Singing Competition Birmingham – Feedback from Live and Unsigned Birmingham Auditions!

Auditions for the band and singing competition in Birmingham Live and Unsigned, took place on Saturday 28th January at the NEC in Birmingham! Over 500 unsigned musicians turned up to audition for the band and singing competition in Birmingham in front of the judging panel of music industry specialists.

Judging the unsigned musicians for the singing competition at the NEC in Birmingham were Osfest representative Carly Jackson, Gary Seeney from the Birmingham Yamaha Music School, Tony White from Born in a Barn Studio, Paul Crick from Big Help Management, choreographer to the stars Tanya Anderson and Head of A&R at Future Music Ben Price.

Well done to all those who auditioned for the band and singing competition in Birmingham especially the few who made it through to the Live Regional Final shows on Saturday 24^th March at the NEC. Birmingham.

Find below feedback for a selected few from the day who stood out for both the right and sometimes wrong reasons.

Please be aware views expressed by judges are opinions and subjective to that particular judging panel. These views in no way reflect the views of Live and Unsigned, but are published with a view to being beneficial to the performing bands and singers who auditioned. We ask you to please take the feedback onboard with a view to helping acts improve.

Singing competition Birmingham – Audition Feedback!

Jamie Connolly – Nice original song. Watch your pitching, it was a little flat. Nice voice though and a good audition.

Coronation Gypsies – Cool! Nice fun upbeat performance and good chemistry. Enjoyed it.

Hayley and Connor – Loved Hayley’s voice but the act needs developing.

Locomotive – Only 14, so keep going.

Matthew Anderson – Decent original but voice is a little shaky today.

Soul Vibers – Good vocal. Needs a better song with stronger chords.

Sara Beswick – Bit of a slow start should have kicked straight in. Nice arrangement. Good performance.

Stanton Brothers – Great. Really liked your harmonies and the song.

The Prospects – Brilliant!

The Dirty Cheats – Good song and a catchy chorus.

Only the Good – Top frontman. Good lead. Others not so into it. Lots of promise and a good drummer.

Yelitza – Great voice but you needed a stronger song with a strong chorus.

All Most Easy – Good performers. Nice rock edge, hit it hard! Vocals lack power.

Derrick D – Bit of a messy start, too much going on, not sure the keys are working here.

Natalie Cogelle – Not the song for your range.

Priana Adatia – Think about your image and your performance.

BB – Rapped ok. But overall lacked originality.

Abberline – Best of the day so far. Good frontman, very engaging. Nice original song.

Karmic Lines – Enjoyed then song. Need to work on vocals a little. Avoid unison all the time.

Singing competition Birmingham – Further feedback

Court Lane – Good frontman, just watch an American accent popping through. Good original song.

Sean Flood – Don’t force the vocal and work on guitar technique to make a bit smoother.

Ruth Discua – Very engaging. Like her a lot. Silky and smooth.

Barefoot Runaways – Need to lay back and let the acoustic guitar come through if that’s how you want to sound. Only together for 5 months and not fully tight yet. 

Bad Land Bandits – Voice is a bit too loose. Don’t stretch it. Different but it needs to be controlled.

DB10 – Good classic three-piece rock dynamics. Professionally crafted but song lacks originality. Great audition though.

Opaque Nature – Very musical! Great feel and mood. Song was well constructed. Well done.

Nameless – Watch tuning. Really listen to each other on quiet passages to get it tight.

Moving Plates – Rhythm section needs to tighten up. Consider getting a bass player and sticking with the singing to work on harmonies.

Kill Joy City – Good tight performance but a bit flat in places. Sorry!

Loose Lips – Very competent but didn’t entertain on the day.

Freefall – Need to tighten the rhythm section but a dynamic arrangement.

River City Portrait – Nice tune, good vibe. Great vocal balance but slightly odd image.

Soul Preachers – Great front man. Tight drums and rhythm but bass out of tune.

Sam Eden – Good feel to this guy. Smooth, work on bringing a bit more edge to stand out in the shows though.

Freedom Torch – Nice song. Charismatic performance. Vocal technique needs to polish up for that type of melody.

Midnight Wire – Yes! Good track. Slight timing problems but you held it together.

The Nortons – Good front man. Need to all be into it though. Others look detached from the music. 

Funky Horse Milk – Charismatic lead vocals. A bit loose in places but very chirpy and poppy.

Demi Homer – Pleasant. Project more and watch those high notes. Perform more believe in the song.

Chilli Beans – Interesting lyrics but it just doesn’t work.

The Grade – Great vocal. Guitarist messed up a bit but the song was good. Good vibe between the drums and the bass.

Andrew Farrell – Good original song. Work on your vocals.

Singing competition Birmingham – Further feedback

Fahrenheit – Leave some space in the arrangement. A little loose on the drumming.

