@kurzweil i am no professional. im more like a lower than novice singer just a karaoke singer trying to get past straining my sound. I do want to say something though. first of all i think that your whole band plays there instruments awsome and you have a great voice... the thing i want to point out is. I watch your 4 video's you have posted. your heros video the whole band actually was showing off and looking cool. but somewhere probably cause this was the first gig. The band lost that fire. sound was great but there was no performance to keep me alive and wanting more. Be awesome, show awesome, have your fans leaving thinking that was awesome can't wait to see them again! I look forward to seeing your band grow and get well known around the world.
I've been a long time user of ken tamplins vocal academy, I haven't been doing the exercises for a while now I don't know why just haven't, it seems like every couple of weeks I stumble on small discoveries on my voice and find room where I can improve, there is a lot of room for improvement on my vocals I just need some guidance on wherein need to improve or what im lacking i'll attach the rough demo its just a basic sketch of direction. but any thoughts on where you would suggest for me to concentrate on would be appreciated. https://soundcloud.com/mike-dibley/rough-demo
I think this is the best demo you've put up so far. I'd like to hear some more chairo, or brilliant tone. You've got the Oscuro, or bass component fine, but we need some more bright sound simultaneously. So smile into the sound (I see your teeth, but make sure it's wide and open) and put a little mask into it. Don't overdo it, but put some more highs into the tone.
It's a little choppy. Not nearly so bad as what I've mentioned in the past. But it would be improved if you would string the words together like a string of pearls, into long phrases that aren't so chopped up. Much better than before, though, when I told you that you were much too inconsistent with your volume changes. Try to make the words more contiguous. Not a blur, but more connected than these chopped fragments. Sustain the chopped words more. While you're at it, don't forget to support, support, and support. ; ^ )
At 2:45 you're going to have to work on this part. It's unsupported and therefore weak, and it's at a prominent point in the song. Too prominent to allow any weakness. So spend the time on that point in the song building it to the strength that will be needed to actually pull it off. This note will take some tone and power from the gut.
Speaking of guts, you've got a lot. You keep on putting it on the line, and litte-by-little you are asking and listening and coming back for more. Each time gets a little better. Keep it up and you will be unstoppable. Never give up!
Actually the ugly mug aspect is good. It's better to see and hear you than to just hear you. More information it better than less.
Thanks Bob i'm glad you noticed an improvement with volume consistency as this is what i have been working on the most. I'm not sure i fully understand the first paragraph though do you mean I need to open up the distance between my top and bottom teeth more or the corners of my mouths need to open wider or both? when you say put more highs into the tone do you mean thin the tone out i.e like Ken does in his bruno mars demo i.e by thinning out the sound am i removing more of the bass and thus being left with more highs? I also feel like sometimes when i'm doing the modifications in the throat i am closing down the front of the mouth aswell so perhaps this is what you are referring to that i need to keep the mouth more spread as these mods close down to get control of the sound in the throat? At least i'm not going hoarse now so i can practice everyday and not turn up to my gigs with my vocal chords inflamed
I wouldn't remove any of the low tone, I would just add some highs, some more vocal brilliance. You know, like Ken says, make it really bright. Add a little mask on top of what you've already got going.
@KTVA here we go my first LAH post. i first started recording today i saw and heard alot of mistakes. i know theres more please give me your best eval thx .
first time i set private so let me know what i need to do if you cant hear the demo.
@cgreen, I enjoyed listening to give me time, vocals very Geoff Tate like, with a little Don Dokken (the good part's of Don's voice), the guitar solo sounded Queensryche'ish as well.
You sounded great in 2000, the recording is real dry with your voice, doubling up the main vocal and panning the double takes hard right and left could have helped thicken up the lead and made it stand out more. Did you have any reverb? I couldn't hear any.
Adding harmonies would be great as well.
The falsetto at 5min into the song stood out, pitch was fine, but the tonal sound was real different than the chest and head voice timber.
You said this is a baseline for you to compare with how you are doing now. Your baseline sounds good man.
steven if you want to keep it private do so and then when you click share it will give you a secret link that you can then post here rather than the main url hope that helps.
Thanks, Steve, for getting the soundcloud file to play.
You should open up the throat a little more, and don't forget to built that support. Really let your power come from down low in the abdomen. More brightness would be better, also.
It's a little pitchy at times, but you did well at getting up to the highest notes and you transitioned your passagio smoothly. More support will help beef up your tone and also help with pitch variances.
This isn't bad for the length of time you have had the program. Keep practicing and it will pay off.
This is a good recording. Good levels, no distortion, playback of CD is about right, your voice is at a good level.
Now that you've put up this sample and survived, there's nothing to stop you from working out all the kinks and getting your voice rocking!
