Welcome to Mayi's House of Horror

I don't think I'm harsh. I'm just honest. That's all. ^^

Been singing for: As long as I can remember. I'm twenty one so yeah... That's quite a while. As for rap, to be honest, I've only started rapping this year.

Strengths: I have a good listening ear. Because of classical training, I am really sensitive to pitch and harmonies. I can critique for English, Korean, Mandarin, Indonesian, Malaysian, Filipino and Japanese. I can do a critique for any genre from standards to screamo.

Weaknesses: I can't critique for Thai, Viet or any other languages that I don't have basic knowledge of.

What makes you qualified?: I've had training in our university's choir (which travels around the world to perform)for more than half a year. I am alto1 and I'm quite used to doing harmonies. I've been vocalist, 2nd guitarist and sub-keyboardist in a band. I'm currently enrolled to voice lessons where I've been learning a lot so far (Good with theory, yet I can't put into practice LOL why? ;~; )

My standards: I wouldn't have a points system here. Basically, I'll just tell you what you did good what you did bad (or in much nicer terms, what you could have done better) in general then get to the details after, like line per line. Maybe some recommendation by the end. I'm a sucker for voice quality. If you butcher the lyrics, I'd probably flip but if you have a voice like Ali then that will be forgiven. Feelings, dynamics and technique count too. A lot ._.

Number of Maximum clip submitted to criticize : One request per person at a time, collabs will be accepted as long as the one who passed is also the mixer.

Submission form: None. Just post your video (along with it's title and artist). If you are requesting for a critique on a collab,include the lyrics distribution.

http://www.box.com/s/e1ec441d4a14dbf824ca

Can you critique this? cause i cant critique myself.... -.-

Please critique?
Thanks Mayi <3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukK6JNWUUDo

Taengoo78 wrote:

http://www.box.com/s/e1ec441d4a14dbf824ca

Can you critique this? cause i cant critique myself.... -.-

I'd like to do a line by line critique first. As I understand, this is a short cover which is only up to Yuri's part

Quote :

Geunyang chamgo chamatji geuge
Saranginjur nan arasseosseo <-- in this part, your vocal chords were closing. As a result, the sound which would have come out clean and strong like the rest became shaky and choppy.


Ijewa neor saenggakhani doraboni <-- instead of hitting the notes exactly, you scooped under it
Cham utgijido anha <-- same problem on the first one

On a general aspect, the things I liked is the energy at the beginning. Your voice is strong and you sang with feelings.

However, your energy is not uniform. It starts out too strong on the first line and then it became weak on Yuri's part then it swings back to being strong towards the last word. I understand that most of the time, we try to emulate how the original singer sang the song, and since Yuri is not as strong as a vocalist as Taeyeon this will usually be the effect. Now, there is nothing wrong with trying to sound a little like the idols when we are singing their songs when we are not consciously trying to make it a version of our own, but that only works when it is a collab. Since we are assigned a member, we try not to veer away too much from their singing style. We don't want to sing with a manly voice when the part assigned to us is Sunny of SNSD or Sohee of Wonder Girls, we try to sound cute. Likewise, when we are assigned Yoobin, we don't want to sound like a chipmunk.
When we make idol group song covers solo, we want to try to sound a little more uniform (I wish I realized this earlier. I have song covers that seem to have been duets). Especially in an SNSD song, we want to convey a certain feel, whether it be cute, sexy, or ballad-ish. SNSD's songs usually don't require variation of vocal style on a per song basis (this is not always the case in all groups but for SNSD this pretty much is true). So there, uniformity.

