Seeking Feedback: Something New + On Fire

ivannyung

Hi guys,

Looking for some feedback for my singing.

Got two samples:
Something New - For All Seasons:
On Fire - Switchfoot:

Here are some things I'm working on:
- People have commented that some of my pronunciation sounds funky. For example, "world" and all the "r" words are a little hard, and i've been introduced to the "tongue flick" to not choke on my "r"s. I feel like for higher songs, pronunciation is less of an issue; for christian contemporary music for the most part it doesn't go very high.. and so i think pronunciation is more prominent?
- I'm looking to improve my tone. I don't really like the sound of my voice; it has this natural rasp to it that doesn't sound very "solid".

I've been doing this program for a little under a year, and I've definitely felt my voice strengthen a LOT, as well as range and ease of singing.

Any feedback would be helpful. thank you!

Ivan

Gaston_Jauregui

@ivannyung the fact you don´t like the sound of your voice it´s pretty common, but you sound good, I like it!
I didn´t notice the R words you mention, plus it´s a consonant I wouldn´t try to over pronounce it, you could get stuck on it while singing, but I didn´t hear any of that, I think you could brighten your sound a little more in general, and I would work on the vocal tract shaping exercises more consciously which are the "Lah a a (U) o o a" and "Lah a a (U O A) a a a" and try to keep that feeling while you sing songs,



I usually think that singing is kind of as when someone is speaking another language, like if you hear an italian or Mexican speaking english, you kind of hear the pronunciation is as if you never close the back of the throat, (not the pronunciation of the consonants though) they wouldn´t pronounce the EEs and Uhs that much, but in singing makes total sense haha, btw I am Mexican so hope no one feels offended by my comment, it´s just an example to get the feeling of it

ivannyung

hahaha love the comparison haha not offended! i think it makes a lot of sense.

thanks for the feedback! could you elaborate a little on what a LACK of vocal tract shaping is doing to my singing? i just revisited those videos, and understand that it's so that you move between vowels easier, but what is it exactly you hear in the recording that tells you i'm not doing it properly? think that would help me to concretely improve.

i'll work on brightening my sound more too. thanks for the feedback!

Gaston_Jauregui

@ivannyung hi, the thing is that the same feeling you have in the vocal tract shaping exercise, is the one you should try to have the whole time while singing, but most importantly from the passaggio notes to whatever the top is
as an example "Everything inside of you is more than what you´ve heard..." or "you´re on fire" this is the way I like to see it,
first lets agree that every vowel has a different size
the second thing is if every vowel has a different size when you say "You´re on FAAA..."
you agree you are making "you´re on" small vowels, FAAAER (as fire) Big vowels


as you see, even if you DO modify on the high part it´s still not totally correct,
why? because is in the same phrasing, and the thing is, once you created a space, you are supposed to respect it and try to say everything inside that space, (just as in the vocal tract shaping exercise, even though Ah is a big vowel and Uh is a small vowel you are working with the space of Ah)

So wether is (You´re...) or (yaw´re...) either way, you´re gonna have to work with what you have, because you can´t change the space once you created it, either you keep it small or keep it big but not change it in the way small big small big, (it´s better big btw), you just can change it until you take another breath, and obviously you aren´t gonna sing: "you´re on....(breath) fire" because one, that´s not the way the song goes, and two, you probably don´t have the time to take a breath there anyway haha

so I hope this helps you to get the feeling of open throat, and this is why some people just start singing any phrase and sound big and great.

This is why Ken says: "keep your throat open" it means "stay with the space you created at the beginning", If you are working with a small space like YOU because you decided that or accidentally you are already there, don´t reopen or let another small vowel close more the space during that phrasing, wait till the next breath and reopen the sound, because if you try to reopen it during that phrasing you are gonna choke, rasp, not reach the next high note, or even cough, just try that consciously and you´ll see what I mean

hope this was helpful
btw I know you already have the KTVA course but watch this video, it will reinforce the understanding of what im talking about
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZATunybJm_4

ivannyung

Hey Gaston!

That was super helpful! thank you for the detailed explanation that makes a lot of sense; the example was very helpful!

ivan