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

Cardiff auditions for the band and singing competition Live and Unsigned, took place on Sunday 12th February at the Coal Exchange, Cardiff! Over 450 unsigned musicians turned up to audition for the band and singing competition in Cardiff in front of the judging panel of music industry specialists.

Judging the unsigned musicians for the singing competition at the Coal Exchange, Cardiff were Cotton Stedman from Boomtown Fair Festival,  Producer and talent scout Daniel O'Gorman,  Shamaine Egalfrom Vocal Tutor,  Sol Curry from Factory Recording Studios, Graham MacLean Artist Liaison ENTS 24 and Head of Future Music Chris Grayston.

Well done to all those who auditioned for the band and singing competition in Cardiff especially the few who made it through to the Live Regional Final shows on Sunday 18^th March at the Coal Exchange, Cardiff.

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 CARDIFF – Audition Feedback!

Aura – Needed a little more vocal support of the lead, and perhaps the addition of keyboards to the act needed to be fuller sound.

Autumn Lanterns – Good energy from the majority of the band to their credit travelling a long way to audition. All members need to perform though bass player was lifeless which made it an odd performance. Act would have also benefitted from more harmonies.

Decidian – Some serious noise and good synergy of image which was on the same page. Does what it says on the tin very energetic band.

Lana Boocock – Well put together song, very quirky sounding, nice tone, just need to be more confident which will come from more practice.

Riff Evans– Interesting lyrics, needs to be more confident as nerves very evident in the voice and guitar was out of tune.

Dirty Martins – Little more coordinated performance required, song didn’t seem to fit singers range she struggled with the song.

Euphoria- Catchy tune, good strong vocals, lead vocalist has a great rock voice, which worked well but still a lot to improve, image being one discuss and name 100’s of bands called Euphoria.

Robin Ayres – Liked she made the cover her own, worked well with nice controlled vocals and good tone.

Adam –Lovely tone but pitchy at the beginning.

Collette –Nice tone, you changed the key, nerves took over a little and you lost all support, practice technique more and you will grow as a vocalist.

Among Others – Epic sounding, good strong vocals, looked a together band that looked comfortable and tight.

Approaching Danger – Very tight, relaxed, maybe a bit too relaxed, song needed greater dynamics.

Singing competition CARDIFF – Further feedback

Barry Davis– Just seemed to be very nervous which affected his ability to audition with key issues, need to be on top of the nerves as have a good song. When got into it you improved and became more confident with a lovely tone just more practice required.

Finger Bang– Catchy tune, played well but lacked chemistry and interaction between band members. Drummer was great.

Jay Cee– Strong harmonies and nice upbeat to the guitar work.

Hullabaloo – One of the bands of the day, full of energy, nice vibe, tight and upbeat with a good lead, bit more confidence required from other quarters to support vocals.

Dave Elwind Band– Great to see they had travelled all this way. Professional sounding very like, Iggy and the Stages.

Cascade –Very catchy hook, entertaining and very true lyrics.

One Way– Very talented young band, technical guitarist and good onstage coordination. Had put some good work in to pull it off, be great to see how they do at the shows may put a few of the older bands to shame.

Consept of Fiction –  A lot of energy but lacking in melody, need to be tighter too with no engagement whatsoever need to back up musicianship.

A Holiday Rumour– Be an idea to carry on the sailor theme need to coordinate an image in synch with each other. Need to tighten up a little more too and work on dynamics but great to see a committed all girl band. If the band work hard on these obvious points could really surprise us all come the shows.

ICU– This is cool sounded so different and lead vocalist has a unique rasp to the voice to give it an edge. Good rhythm and timing.

Eight Dogs– Totally unique really threw the judge panel.

First Place –Very good image, great tune, good vocal blend and harmonies.

I See You –Articulated well to the judges that have a forthcoming European tour coming up which showed desire, great version, great band, sounding very together and if they work hard within this competition can see them doing very well.

Jessie Field – Song choice just too big for you Jessie on the high notes.

Jessica Handley – Very impressive! Good vocal control and support. For the showcase think performance and presence.

Inconsiderate Parking– Was different with an unique line up of instruments but needed more lyric content and dynamic to the lyrics.

Singing competition CARDIFF – Further feedback

Neo Tropix– Great sounding intro and instrumental backing but suggest a new lead vocalist with current lead on BV’s.

Illuminating – Hilarious song and one of the best songs of the day.

Paper Dreams– Loving the image, really good band lead vocalist needs to strengthen her vocals or carefully select songs suited to her and need harmonies.

Nine Lights– One of the best bands of the day, fluent and nice on the ear.

Midnight Chamber – The second guitarist didn’t add much to the act at times it felt detached from the performance. Breathing needs lots of work, add some harmonies to an overall nice tune.

Chloe & Izee Pinder – Lovely sweet sounding harmonies, beautiful song writing, tone was fabulous just maybe at times work on singing different harmonies to be even better. Also look at a quirky image that fits the music you represent.

Jocasta – Great voice with gorgeous tone to your voice, take care with mic control.

Rebecca Jones– Really talented girl will need to put more of a unique spin on the song choice performance come the shows so start working on that straight away.

Ruby Lee – Lovely voice but not original unfortunately Ruby needed to mess around with the cover which would have made it so much better.

Unique Faith– Good performance with the synchronised dancing which was tight and image was well thought through. Need to add more harmonies so singing less in unison to give a good vocal blend.

Scream Allegiance – Good song front man could give more could imagine that really coming alive on stage.

Shoot the Man– Another potentially good festival band, nice clear vocals and good to see a lively bass player as well.

Nathaniel Sweltenham– Original and humorous, strong lyrically.

Zac & Izzy– Poor guitar accompaniment didn’t feel that the medley worked.

The Point Depot – Drummer was great but vocals need to improve as suffered with pitch issues.

Lost in Liberty– Good lead vocal, need to work on backing vocals and dynamics.

The Decoy– Catchy song but the take care with the shouted vocals needed to be stronger with better support when belting the higher notes causing some pitch issues, as a band tight and well rehearsed with some good strong guitar riffs.

When worlds collide– Good potential but would be even better if work on sound; guitar needs to have a fuller more powerful sound. Bass should be a bit more aggressive.

Singing competition CARDIFF

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 Cardiff is Factory Recording Studios. Runners up for the Blackstar Exposure Award will receive free music lessons worth up to £125, courtesy of Shamaine Egalfrom Vocal Tutor.

In addition, acts that make it through to the Live Showcases will be given a chance to win festival slots, with festival organisers selecting acts to perform at their 2012 festival at each stage of the competition. Cardiff acts will also be within a chance of being selected to perform a slot including Beach Break and Regional Festival Partner Boomtown Fair Festival.

If you’d like to come along to see some of the bands and acts that made it through to the Cardiff Regional Showcase Finals on Sunday 18^th March at the Coal Exchange, Cardiff click here to go to the Live and Unsigned website to purchase tickets or if you want to get involved for next year then click here to enter.