Happy to receive any comments to help me improve. I find self evaluation quite difficult to do. This is my rendition of "Broken Vow" which usies my chest, blend and head voices. http://www.singsnap.com/karaoke/r/c4b1130f6
not a demo but. i tried singing faithfully by journey at karaoke. i sang in head voice. i sang alot better without straining most of tge song. but sometimes when it got high i got alot of head tension. any ideas besides practice to fix this. .... the end is still a killer. it will come thx.
i thought about it.. the straining/tightness in the head happens after the passagio. just cant seem to open up after. lol happens to my wife to. push all we want.... trying to relax into it. any clues to help get past this?
ty cinama for your observation. ididnt get get a chance to retract this post. i think i found out the answer to my? something ragnar pointed but didnt say why. is uour tongue rising as you go up scale. the answer is YES. so the back of my tongue is lifting and what happened was the tongue closed off my throat. cause pressure on my head. my nasal passage was closed and air had nowhere to go.
im working on this as well as pitch and definately support. ty again for your time. steve
You have a very interesting voice. Nice tone. Excellent pitch. Well-supported. Wide range from low lows to high highs.
You are putting up some well-recorded examples. Sounds like you've been working your voice for some time.
I would like to hear a little more chairo. You have a good oscuro. A little more high, bright timbre would balance your tone out even better, to my ears. Some of the high notes are a little more covered than I would recommend, but what you are doing fits the style of the song.
Since the "P" word has come up here, I don't know if you've taken advantage of the Basic Pitch program that Ken put together recently.
If not, there is good information there, and working through the exercises will teach you a lot that you may need to know about your own voice and pitch skills. It's well worth the effort to add this knowledge to your vocal arsenal.
You can find the link to the Basic Pitch program here in the KTVA Volume One forums, in the Better Tone and Pitch Category, found in the index at the right side of the page.
@cgreen i forgot to mention i am not singing faithfully everyday. i just have been working on not straining while singing. just tried it out to see how i was progressing. im staying on volume one til i can get a good eval on a couple exersices. im not in a hurry anymore that just causes more strain. i sing karaoke 1 or 2 nights a week but rsst of the days im doing exersices.my gains are starting to slow down which i expected. so ill be posting more lah execises to make sure im growing the right way.
Thanks for the feedback Bob. Singing is just a passionate hobby. I'm largely self taught and glad to have found Ken's course. I understood open mouth technique for the first time and it had an immediate impact on my range.Prior to that I could barely hit F4. Once I grasped the technique of opening and relaxing the throat I suddenly found myself singing higher with no strain. I recorded " Let Me Fall" with no idea what the highest note was going to be in that key. I was amazed to discover, after I had recorded it, that I had hit an A flat with no strain. I'm now working on my head voice to extend that part of the range but can only manage a B flat so far. Any suggestions in that regard would be greatly appreciated.
I tried finding a song that would give my high notes a good work out so I could focus on a brighter timbre. Not sure if I achied it but here's how it came out:
Good song choice and you did a quite good job overall, you definitely sound like you have the most important basics down.
Things I would improve on:
1. You sounded flat on the low part at the start of the song. Try getting a bit of a brighter crisper sound there.
2. It was a bit staccato throughout on the choruses, work on prolonging the words and holding notes longer to get a better flow
3. You severely overused your vibrato in my opinion. It is often a matter of personal tastes when it comes to vibrato, but Piano Man really isn't a song that lends itself to it well the way I see it. I don't think Billy Joel uses much, if any, in the original either.
But like I said, the overall sound wasn't bad at all, quite good in fact.
I just listened to you derickt and was about to leave feedback and then read ragnar's comments and was going to write exactly the same. Sounds a little bit school teacher singing in assembly to me for the reasons ragnar mentions.
Thanks Ragnar for your comments. Right now I'm working on exercising my higher range. Just recorded "Bring Him Home" from Les Miz - quite a challenge as it is really meant for a tenor voice - but using an open and relaxed throat, I managed to do it in a higher key than I have ever done before:
That was good derrickt I agree with Bob's comments about your voice it sounds great but it is very covered or oscuro which is fine if that is the style you are going for but not great for different styles of music such as rock or pop. I don't really know those songs that well to be able to comment much more you went out of pitch a bit slamming the 'i' vowel near the end for live.
Derrickt, when you get to that portion in your KTVA lessons, pay some special attention to the things Ken has to say about consonants. De-emphasis of consonants will help to smooth out your lyrical lines, as well as sustaining contiguous vowels, as ragnar commented.
I expect many more great demos from you in the future!
Thanks for the comments guys. Bob, the funny thing is that I used to be at the other extreme in terms of consonants and often dropped them. I've actually been consciously trying to enunciate better with my consonants but may have gone a little too far in that regard.
Still working on my upper range. This was a real challenge, recording it higher than I haver ever sung it before: "This Is the Moment" from the musical Jekyll and Hyde: http://www.singsnap.com/karaoke/r/be985066a
Your demos are fun to listen to because they are so melodic.
