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Is mixed voice like a soft yell? Or is it more like head voice by itself?

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Chiaroscuro

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Is "mixed voice" closer to something like A or B.

A: A soft, speech-like yell. Today I felt I was shouting in my lesson and my teacher said that was my mix. I don't mean shouting as in yelling and forcing as if someone was stabbing you, but to get someone's attention across the street or at a baseball game.

B: Pretty much a connected head voice sound but with a slightly raised larynx than opera. In other words just making the head voice sound chestier. So it will feel like I am singing in pure head voice with but just with a speech-like larynx or twang?

Is mix literally singing in chest and head at the same time, or singing in head voice with twang so it sounds powerful and full and indistinguishable from chest voice? 

I would like replies from singers who are not just starting out but have experience and can actually sing in a balanced 'mix'.

Thanks

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To be honest I believe everything is a mixed voice and it's a stupid term. Every voice is a mixture of closure, resonance, muscular contractions, airflow, and vowels. You can't speak without mixing all of these factors. 

As for the mysterious mix voice, I think it's safe to say it would meet most people's subjective ideas that it is not pulling chest and hitting a brick wall (enough closure until the folds break) or the purest hooty falsetto you can do (light closure, little rsonance). There are a near infinite number of configurations that wold meet that criteria of neither of these voices. Learn how to sing light and heavy.

1. Heavier Closure (support a lot, try a sudden onset)

2. Heavier Resonance (wider vowels)

3. Lighter closure (try swelling falsetto)

4. Lighter Resonance (narrower vowels)

Everything is a mix and match. Find what works. It probably won't be either extreme and will be in between extremes. Almost all vocals are in between extremes. Some more to one side or the other. But don't worry about the definition or 'mixing it up' or whatever.

A great way to learn to sing lighter is well falsetto/head/whatever and try to create a coordination by increasing resonance and closure to a controlled amount. 

A good way to sing heavier is grab a huge vowel like 'oh,' onset quickly and support the crap out of it. If you do it right, you'll feel the weight and it will likely be loud. :4: Imo getting all mixed up and confused over definitions and pursuing the 'the elusive mix' wasn't helpful and was misleading.

Think more in terms of shedding some weight and minimizing excess effort by finding the precise amount of closure needed for what you're doing with the right vowel. It would be more useful than any definition of this word I've ever heard.

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By keeping a balanced resonance through your chest to head. You will find the mixed voice. If the resonance gets thrown off by falling back(flipping) or to much squeeze or to wide a vowel splatting and getting a lot louder it will be hard to find mixed voice. Like you said Making the head voice sound chestier is a good way to look at it

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My advice would be that if you have a voice teacher and he is teaching you, especially if you are paying him to teach you, you should listen to him, rather than see if we agree with what he says, because you can find a bunch of different opinions here, some that might contradict his methods and words. Thereby, that would increase your anxiety and stress.

Are you achieving the goals that you want?

Also, we can't really tell what sound you are talking about without actually hearing it.

Talking about singing is like dancing about architecture.

 

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By keeping a balanced resonance through your chest to head. You will find the mixed voice. If the resonance gets thrown off by falling back(flipping) or to much squeeze or to wide a vowel splatting and getting a lot louder it will be hard to find mixed voice. Like you said Making the head voice sound chestier is a good way to look at it

Making a lighter phonation sound bigger is one way to mix the voice. It's as valid as any other.  If it works, go for it.

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Thanks for the replies. KillerKu, your first comment on this thread makes so much sense of all. I do have a teacher. She is teaching me how to bridge into head voice early in the scale and using 'middle voice' to switch from chest to head seamlessly. We are pretty much focusing on a more classical type approach right now (just with a more neutral larynx than full blown legit opera would entail) and once I can get this to where "head voice" sounds like the same voice as "chest voice" and middle voice, we are going to work on contemporary later on. She calls this "head voice" and switching into head voice later in the scale mix. We are pretty much working on "head voice" right now and working on "mix" later on. Yeah I guess our goal would be making head voice sound chestier, or indistinguishable from chest voice rather than it sounding like one completely different voice such as the hoooo sound. 

