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Tips on singing higher in chest or chest dominant mixed voice?

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Hey guys. I'm a long time lurker on this forum, first time poster. I've been feeling really down lately. The reason for this being my voice isn't where I'd like it to be. My chest voice range is around g2-g4, but with a few notes below and above. If you guys are curious I can tell you what those are as well, but I didn't think it was too important. I'd say I was a baritone, maybe a high baritone. I've had one teacher tell me that I was a baritone, and another tell me that I was a tenor.But I don't have too much faith in the second one, so I'm probably not going to consider that. :P I've had some training, but my technique isn't perfect yet. I also have this desperate hope that maybe, if my technique gets great, I could increase my range along with it. Or is it more likely to only improve the notes I can already sing? I was also wondering if there was any way to know what your maximum possible range could be.

Though it probably is impossible, I've always wanted to sing songs by Jeff Buckley and the like (and in the original key, haha). I used to think my high notes were full, but recently I had to admit to myself that they were more or less head voice. I was wondering if there was any way for a guy like me to be able to sing powerful high notes? I know there are many ways to do this with head voice, but I've noticed (at least when I do it, and in a lot of examples I've heard), that they don't sound the same as say Jeff Buckley's e5-g5 slide off of the song Grace. Is there any way for me to get my mixed voice up there? I know getting chest voice up there is probably asking a bit too much. I've also been looking into ways to strengthen my lower range, and make them louder, maybe a little more cleaner sounding, if that's possible.

But yeah, I know I'll probably never sound like a high tenor, even though I'd love to. Anyway, this is pretty much just another "how can I extend my range thread". I was just hoping to get some tips that pertain to me a little better. Would love some good advice.

EDIT: Just to be a bit clearer(Think of it as a TL;DR): I want my high notes to sound chestier. Also, I would like to know how Buckley does it. Particularly in his extremely high notes. Even though it is heady, I want to try to hit those notes, with at least as much power and chest sound as he does. Because I can hit most of his high notes, but I think it's in a weak head voice.

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I hear that. But what sort of exercises should I be looking at doing to get there? I mean I've been doing scales and arpeggios and slides with different consonant/vowel combinations etc., but is that really enough?

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If you're serious about beefing up your high notes, singing scales and whatnot will only help if you're doing them right. I don't think exercises are "one size fits all", you gotta find the ones that work for YOU. I'd look into a voice coach if you really want to get the results you are wanting.

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I'm not exactly sure what your definition of mixed voice is (it can be quite the confusing term in the voice community) but are you looking to sing similar to Jeff Buckley or do you want a chesty sound in the high part of your voice regardless? Because I would argue that Jeff's head voice is much more heady than it is chesty. Chesty would be more of the rockers such as David Coverdale, ken tamplin, and dio

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Derekreno- thanks, I've kinda learned that, and I have to agree with you. Now the next step is finding what suits me, haha.

Jco5055- Yes, I was half expecting someone to say that, should've been clearer. To answer your question, I don't want to be a Jeff buckley clone or anything. I want a chestier sound. I should have been clearer; I was trying to say his notes, though heady, still sounded chestier than mine do. I think mine are pretty much all head voice. Another one of my favorites would be Sam Cooke- for example, that high c(unless I'm mistaken?) at the start of "A Change is Gonna Come". I'd say that was chestier than Jeff's? It actually sounds like chest voice to my (inexperienced) ears. I'd like to get to that sound. But it seems to me right now that that sort of sound would be insanely difficult to take to higher notes than that. Also, I can hit most of Buckley's high notes in a weak head voice, I was wondering if I could give it at least as much power and chest sound as he does.

Although that head-dominant mix does sound quite appealing too, I personally love it.

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E5 to G5 is a lot easier for me than something like A4 and Bb4

Right on, mamba jamba. That's why it has been more important to me to have A4's sound like easy peasy, lemon squeezy, than to go to C6 every day. Work out the middle and the ends take care of themselves. Besides, most of the pop music and tenor ranged stuff is there, not in the 5th octave.

But 5th octave notes "sound impressive" and get an unfair amount of attention.

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I also have this desperate hope that maybe, if my technique gets great, I could increase my range along with it. Or is it more likely to only improve the notes I can already sing? I was also wondering if there was any way to know what your maximum possible range could be.

Your maximum range is pretty darn high. For starters, you can sing in a full / mixed voice any note you can currently sing in falsetto. In addition, you can take that a lot higher if you want. Think of the mixed voice as a continuation of your chest voice, like one huge connected chest voice.

It takes some work. A lot of work. But with the right program you can advance pretty quickly (quickly is a relative term of course).

Baritone, Tenor, who cares? Bergonzi (famous Italian Opera Singer) started as a Baritone and switched half way through his career to become a tenor. You want to sing tenor stuff some day? You can definitely get there - depends how much you want it.

The specific exercises vary from program to program. Many of them start with semi-occludeds like "ng" and lip-rolls, then gradually adding open vowels. Exercises like octave sirens, and octave arpeggios up and down. Starting all of these low, making your way up by 1/2 steps until you reach the top - don't strain at the top - then work your way down. Only hit the highest note once a day. And think of getting smaller as you go higher. Obviously there is much more to it. But you stick with a practice regimen as you are extending your range - don't try to do too much all at once.

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You can start off by getting Robert Lunte's vocal program, The Four Pillars of Singing and/or contact Robert himself for a Skype vocal lesson. See how you like it. Lot's of people here are his clients and are happy with him. In case you don't know, he's the owner of this forum.

For a quick help in the meantime, I suggest that you post an audio clip of yourself attempting to sing in the passagio (and a bit above and a bit below) and we could suggest some subtle changes you could make to beef up your sound. It's much easier to help if we can HEAR your problem.

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jonpall, do you know if the latest versions of Robert's work have much on high chest type sounds? Earlier Robert's stuff favoured early bridging to neutral. If that's still the emphasis (even initially) then it might be the opposite of what jtl999 needs.

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Hey guys, thanks for the advice. I've been looking into vocal trainers for Skype lessons, because most of the teachers that I've heard of here don't offer what I'm looking for.

EDIT: When you say audio clip, did you mean a sample of a song? I've included just a scale at the moment. I've found my problems here to be that I have to be loud, its extremely difficult to properly sing at this part of my range. It also sounds quite bad. The first thing I notice is pressure in my throat(mostly when I try to sing words at a reasonable volume). I find it easiest to slide up, and I can generally go higher, but it sounds pretty awful even at a G4, and I can hear a change in the vowel sound. Apologies for the bad recording, had to do this real quick.

https://soundcloud.com/jtl999/sample

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jonpall, do you know if the latest versions of Robert's work have much on high chest type sounds? Earlier Robert's stuff favoured early bridging to neutral. If that's still the emphasis (even initially) then it might be the opposite of what jtl999 needs.

I think so, although I'm not sure I have his newest stuff. But that's what I've heard.

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jonpall, do you know if the latest versions of Robert's work have much on high chest type sounds? Earlier Robert's stuff favoured early bridging to neutral. If that's still the emphasis (even initially) then it might be the opposite of what jtl999 needs.

Yes new pillars have alot more focus on beefing up the middleregister. However the jeffbuckley style is something pillars work great on(even without the new hardcore workouts)

If you want the sound buckley has on his e5-g5 pillars will do wonders

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Alright, I was looking into doing lessons with Mr. Lunte actually, to be honest. So thanks for letting me know about that. :)

I've edited my previous post to add in a sample of my singing. I wouldn't call it good, just a heads up. :P

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