Looking for reviews/advice

[Asherno]

Hi, I'm a 20 year-old guy and I always liked singing but I really started to like it at the beginning of year 2016. I've been practicing since a few months, trying to learn how to breathe correctly, how to stop being too nasal, doing vocal warmups to prepare your voice before singing but I'm kinda stuck now. My friends think my singing is good but I'd like to have a review from more skilled people to focus on what I should work on to get a better voice. I also noticed I can sing better acapella, on my own. While trying to sing on tune with the back music, it sounds weird. Like the song is too high or too low at some parts, but I don't know if it's because I am going off-key at parts and must practice or because the song isn't made for my voice type.

 

So here are some acapella bits I sung on my own (far from being perfect I know, I do notice some off-key notes) :

 

Ariana Grande - Dangerous Woman :

Original :

Me : http://picosong.com/xEV2/

 

Ariana Grande - Into You (sorry for the echo on this one):

Original :

Me :http://picosong.com/xEXn/

 

Britney - Circus :

Original :

Me :http://picosong.com/xEVD/

 

Britney - Toxic :

Original :

Me :http://picosong.com/xEVF/

 

Tell me anything that you notice/feel, even if it's harsh to hear. All criticism is good and helpful ! Thanks, hope that won't be too painful to listen to haha

[kickingtone]

I can't hear much nasality, so, whatever you did there worked. Sounds to me as if you have a decent foundation.

 

It may be helpful to practise brightening and darkening your tone. It is easy to confuse brightness with pitch. Sometimes, a note may not be as high as you think. Your ear is just centering on a particular harmonic, and your vocals can get dragged sharp (or flat).

 

And, if you are singing along (instead of a cappella) to a song that is fairly dynamic in terms of brightness and darkness, or one which is testing your range, it can sound strange, even if your pitch is ok. It is probably because you are not matching the dynamic range. You may then be drawn into the mistake of trying to adjust pitch.

[Asherno]

Thanks a lot for your review !

 

Glad to hear nasality ain't a big issue now. What I did is stop putting air and sound in my nose but rather in the back of my throat, while breathing with diaphragm instead of breathing like we all do when we talk. Guess that worked well.

 

I think you're right, maybe I need some ear training and also to work on the dynamic range ! Thanks cause I didn't realize this could be an answer to the off-key parts of my singing !

[daddymack]

I did not listen,sorry, but first and foremost, make sure the song is in your range and in a good key for your voice!Many times the original key is not a good match.

[Asherno]

Well in fact I don't even know my range, even if I tried things to get to know it !

[1001gear]

Can you get to a keyboard? Match the lowest note you can sing and the highest note you can sing. That's your range.

[Asherno]

I guess I should try, thanks !

[itrytosing]

Hi Asherno, first of all I applaud you singing songs by Ariana Grande and Britney haha. From what I know, nasality happens when your vocal placement is at your nose instead of the area between your nose and your head called the vocal mask. The vocal mask is where most industry pop singers place their voice at to achieve that "pop" quality. You also need to work on your mixed voice to reach those higher notes with power instead of pulling your chest voice up with may sound strained and thin. I wrote a post on the specifics on pop singing here - http://superiorsingingsuccess.weebly.com/home/learn-to-sing-pop , and also check out the video below:

[kickingtone]

^

From what I understand, plugging your nose should not stop the sound if you are "singing in the mask" -- nasal resonance. But it will kill the sound if it is nasal, which involves pushing air through the nose, rather than channeling resonance.