I gravitate towards the more melodic tunes. It IS important to pay attention to the details such as consonant de-emphasis, phrasing, pacing yourself, and dynamics when doing more difficult melodic songs. All the more to juggle while running through the fun melodic lines.
Here's a gender bender song. From Les Miz, a female part. Used it to work on smoothing out phrasing, de-emphasizing consonants etc. "On My Own" http://www.singsnap.com/karaoke/r/bd8b14102
Bob, I just use the Singsnap site with an Audio Technica USB mike. I was working today on shedding vocal weight. Learned a new song which can only be sung lightly even though at times I was working near the top of my range: Michael Buble's "Home" http://www.singsnap.com/karaoke/r/c59e359e2 Not the kind of song I usually sing so it was a challenge to use the smallest amount of air possible. Then I tried shedding weight on the verses of Josh Groban"s "To Where You Are": http://www.singsnap.com/karaoke/r/b1998bf4a Again, happy to say, it's the highest key I've ever done this in. Still working on moving my range up.
You're improving. Your recordings remind me of an old Jesse Fuller album I used to have long ago. You're starting to get a little bit of support going on. Keep building that up. You're a little pitchy here and there. Building that support will help with that, especially on the high parts.
I was just about to ask if you were doing your workouts, and then your LAH exercise started playing.
Try to do them more legato (smooth). More Lah-ah-ah-ah-ah (slurred together) than Lah Ah Ah Ah
(staccato). You do this better on the second lah example. You have a little more trouble getting to the higher parts of the scales. That makes me want to encourage you to spend more time on the higher portions. In other words, repeat those parts of the scales three times each, instead of doing each portion one time and moving on up. Spend a little more time on the parts you are weaker on and you will build more strength there in less time.
thanks bob, I will try to do the exercises more slurred together like the second example, but do you think that example sounds too dark?, I find it easier to sing if I do the workouts with a bright timbre
@guitarmaniac I would suggest tuning your guitar before posting a demo(your b string is flat at least) as if your guitar is out of tune it is harder to hear your pitch because you are singing to something that isn't in pitch. There are a few things you need to work on I would start with trying to be less hard on your consonant sounds and getting your vowels better you are singing 'i' as in lid and 'u' as in world too straight you need to use the bell canto vowel sounds you use when you do your exercises Aa Ah EE O and ooh. you really over pronounce 'world' almost giving it two syllables when it only needs one. You are singing a lot of things as you would say them i think you need to make the vowel sounds longer and more beautiful as Bob keeps telling me to do
thanks @marc for the feedback, I will upload a new sample soon, I think I've been going to hard on the consonants in my exercises. more coming soon! cheers again
First of all, good for you that you're uploading a lot of videos for feedback. Let me ask you: In your own opinion, when looking at that video yourself, what do you think you need to improve?
The high note at 0:15 needs work. It's out of reach for you presently, so that means work with it till it gets more comfortable and sustainable.
Now, your consonants. You have fully mastered de-emphasis. Now, in your case, it is time to dial them back in some, as your words are not intelligible enough. Good job, because previously you were over-emphasizing them, but now you need to slightly dial them back in to where you are just grazing over the consonants enough to restore a bit more intelligibility. You have gotten really good at the "string of pearls" method of sustaining the contiguous vowels, and I am proud of you for that. Now we need just the right amount of consonant to get you back into the center you need to be in. Not too far to the left and not too far to the right. Just Right.
I see a bit too much tension in your neck muscles, so try relaxation there. Look at the still photo of you before we click to see your video. Your tendons in your neck are pretty tight. Relax that. Also, you are doing a little bit of overkill on the big teeth. Again, you are following previous requests to open up and bare the teeth, which you have done obediently. Now dial that back just a bit as well. Not too much, and not too little. Just right.
You are really getting close. You just overcorrect a little bit each time. Each time you also get a little closer to just right. You've come a long way in just a relatively short amount of time. Keep up the good work. You are on a good track.
@Ragnar i think relaxing more and support should be my main focus at the moment and I agree with everything bob said. Just uploading some videos coz got a lessen with ken on moday so thought it would be good to find out what i need to work on and maybe fix some things before that time.
@highmtn thanks Bob. I'm also a little concerned i seem to be struggling with the A5 more in my scales lately where as before i was able to get a B5.
I don't really understand the point of focusing on that area at all before one has achieved a completely, or at least close to, professional tone in the range where a lead singer needs to actually shine, which would be C4-C5 or so. Even the Bb4-C5 area is higher than what many successful male singers do consistently, and that's a full octave lower than what you are talking about.
I'm just wondering why my range might be decreasing in the scales @ragnar what do you suggest i work on? I wouldn't say i am focusing on that area most of my practice is on songs within the range you mention and i realise i haven't mastered that range yet.
Hey Guys, I'm on volume 2 and I think I still have some problems bridging and modifying the vowels. Would you please give me feedback on these 3 exercises that I just posted so that I get to know what I can do to become better at singing? I'm really having a tough time in modifying the lyrics of a song. But I'm working on it. Your feedback will be appreciated. Thanks.
