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I think I'm a tenor, but I want to be baritone

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doubletrouble

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Throughout my senior year I trained myself to hit high notes and listened to every singer who hit notes in the 4th and 5th octave. I can reach them now, but looking back I wish I focused more on tone. In fact, I don't really care much about the notion of head and chest voice--I only hit notes if it sounds and feels good, now. IME, if I try to classify notes via chest or head, I end up running around in circles.

But back on topic, I don't like my timbre, it's light and thin--I like heavier voices now (think Steve Winwood, Ray Charles, Seal). I have this habit where I record myself every time I sing and when I play it back, I close my eyes and try to envision a face that matches my voice; I don't envision a manly figure. Instead, it sounds like a 18-22 year old singing back to me (think pop artists on today's radio). I don't know any vocal terms, but if I were to describe my problem I'd say that my voice seems too bright and twangy. Whenever I try to mitigate the brightness and twanginess, I end up closing my throat and high notes become impossible to reach. I know this is a weird way to put it, but I want to be able to sound like I have a thick jaw (like Ray Charles, or Michael Bolton). Some days, I'll be satisfied with my sound, but even during those days I'll only achieve my goal with a single phrase, or sentence instead of a whole song.

Im aware you can't change your voice, but are there any techniques that will darken my voice and make it "manlier"? I'm tired of sounding like a teenager. I'll try to get a recording tonight or tomorrow to give you guys an idea of what my voice sounds like.

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Without hearing you voice, I can only recommend so much. It sounds to me like you're not modifying vowels properly or making good use of dampening your larynx to add weight. Twang and brightness can be controlled, but often you need to train specific things to get that type of control. There are exercises that help you gain more control over glottal closure and tilt like twang. However, that doesn't address the very foundatgions of your voice. You need to learn what head and chest voices are and how to bridge and connect them into one voice. Otherwise, your higher notes wiill likely always sound twangy as you add volume or try to make them more consistent with your lower range. From there, you can learn how to add in the chest voice musculature (TA) for sound color, dampen the larynx to add weight, and modify your vowels to help sypport the notes you're trying to sing.

Dive into The Four Pillars of Singing. You will be incredibly grateful that you did.

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its not a matter of learning foundational singing. what i meant was that I no longer have the mentality of categorizing this note as headvoice and that note as chest voice. i just enter whatever "register" feels comfortable when singing any particular phrase. i know what chest and head voice is.

my main problem with singing is that im not happy with my natural singing and speaking voice and was wondering if there was any technique to manipulate my voice to deceive others into thinking that i sound a lot older than i really am (i'm 22) because my natural voice is bright and twangy and its something im trying to get rid of, but it feels unnatural doing so. i can sing naturally, but i just dont like the sound. i have a short clip of me singing ive got a woman by ray charles that ill try to upload tonight when i get home from work. i went over the top with the vocals, so i apologize, but i just wanted to demonstrate my predicament; screams and all.

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If you want a review/critique of your voice, it's a bit different than just discussing technique. There's a paid section of this forum for reviews, critique, and coaching. 

Regardless of if you know what head and chest registers are, what I said in my reply still applies. First, you need to learn to bridge and connect the voice registers (which I'm not saying you know or don't know how to do yet). Then train for better coordination and strength of your TA muscles (chest voice muscles), as singing above your bridge is essentially just head voice with TA muscles on. And also better vowel modification and dampening in order to relax twang and add weight to the voice.

To note: When you sing higher notes, the note resonance should feel like it's moving deeper into the soft palate. You vowels need to modify a bit to follow that note in order to be more stable and rounded. This helps relax compression and twang as well. The soft palate needs to lift and the larynx slightly lower in order to add weight to the sound of the voice. However, if the TA muscles aren't engaged, you will likely still struggle to get the sound you want in your higher range.

I mentioned TFPOS, which I think would help you tremendously. Even going through Robert's videos can help a lot to get you started in the right direction. The videos on my own site are currently only basic summaries, whereas Robert goes into a lot more detail.

https://www.youtube.com/user/roblunte

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1 hour ago, doubletrouble said:

its not a matter of learning foundational singing. what i meant was that I no longer have the mentality of categorizing this note as headvoice and that note as chest voice. i just enter whatever "register" feels comfortable when singing any particular phrase. i know what chest and head voice is.

my main problem with singing is that im not happy with my natural singing and speaking voice and was wondering if there was any technique to manipulate my voice to deceive others into thinking that i sound a lot older than i really am (i'm 22) because my natural voice is bright and twangy and its something im trying to get rid of, but it feels unnatural doing so. i can sing naturally, but i just dont like the sound. i have a short clip of me singing ive got a woman by ray charles that ill try to upload tonight when i get home from work. i went over the top with the vocals, so i apologize, but i just wanted to demonstrate my predicament; screams and all.

I totally agree with Draven.

     Having said that. I too had a tone that sucked, and still slip into it every now and then. Growing up I was told to sing like myself (whatever that means) and other advice such as singing should be free and easy{whatever that means) in trying to do that my tone was always hollow and thin. Finally realizing that advice was either stupid or I misunderstood, I decided to sing like someone else.  Once I allowed myself to do that, different sounds opened up to me. A higher larynx will give a thinner sound and a lower larynx will give a fuller sound. Of course in each case it can be over done and sound fake. The voice is more flexible than some people give it credit. The same person can sing like Tiny Tim (If you know who he is) or Tom Jones (If you know who he is). And each sound can be done with proper technique.

     The truth is that until you get with a qualified coach, Teacher or program, you do not know how you are going to sound when you are doing things correctly and with proper technique and strength to your voice.

      I do need to clarify that in some instances......what you got is what you got. The tone can be more powerful, more clear, more solid but essentially the same tone. But still have the qualities that make a singer sound "Good".

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Try to get out of the whole mindset that you don't sound like a "man". You are a young man. People have different voices. And even beyond that, puberty isn't the end of the changes to your voice. It continues to change as you get older.  So you are comparing your own voice to people much older than yourself and saying that you sound your age, but you don't like it.

I say that just to make a small note that you can get carried away with comparing yourself to other people. You're not any less of a guy because your voice is naturally higher. I'm around your age and I'm a baritone. I don't think that I don't sound my age. My head voice is actually bright, but when I go lower I can get a darker effect, but part of it is I also like to drop my larynx a lot, so listen to what Draven is saying.

 

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what xD 

this has to be new, years ago when i was on this forum that section didnt existed :o

well i just wanted to help, for me it's really easy to hear what voice type this person is or if he is doing something weird preventing him to sound like he wants!

i could give general advice, like "darken your sound" but without hearing him i cant know if thats really the problem, maybe he has a flageolet split from the 4th octave and above and since he doesnt understand about registers he is stuck on a super thin tone, i just cant know (or help) this way :/ 

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well... if you dont like your voice, you have lots of options, check this singer, scott weiland, he played a lot with different voice timbres, this will give you a general idea of some of the vastly different options you can choose within your own voice :P

note how weiland didnt had a super wide range (as singers like mike patton, kyo etc), but he used to play A LOT with his timbre in an almost chameleonic way :) !

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We can't. change our voice given by genes.  We can off course add or shed weight and modify colors to sound different, but bear in mind the more you try to deviate from your voice's original color and weight, it will sound more and more artificial and you will lose your identity.  

A bass baritone like James Hetfield will never sound like a High Tenor like Steve Perry.  This is not to say baritones cannot sing high, they cannot sound like Tenors at the extremes of the register and vice versa.   

Embrace your voice and bring out the best.  Hope this helps.. 

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