Free Fallin Cover - Feedback?

[BeginZach]

The beginning sounds off, but please have a listen and let me know on how I can improve! It may not sound great but please stick with it until the end, positive and negative feedback would be hugely appreciated!! Any tips would be great!!!

Also I'm learning guitar so this is my first time playing and singing!

Thanks

https://soundcloud.com/kingdreamland/free-fallin-cover

 

[Chuku]

Yes, when you started, the note went totally off and you did fine on the other parts but i could hear some off notes. But you sang it better than your old post and i think you should keep practicing if you want to become a good singer. Just try to practice from your keyboard if you have one by playing a single note on it and humming or singing on that note (or you can download many free keyboard apps).

 

[kickingtone]

I can't hear any badly off notes. Pitchwise, it sounds decent enough to me.

Your tone is downbeat, almost apologetic. There is nothing absolutely wrong with that, but it makes it difficult to energize the sound.

Your tone darkens at the very end of each phrase because you are not holding your overtones right through the note. You are not injecting much in the way of "cry" or overtones, in the first place, and they retire early. Again, this is merely a matter of style. You have gone for a more airy sound. My opinion is that the combination lacks energy. I checked out the original, and the "cry" in the singer's tone saves it from the same fate.

The chords of the song are already doing a good job of conveying a downbeat effect where it is required. It is my opinion that you don't need to accentuate that. You even have room to counter it without changing the mood. You can get some interesting contrast and emphasis that way.

I think your diction can do with being clearer. As it is, it doesn't sound confident, which adds to the apologetic mood. It also hides some of the notes by blurring them and making the pitch more difficult to track. For some people, that leads to hearing a pitchy sound, especially if they do not know the song, or if you were singing a cappella and your vocals were the only reference point.

 

[famous beagle]

You should definitely stick with it. Yes there was lots of pitchiness throughout, but there were also some very pretty moments.

One thing I noticed, on the diction end, is that you tend to swallow the beginning consonants of words, which makes it very difficult to understand what you're saying. It almost sounds as though you didn't want to end one note before you started another on the same picth because it was a crutch --- i.e., you're already singing that note, so you wouldn't have to start it again. As an example, instead of singing:

"She's a good girl, loves her mama."

You kind of sang:

"She's a goodnnnngirl, loves her mama"

It was the same on "I'm a bad boy." It was more:

"I'm a badnnnnboy."

Anyway, like I said, you should stick with it. You just sound very much like someone who's inexperienced with it right now. It sounds tentative, shy, and nervous. Like I said, though, there were certain notes that sounded very nice, so the potential is there for sure. The more you practice, the more confidence you'll gain. The more confidence you gain, the more you'll practice (hopefully). Good luck with it.

 

[Nola]

You kind of sang:

"She's a goodnnnngirl, loves her mama"

Yeah i heard that, too, and it's strange. It doesn't sound awful just odd.

The overall take is, as others have said, pitchy. Since you're highlighting the vocal it matters more than if you had a full band, etc.

The one good thing you have going for you is a good timbre, which can't be taught. Now you have to practice to control it.

I wish the cover had a pulse of some kind. The lack of rhythm made it really hard to get through.

 

[BeginZach]

Thank you for the feedback! I will stick at it, I've been researching some vocal exercises hoping they will help me progress! I come from the Northeast of England, and we have a pretty strong accent so being unable to pronounce words properly is natural for me, but I will try my best to do so without sounding unnatural! The 'Gooodnnngirl' is just a habit I have, like stated it is probably just because I am new to singing and stuff. Every comment helps me greatly

Also what is Timbre?

Thank you again for the feedback!

 

[Pub Style]

If you close your eyes and listen to the recording as it is..

Then picture a disturbing scene from a movie where someone is burying a body in the woods, it sounds really cool. I really mean that, in a good way.

 

[CoolCat]

I could drink a bunch of beer listening to that, its a unplugged kind of version.
Thats a hard song to get the octave up.

Jeff Lynne recommended Tom do that chorus an octave up, actually Jeff came up with Free Fallin, and Tom turned it into a song....just reading a book on that crap. Great song....Im Free...

Funny the record execs turned it down, said there wasnt any "hits" on Full Moon Fever. Imagine that? Record Execs in suits telling him the album wasnt any good.