@pranav on your layy exercise it needs to be more la as in cat and you are closing down too early and not reopening on the way back down. On the EE vowel you are very flat at the top again i think this is because you are closing down too early and it is sounding very flat. Also you are covering the layy exercises adding too much EE into the sound which is making it sound nasal open it up more to Aa as in cat or eh get the EE out of the sound.
You might be raising your larynx a little on the lah vowel.
On the EE you seem to be starting on EE going to UH and then back to EE. Remember, EE modifies to EH as in SAY and then back to EE. On the upper parts of the higher scales you aren't quite making it all the way up to the higher notes.
On the AA vowel, similarly you start the scales on AA but tend to modify to UH and then back to AA on each scale. You shouldn't modify at all on the first few scales, until about where Ken stops and talks on the exercise, and then only on the high note parts of the scales. When you do modify, AA goes to AH then (loft) then (Look), then finally (who).
Overall it sounds good. Keep working on it. It will grow.
@highmtn and @marc Thanks a lot for the feedback. Really needed to hear this. Because I knew something was going off and just couldn't pinpoint on it. Thank You. I'll keep working on it. Earlier I was shy to send my samples and demos but I realise it was just stupid and this was one of the best ways to learn. Also it so happens that by the 10th exercise I feel warmed up. Before that my voice just doesn't feel up to par. Does it happen to other people who're doing the volumes?
Yes. That's why Ken tells us to warm up for half an hour to an hour any time we are going to perform.
If you are going to record a demo for evaluation, it makes sense to warm up for a good while before hitting the record button. OR you could record your entire warmup, and get your own feedback before recording the magic take that you will post. Then we will evaluate your warmed-up voice rather than your non-warmed -up voice.
Thanks for being a good sport when we talk about what you can improve.
I think you will find that more people want to comment on your videos if you actually contribute to the forum, instead of solely posting your own stuff.
Incidentally, FYI, I have figured out what has been the problem I've been having getting certain Soundcloud files to play. I've been having to reboot my computer sometimes when soundcloud would "lock up" and not play, in order to hear any demos at times.
I noticed a little box in soundcloud that said something like "click here to go back to the old version of soundcloud". I clicked on it, and the old version now plays each and every time I use it.
It's probably an incompatibility thing between the new soundcloud and Internet Explorer.
Anyway, if any of you have had this problem, try clicking on the old version and see if it makes your life easier with soundcloud.
@overdriveisclassy sounding very nasal in that one. you sing 'all' very straight you need to chose a vowel sound Aa or O and you also sing 'i' as in light too straight needs to be Aa or Ah.
Been travelling for over a week and did no singing at all. Wanted to see if I could stretch my voice after that break. I chose "Crying" to do it with as it has a wide range: http://www.singsnap.com/karaoke/r/bc8ae323e
Hello from Tokyo all! My name is Matt. I have a live coming up in 2 days and I've been putting in a lot of work of this song but it still has a good number of bumps.
My friends wanted to do this song and asked me to do vocals, but it is very high for me.
And actually its also the reason I pulled the trigger on starting KTVA 2 months ago.
It's basically the same phrase repeating over and over but its very high for my voice which would normally be considered a high bari.
When I first started the KTVA program 2 months ago I'd be able to hit the high note for the first 2 phrases then have to falsetto the rest of the song. Now I am able to make it through the full song but always croak the high note once or twice. The above sample has some quite blatty croaks from 2:30 onward so you can hear what's going on. I feel like I'm trying to pull too much chest or mess up a vowel modification. I always used to croak at the words "Up" and the I of "and I'm still" but I feel like I've been able to open those up in the throat more recently and now it tends to be more random where I croak.
I am happy that I've improved since the start of the program but I know I still have quite a ways to go. Any feedback/advice before this show I have (it's in 2 days!) would be awesome! Thank you for your help!
Two days before a gig is way to late to be asking for advice on vocal technique. Any input/critique at this point would only serve to undermine your confidence.
Since the song is so repetitively high for you, lack of stamina may be the issue. An idea could be to replace one of the verses/choruses with an instrumental bridge/solo. But again 2 days... Not sure your bandmates would appreciate that.
Otherwise just make sure to get some rest and make sure you are warmed up fully for the performance.
Sounds good to me. Quite clean transition between the registers in your chest slide. You could maybe work on opening up the sound just a tad more, in order to get a more relaxed sound. The next step could be to upload a song in that range with the same tone, to give us an even clearer picture.
