Draven Grey

What isn't important about singing?

If you don't push, does it open up to falsetto airiness? If so, that's a compression issue. If that's the case and you didn't deal with it before, then you likely need to work on a therapeutic semi-occluded phonation like resonant tracking (nasal buzzing consonants, or "humming while buzzing the lips") or cocktail straw sirens with extremely light whimpers with minimal air on the higher pitches. If you feel healthy, try a Quack & Release (Q&R) onset on ascending pitches, which is essentially a very slow "Neeyeh" that helps you build compression. To make Q&R more about coordination and control rather than resistance and strength, try to do it lightly while using the tongue being up and forward to make the /ee/ sound rather than in the throat like in speech. If you can't do this without push, then I suggest developing better cry vocal mode or adding the cry reflex and top-down whimper into everything you do. Cry is not a pull, but rather a slight lift feeling between your ears -- the same you feel when you cry, whether sad, happy, excited, or angry. This is a bit tricky to learn over text. It's also tricky to diagnose what's going on without walking you through various checklists and different onsets to isolate the issue. Are you training with a teacher who knows Estill vocal modes or TVS methodology/courses?

https://thevocaliststudio.com/the-four-pillars-of-singing/

I have horrid allergies and asthma on top of it. The video below will help. However, you mentioned incorporating your nose, your nasal passages being tight, using your nose for "proper technique," and having to use a "not as healthy technique" instead of your nose. What does the nose have to do with singing technique? It really shouldn't need to come into play in contemporary genres. I can hold my nose and sound exactly the same when using good, "proper," and healthy singing techniques. You likely need to work more on cry vocal mode. There are some great new lectures in The Four Pillars of Singing online course about this. I also suggest starting to do big sirens through a cocktail straw, with very light, squeaky (absolute minimal airflow) phonations on the higher notes, while holding your nose. Doing that while holding your nose forces you to use cry vocal mode or suffer from extreme pressure buildup. Doing it right, there's very little airflow coming out of the straw, none out of your nose, and no pressure buildup at all, effectively balancing compression and breath support extremely well. To sum up the most relevant parts: Use personal steam inhaler Nasal rinses Salt inhaler (you can create your own) Tracking (Humming and buzzing the lips) Straw exercises (high notes should be crying, light, and squeaky)

I hope you figured this out. You really need a mixer, even if a very small one. I'm sorry I didn't answer sooner. I haven't been on the forum since July.

Everyone I've taught speaks near the bottom of their vocal range and shouts closer to, or just above, their primary bridge. As with singing, when trying to add volume to the lower range, it's easy to overflow the acoustics and cause too much strain on the vocal folds. Also as with singing, using a horizontal embouchure, lifting resonance to the soft palate and out from there, your voice becomes much easier to hear and unwanted tension is taken off of the vocal folds. Regularly practicing resonant tracking (nasal buzzing consonants like /m/, or rather humming while buzzing the lips) will help both your speaking and singing voice in many ways. For example, it will help you better balance compression with air support, help lift the voice away from the throat, and be very therapeutic for your vocal folds. Singing is helping your voice for the same reasons. However, it doesn't rule out other possible medical issues. There have been plenty of professional singers who sang for many years with polyps and the like. Asthma meds will dry you out and make it more difficult to get good vocal fold closure. I've experienced that first hand and with a number of my students. A personal steam inhaler, salt inhaler, and drinking plenty of water can all help with that, but only to a point.

We've been telling him that since his first post. I think he simply wants validation for not being able to sing well. I know that sounds harsh, but you can only give the same answer to someone so many times before realizing they're not actually wanting to hear a real answer.

Go for the lite version on Udemy for much cheaper. Here's a link from the footer of this forum: https://www.udemy.com/become-a-great-singer-your-complete-vocal-training-system/?couponCode=TMV_WORLD_DEAL

If you don't get the vowels out of your throat and into your soft palate, you will constantly struggle with pitch, constriction, and yelling instead of singing. Again, are you training with a teacher or program like Four Pillars of Singing?

I can tell you were trying to use cry vocal mode with good resonance support! Still too much push and constriction, but it can take a while to get used to singing from the soft palate rather than the throatiness we experience in speech. One big issue is your diphthongs. Anything time a word changes between two vowel sounds, it throws your placement off, causing a very unique accent and a lot of singing from your throat rather than your soft palate. For example, words like "dark" were sang as /d/ah/oo/r/k/, when it would be better sang as /d/ah/k/, with perhaps 5% of an /oo/r/ if you absolutely need it. The idea is keeping the resonance in the soft palate and then out from there, only out from there. However, that's only one of a host of issues you're dealing with. Are you currently training with a teacher or program like The Four Pillars of Singing?