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We actually determined that my mix is pretty much head voice with a stable larynx or twang making it sound like the same voice as chest voice. All these terms don't really describe it though, but to find the coordination I would just sing in a light head voice but make sure the larynx isn't classical low, but in a neutral speech-like position. and just lean on a very subtle twang sensation, which is automatic if it is speech-like. It sounds close to a shouty mix but has way more tonal clarity ands has more "ring". What I was doing in the lesson was a pushed mix with an excessive amount of chest. I guess that would still be a "mix" though, just not the end result of what I am going for which would contain more 'head voice' to balance the sound out. We are going to work on a light head voice mix and later on down the road once I can get that we will maybe work on a chestier mix or belt so it doesn't just break apart or sound squeezed as I ascend. We pretty much answered my question on this forum in our own time.

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Did you see this? There is more detailed explanation of these ideas in my training program, "The Four Pillars of Singing"

Exactly! I actually personally always thought this same thing, that 'mix voice' doesn't exist their is only one voice, you can just apply more chest or more head coordination in the one voice, such as head 'mix' or chest 'mix'. What I mean is you either sing with a more heavy chest sound (such as rock and belting) in your one voice or a lighter head sound (like R&B or just a lighter sounding voice in general). I've always just thought of 'mix' head an chest as terms to help singers learn to balance the coordination in their voice. I never really think of it in those terms, it is only for explanation and even asking this question was just using a term to help describe a connected sound. Their is that lighter function such as if you sing in that hooty voice on oooo I guess that is 'head voice' but I believe that is the same as your speaking voice when you have a connection.

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This is how I define mix too...
From what I can tell there are two schools

Headmix which is what you describe. Making head voice sound like chest. 

And chestmix which is "belting" and 'pulling chest' but doing so in such a way where you aren't completely limited in range. You mix head and chest resonance sensations but stay in chest.

I agree with this as well as Lunte's description in the video. I believe 'mix' doesn't really exist as a third separate register, their is only one voice and "head voice" or that hooty sound on ooo is the same as that one voice and is inseparable from 'mix', it is just the lightest possible quality or sound you can sing in that one voice and contains the most miniscule amount of "chest" coordination that you can sing in the one voice. I believe "chest" (the lower part of your range) and "head" (such as the light disconnected hooty sound on ooo in the upper) and 'mix' are all the same voice, you can just control how light/soft (head quality) or heavy/meatier (chest quality) the sound is in that one voice. Meaning if you are singing in that light hooty ooo voice, it is not separate or a different voice than "chest voice", it just means you are singer lighter in that same once voice. "head mix" would mean you are singing with a heavier sound than that oooo voice alone, and if you are singing in "chest mix" or belting you are just singing with a heavier sound quality in the one voice. If your voice breaks or cracks between the two, it doesn't necessarily mean you are flipping into a different voice, your voice just isn't developed to it's full capacity and instead of thinking of it as flipping into a separate voice, I think of it as a voice that isn't balanced yet as far as light and dark qualities of the one same voice go. This is the best way I can describe the way I see the "mix" or "head" voice or "chest" voice. It is all one big same voice, these are just terms to describe the sensations you feel as you sing higher. When you are playing guitar, the higher you go you want to switch to a lighter string, it is the same guitar, the same instrument, you are just playing higher notes and a lighter sound. Carrying "chest" up or pulling it just means you lack balance in your voice, and the light and dark qualities aren't balanced out. "Switching" from chest into head with a break or a seamless transition doesn't mean you are transitioning into a different voice, it just means the sensations you feel are changing as you sing higher. They may be described as different registers but they are still the same voice. They are one.