@ragnar thx for your feedback. i agree with the open relax throat as that has been a battle of mine. my throat would squeez off above the vocal cords. as this isa work in progress. before i go posting a song ineed to work this out more. also work more on pitch the slide is easy way out. again thx for the positive feedback steve
Thank you all for your feedback. I was kind of hoping for some things to keep in mind going into the performance, not so much of a public crucifixion. I know it has a lot of work left before even coming close to "good" and sorry if your ears were offended by it. But the only thing worse than, as @cgreen put it, "humiliation," is being unreliable to my bandmates, so I'm not going to change anything last minute. I'll dive in with my best and take the hit. Basically this gig is my friend who plays drums rented out a bar for her birthday and wanted to do a huge party with a live so that's how it all began. And this is the first song she came to me with and then we decided the rest of our set which is hard but not as demandingly high as this song. As they really want to do it and it's a low pressure gig I'm not going to let them down and pull the song, hence why I am asking advice going into the show.
@highmtn I appreciate your feedback. I have definitely been trying to keep those modifications in mind and it does help when done right. It just hasn't become second-nature enough yet that sometimes I choke the note, drag the chest, or don’t give it enough support and end up blatting. Trying to continually remind myself...
Good and Bad I know you guys mean well. To be honest though I wasn't really nervous about the gig until the negative feedback on here. ><
@mdanalewich i didnt listen to your deno. and yes these guys tell you like it is. tgats what they are here for. they want to see you at your very best. go and do your song the best you can. them take sny advise that is given. thats why your here to learn ktva and get good at it. they'll help you grow. dont get discouraged youll get there.
You sound pretty good these days. I can hear improvements in the consistency of your singing. It's mostly well-supported.
This is kind of a wordy song, but if I can make a suggestion, it would benefit from a lessening of emphasis on the consonants, and a little more stringing together of the vowels, to make a more contiguous and continuous sound. Nice job on sirening up to those high notes with no passagio break.
I listened to a few of your soundcloud songs. Keep working on that voice, it's coming along.
On the chorus, cut back the air and push down as much as you can on the diaphragm, to reduce the tendency to scream without regulation. Keep the vowels leaning towards the AH and it's high modifications, AH, AW, Aoo, and Aooh.
It's OK to give the illusion that you are shredding your cords, but just be sure to cut back the air and make a mini version that actually is a much safer way to sing. Compress, but hold back. It will be at a lower volume, but close-miked.
Once you are in that high, belting voice it's easier to just stay there than to go back and forth between the higher sound and the lower sound.
Practice finding a more comfortable way to sing that part, and let the shredded cords be an illusion.
The hard part is changing into this configuration from the lower verse sound.
Overall this is a good start. The tone is bright for the most part but you could add a lot more support to the sound. Keep your vowels bright in the chorus the first Eye in the chorus goes a little dark keep the tone to the front of the face and open into a nice Ah vowel. Your pitch drifts in sections but I think more support will help that. All the best! It's a tough song.
Thanks @sspatrick still not sure i fully understand how to get a bright sound as opposed to a darker sound i'm trying to drop the tongue more and open my mouth a bit further at the moment to get brighter is this correct? I am also assuming that the Ah and Aa vowels are brighter than the O and ooh is this right i.e spreading the pharynx more? So basically the more space Ii open up in my mouth and throat the brighter tone i get? and also the more i cut back my air the brighter the tone? Am i thinking along the right lines?
It just about kills me to say this, but I think you still need to put a skoshe more consonant back in to improve intelligibility a little more. I know you're just doing what I suggested to minimize the consonants, but I still think you're still overcorrecting that a bit.
Another stylistic request is this: Yes, I have been critical of overly staccato or choppiness in the past, and largely you have corrected that, however when you do your stops or rests, in those spots it still seems a little abrupt. It's like you should hang that note just a moment longer, or maybe taper it off a bit where it doesn't seem so chopped-off. Listen to those parts and see if you hear what I'm hearing there.
I have to tell you that you are improving noticeably and I'm really liking that you are putting so much work into this and getting real improvements, month-by-month. Overall, your pitch is getting more solid.
I would agree with Scott that more support would benefit the overall tone, pitch, and strength of your voice. Think sing it more from your core than from your throat. If you listen carefully, it does still sound a bit throaty, and would benefit by coming more from your core.
Also a little more brightness, as Scott says, would benefit the tone. A touch of Mask, not too much, and a little more Ping from the bright open throat.
You keep coming back with Eye of the Tiger, and I think you've got a Tiger by the Tail!!! It's a hard song to pull off, and you are as hard to pull off of that song as a pit bull! Keep slugging!! Take your lumps from the critiques, make your improvements, and before long, you will have this one down to a "T".
Comments
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@Kurzweil,
Nice video clips. Good band. Your voice sounds pretty good. Work on that support a little more ; ^ ) !
Nice job at 8:43!!!
