Boys of Summer (piano/vocal cover)

Michael4000

Hi All,

Can you please give me some feedback on this recording? I think there are some issues with my timing, Please let me know what you think of the vocals.

Thanks!

Michael

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AvqpmhkVjP-MlW5WuaqTY6aEJhDo?e=9aSEr1


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charlie_v

Hi @Michael4000

Musicians either sing/ play absolutely on the beat, or fractionally in front or behind.

You’re fractionally in front here. It can be a good thing, as it injects energy, which is great for this type of song.

But in a band, everyone needs to be the same. I went to a gig recently where 1 was in front & 2 behind the beat. It was really distracting!

You could practise singing absolutely on the beat & slightly behind to see what it feels like.

Michael4000

@charlie_v thank you for this feedback. How do you think the vocals were? (aside from timing) Do you have any suggestions for improvement?

charlie_v

I had a quick listen to the original, which is quite a lot higher!

I think if you're looking to sing these songs in a bar or something similar, I think you'll have fun, and the audience will enjoy them!

An issue that comes up repeatedly is that if you really want to work on your technique, by far the best way to do this is to upload yourself doing the exercises. This allows each part of the technique to be broken down, and analysed separately.

When you sing a song, everything happens much more quickly, and you will be on autopilot, meaning you won't have time to analyse what's happening. (I struggle with this even on the faster exercises!)

Do you feel your voice is developing? which areas are you seeing the biggest changes?

charlie_v

I had a listen again, whilst listening to the original as well. Some ideas to raise your version:

1. Think about how much support you have. You're singing a much in a more melodic way. This isn't wrong, but it doesn't have as much power as the original. On some of the higher notes you do support better, perhaps with some compression.
2. What work have you done to expand your range, and get up into the passagio and beyond? You'll need this to sing this in the original key.
3. Have a listen back, and you'll hear a few times where your pitch drops a bit. I sang something yesterday, thought it was good, then played it back and realised there were lots of minor pitch issues!

With all these things, it's really a case of asking yourself how far you want to go? This singing training is giving me a huge respect for these singers and their ability!

Michael4000

@charlie_v thanks for this. I do the exercises regularly, almost every day. I do feel my voice is developing, my range and pitch needs improvement but is getting better.

I don’t feel the need to always sing a song in its original key. The original key was chosen for that particular singer, not me. I like to make my own versions of songs that suit my range. No sense in trying to strain my voice in a key that is obviously out of my range.

charlie_v

@Michael4000 totally agree we should change the key so we can sing the song comfortably.

But a huge number of hits require me to go into & past my passagio. I can either change the key, or grow my voice so I can sing in the correct key. I want to do the latter!

Michael4000

@charlie_v I think you can do both. Gradually increase the key as you grow your voice. I don’t agree with the term “correct key” because I do not believe there is any “correct key”…wherever you are in your vocal journey is the key for you. And for some songs, we may never sing the original key. For example, I could practice growing my voice for years but I may never be able to sing a Mariah Carey song in her original key.

charlie_v

@Michael4000 i agree with that: perhaps “correct” should be “original.”

But so many of the great male singers sing in a range higher than mine, & I bet they can do this because they’ve put in 100s or even 1000s of hours of training.

My goal is to achieve the same results with the same path.

Anyway, what’s wrong with singing Mariah Carey in the original key? (I’m joking!) 😝