Singing Competition Sheffield - Feedback from Live and Unsigned Sheffield auditions!

Auditions for the band and singing competition in Sheffield, Live and Unsigned, took place on Friday 10^th February at the Sheffield City Hall. More than 250 unsigned musicians turned up to audition for the band and singing competition in Sheffield in front of the judging panel of music industry specialists.

Judging the unsigned musicians for the singing competition at the Sheffield City Hall were Laura Bartlett, editor of Urban Coco Magazine, Luke Cottingham from Sheffield’s Basement Recording Studios, Sara Hill from Now Then Magazine, Mel McCart who coordinates the music at the Sheffield Adventure Film Festival and the Head of A&R at Future Music, Ben Price

Well done to all those who auditioned for the band and singing competition in Sheffield especially the few who made it through to the Live Regional Final showcase on Sunday 25^th March at the Sheffield City Hall.

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 Sheffield – Audition Feedback!

Cable 35– Nice bouncy sound but you need to perform more. It’s good but it needs more movement to engage the audience. 

Emily Gouldthorpe– Nice tone. Suffered from a few nerves but there is potential there. Watch americanisations creeping in there. Voice was better when you relax and reign it in a little bit.

Stephen Lighton– Seemed to be growling. Potential there but needs to relax and let his personality come through. Decent song, needs work but it’s ok. Growl is good for emphasis but not every word. Good song though.

Amber Shades– Vocals need more control. A decent sound needs tightening up. Band is static. Perform more please.

Brandon Gray– Great voice, great rendition, great image just not sure the electro works. Get some shows behind you and work on your confidence. Your outfit needed red shoes! Needs more performance.

Paul Agbakoba– Crowd participation perhaps not the best for a judging panel, but the spirit is there! Great image and a good performer. 

Nancy Eves– Belting voice just needs more control. Watch American tones.

Nathanna– Loving the Sheffield accent. Took a long while to get going should have hit us hard early on. Needs more performance and at times a little empty.

Calling Brian– Not sure how well it reflects when the whole band can’t attend audition. Drummer is great. Sounds so empty without bass though. The lyrics didn’t fit with the backing music. Sounded like 2 different performances at times.

Hannah Robinson– Nice interpretation of the song and quirky to introduce Japanese into it.

Leon Lockley– Really nice playing. Voice decent. Needs to work on image to bring a little more edge.

L Real– Rapping and lyrics are great but singing less so. Get a backing track. Tight lyrics which told a good story which was funny. Get a female singer involved.

Kayden – Need to enunciate. Very important! Good performance and music was decent.

Jake’s Attic– Charismatic front man. Good energy and excellent bassist. Very tight band you can tell they’ve been together a while. Enjoyed themselves.

The Kamen– Like it but it’s all a bit dated. Good energy one of the most interactive bands of the day. Good to see a band interacting with each other and enjoying it.

Proper Dogs– Felt like you were playing against each other at times yet you were pretty tight at other times.

SINGING COMPETITION SHEFFIELD – FURTHER FEEDBACK

After the Departure– Variation in the middle eight needs work.

Star Kings– Good style. Well performed.

Georgia Odette– Beautiful. Well done. Nice to hear an original song of this ilk from one so young. Record that voice! Good song. Hairs on my neck standing up!

Rita Payne– Nice harmonies and nice bubbly song. A bit cheesy in the male vocal but it works well.

Star Kins– Love the song full of life. The whole band perform well.

Jack’s Attic– Love the lead guitar he’s feeling the music. Frontman engaging too. All the parts are there for a good band.

Tazer –A very tight performance.

Tom Bowers– A bit too flat maybe try using a few tones and maybe relax into the song a little. Or maybe try a more uplifting song.

Mono King– Influences all too obvious. Would make a great Alex Turner tribute, that’s a compliment. Like the original song. Work in progress.

Becky Wynne– Credit for writing a song in two days.

Pheasants & their Enemies– Like it. Original. You look good together.

Wolf Hunt– All a bit bity. Didn’t flow together sounded like too many different songs.

Tea– So empty. Maybe get a fourth member and bring more life to it. Great bass but the vocals need work. You need more soul.

The 420’s– Started well but went a bit stagnant. Great voice but the song needed more hooks.

Spitfires– Nice sound. Love the sound the acoustic brings through. Well performed but reign in the vocals slightly.

The Arcane– Nice to hear the keys but at times it all sounded a bit messy. 

The Marshalls– Decent sound but you need to perform more. Bass should be rocking it at the front. Good song but please feel the dynamics of the song more.

Lindsay Simpson– Well performed and great playing. Voice needs a bit more texture to compliment the guitar.

Spangled Corps– Good frontman if not a little out there! Energy needs to be seen throughout the band.

The Sherlocks– Bass player, come in more to be involved with the band. Nice song and good bounce to it.

Singing competition Sheffield

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 Sheffield is Basement Recording Studios. Runners up for the Blackstar Exposure Award will receive free music lessons worth up to £125, courtesy of Vocal Tutor’s, the Harmony 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. Sheffield acts will have the chance of being selected to perform a slot at a number of festivals with the Sheffield Regional Final festival partner being Strawberry Fields Festival.

If you’d like to come along to see some of the bands and acts that made it through to the Sheffield Regional Showcase Finals on Sunday 25^th March at the Sheffield City Hall click here to go to the Live and Unsigned website to purchase tickets. If you want to get involved with Live and Unsigned next year then click here to enter.