Bob
I've been a long time user of ken tamplins vocal academy, I haven't been doing the exercises for a while now I don't know why just haven't, it seems like every couple of weeks I stumble on small discoveries on my voice and find room where I can improve, there is a lot of room for improvement on my vocals I just need some guidance on wherein need to improve or what im lacking i'll attach the rough demo its just a basic sketch of direction. but any thoughts on where you would suggest for me to concentrate on would be appreciated. https://soundcloud.com/mike-dibley/rough-demo
@marc,
I think this is the best demo you've put up so far. I'd like to hear some more chairo, or brilliant tone. You've got the Oscuro, or bass component fine, but we need some more bright sound simultaneously. So smile into the sound (I see your teeth, but make sure it's wide and open) and put a little mask into it. Don't overdo it, but put some more highs into the tone.
It's a little choppy. Not nearly so bad as what I've mentioned in the past. But it would be improved if you would string the words together like a string of pearls, into long phrases that aren't so chopped up. Much better than before, though, when I told you that you were much too inconsistent with your volume changes. Try to make the words more contiguous. Not a blur, but more connected than these chopped fragments. Sustain the chopped words more. While you're at it, don't forget to support, support, and support. ; ^ )
At 2:45 you're going to have to work on this part. It's unsupported and therefore weak, and it's at a prominent point in the song. Too prominent to allow any weakness. So spend the time on that point in the song building it to the strength that will be needed to actually pull it off. This note will take some tone and power from the gut.
Speaking of guts, you've got a lot. You keep on putting it on the line, and litte-by-little you are asking and listening and coming back for more. Each time gets a little better. Keep it up and you will be unstoppable. Never give up!
Actually the ugly mug aspect is good. It's better to see and hear you than to just hear you. More information it better than less.
Good Singing to You, marc!
Bob
@marc,
I wouldn't remove any of the low tone, I would just add some highs, some more vocal brilliance. You know, like Ken says, make it really bright. Add a little mask on top of what you've already got going.
Bob
@band,
Good job. Nice sounds vocal and otherwise. Also nice video production. Very entertaining and engaging.
Bob
first time i set private so let me know what i need to do if you cant hear the demo.
thx again
steve
@Steven Kendig
Your demo isn't coming up for me. Can't see it, can't hear it. Don't know if it's a soundcloud thing or what.
Bob
Thanks, Steve, for getting the soundcloud file to play.
You should open up the throat a little more, and don't forget to built that support. Really let your power come from down low in the abdomen. More brightness would be better, also.
It's a little pitchy at times, but you did well at getting up to the highest notes and you transitioned your passagio smoothly. More support will help beef up your tone and also help with pitch variances.
This isn't bad for the length of time you have had the program. Keep practicing and it will pay off.
This is a good recording. Good levels, no distortion, playback of CD is about right, your voice is at a good level.
Now that you've put up this sample and survived, there's nothing to stop you from working out all the kinks and getting your voice rocking!
All the Best!
Bob
any clues to help get past this?
thx steve
the answer is YES. so the back of my tongue is lifting and what happened was the tongue closed off my throat. cause pressure on my head. my nasal passage was closed and air had nowhere to go.
im working on this as well as pitch and definately support.
ty again
for your time.
steve
@derrickt,
You have a very interesting voice. Nice tone. Excellent pitch. Well-supported. Wide range from low lows to high highs.
You are putting up some well-recorded examples. Sounds like you've been working your voice for some time.
I would like to hear a little more chairo. You have a good oscuro. A little more high, bright timbre would balance your tone out even better, to my ears. Some of the high notes are a little more covered than I would recommend, but what you are doing fits the style of the song.
All in all, your demo sounds very, very good.
Bob
@overdriveisclassy,
You're scaring me again with your growling.
Your demos are a lot of fun to watch, and you seem to be having fun doing them.
Be careful with that howling, sustained growl. Like you sang: "No self-control!!!!"
Don't turn your cords into ground round! We want you to keep singing for a long vocal career.
Bob
@Steven Kindig,
Since the "P" word has come up here, I don't know if you've taken advantage of the Basic Pitch program that Ken put together recently.
If not, there is good information there, and working through the exercises will teach you a lot that you may need to know about your own voice and pitch skills. It's well worth the effort to add this knowledge to your vocal arsenal.
You can find the link to the Basic Pitch program here in the KTVA Volume One forums, in the Better Tone and Pitch Category, found in the index at the right side of the page.
Bob
thx again
steve
I tried finding a song that would give my high notes a good work out so I could focus on a brighter timbre. Not sure if I achied it but here's how it came out:
http://www.singsnap.com/karaoke/r/b375fd032
1. You sounded flat on the low part at the start of the song. Try getting a bit of a brighter crisper sound there.
Another good demo, @derrickt,
Nice comments, everyone.
Derrickt, when you get to that portion in your KTVA lessons, pay some special attention to the things Ken has to say about consonants. De-emphasis of consonants will help to smooth out your lyrical lines, as well as sustaining contiguous vowels, as ragnar commented.
I expect many more great demos from you in the future!
Bob
http://www.singsnap.com/karaoke/r/be985066a
@derrick,
Your demos are fun to listen to because they are so melodic.
