Vocal Technique - Help please ;)

[Ultimate_Symphony]

Yeah, i'm pretty sure that part was in head voice. I might have to check it again in order to be sure.

 

[Feanor IV]

One more question, if anyone knows the answer: I heard 1-2 Stratovarius songs today and the guy is singing in a way that sounds quite strange to me. High-pitched, not with a really massive voice but not too thin either. what is that thing?


And by the way, what's the top a good singer can reach with chest voice, and what's the top he can reach with head voice & falsetto, respectively? That's gonna fix the thing with my teacher, she'll really understand the thing if I tell her those "limits", I guess, so if anyone answers he gets a prize No, but I'll love you forever if you answer, hehehe

 

[epicous]

Falsetto is the technique to sing ultra high pitched tones. You can hear that rapid change from high pichted tones to ultra high pitched tones.

 

[Feanor IV]

Yes, but how do you sing the "normally" high pitched notes? And up to where can someone go with no falsetto?

 

[SevenString]

falsetto isn't inherently bad, it's just not the way to get a powerfull sound. but it CAN be used as a warm up technique to get you loosened up. just don't push.

actually mercury DID use falsetto, but only rarely, and only for a dramatic effect. listen to how he transitions from falsetto to his natural voice when he sings the line "now you've gone and thrown it all away" during bohemian rhapsody.

one of the real keys to a good rock voice is in building your pharyngeal muscles (the "witch's cackle")... once you can smoothly transition from a "witch's cackle" tone to your chest voice, you'll have done a lot to bridge the gap to producing a "blend" voice.

that "blend" voice is what allows you, as a singer, to move on into higher pitches, yet remain totally relaxed and natural sounding. it also saves your voice from long-term damage that can result from "pulling chest". "pulling chest" is when you force your chest voice to go higher than it should by straining the muscles in the throat, causing your larynx (adam's apple) to hike up in your throat.

feel your adam's apple as you're singing. if it remains in position, even as you hit the higher notes, you know you're doing it right.

finally, higher notes shouldn't feel very different in the throat: they should feel like they're moving up in your head, and toward the front of your face. the extreme of this is "singing in the mask", a technique common to high singers such as LaBrie, Dickenson, Halford, etc...

anyway, hope this helps a little

 

[Mr. Brownstone]

Interesting thread!

It is interesting to read the different terminology used. In my first lessons it was very quickly pointed out to me that you should regard yourself as only having one voice. I was told that there is no “head” voice, no “chest” voice, and even more importantly, no “registers.” After all, you only have one set of vocal folds (well, only one that produces vibration) and they don’t magically “switch gears” when transitioning between high and low notes. Like SevenString said, you should feel no difference in the throat across your range.

After hearing other singers and teachers talk about head and chest voice I can see why it is important to not think of singing in this way, even if the difference is not in technique, but terminology alone.

Instead, my teacher talks about head resonance and placement (and of course support provided by the muscles connected to the diaphragm.) This made it so much easier for me to understand how a “head” note should be sung, and as I am now building up my upper-range I can feel that there is little difference in the way I sing all my notes. Placement is always forward (“high”), resonance (“richness” and “loudness”) is created with a relaxed and open throat, and a lifted soft-palette, no matter if the note is high or low, loud or soft.

Of course I am still learning, and will never stop learning. But after a year and a half of lessons (after being rescued from 4 years of bad technique) I am now able to sing songs which I would have never dreamed of singing before. Also, my teacher recommended me to read Gloria Bennett’s book; it’s very interesting with many comments from other singers and from some of her students. (She’s a bit of a name-dropper too; one of her students was Axl Rose. He bought her flowers and a copy of Appetite after it went platinum. )

. . .

Feanor IV > An example of someone very obviously singing with falsetto is The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins. Or you could go watch some Monty Python to hear someone talk in falsetto: “He’s not the messiah! He’s a very naughty boy!”

Here are some other examples of singers using falsetto:

• Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) - When he screams. Check the “EEE-YEAH!” at the start of The Number Of The Beast.
  
  
• Phil Anselmo (Pantera) - Most of Shattered is sung in falsetto, especially at the start.
  
  
• Brian Johnson (AC/DC) - Sings almost exclusively in that grinding-falsetto.

Here are some examples of singers who rarely, if ever, use falsetto:

• Axl Rose (Guns N’ Roses) - I have never heard a single falsetto note from this mans mouth. The highest note he hits in song is F above high-C (he probably goes higher during warm-up scales) and you can hear these notes in Think About You, You Could Be Mine, Perfect Crime, and Oh My God.
  
  
• Ray Gillen (Badlands) - Died tragically in 1993 from AIDS related complications, this man had an incredible voice. Eb above high-C seems to be his favorite high-note, and hits it in most of the rockier Badlands tracks. Listen to High Wire, Dreams In The Dark, and Lord Knows for some vocal athletics.
  
  
• Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) - Once of rocks best voices, although unlike Axl has been unable to retain his range through years past. You can hear him sing A-flat above high-C towards the end of You Shook Me, E above high-C in Black Dog, and the verses of Rock & Roll start on a high-C. (Mercy.)

Thanks for reading, and good luck with your singing!

 

[Aida_Melodica]

Mr. Brownstone> that "high C" you're talking about may be the high C for males, but for females, it's an octave above that. Ok, to give you an example, Blind Guardian's And Then There Was Silence, Hansi hits an F on the word "lie" (...they will surely believe in the lie...) five notes up from that is the high C I learned about.

I have problems with my transitions between low and high notes. Sometimes I crack or on a passage that's supposed to be loud, I go softer as I go higher. I think this is a common problem, is there any easy way to work on remedying this?

