We've all heard it, "sing from your stomach/diaphragm/butt" etc.
I'm 27, I've been singing in a rock band for 8 years now. Nothin harsh or shredded vocals, think Radiohead and The Beatles.
We're doing pretty ok, but one thing that constantly nags at me is my singing ability. And I've done everything from Skype Lessons with Singing Success coaches, in person lessons, dvd's, you name it...but my vocals are not even close to where I want them to be or where they should be after so many years of slaving over them.
And I'm confident I've figured out tone and delivery, and I know when I'm on or not on pitch. But my breath support or "where to sing from" drives me crazy, as my vocal cord closure greatly suffers depending on my technique.
To me I've narrowed it down to two ways. You either sing literally from your diaphragm, or you sing out of your mouth/thinking of projecting outwards with a column of air connecting to your diaphragm/chest, so that the breath is originating from your diaphragm and there's some resonance in your chest but your primarily focused on projecting outwards, not say focused on starting the note at your diaphragm...if that makes sense.
Anyways, I never sing higher than Middle G or whatever, cause I can't. But so in the case of "from the diaphragm" my voice sounds weighty, more robust, more connected overall. Great right? Well, no because belting notes (F-G) feel unnatural like I'm pulling and squeezing the wrong place and I also notice that there's a significant drop in volume as opposed to...projecting "from the mouth" And I think it tires my voice out faster than anything.
When focusing on projecting outwards but still trying to connect the diaphragmatic support, it certainly feels more natural like common sense, you know, sing outward at the mic/crowd, but my cord closure sucks, it's kind of aspirated, I can't hit as low notes, notes don't sound as robust or connected, it sounds kinda boxy, but going up to belting notes it feels more natural.
Both ways tire out my voice fairly quickly though the diaphragm seems like it could cause real damage if I try to push it too hard, and thinking of always having to "sing inside yourself" instead of projecting outwards sounds very dumb to me and doesn't seem natural.
Anyways, I'm on my last leg here. I'm bout to have a nervous breakdown. Please help.