I gravitate towards the more melodic tunes. It IS important to pay attention to the details such as consonant de-emphasis, phrasing, pacing yourself, and dynamics when doing more difficult melodic songs. All the more to juggle while running through the fun melodic lines.
Bob
@derrick,
On "but when the night is over" you might want to convert "is" to "es".
Good job.
By the way, for the benefit of all who read here, what equipment/software/method are you using to record your demos. They sound good.
Bob
@overdriveisclassy,
Another classy video. A Block Buster!
Bob
I just use the Singsnap site with an Audio Technica USB mike.
I was working today on shedding vocal weight. Learned a new song which can only be sung lightly even though at times I was working near the top of my range: Michael Buble's "Home" http://www.singsnap.com/karaoke/r/c59e359e2 Not the kind of song I usually sing so it was a challenge to use the smallest amount of air possible.
Then I tried shedding weight on the verses of Josh Groban"s "To Where You Are":
http://www.singsnap.com/karaoke/r/b1998bf4a Again, happy to say, it's the highest key I've ever done this in. Still working on moving my range up.
@derrickt.
Good job on shedding the weight.
@guitarmaniac,
You're improving. Your recordings remind me of an old Jesse Fuller album I used to have long ago. You're starting to get a little bit of support going on. Keep building that up. You're a little pitchy here and there. Building that support will help with that, especially on the high parts.
I was just about to ask if you were doing your workouts, and then your LAH exercise started playing.
Try to do them more legato (smooth). More Lah-ah-ah-ah-ah (slurred together) than Lah Ah Ah Ah
(staccato). You do this better on the second lah example. You have a little more trouble getting to the higher parts of the scales. That makes me want to encourage you to spend more time on the higher portions. In other words, repeat those parts of the scales three times each, instead of doing each portion one time and moving on up. Spend a little more time on the parts you are weaker on and you will build more strength there in less time.
Good progress. Keep up the good work.
Bob
thanks bob, I will try to do the exercises more slurred together like the second example, but do you think that example sounds too dark?, I find it easier to sing if I do the workouts with a bright timbre
Cheers
Diarmuid
@marc,
The high note at 0:15 needs work. It's out of reach for you presently, so that means work with it till it gets more comfortable and sustainable.
Now, your consonants. You have fully mastered de-emphasis. Now, in your case, it is time to dial them back in some, as your words are not intelligible enough. Good job, because previously you were over-emphasizing them, but now you need to slightly dial them back in to where you are just grazing over the consonants enough to restore a bit more intelligibility. You have gotten really good at the "string of pearls" method of sustaining the contiguous vowels, and I am proud of you for that. Now we need just the right amount of consonant to get you back into the center you need to be in. Not too far to the left and not too far to the right. Just Right.
I see a bit too much tension in your neck muscles, so try relaxation there. Look at the still photo of you before we click to see your video. Your tendons in your neck are pretty tight. Relax that. Also, you are doing a little bit of overkill on the big teeth. Again, you are following previous requests to open up and bare the teeth, which you have done obediently. Now dial that back just a bit as well. Not too much, and not too little. Just right.
You are really getting close. You just overcorrect a little bit each time. Each time you also get a little closer to just right. You've come a long way in just a relatively short amount of time. Keep up the good work. You are on a good track.
Bob
@pranav,
I'm not hearing you having any bridging problems.
You might be raising your larynx a little on the lah vowel.
On the EE you seem to be starting on EE going to UH and then back to EE. Remember, EE modifies to EH as in SAY and then back to EE. On the upper parts of the higher scales you aren't quite making it all the way up to the higher notes.
On the AA vowel, similarly you start the scales on AA but tend to modify to UH and then back to AA on each scale. You shouldn't modify at all on the first few scales, until about where Ken stops and talks on the exercise, and then only on the high note parts of the scales. When you do modify, AA goes to AH then (loft) then (Look), then finally (who).
Overall it sounds good. Keep working on it. It will grow.
Bob
@pranav,
Yes. That's why Ken tells us to warm up for half an hour to an hour any time we are going to perform.
If you are going to record a demo for evaluation, it makes sense to warm up for a good while before hitting the record button. OR you could record your entire warmup, and get your own feedback before recording the magic take that you will post. Then we will evaluate your warmed-up voice rather than your non-warmed -up voice.
Thanks for being a good sport when we talk about what you can improve.
Bob
Incidentally, FYI, I have figured out what has been the problem I've been having getting certain Soundcloud files to play. I've been having to reboot my computer sometimes when soundcloud would "lock up" and not play, in order to hear any demos at times.
I noticed a little box in soundcloud that said something like "click here to go back to the old version of soundcloud". I clicked on it, and the old version now plays each and every time I use it.
It's probably an incompatibility thing between the new soundcloud and Internet Explorer.
Anyway, if any of you have had this problem, try clicking on the old version and see if it makes your life easier with soundcloud.
Bob
@Laso,
This sounds really good. It's good to hear from you again.
