Has anybody here personally increased his Chest voice vocal range?

[Simon T8W]

Ok first I'm a 19 yr old guy. My chest voice vocal range is A1-Bb4 (rarely a B4) and I want to be able to hit the famous C5 in chest voice. I believe I'm a baritone and there are baritones e.g. Kenny Terry who can hit very high like c#5 and very low (in chest voice). Before my VERY CRUEL voice break (2008), I could hit beyond F5 (again in chest voice NOT MIXED or Head voice). How long does it take you to increase your chest voice notes. I know the risk involved in pushing to hard and I also know there is a peak where you can't increase it again.

Watch this video were Kenny (the bass singer) hits a c#5 in his chest voice.

skip to 2:53

[Jens]

i have, couldnt pass f4 now i can get up to b4-c5 a good day. my mixedvoice any falsetto also increased in range. I would just let it take time, make your voice overall and your chestvoice as strong as possible

[MB20]

I'm sorry dude, but there is no way you were hitting an F5 in pure chest... also, Kenny is not singing in his chest voice there. What you are hearing is predominantly head tones.

[Jens]

mb20 ive heard a singer do it im pretty sure it can be done

[Simon T8W]

@MB20, trust me when I say I could hit F5 in chest voice.Well let's drop that since that's not really important here. The main issue is, I want to take my chest voice higher :(. Any advice?? @Jens wow! how did you do that and how long did it take you?

I'm on skype, add me guys: simonansong

[Simon T8W]

any help guys?

[Felipe Carvalho]

If you are 19 right now, in 2008 you were only 15. Of course you could sing higher before your voice changed.

But may I ask what is the point of doing a high C in chest? Is it cool to waste energy and hurt yourself?

[Simon T8W]

If you are 19 right now, in 2008 you were only 15. Of course you could sing higher before your voice changed.

But may I ask what is the point of doing a high C in chest? Is it cool to waste energy and hurt yourself?

thanks for your comment. Actually I love that chestier sound. I keep reading a lot of articles on the net which says it's possible to increase your chest range. I'm so frustrated and confused right now and don't know what to do. I can't afford a vocal coach for now. Any help?

[Felipe Carvalho]

Simon, first of all you should take it easy, because at your age its possible that your voice has not yet finished changing.

Also there is a huge different from "chest" and "full sound".

Chest and Head should not be anything else but full. Why train and develop something incomplete?

Chest is a description of a coordination used, not a sound descriptor. You should sound good, just that.

The best possible advice is taking your time and doing what you can to make it possible to train with a coach. Its not an impossible task, but its not easy either.

[Simon T8W]

Simon, first of all you should take it easy, because at your age its possible that your voice has not yet finished changing.

Also there is a huge different from "chest" and "full sound".

Chest and Head should not be anything else but full. Why train and develop something incomplete?

Chest is a description of a coordination used, not a sound descriptor. You should sound good, just that.

The best possible advice is taking your time and doing what you can to make it possible to train with a coach. Its not an impossible task, but its not easy either.

thanks very much. I can hit a Bb4 though in full chest voice. I rarely hit a b4 in full voice. Nonetheless, they sound good. I hope I can put a video hear soon. And yep I'm doing my best to get a vocal coach. Do you think I should start mixing my head and chest or can you recommend any other technique that you think is good?

[Simon T8W]

This is one of the occasions where I hit a B4 in chest voice. What do you think guys. please check this link https://www.box.com/s/68f0a08c7f84cb799b5c

:| it's my own wierd vocal exercise :/

[gno]

Sorry - I couldn't get that link - box wanted me to log in or something.

First of all Chest and Head are not universally defined that same way for everybody which makes it difficult. I go by the common definition of which muscle is in dominant control. If TA, you're in chest. If CT, you're in head. Having said that you can make head sound exactly like chest, and that's where the issue is. I beleive you that you could hit an F5 in a "chest" sound. So can I and others here can do that too. According to the definition I go with (above) if your cricothyroid was tilting and streching the folds, you were in Head. If you go by a definition of chest that is totally based on the sound of chest (the strengths of the overtones particularly the strong 2nd harmonic) then you could say you were in chest.

You can certainly get that Chest sound up safely at F5 if you want.

