I would REALLY REALLY appreciate feedback from this lovely community (Green Eyes)

[theflink]

Hey everyone.

So, I've been struggling for a while with my voice, and today, I thought "Darn it, might as well record something and see what people say, if I can get anyone to listen"

I know this is a guitar forum (i've been a part of the community for a while), and if I knew of a singing community, I would have posted it there first, but what I do know about this forum, is that it is filled with wonderful, helpful people, so I was just really hoping you would give me a shot, and spend 3 minutes listening to the track and giving me some feedback

Any feedback at all.. Please be honest with me, cause nobody seems to want to give me their opinion. Therefore, i obviously fear the worst!

I recorded Coldplay's "Green Eyes". It's a favorite of mine, and I would just really like you to listen through the whole thing before passing judgment. It goes through the whole range for me.


So yeah, the guitar is not great in it, but it was about the voice and how that sounds... This is the first time I've ever recorded anything, and the quality is a bit rubbish, but I think the quality of the voice mic is alright, so that is the important bit.


If you'd just give a tiny bit of feedback, I'd be truly grateful to you all! Be truly honest.


Lots of love,

Marc

[Racerbob]

It's nice to have one of those great voices. But it's always important to learn technique. Learning to work within your voice's range and key is as important as anything else.

Don't give up, knowing how to deliver the vocal is the key to good vocals despite not being gifted with great "pipes"

[moondoggie999]

Listened to the whole thing. It was very good! You have nothing to worry about. You actually have quite a nice voice! Post more stuff.

[theflink]

Originally Posted by Racerbob

It's nice to have one of those great voices. But it's always important to learn technique. Learning to work within your voice's range and key is as important as anything else.

Don't give up, knowing how to deliver the vocal is the key to good vocals despite not being gifted with great "pipes"

Sorry, but i don't fully understand what you are saying. Could you elaborate? It might be because English is my second language

"it's nice to have one of those great voices" Are you referring to me having a great voice, or just in general?

Did I sing out of key at any point? If so, could you point out the spot, so I can hear that, and improve?


Sorry if it's just me not understanding your answer. Thank you for listening!

[theflink]

Originally Posted by moondoggie999

Listened to the whole thing. It was very good! You have nothing to worry about. You actually have quite a nice voice! Post more stuff.

Thank you so much!

I've been struggling with some pretty heavy depression for a long time now, and I always second-guess everything I do.

I've written more than 50 songs by now, but on some days, they all sound poor to me. On others, they're great. It's such a hard thing to deal with, and at this point, I simply don't trust myself anymore.

So I have to ask other people.

I really really appreciate you taking time to listen to it. I'm sure I still have loads of room to improve, and I am working on that. Maybe I'll try and record some more songs and post them on here another day. Hear what people think about those

Thanks again!

[flatbaroque]

Nothing wrong with your voice at all.It's a good folk singer's voice.That was a nice listen.
Your voice has a pleasant tone and you stay in tune.My voice is nothing special but I enjoy singing and playing and post here often.
I think by picking stuff that suits your voice you will be doing clips that people will enjoy.
I write songs too. You'd probably be surprised how well received some of your's might be - keep it up.

[delaorden9]

Hi, thanks for posting. Aside some adjustments in your recording ( I could noticed some unbalanced between left and right channels, but maybe just me) your voice is awesome, in key and with feeling so nothing wrong with it, you sing quite nice.
I would add that most important of anything is that you have fun playing and singing and then everyone is going to feel it and like it as well. Play with confidence, you're good. Keep posting.

[Racerbob]

You have a good but untrained voice. Not everyone has one of those amazing voices so it's important to maximize what you have.

It is as important to learn how to "deliver" the song. That gets into things such as when to apply vibrato or tremolo to a word, at the start or the end of the word or phrase rather than just try to hold the note at a high volume.

The biggest thing that would help smooth out your vocals is to not jump to high volume suddenly from the basic volume. Notice how professionals, when hitting a high note or volume level, will move away from the mic so as to avoid the sudden jump in db level which can be very jarring. Look at the wave form of your vocal and note the number of times there is a sudden spike in volume. It's better to bring the volume up smoothly.

Just some observations since you asked, hope they are helpful, I'm not criticizing.

[J.R. Rogers]

Sounds real nice

JR

[theflink]

Originally Posted by Racerbob

You have a good but untrained voice. Not everyone has one of those amazing voices so it's important to maximize what you have.

It is as important to learn how to "deliver" the song. That gets into things such as when to apply vibrato or tremolo to a word, at the start or the end of the word or phrase rather than just try to hold the note at a high volume.

The biggest thing that would help smooth out your vocals is to not jump to high volume suddenly from the basic volume. Notice how professionals, when hitting a high note or volume level, will move away from the mic so as to avoid the sudden jump in db level which can be very jarring. Look at the wave form of your vocal and note the number of times there is a sudden spike in volume. It's better to bring the volume up smoothly.

Just some observations since you asked, hope they are helpful, I'm not criticizing.

Thank you so much! I would really like some criticism, which is why I asked a bunch of strangers! I was hoping for some honest opinions. I'm working on my vocals with a program. It's a slow progress, but I have already seen a bit of progress over the last two weeks, so I'm cautiously optimistic. I'll record this song again in a month or two and see how far I've come. I found out that Green Eyes goes from around the start of my vocal range to just about the edge of the top. Maybe i was a bit too ambitious, but I also wanted to have something to work towards.

Thanks a lot for your feedback. I'll take it all into account! Really appreciate it!

[theflink]

Originally Posted by flatbaroque

Nothing wrong with your voice at all.It's a good folk singer's voice.That was a nice listen.
Your voice has a pleasant tone and you stay in tune.My voice is nothing special but I enjoy singing and playing and post here often.
I think by picking stuff that suits your voice you will be doing clips that people will enjoy.
I write songs too. You'd probably be surprised how well received some of your's might be - keep it up.

That's probably the biggest compliment I could get a the moment. When I hear my own voice, I'm not too fond of what I'm hearing, so to know that other people don't find it annoying or something like that, is a weight off my shoulder!

Thanks for listening man! Appreciate it

[theflink]

Originally Posted by delaorden9

Hi, thanks for posting. Aside some adjustments in your recording ( I could noticed some unbalanced between left and right channels, but maybe just me) your voice is awesome, in key and with feeling so nothing wrong with it, you sing quite nice.
I would add that most important of anything is that you have fun playing and singing and then everyone is going to feel it and like it as well. Play with confidence, you're good. Keep posting.

Thanks a bunch! Hopefully I'll improve a lot over the next month, so we'll see. I'll probably upload another song a two, since I'll be recording anyway to keep progress of my training!

Thanks for listening!!!


EDIT: Could anyone tell me how to make multiple replies in one message? I feel like I am spamming, just trying to reply to people!

[Silly Moustache]

Hi from the UK. Yes listened to your track with interest.

There are some notes that don't quite make it, (mainly in the chorus) but you hit the higher notes well and consistently. (Cold play bloke doesn't hit them all perfectly either).

Your accent does not indicate that English is your second language and you seem to have grasped some American vibe - (which is fine!)

Some of the first few syllables of first lines (etc) are underpowered and so are lost. Listen to the original again, and consider how he annunciates and how much power is used in his voice. (BTW - the guy who sing this in Coldplay doesn't have a very good voice anyway).

Also listen to the degree of volume of voice over rhythm guitar. The part of the song where the whole band comes in is messy (too much cymbal and the lead guitar is messy but the vocal track is still understandable over all that.

I think you may be breathing only as if you were speaking - and you need more than that. It is that old fashioned but still very relevant matter of "preloading" your lungs - giving you air/energy for the whole line - or at least until ther next space when you can refill your lungs - breathing in through your nose, not your mouth - which often sounds bad.

THEN, after learning to fill your lungs - you need to control it.

To effectively tell a story in a song it is important to "catch" your audience with clean annunciation of the first few words or they'll not catch up.

As far as note accuracy - the best way to improve that (a constant battle for some) is to listen to your own recording very carefully - you should be able to tell, and think about your breathing at that time.

Don't be disillusioned - but here's another helpful secret - when you sing a song -yours or a cover, for three minutes or so that it YOUR story and you want everyone listening to hear it all clearly and to empathise.

One last point - you don't have to copy the arrangement of the original, or the key. What could you do to make the song "yours"?

Well done, keep working on your music, and I hope this helps.

[theflink]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

Hi from the UK. Yes listened to your track with interest.

There are some notes that don't quite make it, but you hit the higher notes well and consistantly.

Your accent does not indicate that English is your second language and you seem to have grasped some American vibe - (which is fine!)

Some of the first few syllables of first lines (etc) are a bit underpowered and so are lost.

I think you may be breathing only as if you were speaking - and you need more than that. It is that old fashioned but still very resolvent matter of "preloading" your lungs - giving you air/energy for the whole line - or at least until ther next space when you can refill your lungs - breathing in through your nose, not your mouth - which often sounds bad.

THEN, after learning to fill your lungs - you need to control it.

To effectively tell a story in a song it is important to "catch" your audience with clean annunciation of the first few words or they'll not catch up.

As far as note accuracy - the best way to improve that (a constant battle for some) is to listen to your own recording very carefully - you should be able to tell, and think about your breathing at that time.

Don't be disillusioned - but here's another helpful secret - when you sing a song -yours or a cover, for three minutes or so that it YOUR story and you want everyone listening to hear it all clearly and to empathise.

Thank you so much for the detailed answer.I really appreciate you taking the time to listen and comment!!! ))

Yeah, I also speak with something akin to an american accent. Still have a few traces of my Danish accent here and there, but it is close. So I think that translates into the singing as well.

I'm working on the breathing and the lung capacity (which is pretty hard). I know you're supposed to have the support of your diaphragm and breathe "with your stomach". I just still find it hard to do that consistently when I have to focus on singing all the words right and playing at the same time.


So yeah, thanks a lot. I'll keep working on it, trying to fix the gaps here and there, and hopefully improve a lot over the next month or two. Thank you for listening!

[noledog]

Nice to meet you Norman aka theflink,

I enjoyed listening to you and heard a hint of David Gray & Sawyer Fredricks in you voice, very nice! You have a pleasing tone well-suited for the Folk/Americana genre...your continued practice will develop it even better with more control as you learn to use the strengths of your gift.
Some folks just plain can't sing yet are gifted in other areas of music, it's all a gift and you have it for singing. So I encourage you to continue on friend always in humility, gratitude & grace! I look forward to hearing you again!

eric