Recommendation:

Aside from making your energy and style uniform for this song as I have stated above, what you can do to improve this song are

1. On the first and last part where I marked red, this usually happens when we can't control our vibrato. Vibrato is a good thing but we have to learn how to use it. You should attack the note straight and clean first. Vibrato should only be in by the end of a relatively long note (this is also my problem with my voice).
2. Same also goes for the second part. Don't scoop under the note. Hit it exactly because if you scoop under it you would sound old.
3. To fix both of the above, I suggest you study the song word per word with lyrics sheet. That helps a lot. When I can't seem to get the notes of a song, I sing it first emotionlessly to focus on the words and notes. Sometimes, style can cramp good singing. Don't let it. ^^

PiggyMelody wrote:

Please critique?
Thanks Mayi <3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukK6JNWUUDo

Oh hello ^^ to be honest I don't know this song so I had to listen to the original first.

My Mandarin is not the best so I can't comment on the pronunciation. So good things first. The song you picked fits your age, voice and range. I also like the fact that you did a music video with you in it. It is very cute ^^ The confidence while lip syncing is nice and the effort in adding cute animations in the video I also commend.

There is a weird part in the mixing somewhere in the middle, maybe you should have opted not to put effects there.

I wouldn't do a line by line picking out of flat notes because honestly there are a lot. They are not exactly glaringly flat but more on the semitone lower kind of flat. It doesn't really ruin a song if there a flat notes like this every once in a while but if there are too much, the song would sound wrong. Especially if you start out on a flat note. My advice is that you try to record your voice while singing along with the original song or any instrumental arrangement that has a very audible melody, so you could compare the notes. You would hear if you are hitting the right notes or not.

Aside from the flat notes, I think you should also work out on the strength of your voice. As you are still very young, it is normal that your voice is young too. But as early as now, it would be good if you start learning the different techniques that you should use on songs. For a very lighthearted song like this it is ok to use falsetto. It adds up to the happy carefree feel.But there were points that you should have used head voice to have peaks and variation in your singing.

Now what is the difference between head voice and falsetto? Falsetto, as it's name suggest is "false" voice. It uses very little effort and therefore you can't do much in terms of dynamics and strength, Head voice is the natural high pitch wherein the notes you sing vibrate in your head. If you have ever tried singing and had a little headache afterwards because of high notes, you were using the head voice then. Strength and dynamics is much more variable when using head voice as compared to falsetto.

I can not really teach you how develop your head voice through typing here but I could suggest that you do vocalization and a lot of practice on different types of songs. It also comes along with age and practice and as I said, you are still young and you have plenty of time to improve.

Can you critic 2 covers at the same time? if not just critic the first video :D thanks..

Rie wrote:

Can you critic 2 covers at the same time? if not just critic the first video :D thanks..

First things first: the good points.
You have a clear voice quality and I can hear that you have a good control over it. Your voice suits the song well and your high notes are good too. Plus points for the additional backing vocals you added. I liked the balance of the mixing.

The weak points in general however is that some of your harmonisation were completely off. Pronunciation is also somewhat a bit of a problem on some parts. Since I know that you are not a native speaker of Korean, that would be forgivable, but someone who has been listening to Korean music for years could easily pick the mispronunciations. Another issue is the rap parts. Compared to the singing, it was quite weak and lacked in the rhythm department. There were flat notes too (yes you can go flat in rapping. Even if it sounds like rapping is just talking, there are notes too)

For the line by line analysis:

doraolgeot gataseo dasi olji mollaseo oneuldo neoreul gidaryeo  this line in general is too airy. Now, adding air to your words can be style sometimes. But in this case, it made the line weak and distorted the words which in turn made the lyrics sound foreign accented. Instead of “oneul - 오늘” what was heard was “honeul - 호늘” and instead of “oneuldo – 오늘도” it became aspirated “oneulto – 오늘토”

neoneun moreuji neon moreuji apahaneun nal i norael haneun jigeumdo
uri saranghaetjanha jebal nal ullijima
ojik naegen neo hanappunya
[nuneul gamado boyeo gwireul magado deullyeo
jebal nal tteonagajima ] for the whole line of Haeri, the second voice was really off.

