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My Voice is too bright From Twang. How Do I Darken it?

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I always find brightening and darkening your voice super easy. I don't view it from a technique angle at all, to me it's purely intention. Maybe that comes from years as a cover band singer and having to go from sounding like Bon Jovi to Muddy Waters to Paul Rodgers. I would not complicate things, see in your minds ear your voice and how you want it to sound and move that way. Another thing you can do is swing the pendulum to far the other way for a period of time and sing super dark, almost dumb sounding like some of that old Riggs stuff, the mum mum mum, goog goog goog, nu nu nu... etc... 

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Yes, it is!

Im about to teach, so I have to make this brief.

1. Learn to lower your larynx subtly, it creates a more warm sound color and it gives you more anchoring and stability.

2 Modify the vowel... if it is too bright, it may be too /ae/ as in "cat" in your sound color tuning... add more /ou/ as in "would" and/or /uh/ as in "sun".

3. Do a lot of glottal attacks to strengthen the belt musculature, namely, the TA and vocalis musculature so that you get more closed quotient. ( more time that the vocal folds are closed and touching, vs apart ), = more chest color.

Thanks for helping out James.

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On 1/29/2017 at 9:35 AM, Danielformica said:

To much ah(as in cat) or ah as  mine can be avoided by a real uh vowel.

Yes... and /ou/ as in "would".

On 1/29/2017 at 9:35 AM, Danielformica said:

Don't go messing with lowering your larynx or palate that kind of "trying to control " will just make you sound strange. 

There is a small risk of this problem, so I feel this warning has merit. However to turn it into a blanket statement that suggests that it is not a viable solution or something to be explored, would be going too far. Not everyone "dumps" ( going too far), the larynx when they learn to lower it. Some people do it intuitively the right way. I get where Daniel is coming from. I believe he is saying, you don't want to get fixated on trying to control the physiology too much, I agree. But let's not be so absolute with this notion that people get the wrong impression, that being, to lower the larynx is a bad idea. It most certainly is not, provided that it is coached properly.

Command and control of the larynx is essential for great singing, be it lowering for more warmth and stability, or... tilting it to sing through sob mode, or stretching the TA / vocalis muscles to belt above the bridge. Complete ignorance or abandoning a proven technique and being left behind without any chance to learn more about it and practice how to do it better, is not advise I would give to beginners.

On 1/29/2017 at 9:35 AM, Danielformica said:

Singing ah and ah(cat) to high in the voice usually mixes the registers. Which makes it unbalanced and ugly

/ah/ = ah as in "father", doesn't it?   /a/ or /ae/ = as in "cat" ...

Adding /ae/ as in "cat" to your training and singing can help you bridge high notes and lift the soft palate and other things that are helpful, but it is not recommended without darker vowels / uh/ & /ah/ and /ou/ because it makes the voice sound too bright ( the point in this topic ) and it doesn't strengthen the musculature. /ae / is a musculature weak vowel.

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On 3/17/2017 at 8:09 AM, James Lugo said:

almost dumb sounding like some of that old Riggs stuff, the mum mum mum, goog goog goog, nu nu nu... etc... 

Which would be more / uh / &  / ou / ishness... same advise Dan and I gave, just in a different context.

Summary:

Add more /uh/ , /ah/ or /ou/... and try to do it intuitively without complicating things if you can. If you can, GREAT!  Thats probably the best place to start.

But if the problem is not fixed, then learn more about singing vowels, vocal modes ( twang, belting, sob, etc...), do some study, do some training and then with your new understanding and techniques,... fix the problem.

:grphug:

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Twang is more of an action to help your folds stay closed than it is a sound you are going for. Most of the examples of twang are exaggerated  to let you understand how to make the action.

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9 hours ago, Rufus Rufus said:

I actually hate the sound of twang.  I know they say it amplifies your voice but it sounds so bad I try do avoid it at all cost.  I really found Daniel's comments helpful and practical.

Most people just hate the sound of twang with a high larynx. It sounds way better with a dampened larynx. Twang is often taught with a high larynx, though, just because it is easier to find the coordination.

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