Syn's rant list

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Ya, forget the anthem. I was going to dedicate the song "O Canada" to the Olympics before the opening ceremonies. Unfortunately, this morning a luge athlete dies during time trials, even before the games have begun.

Nodar Kumaritashvili of Georgia died this morning in Whistler during time trials on his luge.

My already lifeless bid to honor the games has lost all momentum and I detach myself from the sham that the Olympics have become.

The government has taken enormous loans to finance this crap and we'll pay for decades to come, but for Nodar, none of this matters any longer.

RIP, Nodar Kumaritashvili, I honor your memory in defiance of the IOC.

Dan

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Just posting a quick and rough rendition of the "Petrol-Station Kargyraa"

More excerpts soon.

ripped from mpg video, sony handycam, post processed for noise and some reverb

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Here is the second good Kargyraa take I got so far.
Recorded with Handycam, 16-bit audio
converted to 41 kHz and filtered for noise from A/C unit, compressed and slightly reverbed
I lose a lot of bottom end sound, but the noise from the cooler completely ruins it.
Have fun tearing it apart.

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Oh yeah, I know these are like totally off key. I sure hope it's because I'm distracted by all the noise.

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Wow, not only am I the most active current member, but I seem to be the only one with anything to say these days.

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's weekend and spent lots of quality time with their loved ones.

I took it a little easy.

For some strange reason I think I over-practiced. I haven't strained my voice at all by shouting, yelling or screaming. Also didn't use my metal voice at all. Perhaps all that trying to hit nice notes in Sygyt did it.

I never quite hit the "O Canada" melody, actually. Well, the tune was there, but the fundamental note beneath it all was so unsteady that once recorded, you could really hear how badly it wandered up and down the scale, sometimes two or three times within a given phrase. Sometimes even while holding an overtone. It's a lot harder than it seems, I suppose.

I guess this will be a project for the far future or for another style altogether, like WOS Stuart Hinds' way, lol. Perhaps with 'regulated' fundamentals one could do the melody a little nicer, plus the harmonious parts wouldn't sound so off-key.

It's apparently a big issue at this time for me. I am getting better in technique, no doubt. But I don't have the kind of hearing I need to stay 'level', I think. I am talking about that sort of ability to hear a specific note (say, 440 Hz A) when played next to an F, and still be able to discern that it's an A when you hear it next to a D later.

I lose track of the fundamental in relation to the overtones, so I drift around, making the whole "song" useless.
I tried singing along to songs on headset or speakers, but I find my fundamentals drowned out by the song and I can't hear it. I am not at the point yet where I can tell that I'm on key just by chest feeling or vibes on my tongue.

Long story short, I managed to practice forming notes so much, I somehow got my soft palate swollen. For two days all the Sygyt I could muster would be a slight timbre modulation on my Xorekteer.
Couldn't get overtones on that either, just chest voice. Kargyraa worked fine, though, which is puzzling me a little bit. No idea how this came about, but it's better now, so...

I am not deterred, though. I can cheat. I can sing with an ostinato line, for example. Any decent sequencer can program a steady note, sorta like a metronome, only for pitch.
I find I 'drift' the ladder a bit during Kargyraa as well, but it's a LOT easier to hold that if I concentrate.

So I guess where I'm at is this:

singing a tune - no
singing part of a tune - yes
demonstrating technique - yes
adding flourishes - yes
holding steady notes - no

I still haven't bothered learning any of the Tuvian words to the songs either, I had a feeling I shan't have to just yet, until I get more discipline.

I can hit a wonderful ringing, true Sygyt, not just that overtone stuff everyone keeps mistaking it for. My previous attempts at recording this resulted in exactly jack squat, just sounds like someone trying Khoomei without Xorekteer (!!!) So you hear 75% fundamental, and then a bunch of off-key fluting, way in the distance. Made me rethink my plan of attack...

I sat back down and got me self more familiar with the basic chest voice, again. Couple of days of reinforcing this training really made a difference.

I am doing vocal range exercises in Xorekteer and Kargyraa to define, expand and strengthen my range. I am doing breathing exercises for diaphragm control and longness of breath.

And poof! Today I tried some Sygyt just to see if my palate had un-swollen itself and I got a clear, bird-like note. Then again, lower fundamental, a wonderfully clear, strong note with somewhat of a cricket-like quality to it, slightly hollow, too, just sweet. The funny thing is, I am forming the overtones in a completely different fashion this time. Tongue-blade behind the teeth, almost touching across the palate, base down, jaw forward and down, throat medium-tightly constricted. This is not what I did before, and THAT didn't work, so, I think I got the hang of it.

Now I HAVE to work on steady notes and try to make sure I don't overdo it again, so every second time I want to sing, I don't now.

More soon, hopefully I can tape some of the notes I been getting...

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So, I got my swelling gone. Don't know what caused it or what made it go away, but yesterday morning I got up and I could Sygyt - properly. At least to my untrained ears. Good strong harmonics, piercing notes, nice range.

I don't get it. Seems that twice now, I was forced to take a couple days off and afterwards my skills had improved somewhat. Kinda like a reboot after installing new apps.

I will try at the earliest convenience to record my Sygyt stylings and share them, as I am just so proud to have cracked this incredibly hard nut.

I understand that Sygyt is any kind of TS with Xorekteer base and mid-palate harmonics. I can do two slightly different tongue positions to achieve it and they have a slightly different tonal quality, but are compatible. The lower notes seem to come from right behind my uvula, the higher from the soft palate, but what do I know.