RAP] sesanggwa neo duljunge taekharamyeon hana
nae jeonbul ppaeyasado neoramyeon nan joha
najina bamina sarange nan mong mareun ja  the words ”sarangae nan” was wrongly phrased and therefore made the line awkward sounding
neol ijen itja, ireon naui gatja nheun dajimi tto dasi nareul ullyeo deullyeo
neoege baraneungeon ojik neoya
neo eobsin amugeotdo halsu eomneun naya
i norael durumyeon jebal neo dorawa dorawa

saranghamyeon halsurok jeomjeom yawieoman ga
ojik naegen neo hanappunya
[uri saranghaetjanha jebal nal ullijima
nal dugo tteonagajima ] again the harmonization for Haeri’s line were off. The word “ullijima” wasn’t well supported thus making it just a little (not really a full tone) flat.

RAP] Yeah uh uh gyeolguk neon doraseo naneun tto magaseo  gyeolgu[k] [_]  letter that was eaten.
jajonsim da beorigo michincheok neol ttaraseo  ja[j]onshim, michincheo[k]
gaseumi doeryeo nareul dageu chigo malhaesseo
sesange hanappunin neol irchineun mallaesseo
naneun tto utneuncheok geunyang meoljjeonghancheok
neoege bureuneun majimak naui i norae
jebal nal tteonagajima  the word jebal was a little flat

---
Aside from the glaring harmonization on Haeri’s parts, I honestly think that this was a good cover. Just support and sustain your last notes more because you have a tendency to cut them off a little too early. You added a little flavor of your own on some parts which was ok.
The rap parts can be improved with practice. When you rap, you should remember that the emphasis is not on the notes but on the rhythm, enunciation of words and the feelings (although being on pitch when rapping is also crucial). If you failed to deliver on one of these few things, it would fail horribly. Have you ever watched Miryo’s live performances? Miryo is one of my personal rap goddesses. But there are a lot of times when her rap doesn’t hit the notes exactly (you can check her guest performance on one of Sunny Hill’s Grasshopper Song stages in lieu of Janghyun, it was totally off), but what saves her are the three things that I mentioned especially the “feelings” part. Some people call it swag, some call it flow but in layman’s terms it is just how much you are into it. You can easily hear the difference of someone reciting learnt rhymes from someone who has passion to communicate those words that they are spitting. It’s like that in rapping.
For rhythm problems however, I have learned a technique to memorize the flow of raps easier. I usually start off with half speed in Windows Media Player or Winamp for super fast raps like E.via songs but for something like this, 70% speed is more than ok. I rap whilst reading the lyrics together with the slowed down song, repeat and repeat the raps until I perfect the flow then go faster little by little until I reach full speed. By the time you reach full speed, your tongue and your brain have both been accustomed to the correct rhythm of the song.

I guess that’s it. As I have stated in my foreword, one song per person ^^ I hope that this helped you in a way.

I know this is not very good quite horrible >< But I want some advice on how I can sing this song...decently?

DustbinHugger wrote:

I know this is not very good quite horrible >< But I want some advice on how I can sing this song...decently?

Your notes were fine actually, I won't be correcting it line per line but I'll just give the general points that you need to improve on. First off is the pronunciation. You must pronounce your words more clearly so that it won't sound as if you are eating the words. There is also a tendency to sound nasal when you don't pronounce the words well. Try to resonate your notes not on your nose but on your whole head (for the higher parts and on your chest for the lower notes). Also, a slight accent can be heard at the last parts when it ends with the vowel "O". It sounds so Americanized. When pronouncing Korean words. Their "o" is much more closer to the 'aw' in 'law' than the "o" in 'hello'. Try to keep that in mind ^^

Also you need to support your notes so that you can sustain the last words (especially if they are high) and not cut it too short. How do we do this? First, before you sing a line inhale enough air (through your nose and not your mouth so that your mic won't pick up your breathing) and dispense it accordingly. Don't exhale too much while you sing. Now, there are two reasons for that. First if you exhale too much air while singing, of course your voice would sound airy and less solid. Second, your air supply will fall short on those parts when you need it (the high and long notes).

