ISML Karaoke 2018: Round 1, Group 1

[Chocola]

Rules:

• In your comments, please refer to entry numbers or song titles instead of participant names.
• You can vote for a maximum of 2 entries.
• Constructive criticism is allowed but don't be rude.
• Try to not have bias if you know the song, and judge based on the vocals.
• Your votes will be anonymous. You could (and should) vote for yourself.

https://staff.internationalsaimoe.com/s ... 8_R1G1.zip

[blaZofgold]

[WoodyMC]

It's been so long indeed


I think I like all of them, but the girls got my votes for being too good again

[Karob]

This is a nice set. I could have chosen any two, but I've made my decision. :)

[Reverend]

I see I can only vote for 2 when on the rules it's written 3

SpoilerShow

01: You shouldn't have lowered the volume of the vocal. (or maybe you should have lowered the volume of the bgm.)
02: The main problem here isn't the whispering. But the singer lacking confidence in her own voice. Bcs if you're confident in your voice, you wouldn't have felt the need to whisper, in the first place.
03: Hoarse. Sounds like the throat was wet.
04: I appreciate the attempt to reach those notes. But it still needs some vibrato.
05: Power!

[blaZofgold]

Before I make my comments, I just want to say: I'm sorry if I've hurt anybody's feelings with my commentary. I'm very bad at encouraging people, I'm overly critical, and sometimes I try to be too fancy with words without thinking about how people might take them. I think my one-liners are too ambiguous and can be interpreted in bad ways, so I'm not gonna do those anymore. Instead I wrote essays. If you've been hurt by my words in the past...I'm so sorry. I love every entry made, the good and the bad, and I don't think your worth should be judged by how well you sing (but I mean, this is a singing competition. We all have our strong points and weak points).

With that said...here we go!

Entry 1Show

Great song choice. This song is very fun to listen to and sing. However, I’m not sure it matches your voice well - but if you enjoy singing it, thats more important.

Your mic control needs more work to minimize breathing into the mic a lot. A technique I’ve learned from an amateur singer: at the end of a phrase, try to close your mouth and kill your breath instead of breathing out - this also makes your phrases cleaner.

I think you’re on the right key most of the times, but you end up wavering off it. Be more confident! Also, I would love to hear your falsetto voice.

Entry 2Show

We are not worthy.

I listened to the original song after listening to this, and then played this again. Dear God. You capture the voice, tone, emotion perfectly during the verses. Even the breathing is on point. I almost cried, it was so good.

The chorus part was much more toned down which is fine because I don’t expect any amateur (amateur meaning non-pro) singer to kill it during the chorus - but you still went for a very solid high note and sold it quite well. I think you could totally try to be more emotional and do a rendition more similar to the original! Be confident! (If it sounds bad just scrap it lol).

A little more cleanness with the mic, a little less rushed with the tempo, a little more emotion (try to really feel like Rachel singing).

The way you breathe out your “desu ka” at the end of the chorus makes my brain melt.

Entry 3Show

Solid. So solid. In two lines of the first verse you’re already killing it with the full-lung belting and the candid tone. I’m so impressed with how confident you are in your pitch and tone, which allows you to really inject emotion into the words - moreso than any other singer in this group (!!).

Your song choice is perfect for your voice, and I can tell you really enjoy the song.

If we’re gonna nitpick, try to think of every line/phrase as an entire thing. Sometimes you spike or dip in volume unexpectedly, and it feels like you’re trying to take it one word at a time. If you think of the shape of the entire phrase, I think you’ll come up with some really lyrical singing.

Entry 4Show

Damn your voice is so sexy. Made me wet during the first prechorus and chorus (sorry if that’s awkward).

So much emotion in the prechorus and chorus...so nice. Love the confidence, love how you dig deep and really hit the note with all you’ve got. Amazing.

You have some pitch problems, but practice will smooth those out. I’m pretty anal about my own pitch issues, I do a zillion retakes until I’m half-satisfied with it.

Last thing, some of the lyrics I think would’ve been better whispered. But if you whisper you might destroy my heart so uhh think about it I guess.

Entry 5Show

Started off a little weak, but wow that pre-chorus. The enunciation during the fast parts is great. Out of the 3 times you sang the chorus (the part that goes “yozora wo mau”), the last time was the best, and it was amazing.

You hold your notes very well, the pitch and tone is consistent throughout - I think you should capitalize on this, its pretty hard to do well. Just make sure you’re on the right note, and then kill it!

Aoi Eir is super hard to sing, and I’m impressed with how good it is. I think you could add more emotion to it and really imagine it being like almost a war ballad. Be confident!

[Chibasa]

This is a good set indeed. A hard choice. Damn corrupted files killed my ears on first try downloading.

SpoilerShow

1: Literally same comment as BlaZ and Revvie combined.
2: Need more confidence indeed but sweet voice.
3: Pretty good overall. I think voice fits the song choice.
4: I like voice and confidence but I like your mic a bit less.
5: Need more confidence indeed but sweet voice.

That's my uneducated opinion nyaa.

[maglor]

SpoilerShow

Song 1

trouble with mike(Gets resolved later). Need to relax the throat a bit. Breathing difficulty. slightly off pitch in couple of places. GOOD Rhythm. Would benefit more with better accent. Got slightly better in the 2nd verse. Good passion for the song, and nice attempt at appropriate dynamic control. Need to be more energetic in the last refrain.

Song 2

need to accentuate the start of each phrase a bit to give a more definite sense of beginning. Need more dynamic control. more pitch control and rhythm precision is desired. The singer's voice do have potential, but she must overcome the shyness to bring about more forceful presentation. bonus point for difficulty rating of the song. Need to the voice to come from more deep down from the stomach area, instead of having most of it hanging over the nasal area.

Song 3

nice easy delivery. More diaphragm use is needed and need to strain the throat little less, though it is fitting for the song. Lose points slightly for relative easy difficulty rating of the song. Still, the song choice enabled the singer to display the dynamic control, passion, and the vocal range so may actually work to the singer's advantage

Song 4

Like the relative stability of the voice. Good pitch and rhythm. Like the legato attempt. good range. Have to say it is better than the Song 1 - 3 here. Like the attempts to convey the feeling. Some additional vocal training would have made the song really excellent. Need slightly better breathing and pitch control at higher notes, but that is a hard part ( This is where I wish for just a little bit more vocal expertise )

Song 5

The singer has potential for deeper voice. I wish the singer utilized it. nice rhythm and good pitch control in the beginning. nice accents. More diaphragm would have made it excellent. Would put this performance alongside Song 4.

[Chocola]

Entries 102, 104, and 105 advance to next round. Please start working on your Round 2 entries. You have until the end of December.

(Only 2 were supposed to advanced but since we had a tie for second place, both advance.)

[blaZofgold]

I'm glad one of the ppl I voted for made it to the next round.