[Elrathion]

yes ;>

when I started to sing I could get up to about F4 in a very shaky way. Now I can get to about G#4 belting, E5 chestvoice heavily relying on pharyngeal and correct vowels. [still chest though, because I never change coordination, the headvoice takes me well in soprano teritory]

Basically you need to find the "right amount" of chest for the right notes. Sure you can belt your way up to G's, and some singers above that, but most voices are going to deny any higher notes with their chest like that. So you need to learn to reconfigure your chest voice so it lends itself to going past those notes.

The way I learned was by strengthening headvoice and discovering pharyngeal there. After I had a good grip on that I learned to bring it down and gradually go back and forth to see how much extra chest I could carry without letting myself to "blast" my chords with too much airflow. Adduction is everything.

You can overadduct, but sometimes it's good to discover how far you can go in terms of musculature training, because most singers out there don't adduct enough, which makes the intense airflow for higher, chestier notes meet too few resistance.

No matter how much you increase your chest voice, your voice will still finally SIT at a certain place most comfortably. This means that you'll be able to sing a bigger variety, but your color of your voice will come out the most beautiful at a certain range in your voice, and the level of effort you need to do to sing certain places to "live in that range" will be varying depending on where your voice sits. Like I'm a spinto tenor and I could take on songs which start above F4 and stay there, but it's gonna wear me out. I prefer songs which start lower and allow me to climb up and down to get to my comfort zone ;>

Hope this helps.

[Simon T8W]

Sorry - I couldn't get that link - box wanted me to log in or something.

First of all Chest and Head are not universally defined that same way for everybody which makes it difficult. I go by the common definition of which muscle is in dominant control. If TA, you're in chest. If CT, you're in head. Having said that you can make head sound exactly like chest, and that's where the issue is. I beleive you that you could hit an F5 in a "chest" sound. So can I and others here can do that too. According to the definition I go with (above) if your cricothyroid was tilting and streching the folds, you were in Head. If you go by a definition of chest that is totally based on the sound of chest (the strengths of the overtones particularly the strong 2nd harmonic) then you could say you were in chest.

You can certainly get that Chest sound up safely at F5 if you want.

Sorry, I posted a wrong link. This is the link: https://www.box.com/s/68f0a08c7f84cb799b5c. What do you think about the voice? I'm actually singing this B4 in my chest voice. But as I said, I can't always hit that key.

Well, to your post, I don't know about TA and CT. From what I know, if the sound is coming from you chest, (lol this might sound silly) or like I mean you're singing with your 'talking' voice, then its your chest voice. I bet we're talking about the same thing. Well so this seems interesting, how do I make my head sound exactly like my chest? That will be great! Do you have samples of you singing in your head voice which sounds like your head voice?

[Simon T8W]

yes ;>

... [still chest though, because I never change coordination, the headvoice takes me well in soprano teritory]

...So you need to learn to reconfigure your chest voice so it lends itself to going past those notes....

thanks for the reply, I wnat to know what you meant by "discovering pharyngeal". Forgive me for being naive but there are quite some technical terms in your post. Also do you have any audio of your self where your head voice sounds like your chest and any exercise that can help me achieve this? Thanks again man

[Elrathion]

At first I was writing an entire essay on how this works, but then I figured text is not gonna explain you anything if the above was allready too technical.

Add me on skype, my nick is Elrathion, and I'll briefly explain you the process with corresponding sounds.

I recommend saving up for great teachers like CunoDante, James Lugo, Jamie Vendera, ... if you want to grow really fast and practise these principles with them.

EDIT: I just listened to your clip, and that's most definately not chest voice. It's falsetto. About the speaking voice being chest voice, that's just part truth. The vocal folds has layers of vertical depth, the more of those layers you can tap into using the "TA muscles", the MORE you access your chest voice. In speaking you'll typically won't tap into that much vocalis.

[Simon T8W]

At first I was writing an entire essay on how this works, but then I figured text is not gonna explain you anything if the above was allready too technical.

Add me on skype, my nick is Elrathion, and I'll briefly explain you the process with corresponding sounds.

I recommend saving up for great teachers like CunoDante, James Lugo, Jamie Vendera, ... if you want to grow really fast and practise these principles with them.

