Quote from: Nidalexi on October 14, 2013, 06:29:58 AM
I'll call Simon right now, brb.

He might be mean, but I can take it. I might prefer someone from "The Voice," though... as a coach!

Quote from: Nidalexi on October 14, 2013, 06:29:58 AM
I'll call Simon right now, brb.

He shouldn't be the judge of anything. I want to see him get up there and sing.

Quote from: RavenMoon on October 14, 2013, 06:53:25 AM
He shouldn't be the judge of anything. I want to see him get up there and sing.

I'm not saying Simon is good... but you can't ask a food critic to get up and cook. Appreciation of something and ability to do something are different skills. Yeah, there's overlap, but the best "doers" usually make the worst teachers and critics.

Quote from: kabit on October 14, 2013, 06:57:38 AM
I'm not saying Simon is good... but you can't ask a food critic to get up and cook. Appreciation of something and ability to do something are different skills. Yeah, there's overlap, but the best "doers" usually make the worst teachers and critics.

But he only liked one type of singer. The guy's a hack, and lots of people in the record industry, as well as music critics, are frustrated (i.e. lacking talent) musicians or singers with a chip on their shoulder. It's nothing but their opinion. They are not experts. People would say; "But Simon discovered so-and-so".. No, they had the talent, he did nothing except what the record label paid him to do. He has only appreciation for a narrow subset of music that he likes, and generally lacks good taste. I avoid those stupid shows like the plague. They help to ruin music by making everything bland, and homogenized. In his case his father was an executive at EMI music and gave him a job because he could not get along with colleagues and his bosses and kept getting fired from menial jobs. So without daddy he'd be nobody. He knows nothing about music.

Quote from: RavenMoon on October 14, 2013, 09:09:17 AMBut he only liked one type of singer. The guy's a hack, and lots of people in the record industry, as well as music critics, are frustrated (i.e. lacking talent) musicians or singers with a chip on their shoulder. It's nothing but their opinion. They are not experts. People would say; "But Simon discovered so-and-so".. No, they had the talent, he did nothing except what the record label paid him to do. He has only appreciation for a narrow subset of music that he likes, and generally lacks good taste. I avoid those stupid shows like the plague. They help to ruin music by making everything bland, and homogenized. In his case his father was an executive at EMI music and gave him a job because he could not get along with colleagues and his bosses and kept getting fired from menial jobs. So without daddy he'd be nobody. He knows nothing about music.

He's such a turd. Never liked AI because of him.

I'm actually going to disagree with you guys, Simon does actually know what he's talking about.  He gives clear judgements as to why someone sounds bad, he picks people with good vocal talents regardless of the genre they sing.

Yeah, he's a little rude and extremely tactless, I'd still thing it's not correct to say he doesn't know music, because from what I can tell he does.

I think The Who made a good point when they argued that a lot of the bands and artists we consider to be legendary these days would have been thrown out of the ridiculous 'talent' shows that Cowell judges.

Quote from: RoteRosen on October 14, 2013, 02:11:39 PM
I think The Who made a good point when they argued that a lot of the bands and artists we consider to be legendary these days would have been thrown out of the ridiculous 'talent' shows that Cowell judges.

A lot of singers these days are bland.

I disagree. All the singers he likes have that R&B fake soul style. This is what was wrong with AI. You only had singers.  Not instrumentalist and no original music. But that's changing now. The whole idea of these contests are stupid. They purposely picked some bad singers to make fun of them since everyone had to audition.  How about just have a showcase of new talent and not a dog and pony show?

Sorry but I've been doing this over 40 years and this stuff gets on my nerves! Singers and music in General is bland because it's about making money and not art. Label A wants a copy of label B's act and so on. The people who mix the records are even told by the label that it has to sound like all the other hits on the radio!

I'm on my way back to my room, I'll start experimenting and recording when I get back. Turns out my roommate won't be back until Wednesday morning, so I actually have some privacy!

Quote from: RavenMoon on October 13, 2013, 10:27:27 PM
You sounded totally female in both. I also enjoyed the songs. I try to get a tone like you first clip, but I need to work on it more. The song I posted earlier was my straight male singing voice, though I can sing deeper, like that 1980s new wave crooning voice.

