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My cover of The Longest Time [Billy Joel]
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2.0 PRO Posts: 60
Please give feedback on this cover.
I do not hear any bad mistakes myself, but I'm far away from being a pro. The highest notes are not feeling bad but they are near the limit of my current range.
How many words do you need to hear before you realize that you are listening to a non-native English speaker?
For some reason, not all smartphones can playback the second track containing the singing. That is with the speakers but with the headphones connected to the smartphone the singing can be heard as well. I wonder if anyone else has run into the same issue?
https://youtu.be/Snm04-W4eaQ
I do not hear any bad mistakes myself, but I'm far away from being a pro. The highest notes are not feeling bad but they are near the limit of my current range.
How many words do you need to hear before you realize that you are listening to a non-native English speaker?
For some reason, not all smartphones can playback the second track containing the singing. That is with the speakers but with the headphones connected to the smartphone the singing can be heard as well. I wonder if anyone else has run into the same issue?
https://youtu.be/Snm04-W4eaQ
Comments
My suggestions would be to minimize the abrupt changes between vowels, and approach each phrase with one and only one placement, as opposed to shifting too much between vowels in the same phrase. Have a look at Ken's "Vocal tract shaping" concept, there are videos on the course and on the PRO section in the forums, maybe youtube as well. For example, don't go OH and then a very closed and pointy EEH in the same phrase, instead set an AH placement in your throat and morph it slightly into an OH position and when you need to sing an EEH, don't close it too much, sing EH (like LED) instead, since that sound is more closely related to AH and OH, this way you make only slight changes between vowels. Your throat, vocal cavity, and jaw should be as comfortably still as possible, minimizing sudden abrupt changes; acting as a ventriloquist. Check out the "contiguous phrase singing " concept too, so you minimize the use of consonants and "m" "b" "p" letters that interrupt the continuity of your singing.. Lastly, maybe watch your larynx and try to control it better so it doesn't rise too much on you and help you create more space in the throat... Be sure to keep training the workouts as laid on the course as often as you can!
There has been a problem with some smartphones that - for some reason - occurs when playing back the track recorded using my Cakewalk home studio. Vocal track kind of fades away completely from the loudspeakers. Sounds like you actually heard my voice (there might be also a faint lead vocal included in the karaoke background) so that probably was not the issue here. I can hear my voice quite loud here - my gear is not on a professional level so that may produce a different result when the recording is played back by using other devices.
I have had stage fright when it comes to diving into those vocal track-shaping things due to I'm not a native English speaker and there are language phone differences that are causing trouble. But of course, sooner or later it has to be done. I try to analyze and apply your suggestions for this particular song.
The song is singable when my voice is in good shape but it may get tougher to sing sometimes. Especially 'needed' in "how you needed me too" in the 2nd verse may be strained.
This song has become a bit easier though than it was before I started Ken's course.
The mp3 problem is annoying mostly due to I send mp3s for feedback to my friend who sings himself but he hears only the background from his speakers. He would be a good source of feedback as he is a spot-on singer himself with quite perfect timing. I don't have the problem with my current Samsung S21 but Samsung A51 I had earlier behaved this way also.
I get the karaoke tracks from Youtube as you mentioned.
As far as recognising you aren't native English by 20s in it's noticeable. However it does give your voice good character and is not very distracting. I think if you hang onto the words in a different way it will help you out. Currently you spend time on sounds like Ng, M and L. For example when you sing "for the lonnngest time" place less emphasis on Ng and M and try it like this "faw the laaawgest taahym" you will want to add just a little bit of Ng and M where needed but hang onto the open vowels you practice. That will be better open throat and help with your worries about accent.
I've never really studied this song before but I could tell you have excellent breath control. Some of those phrases were fairly long when I sang along and you never sound out of breath. Ping was very good too through the whole song, you should be proud of this effort mate 👍🏼
I listened to this myself again and noticed some off-key issues. This song is quite demanding and originally the highest notes were completely out of my range.
However, I listened to some Billy Joel [himself] yesterday and I had to think I'm pretty far from his level. But I think I can sing this song in karaoke at least.
I've done part 1 exercises for about 6 months now and recorded the law- vowel yesterday. I wasn't very impressed when I played it back. There are issues with breathing with the scales. It felt better when I sang it but the playback revealed the truth. I try to record the law- vowel again today if my voice feels any better.
There are still issues with the stamina of the voice. It gets tired if I sing higher notes and may require a day or two to recover. I don't know how other singers develop their stamina but I think part 1 exercises are not enough (for me at least) to develop a voice that can do e.g. Blue Öyster Cult's Take Me Away. That song has G#4 as its highest note but there are a lot of them compared to e.g. Thin Lizzy's The Boys Are Back In Town which has only two spots of them. I may be able to sing 'Take Me Away' one or two times before the voice gets tired. I'm hoping the voice gains more stamina but it clearly takes a lot of time.
One question I'd have: the stamina needs to be developed by doing Ken's exercises and not by singing? So I perhaps should avoid singing too high notes before it feels easy enough with help of vocal exercises?