That's the real challenge, isn't it? Getting "girth", as you say, when you're cutting back the air.
One vocal instructor I met told me that I should just let my mic give me my power. Makes sense, considering we can dial the volume up as high as it needs to be to, and our power is right there. I'm currently playing around with some new equipment and hope to make some better recordings by the end of the week. I'm gonna keep trying new things.
Dear Ken, We bought your Pro program so I can teach my daughter to rock! She would love to take lessons, but we would like to invite you to become our school vendor. I homeschool my daughter,Kedaton, through Ocean Grove Charter School and each child receive stipend to spend on classes. In order to spend the stipend, we have to use them for school vendors. It is free of cost to be one and the school has over 2000 students that can use your coaching. Please check further details here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeiGXjsXqFVXpYwKqUjk8J-Cli4El6_IEKFkWWZNNtFq9h52A/viewform?c=0&w=1
Best regards, Luc PS: We've been watching you for hours the past 2 years and Keda really enjoy learning new technique from you. She would like to say hello too! Included in the links below her progress on singing.
Hi! Keda speaking here! Finally my mom would stop talking so that I can speak to you too! Your video classes encouraged me to start singing in front of the public, and I, want someday, to make a career out of it! Singing, and playing instruments are just two of my favorite hobbies! and oh, it would be a dream if i met you in real life! I watch your videos day and night whether its 1:00 in the morning or 12:00 at night! I hope you like my singing videos and reply back!
That was pretty good. You've got a nice bottom tone on your voice, but it could sound even better if you would add a nice, bright top-end to that sound. You're singing with your mouth a little bit closed. If you will smile up into your cheeks and to expose your upper teeth more, you can brigthen up the tone a bit, and still have that same bottom-end sound. That brighter tone will help you to zero-in on pitch accuracy a little better, as well.
Comments
I hadn't submitted anything to the forum for critical review on here when I initially joined as I thought it was more for KTVA students already working on the programme, so my apologies if I'm posting inappropriately or anything.
I've been singing since I was about 14 but stopped for quite a while, only really getting back into professional, paid work in the last year or so. Singing in rock and metal bands for years with a bad technique took its toll on my voice, but fortunately I came across Ken's videos on YouTube and basically started again from scratch as a complete newbie.
Prior to that, I'd started posting some vocal covers on YouTube, so I can already look back at those and hear the difference that even the most basic exercises have brought! I wanted to post a few examples of my voice to get some feedback/criticism from yourselves, so please feel free to be as harsh as you want; I'd much rather that than any pussy-footing around as you guys seem to really know your stuff and I trust your opinions based on what I've read on here so far.
I think I'm naturally a baritone, but I'd be interested to hear your take on it as I think it'd help me focus more on the areas I really need to work on to make the most of my instrument.
Here's my vocal cover of "Ore D'amore" by Fred Bongusto (you might know it better as "The World We Knew" from Sinatra's version, or maybe from Mike Patton's Mondo Cane project).
Another, post-Ken's videos cover I did was "Overkill" by Men at Work. I'd approached this with a much cleaner tone that I'd been using for years and had developed more volume control that I'd ever had, thanks to Ken's YT videos.
I'm currently singing in a rock/soul covers band at the moment, so I'd been trying to bring some grit back to my voice on this cover of "Green River" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Unfortunately, and rather stupidly, I was singing at this gig while trying to recover from the 'flu and then do another two 3+ hour shows the following two nights...yes, I'm a total fool. Hahahaha!
Any advice or feedback would be appreciated. I should hopefully be starting a new job at the end of this month after eight months of unemployment and low-paying gigs, so KTVA's at the top of my list of purchases but unfortunately I'm not enrolled or using Ken's programme fully at the moment.
All the best,
Tommy
Nice job. Good to hear your voice.
Bob
I was able to consistently hit and sustain a G5 before I stopped singing full-time, so to know that my B4 sounds anywhere near acceptable is a great boost.
Thank you again!
https://youtu.be/R_zGpQJ6rSw
@highmtn @bentk I've been working on pitch. I did this at the lowest end of my voice as soft as I dare. I sense the most resonance when soft and that low. This down to E2. I can go down to D2 but can't sustain as good as E2. Does this sound in tune to you guys? @highmtn bright enough?
Nice bright tone. On the "I'm found" you slide down into the pitch on "I'm". You could try to hit it with a bull's eye and it will be even better. On those notes (the F# and E2, you could experiment with being even a little brighter. I know that seems a little counterintuitive, but keeping it really bright can help you to hear the pitch down that low with greater accuracy, which will help you to bullseye that note more quickly and confidently.