I only recently started doing voice training for my speaking voice, and to be honest have been so busy I haven't had time to work on it everyday. Plus my 22 year old son lives with me, and i have not yet broke the news to him, so he'd wonder why I'm talking like that! Although he should be used to me talking in different voices by now. I tried a few preliminary tries at singing in a more female tone, but as you said, doing a breathy mixed voice is hard! I need to work on it more to get some power. I might never regain my upper range due to the tonality. But you did really great on that second song.

Eventually if I can't sing well via voice training, I might opt for vocal surgery and then relearn how to sing. :/

I'd love to hear more recordings if you get the time.

QuoteI disagree. All the singers he likes have that R&B fake soul style. This is what was wrong with AI. You only had singers.  Not instrumentalist and no original music. But that's changing now. The whole idea of these contests are stupid. They purposely picked some bad singers to make fun of them since everyone had to audition.  How about just have a showcase of new talent and not a dog and pony show?

Sorry but I've been doing this over 40 years and this stuff gets on my nerves! Singers and music in General is bland because it's about making money and not art. Label A wants a copy of label B's act and so on. The people who mix the records are even told by the label that it has to sound like all the other hits on the radio!

Thanks for the positive comments The more you exercise the upper range, as you probably know, the more the voice will get used to it. I've added over an octave onto the vocal range I thought I had.

And I totally agree with current music - there are many singers who are vocally IMpressive but not EXpressive. Many singers can sing well but lack individuality and true connection.

As I mentioned before, I believe cultivating a somewhat androgynous tone that could "plausibly" come from a female is far easier than trying to sound female - otherwise you'll be limiting yourself to what you can sing. The two songs I posted were probably more towards the "female" end of my singing technique, the video below is me performing at a mini concert, and using more of my lower and upper ranges to cultivate a more androgynous sound - especially as my chest voice projects the best across a room with no microphone! If you can sing with a unique voice and take the audience on an emotional journey with you, it'll be infinitely better than singers trying to impress with their vocal trills, rolls and high notes.



My favourite example of a masculine female singing voice is this one:

Screw it, my recording sounds awful. Could be the internal mike is crap, or I'm just bad.

Quote from: Willow on October 14, 2013, 05:48:08 PM
Screw it, my recording sounds awful. Could be the internal mike is crap, or I'm just bad.

It's the microphone.
Internal mics are terrible. Basic (i.e. cheap) external / USB ones are OK. Condenser ones are good. I have a Blue Snowball USB mic. There's a recent microphone thread on Susan's somewhere.

Quote from: kabit on October 14, 2013, 06:57:55 PMIt's the microphone.
Internal mics are terrible. Basic (i.e. cheap) external / USB ones are OK. Condenser ones are good. I have a Blue Snowball USB mic. There's a recent microphone thread on Susan's somewhere.

I shall search for it.
Can't spend too much money, though. Only have a few hundred dollars left for the entire year (tuition is paid for, thank god) and I'm saving what I can for hormones in the likely case that my insurance doesn't cover them.

So I was singing today, after doing some voice therapy, and found a good spot to sing, as far as removing the low male resonance, and it reminded me of one of my favorite singers, Chrissy Amphlett of the Divinyls (R.I.P.)

So here my version of Pleasure And Pain. i had to do about 5 takes, so my voice started getting tired singing that way, and now i'm hoarse! lol

http://snd.sc/1bwi8Ga

I think it's a pretty good impersonation of her.    I have to keep practicing.

Not bad at all!
EDIT: after listening to the original just following, I like your better, actually. It has a bit more of a sassy tone to it

Thanks! I exaggerated her sass a little. lol

I liked it, though.

A song like this needs lots if practice to get all her mannerisms. I ran through it a few times with the original and went for it. I was reading the lyrics while I sang, which I don't like doing. So I messed up the first four takes.

I really recorded it just to see how I sounded, but I was happy with the results so here it is. Not perfect, but not bad either.

You sound awesome... and you inspired me to try Imagine Dragons. (I figured out how to cheat... Youtube the song w/ lyrics, use headphones while you record).

Nope... not posting that one! I sound petulant in the low sections. The high voice sections were ok. I guess I need to work w/ mic more!