Thanks Peaches. And no, Johan is not nuts. At least not anymore nuts than the rest of us. He is ruled by his own psychology, which includes jealousy that he cannot sing that high.
Part of what you are hearing is due to the "mix." Mix is our shorthand in the singer's forum for what equalizing and effects strategies are used in either recording or post-recording.
I have two mixes of this song. One that I made. One (the one I have linked here) mixed by my friend Keith. Keith is from New York, I am from Texas. He and his band, Drop Head, have an album called "Drop Dead" for sale at itunes and amazon. I had an easier time buying it from itunes, by the way. I have it on my ipod. You have to listen to the album at least ten times because you will hear 10 different things. Think hardcore heavy metal with absolutely genius arrangements. But I digress.
In my mix, levels match my original vocal take (first and only take.) The high parts were actually quite a bit louder than the lower pitch parts. Keith mixed it the other way around. He raised track volume on the lower parts and reduced volume on the high choruses. And, on those high choruses he "dropped it back in the mix." This means reducing volume, using "negative reverb," and "wet" echo. This took some of the bite out of my high notes, which will peel paint off of the wall. In my mix, your ears will bleed.
But I like Keith's mix better than mine and that is why I posted that version. The way I recorded is that I got closer to the mic on the lower parts and pulled away for the high parts. Well, mic proximity also changes other dynamics. The closer to the mic you are, the more low overtones are present. The farther away you are, the less.
I had absolutely no strain singing this. There's not a lot of singers I can mimick. Justin Hawkins is one of them. That is, I can do what he is doing, changing from falsetto to what is called full head voice, seemlessly. But I do not sound like him. I do best on Led Zep and Robert Plant stuff, though my voice is much cleaner than Robert's.
Nor are my feelings hurt by Johan's comments, for several reasons. First off, I have learned that a person's comments are about some sound I made, not about me as a person. And not everyone will like the same sound. One guy in the singer's forum crapped all over my copy of "The Immigrant Song" by Led Zep. Then, later, goes on to admit that he never liked Led Zep or that style of singing. My reply was, if you didn't like the genre or style, why comment? It would by like if I didn't like rap and proceeded to crap on anyone posting a rap song. For what, to make myself feel big?
Johan's comments are fair, from his perspective. And are valuable, from my perspective. This forum could be a fair audience, members of the music buying public, as it were.
In the singer's forum, I have received criticism much more harsh than Johan has given me. Those same ones that have beat my up on other stuff loved this version that I did. That is, to say, my colleagues in the world of singing liked it.
So, one takes the good with the bad.
My biggest problem is recording and mixing myself. The upper part of my range is so stinking loud that I overload the mic.
And I should post the song that garnered me some of my harshest criticism from fellow singers.
