Greetings, outsider looking in, hoping for some feedback.

tohw

Hi there, I have been singing for about 15 years, though I only started taking it seriously in my early thirties(38 now). I never had the confidence to sing in front of people until then. I have taken lessons from various private teachers and did a one year course in basic musicianship with a focus on Song. I however am terrible at internalizing obscure drills and such, I get better with every lesson I take, little by little, but I am just not able to process what most teachers tell me into useful information. I end up doing the sounds and with repetition and singing lots, I get better. I feel like after many years I have gotten to a point where I can listen to my own voice and be fairly happy most of the time. But It's been a lot of screaming my lungs out to get here.

I have a pretty high voice, love singing metal, and rock but also really enjoy some smooth jazz or pop ballads. Really, anything with a good melody is a good time.

I am now living abroad in a small apartment, no guitar and thin walls leaving me with few chances outside of renting a Karaoke box to really open up the valve and sing. I will be getting a guitar soon, but still...
I would like to just get some thoughts going, get my own critical thoughts kickstarted and set up some targets for myself. I thought that maybe this would be a good place for me to get some feedback. It could also be just ways to stay motivated and optimistic while not having a band to play with(also hope to fix that soon). Anything really. I have been following Kens newsletter looking at all of the clips he puts up, both of himself and some of his student showcases and I always feel like he genuinely knows what he is talking about. Unfortunately my spending money is limited now as I am studying abroad. But I hope one day I might get there.

The first track I would like to put up is actually one I am unusually satisfied with, except for one point where my voice does something that I did not intend, the reasons for which I am unsure. It helped alot that I had amazing musicians all around me while performing this, and the fact that I have loved this song since childhood and getting to finally sing it for real was amazing. Of course, beside the problem point there are places where I'm disappointed in myself but that is just regular misstakes.
The unknown problem happens about 1:50 during the "Uuu--" part, my voice kind of klicks and when it happens it usually comes with a feeling of my vocal cords "catching" for a second. This happens sometimes and I kind of don't see it coming until it strikes!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPW60srbnxs

The other thing I have had problems with for a long time and never really succeeded in understanding is rasp/fry. At one point I kind of hurt myself trying to the point where I decided to leave it alone until I found a way that would consistently take me in the right direction without leaving me unable to sing for extended periods. It just wasn't worth it since most of what I sing is clean... I still wan to get there some day though.
I can put some distortion on a phrase or so without negative effects, but I know I'm not doing it right and any more that that and I do start feeling it fairly quickly(some of this on the above linked song, at about 2:50).
I recorded this cover of Man In the Box, with a backing track I got permission to use through Soundcloud. First time using my own recording setup so the sound is a bit blown out in the chorus unfortunately, couldn't fix it without re-recording everything(again!) so I left it. The choruses here has some mild distortion that actually didn't hurt me, but then the next time it didn't work again and I couldn't really recreate the feeling of that time.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2rGgM9RxMTDQ19qa3dlV3FJZXc

Well, I also have some other songs on that Youtube account, as well as a Soundcloud account with random uploads from a while back. Any and all feedback is welcome. I just kind of want to get started, and well, putting yourself out there and getting other peoples impressions is one of the best ways to wake up.

Thanks for reading this far, sorry for running long!
Keep singing and have a good one all!

Tommy

Matsy

Good job!

highmtn

Nice demos, tohw. That "Click" you felt may be what Ken calls getting "caught on the cord". It's kind of a disconcerting snap in the cartilages of the larynx, where they kind of momentarily feel as if they've come "unhinged" at the junction of the cricoid and thyroid cartilages. It can come from too much tension on the cords when reaching for a high note. Not much fun, a little scary. Goes away after you quit pulling so hard on it. Catches you off-guard.

Bob

tohw

Thanks for taking the time to read listen and comment guys.

highmtn, thanks for the tip. I guess I have tension in places I shouldn't then.
This thing usually happens in my middle registers upper parts or so, rarely on high powerful notes, or when doing softer falsetto.
So this would most likely be me tensing around the neck where I shouldn't?

Thanks again.