I'm a singer with a decent voice and technique, I also used to play the violin so I can read classical sheet music and sight-read pretty well. However, I've always struggled with counting.
I have no problem when I sing or play in a choir or orchestra, if I know a song well I can sing along with no problem, but singing solo with no sheet music to look at is always a challenge.
I'm a visual learner, I memorize things in pictures, so if I have classical(treble clef) sheet music to look at I can memorize the piece by visualising the tempo and remembering the notes that comes before I have to start singing, it also makes it easier for me to hear the notes and count when I have a visual idea. When there's no sheet music however, I can get a sense on when to sing and a good idea of the tempo by feel but tend to start singing either a few seconds too soon or a few seconds too late. Currently I'm trying to learn a song, there's no sheet music for it so I have to rely purely on my ear, I know when to start and stop, but often goes off beat in the middle. I can sing along with the original version with perfect ease, when I sing on my own with just the melody it sounds good, but as soon as I match my recording with the original I hear myself going off beat either starting too early or too late.
Here's the original version:
My recording:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YkVsJPwYgKvJblAhyXRVT8QDv8B6HE4m/view?usp=drivesdk
Sound pretty good right? Until I put it with the original:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HV--Hxq6TlaylZUKv9_e-eTG0Jmyl3NS/view?usp=drivesdk
As you can see I get a good sense of when to sing, except I either start off good but goes off beat in the middle, or I start or stop a few seconds too soon or too late.
Would really appreciate some advice on what to do.