Vocal Covers? Do I dare?
Posted: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 by Anex in Labels: amberian dawn, covers, passing bells, rock band, vocals, youtubeHey guys. I know this really doesn't have a whole lot to do with gaming but I don't have much other place to write about this so I'll blame this on the sexy microphone I received from the Team Cena sponsors.
I've been singing/playing vocals on Rock Band for sometime now, I also (as you know) have been posting videos of myself playing the game for a while too. I know that being good at the game on vocals doesn't make you a good singer. It's more or less like an advanced karaoke where you have a pitch line to follow that hopefully prevents you from sounding less bad than a tone deaf monkey.
I've kind of hid behind the game, this was a way I could post videos of myself playing it and having fun knowing that I wasn't really trying to impress anyone with my singing or anything. I know covers are a whole other world and open to more criticism and possibly rude comments.
Another reason I've never attempted covers is the kind of music I like generally has a classically trained soprano vocalist. Being that my only experience involves singing in a car or when I'm by myself this hasn't exactly been a welcoming domain to enter. I'm not into pop music too much (which would be much easier to sing) and the vocalists I like are just jaw-droppingly impressive. On the other hand this mic is so awesome that I HAD to test it out especially knowing that such vocals were too overpowering for the microphone I had previously.
So this is a partial cover of Amberian Dawn's Passing Bells. I just was singing it for fun and thought I was recording the whole thing to compare mic quality when I realized for some reason I had only a partial recording (hence why this is "partial"). I guess it is a good way to see if I should even bother trying covers of such music and/or if my youtube subscribers are even interested.
Either way whether you think it is bad or not, bet your ass I'm doing ALL of Amberian Dawn's DLC from the Rock Band Network for my youtube Rock Band videos. And if I DO do more covers in the future know that they won't all be Amberian Dawn and they will probably be much less frequent.
Should I bother pursuing covers? I know for sure I need more practice, but would you be interested?
I don't feel like I can really assess the power of your voice from this snippet, and it's too bad that there isn't more of the song to listen to, but the excerpt sounds quite impressive given the difficulty of the task! I was surprised that you can reach that high, and that final note is surely LONG! Pitch-wise, it sounds correct to me, too! You pretty much nailed it, huh? Congrats!
You've never had any lessons at all, or have you? I can't remember anymore. So you're saying your voice is loud enough to overpower your old microphone? Whow!
I sure hope you'll pursue this, I'd definitely love to hear more. I'm really curious now! Also, I hope that you'll consult a professional vocal teacher to help you polish your technique and learn all the tricks of the trade. There's no need to be afraid of criticism!
I mean, if your question is "Do I have (enough) talent?", don't be worried. Talent isn't as crucial as people think (unless you aspire to being a virtuoso or genius level musician ;-) ), and being (relatively) untalented is not a reason AGAINST, but FOR getting lessons. (Exceptionally talented people may not even need lessons and may do things correctly instinctively, or figure things out themselves - though they can still profit from lessons and get even better, especially if they aspire to the highest levels of the art.) Of course, you need some basic abilities, but you sure have those. ;-) Also, it's not like you'd have to learn singing from the beginning on, as many other young people nowadays do (since singing and home music is not really practiced in many families anymore). RockBand has already taught you something, too. Also, talent often only reveals itself while learning. Just stick to it and don't give up.
By the way: For a teacher, it's important to know what your goals are: singing just for fun, as a hobby, or as a profession. However, your goals may eventually turn out to rise to the next level once you taste blood. ;-)
Also, if you're nervous about this, you won't have to sing anything for the teacher at the beginning if you don't want to. (Only if you want to join a choir it would be a good idea to let the choir leader assess your skill level ;-) ) So, don't worry! It's really all an issue of practice!
Hope this helps,
Almagest