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I agree with this as well as Lunte's description in the video. I believe 'mix' doesn't really exist as a third separate register, their is only one voice and "head voice" or that hooty sound on ooo is the same as that one voice and is inseparable from 'mix', it is just the lightest possible quality or sound you can sing in that one voice and contains the most miniscule amount of "chest" coordination that you can sing in the one voice. I believe "chest" (the lower part of your range) and "head" (such as the light disconnected hooty sound on ooo in the upper) and 'mix' are all the same voice, you can just control how light/soft (head quality) or heavy/meatier (chest quality) the sound is in that one voice. Meaning if you are singing in that light hooty ooo voice, it is not separate or a different voice than "chest voice", it just means you are singer lighter in that same once voice. "head mix" would mean you are singing with a heavier sound than that oooo voice alone, and if you are singing in "chest mix" or belting you are just singing with a heavier sound quality in the one voice. If your voice breaks or cracks between the two, it doesn't necessarily mean you are flipping into a different voice, your voice just isn't developed to it's full capacity and instead of thinking of it as flipping into a separate voice, I think of it as a voice that isn't balanced yet as far as light and dark qualities of the one same voice go. This is the best way I can describe the way I see the "mix" or "head" voice or "chest" voice. It is all one big same voice, these are just terms to describe the sensations you feel as you sing higher. When you are playing guitar, the higher you go you want to switch to a lighter string, it is the same guitar, the same instrument, you are just playing higher notes and a lighter sound. Carrying "chest" up or pulling it just means you lack balance in your voice, and the light and dark qualities aren't balanced out. "Switching" from chest into head with a break or a seamless transition doesn't mean you are transitioning into a different voice, it just means the sensations you feel are changing as you sing higher. They may be described as different registers but they are still the same voice. They are one.

Yes, I agree with this and this is why I have one voice. Even a few others have noted I have one voice, nominally from C3 to C6. Regardless of tuning changes I make, the goal was to have a voice that sounds as one from top to bottom or vice versa.

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This is how I define mix too...

From what I can tell there are two schools

Headmix which is what you describe. Making head voice sound like chest. 

And chestmix which is "belting" and 'pulling chest' but doing so in such a way where you aren't completely limited in range. You mix head and chest resonance sensations but stay in chest.

 

Guys... Tristan... often times when discussing vocal technique, try to be careful not to rely too much on "... this is how I see it"... sort of conclusions... anyone with experience on this forum will tell you that is the fastest way to be humbled in this endeavor. Anyways, Tristan these two definitions are not how anyone describes "mixed voice"... what you are describing is entirely irrelevant to mixed voice definitions. Your post above is an answer to to an entirely different discussion. If by chance you are getting the impression that mixed voice means something related to what you are stating above, you are being mislead and wasting your time.

Mixed voice is not "what you think it is"... or "what SS thinks it is"... or even "what I think it is"... "mixed voice" is WHAT IT IS... it is in fact referring to:

1). The physical sensation of blended resonance.

That is the answer... my video ends the argument.  

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Is "mixed voice" closer to something like A or B.

A: A soft, speech-like yell. Today I felt I was shouting in my lesson and my teacher said that was my mix. I don't mean shouting as in yelling and forcing as if someone was stabbing you, but to get someone's attention across the street or at a baseball game.

B: Pretty much a connected head voice sound but with a slightly raised larynx than opera. In other words just making the head voice sound chestier. So it will feel like I am singing in pure head voice with but just with a speech-like larynx or twang?

Is mix literally singing in chest and head at the same time, or singing in head voice with twang so it sounds powerful and full and indistinguishable from chest voice? 

I would like replies from singers who are not just starting out but have experience and can actually sing in a balanced 'mix'.

Thanks

BOTH. 

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  • 5 years later...

I'm going to put in my two cents here because I have experienced both.

 

When I first started singing, I was taught by a female coach and she said that mix was predominantly head voice but reinforced with chestiness and or twanginess, to make it sound more full.

 

Later on I started taking lessons from a male coach, and he said I sung like a classically trained female lol.   He said that mix was predominantly chest voice with thinning of vocal cord closure mass the higher you went.

 

Now, if you hear a recording of me singing, Im going to say, for me as a male singer, the 2nd scenario is the right one for me.  I sound like...me.  I think females can use a headier mix because their voice lies in higher notes and that sounds natural.  Conversely, a male sings in a lower area, so the resonance sounds natural as a chest structure dominant sound mixed with head resonance.  

 

For me, flipping into falsetto is a sign you are not mixing. You have broken the structure of chest dominant singing.  And for a male, I dont think reinforcing that with other things like twang will ultimately make it sound natural.

 

As far as how it "feels" (a hot topic), for me it feels close to a yawn rather than a yell.  A belt, even if mixed, is what feels more like a yell.  

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