Round Four - Zone36

[psyren]

No major complaints with your tuning. Well done singing both the melody and harmony lines - very brave of you. Some slightly wonky notes in one or two spots, but nothing painful. The two lines didn't mesh exactly; it's quite risky to have the same voice singing two separate parts - when in harmony, it's generally fine, but when they sing in unison, the differences in tuning are highlighted.
Perfectly understandable words.
Rhythm was relaxed, not rushed. You meshed well with your backing.
I felt that you relied on the harmony to carry the interest in the song a little too much. There were some phrases (including the opening phrase) that wandered around without a point; take care of each phrase and you'll have (screaming) fans in no time Overall, I felt that a brighter tone of voice in the choruses and a slightly reflective tone in the verses would have suited this song slightly better, but you did well nonetheless.

I would like to hear your thoughts and opinions on your musicianship before I give you a mark.

Tuning - 9/10
Diction - 10/10
Rhythm - 10/10
Musicianship - 9/10

Overall - 9/10

[Zone36]

It's funny how you mention relying on the backing.  Most of my final decisions were based on my ability to record and my ability to edit.  More often than not the comments for me were about dynamics.  Webcam mics don't handle those well.  If I start out too quiet, my voice is drowned out by the backing.  And if I try to belt it out later, I get that crackling that I just have to deal with.  That is why I specifically chose a song with a harmony, so I could accentuate the strong parts, without destroying the recording.

And I actually deliberately left the melody and harmony a little off with the timing.  When you match up two identical voices really well, it sounds kind of fake to me, like those machines where you plug a mic into and you can make a ton of harmonies from one person.  The voices even if real almost sound synthesized.

As for the unison part where a lot of the background music cuts out.  I was torn between doing it alone or backing myself.  I felt that with it alone the song falls flat on it's face since it's the peak conclusion of the song.  That last quiet part being like the epilogue.  I won't make any excuses for the tuning, but again I was trying to make the voice different as if it were another person singing with me.  I could be wrong, but it's like there is some ringing when the voices match up too closely.

Lastly for the duet with myself.  Since I don't really know how to spice up a recording.  I aimed to make it like a live performance.

As for the tone of my voice, it was mostly a personal choice.  I'm sure for most of us, we don't really like hearing the sound of our own voices.  To me my voice sounds whiney when recorded, so I tried for a bit more robust male voice.

So in the end I was doing my best to mimic a live performance with proper equipment.  By the time I did my final recording I really internalized the song and just went at it.  My goal and finished product was to make the song with only two vocal tracks.  No stopping and starting with each verse or chorus.  So it really gave me the pressure to make it THE performance, no take-backs.

[psyren]

Agreed, webcam mics are horrible. They will, however, pick up changes in your tone of voice, if not the volume. I wouldn't have minded crackling; it shows you are putting effort in.

Timing choices with melody and harmony: live performers usually have 2/3 backing singers to fill in the harmony lines for them. Also, do bear in mind that there is technology these days that can auto-tune people's voices in 1/100th of a second at live venues.
To me, perfect synchrony wouldn't have sounded artificial, but having said that, it does give a human edge to your performance.

Everyone thinks their voice sounds very strange. It's a fact. Nobody is used to hearing their voice from outside their own head. Sure, you can change the way your voice sounds by listening to yourself and playing with the sounds you can make, but ultimately, your voice is your voice. You have to find its strengths and exploit them.

Having only one go at your song is a very brave move.

Any other comments? Disagreements?
Lastly, what mark do you feel you deserve out of 10 for musicianship? Why?

[Zone36]

Well it wasn't just one go.

I did do the song many times trying to find out how to best get what I wanted.

I also attempted to try to do the song in chunks, but even if I couldn't hear it, I felt inside that it lost some natural flow.

I also have a version of the song with it chunked up, but I felt it kept losing drive between parts especially if I had to start big.

As for musicianship PERSONALLY I give myself a 10.  I feel I put in great effort to get around boundaries.  But that cannot be an excuse since well have some boundaries.  But despite all of that I believe I took the effort to understand what I have to work with and got close to the best possible recording out of it under the circumstances.

Now looking at it from an outsiders perspective just listening to the song.  I'd say 8 if they were being harsh.  9 if they enjoyed it, but noticed some things.  And 10 if they just flat out enjoyed it.  In the end if they just enjoyed the experience of the whole song I'd say 10.

Lastly from a judges perspective.  I'd say 8 or 9.  8 if you really want to be nit-picky.  9 because in the end I just couldn't get that piano at the beginning verses and I was at best trying to mimic a fortissimo towards the end of the song.  Other than that I felt that my uses of vibrato and intonation on most of the parts went well with the song.  I don't feel I over sang it like broadway style, but I don't think I sang it boringly either.



Question - Is it going to be 1st, 2nd, 3rd or just a flat out winner?

[psyren]

Winner with 2 runners up.

I'll give you 9, then. I did enjoy it, but as you said, I did notice some things.

Cheers.

[xne3kx]

Dude, I don't want to sound weird or anything, but this was really good (Your entry, Zone36). I've listened to it a couple times and I feel it, again trying not to sound weird =p. I hope to see more if they ever do this contest again.