Good support on those low notes, by the way. Our lowest notes will wobble on us if we don't hold on to a very steady stream of air. That's hard to do, because we are singing on the full length of our cords and that requires a slightly greater quantity and consistency of air flow to keep an even volume and pitch.
Nice job.
theres tons more on me soundcloud if ur interested nothing like finished state lol but its useful to see if im getting better, be warned i make a lot of weird guitar impression noises to try and figure out how to make sounds i like lol you may find it odd i find it hilarious and helps me relax when practicing
Right before the solo, you missed the high note. It goes up to G# on the word "birth". There are more G#'s in the last verse too that you weren't singing either. The last verse sounded much worse overall than the first two.
Your excessive humming and "dadadadadas" during the solos is not necessary, and the more it goes on, it just gets more and more annoying. Please don't do that. Just don't.
Like I said, you were on good pitch for the first two verses, and your tone wasn't bad either.
Overall I rate it 5/10. You asked for brutal feedback so there you go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3x7A66a6mo
If you could clone yourself into a headless quintet, you wouldn't need any bandmates. This is the complete doom metal sound, vocals, instruments... This is ultimate doom. It doesn't help that there's a full moon outside right now...
You are ready for the doom room. Full Moon Doom Room.
...but now they are hunting me down trying to take me out!!! lol ***howls at full moon***
Here's some examples of me pulling back air as much as I can. I think I might be using glottal compression but unsure.
It's time to start doing a few tunes on vowels only, starting with the LAH. No consonants. Sustaining contiguous vowels to the melodies. Working on supporting the notes. After the Lah, then the vowels transitioning on the actual vowels. Just take one song at first. Make it your laboratory. Line-by-line. Finally, adding only the minimum consonants required.
There's a little bit of wobble, or unevenness in your breath. You'll want to hunker down on that a little bit, even though you're cutting back the breath. Appoggio means literally "to lean on". Cord closure can help to cut back the amount of air you use, but mostly it comes from overall conservation of breath. But you have to keep it moving smoothly. There's a balance you have to find to regulate an even, smooth, low flow. Closure helps to keep that from being a slow leak.
All the Best!
Bob
Note: is blocked from playing inline on the forum but will play if you click to go to youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33crPxGlHNY&feature=youtu.be
Steve
https://youtu.be/Tm4BrZjY_Sg
I'm a little frustrated because I haven't been able to do it since ... if I could get back on to that and get it into my singing, I will be well pleased. I often use the dude exercises where ken is singing (not piano only) so I can match his vowel mods and tone. I used an app called mp3directcut to extract the exercise bits.
I've found that when I'm "in the zone" high notes are effortless with good tone. Unfortunately, being in the zone hasn't happened while in front of my recording gear (yet). Thinking about it, I need to install a recording app on my phone to capture those moments. Maybe the SoundCloud app can help
Learning support can drive you crazy. I had the same thing, as far as being able to duplicate it after stumbling onto it. You just have to keep repeating and when you have those lucid moments where you suddenly are hitting those money notes and they're relatively effortless when compared to the way those same notes feel when you're killing yourself to fail on them... THAT's where you have to pull the car over, or stop the band in the middle of the song, and turn on the recorder (just kidding, but being able to RECALL it can even be difficult, because it's just the summation of the things you've been trying to put together, and suddenly it just clicks.) . After a while, yes, you can recall it on command, or catch yourself not supporting and just go "Ungh!" and instantly support. But that magic word doesn't work unless your body knows how to do it, and your voice knows how to sit on that cushion of air.
@SteveK, glad you're still fighting the good fight! Sounds like some of this is beginning to take hold with you.
This is more relaxed. Maybe too relaxed as I lose support on some of the lower notes. Don't focus too much on my pitch but rather the tone, particularly when I descend after hitting E5
Comments welcome
Thanks for posting this. E5...
:-)
Take a look on youtube for "isolate vocals" for some of your favorite singers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxaySYRmD6o
People say tempo should be faster, I agree but still like the regular tempo!
Any thoughts?
Album: Caress of Steel
https://youtu.be/KtU_tjDIamY
This is a little bit beyond your present skill-set, but I have to say, I wouldn't have believed you were capable of being even this far along, based upon your first demos in which you couldn't even hit one note in the same key as the song or exercise you were singing.
I'm really encouraged by your effort and dedication to wanting to really learn to sing. I'm looking forward to where you are going to take this.
You have a lot of work to do. You're still very pitchy, but you're getting closer every day.
Start working the KTVA exercises more, and keep doing your pitch drills. You are improving. You have a lot of work ahead of you. Your determination will go a long way towards getting you there. I repeat: Start doing the KTVA EXERCISES MORE.
Technique first. Songs after. Pitch always.
You'll get there!
I need to work my vocal weight,though.