Fruitoloka – Not sure about the sudden rhythm changes. Ska meets samba! Enjoyed it very much. Great song and a frontwoman who can perform. Tight as anything!

Chris Lewis – Nice song, well-constructed. Vocal delivery didn’t sell it strong enough though.

Hate Mail – Watch your tuning on the bass. Also watch pitching in singing.

Deeming – Would have liked to have heard an original. I’m a Believer not the right song.

Keshia Howard – Lovely tone and well performed. Will bring a lot to the stage.

Olivia Bonner-Evans – Nice vocal sound. Good look. Work on your guitar playing while you’re singing so it’s a bit smoother.

Krystatic – Nice flow but try to use different lyrical expressions.

Brock – Nice rich tone to voice, work on being more comfortable within the performance.

Feisty – Get some coaching on your movement so that you own your performance. 

Party in Paris – Basis of a good song. Just need to work on the arrangement.

The Raphaelites – Slide guitar gives you an interesting angle, need to work with it.

The Dambusters – Need some work on your vocals. Think about the harmonies in the chorus.

Prash Gor – Good image and presence. Project more and you’ll be good.

LJ – Think of performing to the judges. Need to feel the music and the words more.

Fight the Dice – The rest of the band need to perform as well as the lead singer. Love the song guys!

Martyn Jackson – Like the song. Good image just watch those big notes.

Khaliq – Reasonably tight band. Like the front man’s moves. Like the bass player, big smile!

Keep the Change – Great voice from lefty bass player. Music needs to improve though to bring more punch to the act.

Singing competition Birmingham  - Further Feedback

Kayla – Playing and songwriting is a bit basic. Needs more performance there’s nothing going on visually.

Mr. George – Good image, song lacked a few dynamics but overall a good performance.

Endorphins – Liked the front man. Bass needs to be tighter on the chorus. Bass can be less busy to add dynamics, good performance.

Kurt Martinez – Find a band, it’ll work better. Work on your mic technique.

Dean Ingram – For this sort of performance you needed to look up and engage the audience/judges. Sell it, it’s good!

Lost - Bass player needs to perform. It’s a lively sound but the act needs to liven up to bring it to life.

Sarah Olowo – Mic technique needs work you’re looking at the chords. Develop your guitar style and keep writing.

The Vaudeville Tramp Band – Like these guys but this was a bad choice of song for audition. Needed to have more impact. That said your quality shone through anyway.

Amelia Roberts – Amelia you have potential but you need to drop the American accent, it’s really strong. Be yourself!

Love Fungus – Full of energy but not sure on the image.

Lavender – Nice song, you sold it well. Overall you lacked a bit of passion though.

Nuclear Safari – Love the sound they have all the right ingredients. Bass player has talent but he needs to perform to the crowd/judges.

Matt Nathan – Need to feel the song and perform it. Practise more and have more confidence. Has potential to be very good. Americanisation popping in there, careful! Guitar tuning issues.

Maxedout – Nice voice. The acoustic needs to bring a softer melody. Bass is a bit too sharp for the acoustic at the moment. Nice song.

Cameron Read – Great guitar work but think about the audience and the judges. You need to perform to them too. Great work in progress.

Dave Shannon – Great guitar work but you need to make it flow into your chords to make your songwriting work.

Oliver Rudge – Nice unique sound. Good confident performance.

Plastic Empire – Good stage presence from front man. Nice tight sound and good performance from the whole band.

Colette Seary – Nice act but you need to play your guitar a little more.

TMS – No expression or energy. Needed more lyrical flow and content.

Soul Remedy – Amazing. Funky, soulful and fun.

Singing competition Birmingham

Acts that make it through to the Live Showcases will be in with the opportunity to win a multitude of prizes. The winners of both the Blackstar Exposure Award, the award for the act with the largest quantity of submitted publicity material in relation to the competition, and the Extreme Exposure Award, the award for the act who performs the most high publicity stunt, will win a free day in a local recording studio worth up to £250, or if the winning act is a band, they’ll win a brand new Blackstar amp. The Live and Unsigned studio partner for Birmingham is Born in a Barn. Runners up for the Blackstar Exposure Award will receive free music lessons worth up to £125, courtesy of Gary Seeney from the Birmingham Yamaha Music School.

In addition, acts that make it through to the Live Showcases will be within a chance to win festival slots, with festival organisers selecting acts to perform at their 2012 festival at each stage of the competition. Birmingham acts will also be within a chance of being selected to perform a slot at Osfest, a festival that has previously played host to big name acts including Example, Tinchy Stryder, The Feeling, Jaguar Skills andGoldie Looking Chain and has already announced Razorlight and Hard-Fi for this year’s festival.

If you’d like to come along to see some of the bands and acts that made it through to the Birmingham Regional Showcase Finals on Saturday 24^th March at the NEC, Birmingham click here to go to the Live and Unsigned website to purchase tickets.