 

[Mr. Brownstone]

that "high C" you're talking about may be the high C for males, but for females, it's an octave above that. Ok, to give you an example, Blind Guardian's And Then There Was Silence, Hansi hits an F on the word "lie" (...they will surely believe in the lie...) five notes up from that is the high C I learned about.

Yes, the female high-C is an octave above the male high-C, being two octaves above middle-C. My singing teacher mentioned it to me only by-the-by when we were talking about Opera, saying that the female high-C is the note that can shatter glass when a clean tone is produced. Although a mezzo-soprano herself, my teacher can hit a high-C in exercises, although the highest note she will use in song is an A. So with training you can hit a soprano note without having a soprano voice. (Of course, being a man I’ll never get that high, LOL)

I have problems with my transitions between low and high notes. Sometimes I crack or on a passage that's supposed to be loud, I go softer as I go higher. I think this is a common problem, is there any easy way to work on remedying this?

I don’t think there are any “easy” ways, but it is certainly not difficult to build up strength in your high-range. You just need time and a bit of patience.

I have been doing these wonderful exercises which have really helped me strengthen my voice. You start with an “Ah” sound (as in “Arnold”) then go to an “Oh” sound (as in “Ore”) then move up to an “Oo” sound (as in “Google”) then go back down to “Oh” then “Ah” again. If you started on a G, you would sing it like this:

Ah sound: G -> B
Oh sound: D -> G
Oo sound: B -> G
Oh sound: D -> B
Ah sound: G

On the staff, it would look like this:

                                     ---------
-------------------------------------|-------|--------------------------------
                    ---------        |       |
--------------------|-------|--------|-------|--------------------------------
                    |       |        |       |       ---------
--------------------|-------|-------0--------|-------|-------|----------------
   ---------        |       |                |       |       |
---|-------|--------|------0----------------0--------|-------|----------------
   |       |        |                                |       |        /
---|-------|--------|--------------------------------|-------|--------|-------
   |       |       0                                0        |        |
---|--  ---|-                                             ---|--  ----|-
   |      0                                                 0         |
---|--                                                            ----|-
  0'                                                                 0

Sing it like Ah-ah, Oh-oh, Oo-oo, Oh-oh, Aaah. Leave only small pauses between each vowel sound. Move up your range by starting on increasingly higher base-notes — I usually start on a G a tenth below middle-C, going up in semitones to smooth out the whole range. Make sure your “Oo” sounds are light and not pushed (the same goes for all notes of course, but this particular vowel sound almost forces you to use very little breath and the only way to make it louder is to lift the soft palette and have a nice, relaxed open-throat for the sound to resonate in.)

Keep your mouth supple and relaxed and do not tense your jaw. “Brighten up” your face as you go onto the higher-notes; do not furrow your brow, and smile a little if this helps, or at least “think” smiley-thoughts.

Another technique for strengthening those high-notes is a simple vowel-sound transition going down through a major-scale. For example, if you started on G above middle-C:

Eee -> Or: G
Eee -> Or: Gb
Eee -> Or: E
Eee -> Or: D
Eee -> Or: C
Eee -> Or: B
Eee -> Or: A
Eee -> Or: G

Make each transition last a second or two, and each phrase need not last more than four seconds. Make sure that “Eee” sound is a very bright, forward sound (as if you were saying Mama-mia!.) Think about “aiming” the sound behind the back of your front-teeth, and keep the resonance in the same place as you transition to the “Or” vowel-sound. Try transitions between “Eee” and “Or”, “Eee” and “Ah”, “Eee” and “Eeh” (as in “Air”.)

Make sure you give yourself modest starting-points and goals for both of these exercises, and stick to a regime every day. After a few weeks or a month you might like to try increasing your goal by a semitone or a full tone, but do not push yourself. Remember to support your diaphragm; to help with this you can try standing by a window-sill as you do your exercises — put your fingers under the sill and try to lift it. Do not lift hard, but just try to feel your side and lower-back muscles resisting the load.

A handy technique for getting your neck-muscles working as you go for the higher-notes is to place the palm of your hand on your forehead and to push with both your hand and your head. Again, do not push hard — you are looking for a feeling of resistance coming from the back of your neck (not the front.)

That’s all I’ve got in me for now: I hope this helps!

 

[Aida_Melodica]

Whoa, I gotta save that in a file, hehe. Now THAT is a good vocal lesson right there. I need to get a metronome so I can do some warm-ups I know properly instead of relying on a beat in my head. I took choir for three years and took singing lessons off and on. I have some physical impairments in my face and vocal chords, so I have to work a little harder to find a loose, relaxed technique that will help me project my notes well. Despite that, I've been told I have quite the gift of musical talent, so I never look to the negatives, only to positive improvements.

 

[i_raise_my_hand_against_it_all]

I have bin singing for about 4 years now and i also looked for that "relaxed" vocal style you were speaking of. I found that after i really got good projection on my death vocals that my cleans really got a kick in the arse and became more powerful. This is all i can suggest but i also found that strengthening your clean vocals isnt all about projection. I listen to a bit of A Perfect Circle and if you notice Maynard has very good control over his voice no matter how high or low he goes. I put this down to the fact that he uses his mouth differently to most singers. He doesnt speak his vocals but he has that lip movement so that the notes all come out in a very smooth and flowing kind of way. I would recommend singing along to "The Thirteenth Step" album by "A Perfect Circle". It helped me so its the only advise i can give.

@ Mr Brownstone. Dont say you wont be able to get that high. i am a guy and i can get pretty low when i want but i can still hit some pretty high notes. i cant tell you what notes because i havent learnt all that stuff yet but im just saying dont sell yourself short. I get told all the time that ill never be able to get anywhere with my vocals. but when all these "established" singers around my area hear what i am doing they shut up really quick because i can usually give them a run for there money. (im not being big headed i just waas using mysefl as an example). Never give up.