You are using good support, your pitch is fine, good tone, nice emotion and passion! Convincing!
Bob
@derryckt,
Good job. You did this in the key of A. I do this one sometimes with my live band. I do it in C.
Yes, this song does go from very low to high.
Bob
My friends wanted to do this song and asked me to do vocals, but it is very high for me.
The song is Sweetness by Jimmy Eat World, here is the link https://soundcloud.com/hardmatt/sweetness
It's basically the same phrase repeating over and over but its very high for my voice which would normally be considered a high bari.
When I first started the KTVA program 2 months ago I'd be able to hit the high note for the first 2 phrases then have to falsetto the rest of the song.
Now I am able to make it through the full song but always croak the high note once or twice.
The above sample has some quite blatty croaks from 2:30 onward so you can hear what's going on.
I feel like I'm trying to pull too much chest or mess up a vowel modification. I always used to croak at the words "Up" and the I of "and I'm still" but I feel like I've been able to open those up in the throat more recently and now it tends to be more random where I croak.
I am happy that I've improved since the start of the program but I know I still have quite a ways to go.
Any feedback/advice before this show I have (it's in 2 days!) would be awesome! Thank you for your help!
i know this isn't a lah exercise. i was staying in chest for the first part and head the last. thx for your input. ideas to correct the sound?
@mdanalewich,
Last-minute, possible assist specifics: do the Uh of Up more as the oo as in look mod of AH. As in Ah-P.
The "I" of "I'm still" will improve when substituted with Ah and eh, as in "Ah'm stehl".
These vowels will work better up high (AH and eh) as opposed to "I" and "ih".
Bob
again thx for the positive feedback
steve
@highmtn I appreciate your feedback. I have definitely been trying to keep those modifications in mind and it does help when done right. It just hasn't become second-nature enough yet that sometimes I choke the note, drag the chest, or don’t give it enough support and end up blatting. Trying to continually remind myself...
Good and Bad I know you guys mean well. To be honest though I wasn't really nervous about the gig until the negative feedback on here. ><
Hello again, Saif!!
It's good to hear from you again!
You sound pretty good these days. I can hear improvements in the consistency of your singing. It's mostly well-supported.
This is kind of a wordy song, but if I can make a suggestion, it would benefit from a lessening of emphasis on the consonants, and a little more stringing together of the vowels, to make a more contiguous and continuous sound. Nice job on sirening up to those high notes with no passagio break.
I listened to a few of your soundcloud songs. Keep working on that voice, it's coming along.
Bob
Not bad, @overdriveisclassy,
Bob
@overdriveisclassy,
Yes,
On the chorus, cut back the air and push down as much as you can on the diaphragm, to reduce the tendency to scream without regulation. Keep the vowels leaning towards the AH and it's high modifications, AH, AW, Aoo, and Aooh.
It's OK to give the illusion that you are shredding your cords, but just be sure to cut back the air and make a mini version that actually is a much safer way to sing. Compress, but hold back. It will be at a lower volume, but close-miked.
Once you are in that high, belting voice it's easier to just stay there than to go back and forth between the higher sound and the lower sound.
Practice finding a more comfortable way to sing that part, and let the shredded cords be an illusion.
The hard part is changing into this configuration from the lower verse sound.
Bob
Overall this is a good start. The tone is bright for the most part but you could add a lot more support to the sound. Keep your vowels bright in the chorus the first Eye in the chorus goes a little dark keep the tone to the front of the face and open into a nice Ah vowel. Your pitch drifts in sections but I think more support will help that. All the best! It's a tough song.
Hey, marc!
It just about kills me to say this, but I think you still need to put a skoshe more consonant back in to improve intelligibility a little more. I know you're just doing what I suggested to minimize the consonants, but I still think you're still overcorrecting that a bit.
Another stylistic request is this: Yes, I have been critical of overly staccato or choppiness in the past, and largely you have corrected that, however when you do your stops or rests, in those spots it still seems a little abrupt. It's like you should hang that note just a moment longer, or maybe taper it off a bit where it doesn't seem so chopped-off. Listen to those parts and see if you hear what I'm hearing there.
I have to tell you that you are improving noticeably and I'm really liking that you are putting so much work into this and getting real improvements, month-by-month. Overall, your pitch is getting more solid.
I would agree with Scott that more support would benefit the overall tone, pitch, and strength of your voice. Think sing it more from your core than from your throat. If you listen carefully, it does still sound a bit throaty, and would benefit by coming more from your core.
Also a little more brightness, as Scott says, would benefit the tone. A touch of Mask, not too much, and a little more Ping from the bright open throat.
You keep coming back with Eye of the Tiger, and I think you've got a Tiger by the Tail!!! It's a hard song to pull off, and you are as hard to pull off of that song as a pit bull! Keep slugging!! Take your lumps from the critiques, make your improvements, and before long, you will have this one down to a "T".
Bob