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Milo's Lola is about as good as it gets...just my humble opinion...if she stood in front of ya and sang that, there would be no likkle blue pills needed...she is HOT!!!

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

hi there morgan. i completely  agree but she thinks i fluff a lot when it comes to her, not so,  i think she has a fantastic voice but then again who am i,  loll....and ur soooooo right she is veryyyyy hotttttt.....don't even get me started....ll....huggggs

Remember, When I Critique, I Critique with ONE goal in mind, and that's to help the singer anyway I can.  Sometimes I need to be matter of fact, especially with those that take their singing very seriously, I know Suzanne does, and I believe she can handle honest critique.. This is ONLY to help Suzanne with a song I am VERY familiar with.. There will be little fluff, and little beating around the bush.. I would hope a person would be this candid with me assuming they noticed in something I performed, what I perceived with Bless the Beast and the Children, a song I've accompanied many a female vocalist on..

Bless the Beast and the Children...

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Suzanne, You have a very pretty singing voice.  I enjoyed "Say A little Prayer" and many of your other songs, particular some of the classical renditions you've done.  My feeling is to do a song such as this (with your breathier singing style at this slow a tempo) doesn't work as you performed it. Too much is missing, you are "TRYING to do this song" but having a VERY noticeably difficult time "singing this song" compromising the most important areas (which I'll get to).. Remember, What made this song so incredible is Karen Carpenters amazing ability to express remarkable dynamic expressive shifting in ONE WORD alone... IE... Listen to what she did with her single lyrics voice and choice and her amazing crescendo on one word "say" before the chorus.  just dynamics on single lyrics alone make this song..  Listen to how she punctuates her second verse "Bless" and responds with "the beast" landing on the world children.. She did AMAZING things with her dynamics, and that's what makes this song more than just a long monotonous slow ballad..

In order to get this to work IN MY HONEST OPINION requires SOME element of vocal "edge" to your singing voice, and, while you have a very suitable style of singing given most of the styles you sing, to sing a song such as this (which is quite difficult in part due to the fact it's not only slow tempo requiring you to hang onto your notes for extended periods, BUT use punctuation at the correct times is crucial too, but, what this song really needs done with it requires A LOT of shifting and use of vocal expression to make the song so taseful, as opposed to tedious & monotonous).  This choice of Carpenters song NEEDS LOADS of vocal expression, it's pure emotion that comes thru isn't it ?  To sing this with a straight & even singing style leaving out faster, and slower crescendos, decrescendos without tastefully building at the right places, omitting softer lead ins,  leaving out certain more staccoto-type punctiated lyrics doesn't carry this song. Notice how she'll alternate her phrasing of a same word in a different verse while releasing following notes without hanging onto them, (what I do not know is if this SLOWER tempo can work reason being, this song is sung just about on the tolerance line of how slow it can be sung.. Any slower it might die, I don't know, this was something I noticed about the song when we tried it) Regardless, There's a limit to how long a word can be hung onto without it sounding like a tape played on a slower speed... hence the song suffers. While Carpenter had her natural ability to subtly reach a culmination she took the  listener for somewhat of a rollercoaster ride emotionally, THIS is really ALL that sustains the listener thru what might otherwise be a slow boring song that'd otherwise just drag and drag... Example of slight shifting in question and answer format



even within this chorus,  the variance in style between the strong singing of "Light their way, when the darkness surrounds them"  there's a slight variance where she backs off on "Give them love", and drops to a soft "Let it shine, all around them"... It's ALL in her amazing expressive use of dynamic expression at the correct places that tells this story in what would otherwise be a boring song..

.. Problem is not so much what you are doing, but what ISN'T getting done, or conveyed, and that's Singing this with more expression, edge, dynamic fluctuation, and noticeable feeling.  This is a song that's loaded with dynamic shift, often one note runs a spectrum, and while subtle enough for many to miss, she does A LOT even in one sentence.. Karen Carpenter doesn't just sing it, she uses her natural warmth and dynamics throughout the Alto range NEVER compromising tasteful expressive emotional story telling, this song POURS with emotion, that's what makes her so amazing.. You can't sing Carpenter without taking into consideration who she was, and what was so outstanding about HER doing these songs, not son much "the actual songs compositions"

While you hit a few areas very tastefully (and I'll explain this too) too much is missing, too much sounds like you're struggling trying to get thru a phrase : Can you apply dynamics and greater expressive singing to this song ?  Can you kick out some vocal edge at times ? because rather than becoming the song and feeling it, you're noticeably trying to keep up with it...... Naturally Carpenters signature vocal style is what enables her to do much of what she is able to do, and these songs CAN be covered, so here are a few tips that I feel MIGHT make this tough song doable for you.

My feelings as to what might work, and I will give particular examples:

To sing this as evenly as you are doing trying to hang onto those longer drawn out final notes is an effort and I felt the struggle "to get it done".. It also (IMHO) doesn't work, since it turns a very emotional song into one that drags, it left me lackluster, I WANTED to hear dynamic change and some edge, but there was soft singing and hanging onto notes to get phrases over with, the singing was SO even it didn't cut it for me.  Without adding some sort of dynamic contrast doing more with this (than just singing this as you have)  sounds as if it's a struggle "to get it done", and "Keep up with the long phrasing.. Assuming breath control came easier, you'd still need more dynamic change throughout the composition and a style that'd make it sound interesting, to do less makes it drag without life..Karen Carpenter pulled off this song because she had an amazing natural ability to project not just a song, but an emotional situation with her warm seemingly loving-maternal style of singing, (given her warm alto timbre, and her seemingly effortless ability to Contrast dynamics that take the listener on a trip with her).. I road this song when I heard her do it, I didn't just perform it, I felt it emotionally, she just had that amazing knack to get into the listeners head..she builds her crescendos taking the listener with her.. BUT, in this song what did she do that you didn't that makes such a difference ?  She utilized dynamics (listen very carefully), and "edge" (hope you can get SOME edge, you need SOME power, not saying loud singing, but power) and I feel this might be tougher given your vocal style...

Here are a few things I believe you can change...

You need to do something with dynamics on the last word of the phrase "Children" rather than just cling on to hang it out.. to drag out your final notes of the phrase this long (which might not actually even be doable at all) causes the listener to feel and hear the tension. To me it sounds as if you are "Trying to do this song", you do have an idea of what you want to do.

To exemplify what seems to work and similarly what doesn't let's Take the first phrase as an example of common issues (I heard).. Lyrics..IE.. "Bless the beast and the children, for in this world they have no voice, they have no choice."
Your style on the word "beast" touches on what you are attempting to do with Karen Carpenters warmth, it's VERY tastefully done, I like the way you land on the term beast, and use dynamics here, great vibrato too, this is noticeably a comfort area for you.. however without edge or dynamic change or different phrasing when you continue with "For in" this world, and they have "No choice"  you aren't adding what's needed to land on the lyrics voice and choice which she certainly does NOT just sit on as words... She does A LOT with those word...so to carry this thru,you can't allow phrase end lyrics to just noticeably die.  You need to find a way to make this work, and not just DRAG these phrase end lyrics out soft and sweet..

Try to follow the little intricacies she does, don't need to be exact, but this is what makes the song...
nuances on a word such as "They", "Bless" how "for the world" is quiet, The world they say <--- are you aware of how strong a crescendo she reaches on this one word SAY ?????  WOW...


Good luck !  I really would like to see you pull this song off, but lets not minimize it;s difficulty, few can do it..

Please take this in the constructive NON-selfish manner intended by it's delivery, I hope this helps,  take what you can use,  ignore as much as you wish, my goal is to help a fellow musician regarding an area I believe I can do-so..  So try reworking this keeping in mind that this is an EXTREMELY difficult song. That must not be overlooked, sometimes there's SO much more to music than what appears to be simple composition.. While compositionally it's not complex vocally it's brutal to pull off well !

Good luck !

