constructive criticism dilemma

damianhk

Member
I realize there's a difference between not liking a song,genre,style and something that is out of key. I stumbled on a girl in a songwriting group/playlist. She sounds good on some stuff, promotes the community, and she's a good person. But, in her latest video, i cringed, because it sounded out of key, especially obvious at 50 seconds, and i'm not sure if she realizes it. There may be a chance that i'm hearing it wrong or she doesn't want to offend the person/songwriter she teamed up with. The goal is to help, make corrections, etc, because she has a good attitude. Take a listen, and let me know your method of giving constructive criticism. I probably won't comment on her video, but, well, anyway, Is this out of key, both, or just one? i can't tell what's going on (at 50 seconds) >>
 
At 50 seconds there is a key change which takes a bit of getting used to. She tends to go sharp in assorted places throughout the song. and at 50 secs she is a bit off, but gets it pretty right soon after at 60 seconds. The guitar part doesn't help because it is not giving much in the way of pitching cues. The other thing that doesn't help is that while the bloke's voice and delivery match the guitar and style of song, her voice doesn't match his voice all that well.

If you want to give constructive criticism on the video, you can commend her effort, but say you would really like to hear her on her own.

I'd be reluctant to bring up the pitching at this stage. I'd rather find out first whether it was just this song, or whether she does it consistently.

If it's a songwriting group, then I would focus on the writing.

However, if part of it is to focus on performance as well, then to uphold that part you have to deal with it.

You can mention that parts of the song sound a bit odd. You may then wonder whether, when she is recording, she can hear herself clearly, because sometimes not being able to do so can cause the pitch to drift a bit. Headphones can be deceiving at times.
 
her pitch wasn't that noticeable in other songs, by herself. Not sure how they recorded this, separately, different locations, at the same time/live? Appreciate that detailed feedback; even though it's not me. Also, i think sometimes, people get caught up in best mics, best cameras, new technology, etc. instead of just being musical.
 
My personal viewpoint would be that as two people are singing and it clashes - something is wrong. I suspect that her quite usual sing style has these slides into the next notes or syllables as her 'character' and it's the non-blend with the other singer doing it straight that causes a clash. She's adequate, but doesn't really shine as a singer in a traditional sense. Too many self-developed features that run contrary to traditional technique. You can't say she's a bad singer but her style prevents her singing many songs. Compare her with Bryan Ferry - he had a very strange ramp up to notes, and back in the 50s, the big band British singer Anne Shelton had something similar - she would pitch a long note quite flat and gradually slide into it. Sinead O'Connor does other slightly odd mangling of notes, but again - it works. Some singers can control their voices. Others are stuck in a style. In this case, it's perhaps just too mild a mangle to become a style and gets confused with an error.

If you listen to Frank Sinatra - his singing was very often faulty - missed notes, poor pitch, but he turned it into a classic style. Nobody ever said he was anything other than a great singer, to his face -but as he got older, the loss of control got worse and worse, but it really didn't matter - it was still Frank.
 
I'll just let it be. It threw me for a loop, and I was a little surprised that she didn't notice. My goal was to never criticize or "bash". It's the opposite. I genuinely would like her to maybe notice this, and improve. I wanted other opinions, because i wasn't sure if I was hearing a style/technique that is acceptable. Clash is a good word. Maybe I shouldn't have brought it up, she's much further along than I am. Good luck to her. Thanks for feedback.
 
She definitely gets pitchy a bit at various times --- noticeably where you pointed it out, and other times as well. Like Gecko said, the key change can be tough, and if you're not spot on with the vocals, it's likely to sound bad. It sounds to me that she's still probably improving as a singer. He gets a bit pitchy at points, too, for that matter.

Are you 100% sure that she's not aware of it?
 
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