Since I'm already here for giving paid reviews, I thought I would go ahead and take a moment to review yours as well. Great character and stylization! One great thing about getting over a cold is that, if you have a voice, it forces you to sing more correctly. The lower/neutral larynx position you're using will hold you back once you get into higher pitches. It gives you a great sound color for this song though. I highly suggest a bit more breath support and volume (just a bit), and then try learning to sing more from a cry vocal mode - the same feeling you get in the soft palate when you cry or are really excited to see someone. Cry will soften and round out your voice to where you can get a similar sound color to what you're using the neutral larynx for, but also have a lot more control and flexibility because of being able to utilize much more breath support. It also neurologically places your body into a position it associates with extreme emotion, which can cause a much more emotional performance. Additionally, it adds very specific sounds colors to your voice that other people associate with extreme emotion. It can take some getting used to, but once you learn it, you'll hear just about every pro singer using it.

You're too twangy with vocals compression here, when you need a bit more mass in the vocal folds. Go back to my other Journey song review and practice the /w/ onset I talked about there. Another possibility is that you're relying on twangy compression because you don't have the musculature built up for good mass. Sometimes that can happen from E4 to A4. Resistance onsets can help you build that musculature. Dampen & Release, Attack & Release, and Contract & Release (in moderation), will all help build a bit more bulk in your voice. Are you training The Four Pillars of Singing or with TVS material?

A lot of what I mentioned in the Journey review applies here as well. However, I want to specifically address your distortion in this song. What you're doing sounds throaty and compressed. On higher pitches, that type of distortion can be very harsh both in sound and wear and tear on the vocal tract. If you're in The Four Pillars of Singing, I suggest you work more with the lesson on decompressed overlay distortion. Otherwise, or perhaps in addition to, instead of squeezing that distortion out, try to bleed the glottis. That means allowing more air through without all the extra hyper vocal twang compression. One way to help develop that is, while still trying to keep the voice lifted to the soft palate, and still utilizing cry vocal mode as described in my Journey review for you, try alternating between a spoken smoker's voice and singing clean at pitch above your bridge. At some point, while alternating back and forth, you'll feel like you can combined the two. Then, instead of squeezing for distortion and getting a throaty sound, it will feel like you're simply using more air than you need to and thereby activating the false cords for distortion. If it hits your throat, you need to lift more, and move towards /ae/ sound colors. Again, this is similar to what I described in the Journey song review. If the distortion still feels like it's hitting your throat, rather than above the throat, spend more time trying to raise pulse/fry up in pitch, where it sits on top of the throat, rather than in it. That area is a good placement for distortion, especially if a lot of the vibration is then transferred to the soft palate.

Your pitch is good when you're relaxed. The higher in pitch you went, the more tense you got, to the point of almost yelling, rather than singing. Your vowels are too narrow in your upper range to resonate well. There are two main things I recommend for this. First, try to get into cry mode. It's the same feeling in the soft palate as if you're crying or really excited to see someone. Whimper there a bit, to get a solid feel for it. Them try to isolate your upper pitches with that cry. It will also soften your your voice a bit in your lower range. Since higher pitches want to pull deeper into the soft palate, cry will help thin out the glottis better and help pull the voice into a deeper placement, so less pressure is required to sing those pitches. Also, once into higher pitches, you may need to add a bit more /ae/ (he vowel sound color of words like ash, cat, hat, etc) in order to keep a consistent sound color across your range. Second, place much more emphasis on everything supporting good resonance. One great way to do this is using a /w/ as your onset. If you're using good horizontal embouchure (smile/sneer), it will help lift your voice to the soft palate. If you sing from that lifted placement with a /w/ + /oh/, it gives you both good support and a defined feeling for good resonance. Once you feel that resonant energy on the front of your soft palate, towards the hard palate, or towards your nasal cavities, try to place all of your vowels and consonants in a way that supports that resonance. Singing is all about supporting that resonance, and the sound only moving outward from there.

With everything turned all the way up in my studio, I can t still only barely hear it, as if I have everything turned all the way down. Can you upload a new one that is louder?