Owen Korzec

Voice cracks and strains when singing?

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4 minutes ago - last edited 3 minutes ago

How can I fix this or at least improve this even just a little bit? When I was younger I was able to hit certain notes especially high notes perfectly now at 31 though it sounds horrible cracked straining absolutely horrible it depresses me because music has always been an emotional outlet for me . Please help me fix this any advice would be beyond appreciated.

Here are some examples:

Just a few examples it constantly crushes my self esteem when I try to hit the notes I used to hit so effortlessly it depresses me so much sighs.

Can you please point out the times in the videos where these high notes happen? I'm having trouble finding them.

In my experience I've found that voice cracks simply mean something is out of balance in your technique and/or you're exceeding your own capacity of vocal strength, and the result is the voice gives up and does something involuntary. But it could be a number of different things that can cause it, so I'd need to hear where you are currently at.

LOL! Unstable means tthe note pitch waivers a little. Like an uneven vibrato. It's pretty hard to catch. I only cought it most likely because I pay atention to it. And we would have different versions I suppose.

Yes, I heard this a little bit too and kind of brushed by it, didn't bug me. But it is there.

I used to have it really bad...Rob called it "squirling" or maybe it was "squirreling"...

The fix was to focus more on the breathing, getting the right subglottal pressure, and less on squeezing the shit out of the larynx.

I'm rubbish at vibrato too, I think it's best to commit to straight tone singing if that's the case. I did my SoS version with no vibrato whatsoever

If I recall correctly Rob's baritonal (I like that word Ron, i'm stealing it) boom is most evident in the verses of his cover of "Child in Time"

As much as he'd be insanely bored by it, I'd love to hear Rob take a stab at this.

He'd probably be more willing to do the NIN version. He'd sound way cooler on it too.

Good job Benny. You sound the most similar to Johnny Cash out of all of us, not that you sound like him, just relatively. You still sound like Benny. Very nice original take on it. Putting some sweet baritonal beef behind it.

I'll actually currently mixing the surprisingly hardest song I've ever had to record vocally so far (mind you I don't have that much experience)...the surprising part is it barely even goes above G4 but the way the melody works it's so difficult to nail the pitch, it jumps around quickly. Took me about 5 sessions before I could get it sound the way I wanted it and be on pitch, WITH comping. Man, it's gonna be a royal bitch to do live, but I'll figure it out.

SoS doesn't have those kinds of obstacles, there's nothing funky about the melody it's just high. It does challenge the timing though. The hardest song to nail the timing on out of everything I've sang. And I agree it certainly challenges the laryngeal musculature, it needs a lot of power in order to sound right. But I wasn't really too concerned about that on my first draft.

Ron, get on with it and start working on this tune already. Be sure to throw some signature ronws stratospheric notes in the bridge.

I'm considering throwing a B5 in the bridge myself on my final version of SoS. I am actually able to flip into a different mode I like to call reinforced falsetto which allows me to blow a shitload of resonating air which results in super loud super high notes that will most certainly distort the mic. Your high notes aren't very far off from that approach, I am sure.

Guitargeorge, it's funny, I didn't find it that hard either. Although one thing is you stuck primarily to Rob's 2nd version which had lower melodies. But still. The hard part, in my experience, is not merely doing it, it's an easy song to get through. The hard part is making it sound kickass. So my first stab at it didn't really feel "hard" per se, to me.

Very well done. Your timing could be better (its really tough on this song, I can empathize) and on the second chorus if I remember correctly, you were a little flat on the word "stood". Other than that the whole thing sounded pretty badass. Cool distorted and aggressively articulated approach. Reminds me a little bit of James Hetfield. But most of all you sounded like guitargeorge, that's the best part. This is the first I've heard of your voice and I'd already immediately recognize you if I heard it again.

I'm listening to this again and finding that I almost accidentally ripped off a couple of Felipe's melodic ideas. I say almost, because, most of the time when I wanted to, they were too high to pull off, lol!

The interesting thing about this challenge is we all get inspired by each other's takes on it. I think Rob's second version was very inspired by Jens', am I right Rob? And I heard things in Keith's version that seemed inspired by Felipe's.