I am not at all good yet, but I do no longer really suck.

And yes, I DID in fact delude myself into believing I could already do it, lol.

My technique was MUCH closer to mrboma's, using almost no chest voice.

After a few days of drills, I got that licked, though, and can now constrict nicely under the Sygyt sounds. I am not completely convinced it sounds any better until I hear a recording of myself, but I think I am there.

I find, however that I get more distinct notes with slightly less constriction than I can do at max, even if that means you can hear the fundamental VERY clearly. As long as I'm in key with the tune I'm trying to emulate, it sounds fine to me, and I have been practicing hard to keep a steady, unwaivering fundamental note.

I anticipate years of exercises and practice before I can sing at will, but for now, I am blown away by what can be achieved in just a few months.

I look forward to sharing my recordings and getting feedback.

Til then...

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Finally getting around to it. With no further ado:

This is the same recording clip with and without effects. Just 'stretching' my throat here, warming up.

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All the files have been recorded using the on-board MIC on a Sony HandyCam HDD in 16-Bit, then filtered for noise from A/C machine, which is deafening and kicks in every 5 minutes it seems, Then the audio is run through a compressor to even the volume, and on some there are echo, delay or reverb effects, sometimes used to make it sound cool, sometimes to emphasize obvious problems.

All in all I made 22 minutes of audio containing 60 clips of which I deemed 11 worth sharing. All are original me, doing exercises for tonal quality and steadiness, both in pitch and volume.

What a ride it's been so far. Pah ride. A steamroller.

Next is a little Kargyraa. Desperately trying not to drift the fundamental without a reference, just a bunch of pink noise and hum from the cooler. The resulting audio filters out just my voice rather well, although I lose some bottom end, but that's not important to the session. I theorize that the noise (that's not audible) hampers my ability to find my pitch or distracts me in some way enough to lose it. I'm doing drills to the effect of training my hearing to sort the mess out and aid me in holding the fundamental steadier. It's like swimming against the waves, I tell you.

In other environments, like at home, I find it a lot easier to stay on pitch. But perhaps struggling a bit for now to sing in a sea of cacophony may yet prove a helpful exercise.

Of course I fear that I am in fact ignorant of my own tone-deafness and can actually not really sing, but just think I can, lol

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As I grew bored with the steadiness drills and had warmed up, I began playing around with control a bit. This take turned out kinda ok.

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All warmed up, I tried to capture my Khoomei. I tried several times, but only once did I get anything even audible. I looped the track and haven't tired of it yet, lol.

The audio is heavily filterd. If you listen on headphones, you can clearly hear the 'pixel-ed out' background noise. It's also compressed because I'm about 4 ft away, swaying back and forth whilst styling. Then it was amplified some more and reverbed.

Once I did that, the overtones became pretty prominent and close to what I had thought they should sound like. I can share in contrast the original audio, by request.

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And on it goes. OMFG this guy just spews it, doesn't he?

Finally confident that Sygyt will actually capture on 'tape' (because previous attempts were always too heavy on the fundamental and had way quiet overtones), here is another drill trying to steady my pitch. Forgive me.

The audio turned out way nicer than I had anticipated. The intent was not a demo, but really just some practice, so I put reverb and delay on these to emphasize the pitch issues. I think you can really hear what I'm still not doing consistently well here.

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Let me know when the server gets too full, ok.

"Can't hold a note" was the first words I thought of when I heard this take. I think I even said it out loud just after singing it.

Funny thing is, these are all from last week, and I have actually improved since. I'll make more soon.

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Don't worry, it's over soon.

This one is late in the progression and shows that theoretically, I can do it. But like I say, I started practicing less than 4 months ago, and from what I hear, and by my own "experience", Sygyt is friggen hard to do well.

I mean, I can do it a few different ways, like from the glottal area, from the soft palate and from the top of the tongue, right behind the teeth. All depends on the fundamental and the overtone pitches, respectively.

Since I made this, I have gotten some moments of intense clarity of tone while singing in the car. I mean not like the acoustics of the car are helping, I am aware of the difference, I mean the tone coming from my mouth is better. The few times in this clip where I get a really nice 'ring' going are getting more frequent and more evenly spread across my range. I feel I can do more individual notes clearly today than I could just last week,

Just this afternoon, I heard an ice cream truck's jingle on the TV and immediately sang along. I asked my family what the song was called and they said it was "Turkey in the straw". I was just singing like as if I were humming while working, you know, when I carried the groceries in from the car, and the song was stuck in my head, you know, how those ice cream trucks are, that's so catchy. And so without thinking about it I sang it, quickly, like 180 BPM lol, in just one quick breath, rough and pitchy, because I was walking and carrying bags. But it came out. Loud and clear, even echoed in the parking lot a bit. And I stopped. "I think [s]he's got it!"

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One last take. One I'm actually proud of, so I named the clip "sweet" when I saved it. Kinda intuitive that sorta nomenclature, I think. It cam mean that I think it's sweet sounding or that the final 'rendering' of the audio turned out well, or that I had hit my sweet spot for the night. Or it may mean that I was glad the very last clip in the session turned out this well. Or it may mean I wanted candy when I saved it.

You tell me what you think.

I could go on and on and on, but I gotta get up early, so I'll call it a night.

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So, here is a completely dry sample. Did you like how I teased something passable from this clip by using filters? (see above)