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Need help/input on a recorded performance

Sup everyone, I’m the lead singer of a prestigious tribute to No Doubt. For years, Iv somehow been able to perfectly replicate Stefani’s vocal and have had nearly all positive feedback from musician veterans, a coach I worked with, the no doubt community and have a strong group backing me (one is a member of Streetlight Manifesto).

Just recently, my friend shared a recorded live performance of us doing the song Hella Good to a tribute band community on Facebook. It was mostly positively received but a few said the lead vocal was pretty pitchy and often out of tune, along with the harmonized chorus. They said the verse phrases at the end of each line were consistently flat specifically despite the tone and style being authentic.

I’m fully aware that my guitarist was definitely out of tune as he himself knew. Aside from him, we wanted a “gang vocal” sound which Ken explains requires a bit of out of tune singing for that arena rock-gang effect. We’ve sorted this out since and sing it more in unison these days.

My concern is I rarely ever get enough feedback or criticism which would allow me to learn, but due to the obscurity of singing in female pitch often and having a highly stylized voice, coaches and listeners are clueless as to an opinion or suggestion for lessons.

I primarily focus on No Doubts live versions, as they are more appropriate for rowdy rock audiences we target. I opt for the darker, fuller, more shrill vocal for more punch and attitude. The people who liked the performance said it’s mainly just a style preference and I’m slightly bending the notes a bit for attitude, but might sound off for some. Another guy who liked it does pitch correction and tuning for a variety of instruments and didn’t hear anything wrong.

Below is the performance along with No Doubts version, plus a mashup of both of us side by side. All feedback and suggestions greatly appreciated !

https://youtu.be/VsnLdwRC9FA

https://youtu.be/7TKnRKYNJ50




OTHER PERFORMANCES /

https://youtu.be/lAmBo9y8Y5E

https://youtu.be/teU-rVJ1Nd0

BAND PROMO VIDEO /

https://youtu.be/3lNToXv3JAI

Comments

  • birdcherrybirdcherry Pro Posts: 32
    Hello!
    I would suggest using in-ear monitors for rehearsals and live performances. There are a lot of things that distort a reality for a musician during performances (such as room acoustic, loudness of instruments e.t.c) It usually results in pitchy and out of tune singing. To me, you and your band are pretty good as No Doubt tribute. But this particular performance is pitchy indeed. I suppose it's more of a problem of you not hearing yourself properly rather than a vocal techniques
  • WigsWigs Moderator, 2.0 PRO, 3.0 Streaming Posts: 5,042
    At 44s "real close up" the up is flat. The same parts of the song through out the performance are the same, you seem to go flat on this bit. In the chorus when you sing together you are not quite matching pitch with each other either and I'm not sure which one of you is off. However for yourself, you are getting the right pitch the rest of the time in the verses, so it's strange you go off for those times like at 44s. It's not pitchy per se, but there are the same parts of the song every time where your pitch is off, which is why I think people say you are pitchy.
  • nodoubtarionnodoubtarion 2.0 PRO Posts: 7
    Wigs said:

    At 44s "real close up" the up is flat. The same parts of the song through out the performance are the same, you seem to go flat on this bit. In the chorus when you sing together you are not quite matching pitch with each other either and I'm not sure which one of you is off. However for yourself, you are getting the right pitch the rest of the time in the verses, so it's strange you go off for those times like at 44s. It's not pitchy per se, but there are the same parts of the song every time where your pitch is off, which is why I think people say you are pitchy.

    Yea I agree, but because the parts are consistently like that, it was deliberately done as an attitude factor. It kinda darkens the verses a bit as they finish for a slight punkier flare and punk performances are never polished and studio perfect. From what other musicians said, they repeated the notes are slightly bent down but notice it was done for style and some may not like it.

    Iv noticed most guys who are fond of rock dug it, while some girls who sang more upbeat/polished and generic found out very out of tune.
  • WigsWigs Moderator, 2.0 PRO, 3.0 Streaming Posts: 5,042
    I suspected it might be something like that since you were on point everywhere else. Keep up the passion and energy mate 👍🏼
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