It's a very similar dynamic to how singers do their different versions of Gethsemane. A combination of originality, competition, and imitation.

Ron you were in the right key. Singing the same notes as Johnny. G2s in there.

Ron, sorry to break it to you, but you are a baritone.

Also, I heard your dog bark at one point. Nice redneck recording skills.

Speaking of this tune, someone asked me to post my version of hurt a while back. I happen to be on the computer that has that file. I think I'll finally do that now. In a separate thread of course.

Keith your C#5's in this were great for the most part. You do them far better than I can. It's just the stuff right below it, around A4-B4...that needs some work. Don't sweat over the super high stuff, it sounds pretty darn good right now, it could be a little better but it's mostly there. In your training, focus on putting more boom into the mid-high, upper 4th octave notes.

If you were having more trouble on that second verse phrase than the first, it probably needs some vowel and/or consonant modifications.

I can relate to the sound you're getting on the high end, I tend to associate it with intentionally entering the head voice...it's almost like a "okay I'm going to lighten the mass and shift the placement and add more twang now" thought process. The first step to bridging with more musculature is to let go of that habit. Think less about making a change, and trust that it will naturally happen...it's kind of hard to explain. But TVS dampen and release onsets really really help get into that darker, later bridged coordination, I'd highly recommend working with that. Ask Rob to show you if you don't know how to do them, I'm sure he could make a quick video on it or something.

You asked for honest critique, I will deliver.

First, off, this is totally a personal thing, I don't really like your vibrato. Too slow and pulsing for my taste. But if you like it, keep it. Other people here seem to like it. Maybe keep it the way it is on the high notes, it sounds much better up there. And then work on speeding it up down in the 3rd octave, where it tends to get too extreme. But again, only if you want to. It's totally a matter of personal taste.

Nice harmonies, works well with this song. You could be a little more precise with them, in terms of the rhythm and making sure they follow the melody a little more, if you understand what I mean...try to keep more consistent intervals. Map them out beforehand. It sounds like you were kind of ad libbing them here.

around 2:00...do the "confined", all the F4's in fact, throughout the whole song, in chest voice.

Love the little timing difference on "higher". Rob does it on the offbeat and you do it on the onbeat I think...I like your way better. Works well with the way you kick in the vibrato on the second syllable.

around 3:07...again the phrase is too heady, though this time I think the biggest problem was the A4's were not dampened enough.

the "abide" C#5 could use a teeny bit more girth. Put your whole body into it, blow the air hard, let it distort a bit maybe. Also, maybe get rid of the "ee" diphthong at the end and just say "abahd". I think something about that ee at the end left it off with a girly/operatic vibe that wasn't present during the note. During the note you sounded pretty cool.

Very nice riffy "yeah" in the bridge.

On the end riff of the bridge you twanged too hard on the B4. Of course I'm nitpicking at this point.

On the outro when you first phrase you start going high, I liked the last C#5 but I stuff before I thought was too light and overtwanged.

I would recommend you own up to your baritone range and stick to the original melody there, and maybe just throw in high notes as accents. I think that's more what your voice is meant to do. It's a hard thing for us to accept, I'm a baritone too, but it's what the audience wants, it's not just about the notes you pick musically, it's also very important to tailor the melody to the individual characteristics of your voice. Baritones can sing great high notes here and there, but when we try to sing whole phrases really high, we tend to not do it as well and it breaks the illusion of maintaing full voice. With loads of training it can be done but you're not at that level yet, neither am I, most of us aren't. Singing with good mass and natural enunciation around the A4-D5 range is a really freakin hard thing for a baritone to do. So, my philosophy with that is, train the hell out of it, but in the performing art known as singing, don't do it unless you really have to.

On the high phrases after the key change, again, right around Bb4 and B4 you are overtwanging and not dampening enough.

Keith, the biggest thing I'd recommend training right now is wind & release and dampen & release onsets on A4, Bb4, B4, maybe C5 (there aren't any C5's in this song but if you hear the same quality in that note include that too), and focus on rebalancing your tone to something darker. You have more than enough twang, so just forget about it, erase it from the mind. Put your focus on lowering the larynx, maybe a little more jaw drop too, and work on the vowels "uh" and "aw" up there.