Aside from proper air supply management, next comes the part about where to push your voice from (they say diaphragm blahblah but really, I don't know how to explain singing from the diaphragm so I'll just teach you the way one of my vocal teachers told me). You need to tuck in your abdomen to push the diaphragm up and push the voice out using that effort and not strain your vocal chords too much. While doing this, contract your butt in too (I'm not kidding) so there will be two forces pushing your voice out. You contract like this before and while you are hitting the high and/or long notes. If your abs hurt after a while, you are doing it right. Use this technique when you are hitting those high notes because your voice becomes thinner in those areas and it will not be balanced to the rest of your singing.

Lastly, dynamics. Technically, dynamics refer to how loud or how soft you sing a song on what part but it usually goes along with the rise and fall of emotions in a song. You sing softly at the start of the song then build up a little on the stanza but I feel that it was somehow lacking in the chorus. You should have built up a little more strength on that part because that is the highlight of the song. Add more emotions and weight to that part.

Hi Mayi :D ! Please critic me harshly...and eat me ! =^^=
I know that i force too much my voice at certain moment...:/
And i'm alto too ^^

Looking forward to hearing your critique and thanks for your time ^^

Ugly - 2NE1

Hyuriko wrote:

Hi Mayi :D ! Please critic me harshly...and eat me ! =^^=
I know that i force too much my voice at certain moment...:/
And i'm alto too ^^

I know you’ll be a Super Star  the start was ok. But as I have said open your mouth more especially on the word star
So don’t you worry where you are and  You were a little late in this line (and for the following lines too. Next time, try to attack the notes on time). Also you “R”s are too hard, as heard in the words ‘worry’ ‘were’ and ‘are’. The English “R” is different from the French “R” where there is this raspy sound like your tongue vibrates a little when you pronounce it. Generally, you must pronounce English “r” the way you pronounced it in the first line in the word ‘super’. Stick your tongue to the bottom of your mouth. Tense the tongue muscle a little and try to pronounce the R sound without rolling your tongue (I hope I am making sense here ._.). Aside from the pronunciation, you ended the line too soft. Try to hit the last four notes with more confidence and power. If you can still reach it with your natural voice (and I think you do) there is no need for opting for falsetto.

Sorichyeo neoeui ireumeul  instead you said “Sorichyeoro neo ireumeul” and the notes became draggy. Why? Because you went too legato. In other words the notes became too connected. You don’t necessarily have to chop up the notes but you can play with the dynamics to create the illusion that it’s a bit more staccato than it actually is. What do I mean by playing with the dynamics? "Sorichyeo neoeui i-reu-meu-eul " See the boldfaced syllables? Add weight to those syllables separately and attack them with a more solid voice.
We all know and love  this line is actually fine but it’s still a little too classical sounding.

I know you’ll be a Super Star
So don’t you forget where you are and your energy wore off in these two lines compared from your start.
Sekshihan ni nunbit soge  I don’t know what you said here but yeah. The words. Study it. From here on I will not mention the wrong words a gain but there are a lot in Jiyeon’s part. Please study your lyrics well.
We all fall in love

Dugeun dugeun ttwineun nae shimjangi
Shimjangi michyeo teojil deuthae
Geochin i rideume nae momeul shidgo

Banhae beorin sekshihan ibsul
Geu ibsure ppajyeo beorin
Ijen beoseo nal su eopneun namaneui girl OOH~  in general this whole verse sounds very young pitchy to me. Maybe you could have regulated your voice to sound a little more matured/round. Especially in the adlib “ooh” part. It was too obvious that it was sung in an effortless falsetto.

I know you’ll be a Super Star  same comments in the first two choruses
So don’t you worry where you are and
Sorichyeo neoeui ireumeul
We all know and love

I know you’ll be a Super Star
So don’t you forget where you are and
Sekshihan ni nunbit soge
We all fall in love -> in this line, your voice sounds a little strained already because you keep using your throat to push to the higher notes. Use your abdominal muscle to push your voice out and just open your mouth more and it will be easier than pinching your voice.