EDIT: I just listened to your clip, and that's most definately not chest voice. It's falsetto. About the speaking voice being chest voice, that's just part truth. The vocal folds has layers of vertical depth, the more of those layers you can tap into using the "TA muscles", the MORE you access your chest voice. In speaking you'll typically won't tap into that much vocalis.

nooo! It's my chest voice. Maybe it sounds like falsetto because I was singing this in the bathroom. I know the difference between chest voice/falsetto/and head voice. Also I added you on skype but it's late in the evening in my country so I don't want to disturb people by singing so we can skype l8r :-)

[Elrathion]

I don't wanna win a debate here, I want to help you. If you think you NEED help contact me. If you think your voice is perfect and don't need practise and help, then continue on your current path ;>

[Simon T8W]

I don't wanna win a debate here, I want to help you. If you think you NEED help contact me. If you think your voice is perfect and don't need practise and help, then continue on your current path ;>

ok man. Thanks for the advice. Hope to learn more from you. And yep I do need help ;)

[gno]

Sorry, I posted a wrong link. This is the link: https://www.box.com/s/68f0a08c7f84cb799b5c. What do you think about the voice? I'm actually singing this B4 in my chest voice. But as I said, I can't always hit that key.

Well, to your post, I don't know about TA and CT. From what I know, if the sound is coming from you chest, (lol this might sound silly) or like I mean you're singing with your 'talking' voice, then its your chest voice. I bet we're talking about the same thing. Well so this seems interesting, how do I make my head sound exactly like my chest? That will be great! Do you have samples of you singing in your head voice which sounds like your head voice?

I still can't open this 2nd link. It might be on my end.

Here's an example of me singing A4 in chest and sliding up to E5 using the exact same harmonic overtone strengths as on A4 but I'm tilting my crycothyroid so I'm in head. The strengths of the overtones is what gives that "chest" sound. Go directly to 1:26 in this song:

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10389337

And then another here - starting on B4 up to E5 and then G#5 - all in head, but maintaining the harmonic overtone patterns of Chest. Go directly to 3:48 in this song:

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10370969

[Simon T8W]

I still can't open this 2nd link. It might be on my end.

Here's an example of me singing A4 in chest and sliding up to E5 using the exact same harmonic overtone strengths as on A4 but I'm tilting my crycothyroid so I'm in head. The strengths of the overtones is what gives that "chest" sound. Go directly to 1:26 in this song:

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10389337

And then another here - starting on B4 up to E5 and then G#5 - all in head, but maintaining the harmonic overtone patterns of Chest. Go directly to 3:48 in this song:

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10370969

thanks very much for your response. Please try this final link to see if it works: https://www.box.com/s/68f0a08c7f84cb799b5c

and WOW!!!. http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10370969 I'd like to know if @3:43-3:45 where you sung "hold on to your dreams" was still your 'chesty' head voice? If yes, how can I achieve this? Very interesting indeed!

[gno]

Simon - Hold on to your Dreams - Dreams is a C#5 and that was a bitch because it is on the "ee" vowel which is tougher to maintain that chest sound up high. I'm technically in head, but maintaining the chest overtones on "ee" up that high is really hard for me. The other vowels are much easier. The recording came out fine, but I had to do several takes.

I listened to your clip and it does sound like a light head or a falsetto. If you are serious about learning how to do this kind of stuff you should take a lesson from Lunte or Tamplin - or - get one of their video programs and start working on it. This kind of technique takes a lot of hard work and practice.

[MB20]

I think you need to define what you think singing in your "chest voice" is. Confusion often comes due to people describing it as a physical attribute or a sound. You can achieve a chest voice sound right up in those notes but anatomically you will not be using pure chest voice. I am not saying there will be no use of the TA muscle; the sound will have some elements of the physical chest voice in it, but it will not be solely the TA muscle, it will be a blend or a mix.

[MB20]

The only time you're singing with pure TA is your lowest notes, and I mean the lowest 4 or 5 notes of your range. Beyond that, some CT activity should start to come in. Also, how much CT vs. vocalis activity depends on what dynamic level you're going for. At fortissimo, vocalis predominates, even on high notes. At piano dynamic levels, CT dominates, even when you're in your lower notes. This is assuming you're approaching everything in a balanced manner.

Exactly my point

@Simon T8W: Of the two examples you've given so far, one has been a head/mix and the other has been a breathy falsetto. Do you have another example of what you consider a high chest note?

[Simon T8W]

I really appreciate the replies from y'all :cool: