You know the tune - attached is a an 'acoustic' version by Elton thats
pretty different from the popular version. I didn't really try to
imitate his changes, but its neat hearing an errant note and hearing how
he takes a brief conversational turn makes me think he must have
listened to a few American country singers back in the 1960s. Anyway,
my theories on voice are becoming ...less abstract maybe. The past few
recordings were always put in a higher key, as high as possible, because
its my belief that what should come first is finding the sweet spot in
the throat where you can hit both high and long notes comfortably
without straining or flexing which means keeping everything light light
light - the downside is that you sound like a young kid.
This one is in EJ's key and the highest / loudest note is an E flat
which is there in the tenor's passagio (the tough cluster), but the goal
should be not have a significant change in tone as you navigate notes
in and out of the passagio - it should sound smooth. I tried to add a
little more 'muscle' to my voice and although I don't think it sounds
much louder, I can hear the upped intensity. I think a pitfall might be
trying to imitate the quality / timber of your fav's voice right from
the start, but once your voice and throat are all beefed up from working
on an intense, loud, or diva-like sound its way harder to relax in
order to sing higher or longer, so you might have to drop your keys and
steal breaths where you can. I think an example of the perfect blend of
power, lightness, height, and speed is young Michael Jackson - an
example of too stressed, too flexed, and too intense would be old
Michael Jackson. But the most insane singing style that dominates all
others is opera. By the way this is all based off a few voice lessons I had in college and after college.
Recording
I sympathize with people who have to record in a band or a group because
just recording by myself makes me want to murder the player and the
device operator both of whom are me. This one was recorded in much
fewer takes because I rehearsed the spots like crazy that had even a
whiff of uncertainty - even the unironed small parts honk out
mercilessly on a recording. Then if some freak accident happens but
everything else is good - it can become a keeper. Just thinking about
how to rehearse has become a priority as well and not just the middle
man between recording and practicing because it totally sucks when you
do a 99% good recording and then final chord or something is screwed
up.
If your curious I use a Tascam DR-40.
Mixing
I think you can make a lot of money fiddling with the virtual knobs and
selecting presets in a recording program, but I hate it. One thing I
think I've definitely learned is that after about 5 minutes (or maybe
even less) you can't even trust your own freakin' ears. Its like your
ears adapt to what you think sounds normal but when you come back later
to what you screwed around with for so long it sounds like total crap! I
see that if I had money I would pay someone to do this for me.
Hopefully my ears will develop here as well as I compare past recordings and sensitivity increases.
Ishida