-----


Good things first. I like your voice. It’s very Disney Princess-ish in the sense that it is sweet and has a natural vibrato in it. I don’t know the song but I can safely say that there are no majorly glaring off notes. You also hit the high notes well enough and I can feel there is somewhat emotion in your singing. The thing is you need to push those emotions more.

Our voice has its own timbre, so you can’t sound exactly like the original. But somehow, we should try to sing songs in a certain way for it to work. In this case, the choruses were supposed to be sung powerfully. You don’t have problems with the high notes. You can reach them very easily but the question here is how. You can’t always sing with your Disney voice. Honestly, it is fine to reach those high notes with head tone/voice like you do. But the piece calls for belting. Now, to put it simply, belting is when you push your chest voice higher. Since the chest voice is generally thicker than head voice, when you hit those mid-high notes using this technique the resulting sound is much more powerful.

An instant fix you need is to do is to open your mouth wider when you sing. Just drop your jaw. You should be able to insert three to four fingers when you sing. The sound you produce seems held back. This is not a type of song you need to hold back. This is a song where you push. Don’t be afraid to produce a rich thick sound. As you have said, you are an alto and generally, altos have a thicker and rounder voice. You should use that to your advantage.

There is also a problem in pronunciation. Both Korean and English parts were heavily accented. There is really no quick remedy for this but to study English and Korean phonetics. It takes time and practice (Now I’m considering putting up an English pronunciation tutorial/guide but as of the moment I’m really lazy). When not sure about pronunciation and lyrics, try my technique for studying rap, slow the audio down and listen carefully how the words were pronounced. When singing Konglish (Korean+English) songs, chances are high that their own English accent is not that good (but in this case, it was actually fine since it’s Ailee) but it’s always ok to follow the original singer’s pronunciation because that’s what the listeners are used to (rules of aesthetic: what is heard/seen more is generally considered beautiful. So even if the original singer’s English is terrible, if you sing it that way, it would be acceptable).

So there.... for other tips, i think I said a lot in my first few critiques ^^ you might want to read them as well. I hope this helped you in a way. I think you are a decent singer in terms of voice you just need to choose songs that complement your singing style or try to study other styles/techniques so that you'll have a wider range of songs to choose from.

Hello Mayi~
Please critique this ~ ^^

shioЯi wrote:

Looking forward to hearing your critique and thanks for your time ^^

Ugly - 2NE1

I wouldn’t be doing a line per line analysis because the problem seems to be general ones. Aside from a few off notes (specifically in the oh oh oh parts, you tend to go flat or sharp) most of the time you are in pitch so that’s the good part. Also, your voice is solid enough but the problem is you don’t know how to use it. You keep scooping under the notes, which make you sound like you are crying/old.

Try to hit the notes more precisely. This is an upbeat song and although the lyrics are bitching about how she is ugly and nobody wants to love her, you must sing this as if you wanna dance. You want to make the people listening to you want to dance and not cry with you with the wallowing in self pity lyrics.

You seem to have a problem with breathing. You breathe out too much while singing. It doesn’t really come out airy in a sense that I can’t hear your voice anymore and it lacks power (although there were a few parts where your voice almost disappears) but it sounds like you are almost out of breath (therefore adding to the old sound) and there are unnecessary “h” sounds before vowels.

What you can do is try to do some breathing exercises (there are a lot in youtube). Also, like I suggested Eva, open your mouth wider. In your low notes, it seems like you were eating the words. Pronounce them well and don’t stunt your voice by opening your mouth too little. High notes or low notes, open your mouth wider to produce a bigger sound. Resonate the sound in your chest in lower notes as if you are just speaking in your regular voice. And for the higher notes, don’t be afraid to hit it with your normal/chest voice. I think you can reach it without going for falsetto. It sounds so different. Your normal voice is thick and your falsetto is thin, the singing becomes uneven so either that or you can try to thicken your falsetto (or head voice if that’s what you) to match it better.