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

I don't qualify to critique it.  This is the first time I've ever heard the song.  First thing I thought of is I hope Milo isn't going to seque from that song into "The Crying Game" with castinettes 'n stuff...  I started to get cold shivers n stuff..  It had some compositional similarities that sort've scared me, sounded pretty, but it did sound like a similar style to the crying game and that song SCARES ME

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Steven could you take a listen to a song I did a few days ago please...called...it wont matter anymore

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

I will do that today Vicki,  I promise.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Vickie


Critique- song: It Won't Matter Anymore


The singing is very pretty, there is a lot of emotion in the song, and you convey that quite well. HOWEVER, first thing I noticed is that the level and type of reverb FX you are using is detracting from your phrasing, clarity of lyric content, and distorting quite a few of your areas where you reach a forte, and (as you should do in a song such as this and have done) when raising dynamic expression, inflection or volume at times the reverb really distorts and hurts you during such parts because it creates distortion, adds tin, it's own noise, and washes you out, often throwing off your overall balance, your cadence, and making it difficult (for me) to understand certain lyrics during more "expressive" parts of that song. I believe the use of that type (and or) level of reverberation is counterproductive in the case of this song..Since recording areas and related tweaking is a weak or basically unknown area for me, I'd need to defer solutions to tech folks regarding options for type and amount of reverberation options you use for alternatives. Often method of recording and microphone placement and distance has so much to do with these things as well.

I liked your dynamics used on the following song parts (softer sung phrases) for example (let's take the beginning).

(blocks of lyrics will be used to exemplify what I'm trying to help with)

"Here am I"      
"Sit and Cry"         (In all these cases I really liked your volume and balance)
"Done to me"
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Yet at the VERY beginning even your first line..

"Now you are gone", and "left me here" are too loud.. Soften those up, perhaps it was a technical aspect of the recording process that created a product which sounded too contrasty for me, and MAYBE using less reverberation, and not being as close to the microphone as you got, (or again positioning) would've evened these areas out, not sure. Even though I made mention in a past critique how important proper contrast and dynamic use is.. In certain songs LESS is often better, and you can convey an even more poignant emotion using more subtle changes, especially (IMHO) in a song such as this where I envision (based on lyrical content) a woman who is just depressed, has little energy left, and is feeling quite despondant given her feelings of abandonment..

BUT, you resolve VERY nicely when you sing "I Guess it doesn't matter any more"
which conveys the emotions you are trying to convey meaning "Oh well, it's gone, it's now empty" <sigh>...

Here are my thoughts, this is a pretty sad song, while dynamic expression is ALWAYS important in conveying emotion... Feeling can be conveyed of "desolation", Loneliness, emptiness by singing somewhat soft and weak at times (as you have managed to do in specific parts), yet when you raise your singing level, you upstage your backing and get too loud at times (however this might be reverberation washinhg things out)..  I'd resort to LESS use of volume and reverb where you get louder, and always keep in mind that you don't wish to distort your vocals, throw off the balance overwhelming the guitar and just sounding too on top of your microphone... Backing is also a little too loud IMHO.. and can also stand to be somewhat softer in such a song.. So,  less volume on your backing, more along the lines of an even volume during the parts I cited (parts I thought were VERY tastefully done), MUCH less reverberation because that detracts from your emotion and throws off your beautiful ballad singing quality and just washes you out adding a tin, and even messes your timing and phrasing...

Sounded nice though.

The problem you ran into was when you opted to get louder (and it stands to reason in telling this story you WOULD in fact wish to change volume at given parts) as recorded currently, these parts threw off your balance, often your blend with guitar, and that reverb just hurt the EQ and even emotion in your vocals.  I personally would like to hear the song with very little (and less noisy reverberation) and a not QUITE so much dynamic contrast in THIS particular sad song.. This is ok to sing somewhat soft, tired sounding, hurt sounding, with some change in expression level, but apply less contrast, all that really hurt you on this song IMHO was your use of reverberation, the other tweaks would likely be small and easy tweaks for you. I think there's a common tendency for many in the showcase to not realize just how critical the application of vocal FX actually is, and how you can't just add reverb at will without creating certain problems (as well) if not added correctly, considering changes that also take place when UL the overall mix online..  Same with all vocal fx.. It's a sensitive area..

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Any/all of the critiques I offer are open forum discussion IMHO..  No ego, this is my opinion but I TOO wish to grow in terms of ability for Music Appreciation so I welcome amending, or disagreement as well.  Discussion always welcome, attacks aren't

(I'm not so foolish as to believe I'm anything more than an individual imprisoned by my own aquired preferences regarding aesthetic areas)

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

my god u sure talk fancy....ll....can someone explain what he said?

did he say he would like to grow into a music teacher but he's in prison?....

i heard they dance to a different drummer so to speak in there.....so music might not be what u wanna take up.......butt then again

Nah,  the guys just spouting off $hit to try to get women,  it's a baffle them with bull type thing, empty words,  that kaplan guy always pulls this stuff, just likes seeing his own compositions, nobody reads them, just ignore him and maybe he'll go away..



