A small update, attempt at Wintersun's Time

MusicalPotato

I got around to buying the course and after 2 weeks I can already see improvement. I posted a range video before and since then barely practiced until I got this so I guess from there to here there's only been the influence of Ken. I've noticed my pitch DID improve slightly already but it's still troublesome and I need to really focus hard to stay on pitch(and still manage to fail at some points), but I guess with time I'll get around it. I'd apprechiate any other feedback on this, I only did 1 take for the main vocals and 2 for the backing ones just to keep it as if I'm singing it live.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1fVfYkeSRk

highmtn

@MusicalPotato,

Please be careful. You are using some forceful singing that can become very hard on your vocal cords. Some of what you are doing on this is very good, and as you said, the pitch goes awry at times. Realize that going through Ken's course should not be rushed. You're trying some difficult musical pieces and some techniques that require adequate training to be done safely.

If you will take your time, train dilligently without racing through, and get your pitch spot-on where it is going off on a tangent, you will end up with a killer voice. What you are trying to achieve can be done, but it takes time, practice, and technique.

Be very careful with the distortion and forceful singing. Think about reigning that in a bit. And pitch is non-negotiable. Take the time to reign-in your pitch.

Stay focused and stay the course!

Looking forward to hearing your development over time.

Bob

MusicalPotato

@highmtn
That's actually a reason why I posted this. The thing is, it's not straining for me to do this and I don't feel any pain or discomfort or soreness even if I'd sing like this for a longer period of time, but when I listened back to the recording and put it in this cover, I noticed it DOES sound strained and unnatural so I wanted to know if I was doing anything wrong or...? I don't sing like this all the time, of course, but whenever I do, I don't feel pain afterwards at all (I follow the rule "if it hurts in any way, stop, you're doing it wrong"). The people on this forum probably have more experience with being able to tell just from listening if anything is wrong, so I shared this here.

Thanks a lot for your reply

Blaz

highmtn

Yes. When we do things that are not healthy for our voice, they don't always create pain, but they still may be gradually damaging to our vocal longevity. The best vocal distortion is done with just a touch of distortion layered over a clean sound, like 97% clean and 3% distortion. You still hear the distortion, but it's really a mix. And to be done safely, it's at a reduced volume and air flow. What I heard in your demo sounded outside of those bounds.

Ken doesn't teach us how to distort our voices until we have completed all of the basic building blocks of the voice, and have a solid foundation and knowledge of how to use our voice. Then he teaches us to cut back the air, and after that, to apply a bit of safe distortion.

Knowing all of that can allow us to sing well on into later life, with our voice continuing to grow, rather than deteriorating.

MusicalPotato

@highmtn
Alright, huge thanks for the feedback, I do want to eventually learn this style though, it can probably be done in a safe way (mike patton or daniel heiman for example seem to not deteriorate despite doing harsh vocals a lot).

anyway thanks again, it's difficult to judge yourself, I suspected it mustn't be entirely right because it doesnt sound right on recordings even though it feels strainless, so any feedback like this is golden