Hmmm... I guess that’s it. ^^ I hope this helps.

firemoth_007 wrote:

shioЯi wrote:

Looking forward to hearing your critique and thanks for your time ^^

Ugly - 2NE1

I wouldn’t be doing a line per line analysis because the problem seems to be general ones. Aside from a few off notes (specifically in the oh oh oh parts, you tend to go flat or sharp) most of the time you are in pitch so that’s the good part. Also, your voice is solid enough but the problem is you don’t know how to use it. You keep scooping under the notes, which make you sound like you are crying/old.

Try to hit the notes more precisely. This is an upbeat song and although the lyrics are bitching about how she is ugly and nobody wants to love her, you must sing this as if you wanna dance. You want to make the people listening to you want to dance and not cry with you with the wallowing in self pity lyrics.

You seem to have a problem with breathing. You breathe out too much while singing. It doesn’t really come out airy in a sense that I can’t hear your voice anymore and it lacks power (although there were a few parts where your voice almost disappears) but it sounds like you are almost out of breath (therefore adding to the old sound) and there are unnecessary “h” sounds before vowels.

What you can do is try to do some breathing exercises (there are a lot in youtube). Also, like I suggested Eva, open your mouth wider. In your low notes, it seems like you were eating the words. Pronounce them well and don’t stunt your voice by opening your mouth too little. High notes or low notes, open your mouth wider to produce a bigger sound. Resonate the sound in your chest in lower notes as if you are just speaking in your regular voice. And for the higher notes, don’t be afraid to hit it with your normal/chest voice. I think you can reach it without going for falsetto. It sounds so different. Your normal voice is thick and your falsetto is thin, the singing becomes uneven so either that or you can try to thicken your falsetto (or head voice if that’s what you) to match it better.

Hmmm... I guess that’s it. ^^ I hope this helps.

Thanks for the awesome critique Mayi ^^
I know that breathing and vocal control (esp vibrato control, though I think I managed to get through this song without the vibrato) are things I have trouble with. Do you have any tips on belting properly? Whenever I sing I always feel like something's blocking my throat, like I'm holding sound back though I'm really not trying to. But then I try to push harder and force more sound out, and it just ends up sounding all strained and really... forced. So then I try to avoid that by not pushing, and then it sounds like I'm holding back. Uguu help T____T

Please can you critic this cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIvujTW-1Ec

shioЯi wrote:

Thanks for the awesome critique Mayi ^^
I know that breathing and vocal control (esp vibrato control, though I think I managed to get through this song without the vibrato) are things I have trouble with. Do you have any tips on belting properly? Whenever I sing I always feel like something's blocking my throat, like I'm holding sound back though I'm really not trying to. But then I try to push harder and force more sound out, and it just ends up sounding all strained and really... forced. So then I try to avoid that by not pushing, and then it sounds like I'm holding back. Uguu help T____T

Belting is not really learned on a one time gig.. To be quite honest I am learning it too as of the moment (my vocal coach is a crazy person who wants me to sing Dianne Reeves' Better Days and Beyonce's Halo). You have to learn it gradually by practice. One tip I have read somewhere is you need to develop endurance. Like I said breathing exercises and proper vocalization helps if you are trying to belt those high notes. Belting is really exhausting so prepare your lungs for it.

Try to practice somewhere where you are not afraid that anyone might hear you because belting is not quiet. It is really loud. Relax your face neck and shoulders. The unnecessary tension in those areas is what's blocking the sound. Lessen the breathing pressure (high notes in general required lessened breathing pressure) when belting. Again, like I always say, drop your jaws 3 or 4 fingers wide.


Always try to imagine and feel the sound coming from and resonating in your chest.

Personally I find it easier to belt when I'm more relaxed. Don't anticipate the high notes. Just do it. Because the more you think that "I am about to belt" the more tensed your muscled will become and that's the opposite of what we are trying to be.