Probably, now that'd be funny... Kaplan wearing his conducting baton around his neck so he doesn't have to bend over to pick it up if it falls.



Is that some assoteric inuendo ? cracks me up

Hey Billy, I left a request... Have you ever done any Blood,Sweat and Tears Stuff ?  Seems you'd be able to have a fun time doing some of DCT's stuff..  Powerful vocalist, and you could get quite creative with many of his renditions.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

hi buddy, no i can't say that i have, but i'll check into it....i just re-recorded u r so beautiful. i wasn't too impressed, gotta get a hang on this voice, it's not much different but just enough to make me wanna try things i shouldn't be....l..going where no man should go i guess...but it's fun....and interesting to say the least....
i think i have lost some edge to my voice but i think i can get that back in if i work on it....it's kinda like always driving a v6 and suddenly u get a v8  heavy foot,

ty for the idea steven i will check it out might be fun, i really need something to sing bad....r i could sing it good....ll....maybe not

i'm getting YOU MADE ME SO VERY HAPPY  now steven, might be fun...i'll see how it goes....

thank you so much Kappy I really appreciate it...will read more in depth and apply your suggestions as soon as I finish work...just wanted you to know I really appreciate the time you took to listen and make suggestions. Right now its 3pm friday afternoon and though every fibre of my being is screaming to stop work and redo the song NOW...I am way behind with some of the stuff I want to get done.
Cheers
Talk soon hugs

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

Glad I could help Vicki, as long as it's SOME help to you, I'm happy !  Redo it when you're in the mood Vicki,  you really did do a good job, FX, and mixing, and than what happens during uploads gets tricky... I just wish we could get Lonnie in here, or somebody who's really really skilled with the mixing & recording aspects to help out with this area.. This is an art within itself.. Application of FX is an area I have NO knowledge of but many fabulous singers could really benefit from slight tweaking of their reverbs, etc.. Seems to be a very common thing... Reverb fondness !  BUT,  it has it's drawbacks and they can be tremendous.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

I'd just LOVE to hear you with a horn band behind you !   (and I mean this in a straight way) wink

Billy,  I have an amazing rendition that I'm pretty sure IS BS&T, problem is it's tape Karaoke backing not CD...  I was playing it today, in fact *I* tried singing it  LMAO  LMAO  LMAO  LMAO  LMAO  LMAO .... (no comment)  Fran Drescher sitting on an electric fence could've sounded better

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Seriously tho,  I'm looking forward to hearing you do something like BS&T.. You've got A LOT of power and control.. David Clayton Thomas was also a powerful singer, saw him years back live..  He could knock you in the chest with his voice projection... I think you have better vocal control personally... Should be fun !  What I enjoy so much is the fullness of the older horn bands we just hear so little of now-adays.

Billy, Ever get into the big band swing/blues style stuff ?  Do you recall a tune East St Louis woman ?

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

why is it everyone has an 8 octave range except me....ll...i think they just show off....r go up high just knowing i can't.....
i'm trying to put a medley together i'll show them.....starts off, you maDE ME SO VERY HAPPY THEN GOES INTO SPINNING WHEELS....oops caps....i may find another to do add to it.....if i can't hit the high notes i'll hit everything but....l...

steven when we were playing a great sax player would come by sit in...to me he made the band....gotta love a sax....

big band?  does buggy wuggy bugle boy count? l...we use to do that and people loved it...we rocked it....but to answer u no i haven't but i'm open for anything....starving for something to sing....ty steven

I've got to somehow upload you this horn swing song, or maybe next time we talk I'll play it for you,  you'd really enjoy this type stuff,  they must have karaoke versions of this...I'm wonder if this guy I know was doing this and it's original I can't find it anyplace online.. Real shuffle swing/blues type stuff...  My preference is Sax, trumpet, and trombone... at least 3 horns  :worship:

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Anyway,  I'm going to be spending a LOT more time in the showcase listening,  it's why I joined here, and I'm doing myself an injustice just yacking while participating less musically around here !

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".