Vocals and How to Sing Them

    So the band and I are working on a new song for the next recording.  Guitarist Chris Reid wrote the chord structure and I arranged it into a song and texture format.  The nature of the chords and the texture lent itself to what I think is an interesting vocal melody and vocal texture.  The vocal texture I had in mind was channeling David Bowie's big rich open crooner/classical style as heard in the song "Sunday".  A short while later I wrote lyrics for the song and due to the nature of the chords and texture, a slightly disturbing lyrical theme emerged.    Rehearsals have proved a little problematic for this however as I haven't felt right singing it.  Perhaps I'm not singing with the right amount of air flow.  Perhaps I'm not singing with enough legato.  Perhaps I simply suck.  There was only one way to find out.  
    I recorded some basic background guitar into my trusty Korg 1600 Mkii digital recorder and then laid down a variety of vocal tracks consisting of different dynamics.  You may wonder why there's any problem at all and why I don't just shut up and simply sing.  And that's the crux of the matter, I don't want to simply sing.  I love adding dynamics to my vocals.  Different volume levels, different tones, different phrasings, anything other than just singing.  I think this is due to my vocal influences of Kate Bush, Steve Hogarth, Fish and Maynard James Keenan.  I love the way they vary their delivery depending on the song and the song sections.  So rather then channeling David Bowie I decided to channel myself with my trusty influences as back up and ended up with a version of the song that feels good and right for me.

Hopefully it works in rehearsal, and hopefully you like it when it's released.

Thanks
Wilton

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