One thing that my coach made do was she made me vocalize regularly and then told me "now try vocalizing these parts using your chest voice" Then we did so on those notes where I usually start to use my head voice. We did that step by step until we reached the high E on chest voice and then when she made me sing my piece she pointed out that those high notes I am using head voice on can be belted. Upon realizing that it became somewhat easier to belt that certain note because I knew that I can. Knowing your voice's range can give you more confidence on belting high notes.

You can vocalize using a piano or any virtual keyboard at home. If you don't have that, there are always videos on youtube ^^

KunoichiofDestinyKasumi wrote:

Please can you critic this cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIvujTW-1Ec

I'll get to this tomorrow ^^

firemoth_007 wrote:

KunoichiofDestinyKasumi wrote:

Please can you critic this cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIvujTW-1Ec

I'll get to this tomorrow ^^

Thank you soo much ^^

Thanks Mayi, your tips are much appreciated ^^
I'll try the things you suggested, wish me luuucckk <333

One day I'll come back and you can judge to see if I've improved or not :3

Hey Mayi, could you critique this duet?
(Critique for both of us)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYmiN2xVSyg Please :D

firemoth_007 wrote:

Hyuriko wrote:

Hi Mayi :D ! Please critic me harshly...and eat me ! =^^=
I know that i force too much my voice at certain moment...:/
And i'm alto too ^^

I know you’ll be a Super Star  the start was ok. But as I have said open your mouth more especially on the word star
So don’t you worry where you are and  You were a little late in this line (and for the following lines too. Next time, try to attack the notes on time). Also you “R”s are too hard, as heard in the words ‘worry’ ‘were’ and ‘are’. The English “R” is different from the French “R” where there is this raspy sound like your tongue vibrates a little when you pronounce it. Generally, you must pronounce English “r” the way you pronounced it in the first line in the word ‘super’. Stick your tongue to the bottom of your mouth. Tense the tongue muscle a little and try to pronounce the R sound without rolling your tongue (I hope I am making sense here ._.). Aside from the pronunciation, you ended the line too soft. Try to hit the last four notes with more confidence and power. If you can still reach it with your natural voice (and I think you do) there is no need for opting for falsetto.

Sorichyeo neoeui ireumeul  instead you said “Sorichyeoro neo ireumeul” and the notes became draggy. Why? Because you went too legato. In other words the notes became too connected. You don’t necessarily have to chop up the notes but you can play with the dynamics to create the illusion that it’s a bit more staccato than it actually is. What do I mean by playing with the dynamics? "Sorichyeo neoeui i-reu-meu-eul " See the boldfaced syllables? Add weight to those syllables separately and attack them with a more solid voice.
We all know and love  this line is actually fine but it’s still a little too classical sounding.

I know you’ll be a Super Star
So don’t you forget where you are and your energy wore off in these two lines compared from your start.
Sekshihan ni nunbit soge  I don’t know what you said here but yeah. The words. Study it. From here on I will not mention the wrong words a gain but there are a lot in Jiyeon’s part. Please study your lyrics well.
We all fall in love

Dugeun dugeun ttwineun nae shimjangi
Shimjangi michyeo teojil deuthae
Geochin i rideume nae momeul shidgo

Banhae beorin sekshihan ibsul
Geu ibsure ppajyeo beorin
Ijen beoseo nal su eopneun namaneui girl OOH~  in general this whole verse sounds very young pitchy to me. Maybe you could have regulated your voice to sound a little more matured/round. Especially in the adlib “ooh” part. It was too obvious that it was sung in an effortless falsetto.

I know you’ll be a Super Star  same comments in the first two choruses
So don’t you worry where you are and
Sorichyeo neoeui ireumeul
We all know and love

I know you’ll be a Super Star
So don’t you forget where you are and
Sekshihan ni nunbit soge
We all fall in love -> in this line, your voice sounds a little strained already because you keep using your throat to push to the higher notes. Use your abdominal muscle to push your voice out and just open your mouth more and it will be easier than pinching your voice.



