Really need help getting into my mix voice.

[EvilSoup]

I've been teaching myself singing for almost a year now, and it's going quite well.

However the one thing I just cannot for the life of me figure out is finding my mix voice, or curbing I guess for you CVT people.

It seems to be all chest or all head for me. I can't get a chesty resonance out of head voice.

I'm a baritone, and that's probably why it's so hard for me since I have so much weight on my voice.

Anything past middle C I get progressively get more and more strained. I feel like I've tried everything. Nays, lip bubbles, vocal fry, buhs, muhs, mmm mmms, sirens, singing really lightly, and pretty much everything on any singing success video or CD out there.

It seems there must be a very specific order of things I need to do in a very specific manner, and if I don't do it in exactly that way I don't get any correct muscle memory from it.

I'd love to take a lesson from someone, unfortunately my internet is too slow for skype and there are no vocal teachers near where I live.

Here's a cover song I just recorded: http://soundcloud.com/through-the-forests/sparks

I like the singing in it, it's just the higher notes are too forced and are pushed more than they need to be. However if I do it any lighter I get flat and weak.

Is there any exercises I can record for you guys to get comments on? I really need the help. :/

Thanks.

[eggplantbren]

Nice work on that song! I really enjoyed it, great stuff. And join the club, I think this is now like the 10th thread on this topic in the last two days I even have one of my own. So I won't offer much advice except to say that I think your louder chest voice notes in that clip are actually already in curbing, so I'd resist the urge to try to do any "transitions" apart from doing the necessary vowel modifications as you get higher (towards "I" as in sit, "O" as in woman or book, or "UH" as in hungry).

That's the theory anyway, I feel like I understand this on paper but doing it is very hit and miss for me at this time.

[Ronron]

Hi, welcome to the " I can't find curbing/mix/monkey " club. I'm glad you joined us. Though I didn't hear nothing wrong with your cover.

[jonpall]

Great singing in that clip. I really liked your tone. If you want to improve your mixed voice, can you record yourself doing mum and gug exercises (from SLS/SS, f.ex.) and failing miserably for us to laugh at - I mean try to tell you what you're doing wrong? Here's a tip in advance for those exercises - think "cry" or "moan" and also sing with a slight "dopy" sound. That should get you into that mixed sound. But what's most likely is that you'll still fail, post a clip to us and then it's usually pretty obvious which of the several components for a mixed voice you're missing.

Also check out the other three hundred threads with the same question from the last one and a half day.

:)

[Steven Fraser]

EvilSoup: I listened to your recording. You have a good voice, pitch, and an easy quality which IMO suits this song well. Though you may feel strain on the top, its not apparent in the tone quality... it does not sound strained.

If you are looking to build consistent power and connection between the lower and upper sections of your voice, you are going to want some twang working for you, and to let the registration get a bit lighter as you ascend the scale. IMO, one of the best kinds of exercises for this latter aspect is the use of soft, clear, semi-occluded voiced consonant sirens.

While that term looks dense, it means employing the consonant sounds of V, Z, voiced TH and even lip buzzes and bocca chiusa, and a siren pitch pattern.

Of these, the bocca chiusa is the best, since it does not put the articulators into a position of tension. Its very easily done:

1) Drop you jaw so that your front teeth are about 3/4 of an inch apart.

2) Close your lips around your teeth so that your mouth is shut, and gently blow. If your cheeks puff out, you have the position.

Through that position:

3) Take a breath in through your nose, and phonate a medium-low note at a medium-soft volume. Your cheeks will puff out a little, and there you have the first part.

4) Move the pitch around in the lower middle voice, until you find the easiest production. We will use that note as home base for a bit.

5) Take a breath, and using that sound, siren slowly up a 5th and back down, a few times, to learn the sensations. Once you have that, extend the pitch pattern by sirening up the 5th and then adding the last 3 notes to get you to the octave, and then siren back down to the home base.

Its not necessary to 'try' to do anything different as you do this slide. Just keeping it medium-soft will encourage the laryngeal adjustments necessary for the pitch change to occur.

6) Transpose the exercise upward, with a slightly higher starting note, and repeat. When you get to that place where you habitually tighten... you will find that the tendency is less with this kind of phonation. The goal of the exercise is to discover the sensations of making a clear, medium-soft tone without strain.

repeat the exercise for about 10 minutes each day for a few weeks, at the beginning of each practice session. Its an excellent warm-up, and you will find that some of the easy clarity of it will carry over into your other practice and singing.

I hope this helps,

[EvilSoup]

I've been doing the sirens with various sounds and volumes, and it's working out quite well!

I dare say I have a breakthrough on my hands. I'll definitely work on this for the next week or so and post some results.

Thanks Steven!