Btw,seems that the more brightness I add to my timbre ,the more vocal size I lose.
Therefore it usually sounds like I'm whispering.
Plus,even on my current highest chest notes (from C4 to F and F#4),my voice isn't "little boy's" enough.
I want my vocals to be "little boy's voice" from my lowest to highest note. I try using that sort of timbre all the time,even when speaking,yet seems like I'm doing something wrong because I never seem bright and "little boy" enough.
Please tell me more ways to improve my little boys voice,other than speaking with it all the time (because I already do that).
Latest singing example:
Starting to add distortion ... 1st verse clean, next two progressively more (still a bit pitchy though)
I hit an A5 (I think) in my practice
https://youtu.be/cmapagyr_0M
I sound pretty much like a tenor,though I'm unsure whether I'm a Tenor Leggierio (high tenor) or not.
Anyways..
Begun doing vol1 a few days ago,after 2 months and a half training basic pitch.
This is still out of pitch, but amazingly closer than when you started a couple of months ago. Get to work on the actual lessons now, and let your voice start to grow and stabilize.
I'm having quite a hard time with using little boy voice below the 4th octave,though I've been trying my best to do so all the time,even when speaking.
Fortunely,(in my opinion) my timbre is closer to "bright" than "dark" on the 3th octave... thats an accomplishment.
Any advices?
Nowadays thats the note on which my chest breaks into head.
By adding futher size to my chest,though,I can go much higher...
Anyways,in my current rehearsals,should I go as high as B5 with my head voice?
That's the thinnest note from the work outs.
The highest I can sustain through head is E5 right now,yet I've hit notes even higher than B5 before,just for fun.
Thank you so much!
https://youtu.be/yq95mr17Lvc
Very, very nice songwriting and singing. Difinitely some Robert Plant flavoring in there, too. Delightful!
great tune, man! During the intro I thought I was hearing new hit from Ed Sheeran. Nice production, overall very good recording. Let`s play it again!
Sorry i don't know how to embed it into the forum!!
soundcloud.com/gareth-peebles-645507322/dont-stop-believing
soundcloud.com/gareth-peebles-645507322/moondance
Actually, you're pretty close to the tone Steve Perry uses on the Journey song, and you've got a good Buble sound going as well. Songs have a lot of moving parts, and can tend to be composites of several takes, so sometimes it's hard to make judgements, especially deep within a mix.
We can be more helpful to you on some of the simple scales, where we're looking closely at your individual vowels and what you're doing with them. Also, after you've learned some of the KTVA techniques we can look at how you're employing those into songs, but again, there may be hundreds of notes in a song, and sometimes getting the basics right first is a better route to apply to songs. Then we can talk about where you need to apply this or that more or less.
You really have a pretty good voice going on to start with. We need to strip away the song-singing for a while and look at the core of your voice and how you're producing it.
A basic Lah scale will give us a lot of information to start with.
https://soundcloud.com/gareth-peebles-645507322/you-are-the-best-thing
soundcloud.com/gareth-peebles-645507322/you-are-the-best-thing
after a month of struggle I was finally able to beat this nasty laryngitis. My voice still isn`t in best shape but I kept practicing, anyway. Just a quick recording from my practice, tried to open up my tone even more to achieve the relaxed Sam Cooke/Steve Perry`s round, warm sound:
What do you think? @highmtn, @streeter
5:14AM Flag0
("I thought i'd add another for people to have a listen to and any comments and advice would be great.")
I enjoyed your cover! I think the characteristics of you voice are great! You have been doing wedding singing? Do you gig as a solo act with backing tracks, your own PA etc?
March 20 Flag0
"Me trying to cover an acustic version of circa survive`s get out. Couldn't menage singing those high chest notes yet... Anyways here it is."
For me, anyway, I think that the exercises are great but then being able to apply the mass of instruction impeccably to singing actual songs is going to take time! That's where the patience and iron determination will come in! I get really inspired watching the pro video student demonstrations! Wow, every single one of those videos of student cover songs are amazing. Whenever is watch one I think, "Is THIS possible???" I want to do that well too, so I do my exercises 6 days every single week and I'm not going to give up!
Just like me, we have not really been with this long enough to build the muscles or train muscle memory etc. yet. I bet you'll get the increased range you are after and when you have trained awhile pitch issues will resolve too. I like your voice! If you stick with it I think you'll be a wonderful singer!
I am just starting out, I have only done one gig so far. Just trying to push myself to improve as i know how competitive it will be.
Ye i use backing tracks, i bought a PA just hoping i can earn enough to pay it off!!
Nice job on your demo. Your voice has a lot of character. Cool tone.
Bob
Playing around with some Rainbow/Dio. Only a small clip. I know for sure I couldn't sing this well a year ago. My voice is stronger in the higher register than it used to be. I definitely couldn't belt with as much clarity or power. Still have a tad bit of shakiness on a few notes, but overall I love the way my voice is sounding.
Nice job, Kevin!
Bob
Thanks, your comments are the most satisfactory reward I can get! I'm so glad people actually like what I do. Earn a living as a musician, that would also be nice Haha, I'm definitely not going to stop writing music in the near future as it simply brings me so much joy
I will post here my new exotic song soon, and if you would like to stay tuned please subscribe to my YT channel or like my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/konrad.szymanski.art/
Thanks a lot
I will listen to some of the songs by others, posted above. But right now, it’s getting late out here (NL). I should be trying to get to bed. =D
And yes, I’m feeling embarrassed to share these songs. I guess I’ll have to share more embarrassing videos later on, actually showing myself doing exercises and stuff… =/
I guess it’ll just take some getting used to. =D
Anyway. Here goes.
http://www.betacygnus.nl/artwork/bloCnoot/music/Mommy.mp3
Pitchy at best, I know…
Then, a little more recent but also some time ago:
https://vimeo.com/esquizzy/wings-of-forgiveness
And my most recent project, my first project in Ableton, recorded around Christmas 2016 (lyrics are a poem written by a friend of mine in our native language, Dutch — and the thunder is a Spring Reverb plug-in! ).
http://www.betacygnus.nl/artwork/bloCnoot/Anne/De_hemelen_melden.mp3?_=1
Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoy though I really need improvement — it feels, having watched the first few of Ken’s lessons, that I have to start all over again unlearning bad habits and technique… but at least, this time it’ll be in the right way!
Please don’t hesitate to point out the problems with my singing voice that you hear.
I’m posting here to get honest feedback.
I am very much looking forward to learning how to actually *sing* like a pro, through KTVA.
Oh by the way it's a cover of 'Always' by Bon Jovi.
https://soundcloud.com/gareth-peebles-645507322/always-bon-jovi
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLI_dnwzEDk7B0j_1GZHAYEj4w7PBNjp_4
http://vocaroo.com/i/s0b4cBgFm1U4
You might want to try shedding some more weight as you get to G4 and above. It's hard to carry a lot of tone and girth up that high, without blasting to get the note to sound.
More support in opposition to, or resistance of, the tendency to overvolume on notes like that. i.e. push down on the diaphragm more, rather than push out on the air.
Sounding good, bro.
Bob
One vocal instructor I met told me that I should just let my mic give me my power. Makes sense, considering we can dial the volume up as high as it needs to be to, and our power is right there. I'm currently playing around with some new equipment and hope to make some better recordings by the end of the week. I'm gonna keep trying new things.
We bought your Pro program so I can teach my daughter to rock!
She would love to take lessons, but we would like to invite you to become our school vendor.
I homeschool my daughter,Kedaton, through Ocean Grove Charter School and each child receive stipend to spend on classes.
In order to spend the stipend, we have to use them for school vendors.
It is free of cost to be one and the school has over 2000 students that can use your coaching.
Please check further details here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeiGXjsXqFVXpYwKqUjk8J-Cli4El6_IEKFkWWZNNtFq9h52A/viewform?c=0&w=1
Best regards,
Luc
PS: We've been watching you for hours the past 2 years and Keda really enjoy learning new technique from you.
She would like to say hello too! Included in the links below her progress on singing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nT9-iCGhCs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_-dmrjawd0
Hi! Keda speaking here!
Finally my mom would stop talking so that I can speak to you too!
Your video classes encouraged me to start singing in front of the public, and I, want someday, to make a career out of it!
Singing, and playing instruments are just two of my favorite hobbies!
and oh, it would be a dream if i met you in real life!
I watch your videos day and night whether its 1:00 in the morning or 12:00 at night!
I hope you like my singing videos and reply back!
awesome regards,
Keda
(Now how do I get out of here?!)
The level seems to be pretty high on this thread and I'm pretty far from it, still :
https://youtube.com/watch?v=9SBMsggNND0
Somehow I missed your post when you put it up, but I just saw it. I really like your voice. You are doing an awesome job.
I will send your hellos on to Ken! He will enjoy hearing you, too!
That was pretty good. You've got a nice bottom tone on your voice, but it could sound even better if you would add a nice, bright top-end to that sound. You're singing with your mouth a little bit closed. If you will smile up into your cheeks and to expose your upper teeth more, you can brigthen up the tone a bit, and still have that same bottom-end sound. That brighter tone will help you to zero-in on pitch accuracy a little better, as well.
Good job!
Bob
Thanks for the positive feedback and thanks for the tips, it means a lot I'll keep working