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Do these 2 techniques sound right?


breeze

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Hi there, few weeks ago I posted a topic because I was losing lots of power and couldn't handle my upper range, now I was practicing and thought I'd share 2 recordings just to have some advice on whether my power in upper ranges sound okay.

This one is "Tainted Love" I used a clean voice in this one (I use mix, and part of it head voice):

http://www.box.net/shared/7cfre9vvjx

And this one is 2 parts of a song I came up with. More than anything with this second recording I would like to get advice on the raspy, scream voice (does it sound right? help.. etc..):

http://www.box.net/shared/npehega81m

Thanks in advance :D

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Both clips sounded great! It seems that you have a great grasp of distortion and that you're doing it technically correct. It actually sounds a lot like Axl Rose to me, which is a compliment coming from me :) It's also cool that you seem to be able to turn it on and off at will. Of course, I'm not sure how consistant you are with all of this but that was very cool, man!

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Thanks for the comments :) @jonpall Yes I am able to turn on and off at will, and if I do it well and not straining the vocal chords (singing from diaphragm) I can sing for hours this way without having any throat pain. I used to have lots of pain in the vocal chords, and lose my voice within minutes, but these few days that I learned how to sing from the diaphragm its much better and sounds powerful.. the thing is.. it doesn't feel powerful when I perform it so I doubt myself if its powerful because in my head it sounds so different. Sometimes I still get throat pain, because I'm not yet used to the fact using the diaphragm so sometimes I sing from the throat which I still have to get used to. But I wanted some people give me their opinion if it sounds good to perform with live, because I had my doubts at first. @akarawd My tongue is relaxed, I don't think of it at all, it lays flat in the bottom of my mouth, and clearing the throat in order for the sound to get out, but as I said i don't think about it, it's just relax, and my jaw is relax, all I have tense is my abdominal muscles, that's where I get tired for now - i think its till I get used to it. and the higher I go to my upper register I need press harder on my muscles, and let less air come out of my mouth, because the more air i let out, the more I feel my throat getting in the way, and thats when I start to strain.

Thanks for your honest opinions, if anyone is familiar with this technique I'd like to get some information on whether it's safe to go higher up till where I feel my limit is. I would like also to learn how to access the whistle register/voice, but I haven't found enough information on how to actually perform it, and every time I try, it just feels straining and tiring so I'm sure it's not good.

Thanks :)

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I agree with what others are saying.

As for the throat, just remember that the balance you are looking for is a balance between air pressure and what the folds can take in a given register. In an upper register or section of range, the folds are thinned out to perform a high pitch. As such, they don't need a lot of air but it must be consistent. The rule of thumb I follow is that I can feel tension somewhere else, like the abdomen, if necessary, as long as I am not feeling it in the throat.

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breeze, I wouldn't worry too much about the power thing. First of all, when you sing through a microphone you will get added power so I'm pretty sure the audience will sense your voice as pretty powerful, especially if you start to become adventurous with your voice, both with rasp and without it. That stops your voice from becoming boring - variety and emotion.

Also remember that lots of people have little tolerance for a voice that's CONSTANTLY using this effect (think AC/DC's Brian Johnson, Guns N' Roses's Axl Rose and the singer from Cindarella). I personally can listen to lots of that stuff and if you think I'm the only one, note that AC/DC's album "Back in black" is the best selling rock album of all time and GNR's "Appetite for destruction" is the best selling debut album of all time. 77 million people (that's right) can't be wrong, right? ;) It's cool that you can turn it on and off.

In CVT terms you're singing in MLN (metal-like-neutral), which has as thin sound as possible at its core but with lots of twang to make your sound louder, cut through the mix and really helps with that high distortion stuff. It's probably the quietest way you can do high, raspy singing, even though it's not really THAT quiet. So yeah, singing like that will never QUITE as much "meat" as you COULD have (by singing in other modes and/or slightly darkening your sound by lowering your larynx ever so slightly).

So ... I like your sound the way it is and I'm sure lots of people do as well and either admire your voice or are even envious of it :) It's very cool, IMO. But ... if you'd like to experiment with a slightly, slightly more thicker sound, I suggest this:

First of all, regularly practise THIS voice of yours, so you don't forget how to do it. Every day or every other day. It would be a shame if you forgot how to do it. If you SHOULD forget it, come back to this forum for help :) We'll fix ya up.

For a slight increase in thickness, try adding a slight cry/hold/vocal chord compression to your sound and lower your larynx very slightly with a yawn sensation. Voila. Instant thickness increasment. You'll now be in curbing with a slightly darker sound colour. Make sure you use mostly the curbing vowels, Uh, I and O. Search this forum for more info. This is probably the most useful in the C4-C5 range in terms of getting meat on your voice. But for notes higher than C5 (male high C) you might want to stop doing that, i.e. gradually let go of your hold and gradually raise your larynx, because your twang starts to get so strong that it's usually all you need for power so high up in your range.

Keep on the good singing!

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@ronws

As for the throat, just remember that the balance you are looking for is a balance between air pressure and what the folds can take in a given register. In an upper register or section of range, the folds are thinned out to perform a high pitch. As such, they don't need a lot of air but it must be consistent. The rule of thumb I follow is that I can feel tension somewhere else, like the abdomen, if necessary, as long as I am not feeling it in the throat.

Yes i understand that, the power and loudness all comes out from the diaphragm not the vocal chords and air. I don't feel much tension - only when i do it wrong, what i need to do is get used to doing it right in order not to strain or tense.

@jonpall Thanks for the long detailed reply

I am not planning to use it constantly, but use it whenever i feel i want power and suits the song. The biggest fear I had that people might judge me and think that i am trying to axl rose, so i agreed with myself not to perform any guns n roses songs lol :lol:

But do you think my sound sounds a bit thin and needs to be thicker? do you advise me to thicken it? or are you just referring to an idea? This I know it, but afraid to do it a bit because it's a bit hard, and while doing this I might put tension on the vocal chords (referring to lowering larynx).. but I'll try something :)

In the future i'd also like to connect my head voice with whistle voice (if i ever find out how to do it lol)

Thanks for your advice, I'm always on this forum, it's good to discuss with other vocalists both on my level, and better because in my island (in Malta) few people sing using proper technique and usually if you try and discuss they wouldn't show you in order to keep it for themselves. It's cool having someone who understand your technique, thats why i love this forum! - because sharing is the key to one's success :D

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breeze, try singing descending melodies from a high note, through your passagio and into your chest voice with that raspy sound. That's a good way to learn how to put some meat in the C4-C5 range. The goal should be a very gradual increase in thickness. If you only practise very high notes, you don't really get any practise in blending your registers. Note that when you go down in pitch, it can be hard to hold onto the type of rasp you're doing (false fold distortion), so you may want to let go of the rasp gradually as you go down - or not - just whatever you like. In fact, I suggest that you do put in some practise putting rasp in your middle range. Just don't overdo it and stop if it ever hurts.

Whether or not your voice would sound better if it were slightly thicker is a matter of preference. Some people might actually DISLIKE it if you sing those high notes with a thicker sound. Those people probably tend to like very "edgy", "cut-through" voices. Again, experimenting with the "hold" from curbing is a great way to increase your thickness just a bit with not too much effort and without straining.

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Actually, after consulting with my Tibetian monk, this effect is probably creaking. Something that I like, can do, but sometimes mix up with distortion :) . Anyway, regardless of what you call it (don't want to get too analytical) it sounds great man!

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