-----


Good things first. I like your voice. It’s very Disney Princess-ish in the sense that it is sweet and has a natural vibrato in it. I don’t know the song but I can safely say that there are no majorly glaring off notes. You also hit the high notes well enough and I can feel there is somewhat emotion in your singing. The thing is you need to push those emotions more.

Our voice has its own timbre, so you can’t sound exactly like the original. But somehow, we should try to sing songs in a certain way for it to work. In this case, the choruses were supposed to be sung powerfully. You don’t have problems with the high notes. You can reach them very easily but the question here is how. You can’t always sing with your Disney voice. Honestly, it is fine to reach those high notes with head tone/voice like you do. But the piece calls for belting. Now, to put it simply, belting is when you push your chest voice higher. Since the chest voice is generally thicker than head voice, when you hit those mid-high notes using this technique the resulting sound is much more powerful.

An instant fix you need is to do is to open your mouth wider when you sing. Just drop your jaw. You should be able to insert three to four fingers when you sing. The sound you produce seems held back. This is not a type of song you need to hold back. This is a song where you push. Don’t be afraid to produce a rich thick sound. As you have said, you are an alto and generally, altos have a thicker and rounder voice. You should use that to your advantage.

There is also a problem in pronunciation. Both Korean and English parts were heavily accented. There is really no quick remedy for this but to study English and Korean phonetics. It takes time and practice (Now I’m considering putting up an English pronunciation tutorial/guide but as of the moment I’m really lazy). When not sure about pronunciation and lyrics, try my technique for studying rap, slow the audio down and listen carefully how the words were pronounced. When singing Konglish (Korean+English) songs, chances are high that their own English accent is not that good (but in this case, it was actually fine since it’s Ailee) but it’s always ok to follow the original singer’s pronunciation because that’s what the listeners are used to (rules of aesthetic: what is heard/seen more is generally considered beautiful. So even if the original singer’s English is terrible, if you sing it that way, it would be acceptable).

So there.... for other tips, i think I said a lot in my first few critiques ^^ you might want to read them as well. I hope this helped you in a way. I think you are a decent singer in terms of voice you just need to choose songs that complement your singing style or try to study other styles/techniques so that you'll have a wider range of songs to choose from.

Gosh ! Thanks for your very very constructive and long critic ^^...It's very good to be critic by someone who are a professional of singing...Yeah i know my english pronunciation it's a little bit weird...Ahaha ! I'll take all the things that you said :) ! Thanks again ! it's hard for me to find a song for me...><"
Thanks again...

And Mayi i'm sorry but can u critic an other song ? Sorry for give u work ^^ !
Artist : Rainie yang
Song : Yang wang



It's my first chinesse cover...I know that my pronunciation is not really great but i'll try...^^

Mayi unnie! you're such a great critique!!

Title: Whoz that Girl
Artist: EXID
My cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbYW3jcakDQ (this is the "imitated the original singer/s" version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMvOUq4v8UU (this is my own voice... kekeke)

Title: Nagging
Artist: IU(ft. Seulong)
My cover:

Baby Steps (English Version)
TaeTiSeo-Varsity

Artist : TaeTiSeo
song : Twinkle

omg guys. I'm very sorry for not looking at this thread for about a week. .__. I've been very busy and I don't want to give half assed critiques. I'll download all your covers and critique them when I get the time.

firemoth_007 wrote:

omg guys. I'm very sorry for not looking at this thread for about a week. .__. I've been very busy and I don't want to give half assed critiques. I'll download all your covers and critique them when I get the time.

it's okay, ate mayi... anyway, you have 6 covers to assess, i suppose? i'm not sure but i guess you can edit your thread as [closed] so people won't post another cover to be assessed until you come back...

Davichi - 8282
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqPuUh3Wjc4&feature=autoplay&list=PLBA4EBD1C7B24B407&playnext=1
ahaha xD .. i'll be waiting~

Perfection - SJM
Can you please critic my Korean pronunciation~? Thanks :)