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Registration Concerns - Some Examples

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Reading some articles here on male vocal registration reminded me that there is a part of my voice where I am not sure if I am singing in head voice or in falsetto and where this could possibly develop. In these examples I am very interested in any insight into what I am doing registration-wise though all constructive criticism gratefully received.

Empty Chairs at Empty Cubicles

This is a parody of "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" from Les Miserables. I found the words on the net and thought I'd record it. The recording here is in a higher key than the show - I experimented until I was happy with the lowest note which, IIRC makes the lowest note C3 and the highest Bb4.

The highest part feels very different to the lowest part and from what I remember the difference in sound quality in my head from the bottom to the top seemed greater than it seems listening to the recording.

http://fosdick.dnsalias.net/music/2009-04-18-empty_chairs.mp3

Bat Out of Hell

This recording is in the original key which, IIRC, makes the top note tenor high C - C5 though interestingly this was not the hardest note to sing which is the one just below, Bb4 I think. In this case clearly I must be singing the Bb4 differently in Bat Out Of Hell than in Empty Chairs and why I am doing that I am not sure.

This is an edited version of the song reduce the time.

http://fosdick.dnsalias.net/music/2007-08-22_bat_out_of_hell.mp3

This Town Ain't Big Enough

Some parts of this feel similar to the higher parts of Empty Chairs and the C5 in Bat Out of Hell though this goes higher - to F5 (last sung note)

http://fosdick.dnsalias.net/music/2005-07-26-this-town-aint-big-enough.mp3

Sea Fever

This is in what seems to me like a baritone key and seemed quite comfortable. I have been told I am a baritone but there seems to be a fairly sudden loss of power/focus for me around B2 which I am told is unusual for a baritone and it seems to be the top that becomes easier with practice rather than the bottom so now I'm wondering.

http://fosdick.dnsalias.net/music/2005-10-04_sea_fever3.mp3

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I listened to "Bat out of Hell" first, as the piece is most accessible to me as a cultural reference, though I have seen Ol' Misery, too.

Maybe I have lived a sheltered life but I had not really heard an opera singer do "Bat". Though I appreciate that "Bat out of Hell" is essentially a rock opera. Indeed, Meatloaf (Michael Aday) certainly looked a crazed opera singer in the edwardian tux shirt, hankerchief in one hand. I'm not exactly sure where you are resonating most of your range. It sounded chest for baritone and lower tenor. Mixed for mid tenor and you had to change resonance for the upper tenor and that you were a little uncomfortable with it, not because it was impossible for you to do but because it took you out of the bel canto technique. Which may be problematic because of the lyrics at that part of the melody. That is, you were on pitch, like a true singer, doing what it takes to hit the note, but at a cost of leaving behind the resonance you were used to using. Is the question how to achieve that part of the range while still using the bel canto technique?

I just know how I hit that range if I want the full tone (depends on the effect of the song). Which is full head tone, with the back of the tongue curled to bolster the resonating space. You might start that note in falsetto and approach full as you become comfortable in how to resonate and still have your distinctive sound. Sure, you will sound weak at first. But it's the way I teach helpers how to bend pipe. You take a bender and a pipe and knock yourself out making a metal pretzel out of it. In so doing, you become comfortable with how the bender does what it does. By the end of a couple of sticks, you can bend anything you desire, rather than just by accident. In the same vein, I would say, experiment with that in falsetto, until you become comfortable with where the note is in whereever you are resonating. Then you can make minute adjustments and get back to that "Pavarotti does Mozart's Requiem" vibe that was going on.

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Sea Fever - Well done. Your voice is entrancing in that one. Obviously, of course, you were in your element, material-wise. If you were having a crack or weakness, I couldn't hear it. As for the effect of upper range becoming easier to manage, that can happen.

From 1974 to 1987, I thought I was baritone. Then I started studying voice and learning about resonance and breath control and found out I was a tenor. At least in my favorite genres, hard rock and heavy metal, with a smattering of pop, which I think is reflected in the submissions I have put up so far in the critique section.

I think part of the difference is the expected venues for different types of music. Bel Canto opera, your style, is designed for the singer to sing in an acoustically shaped hall with no electronic amplification. As opposed to "Bat" which is often song into a microphone and indeed, many pop singers are kind of weak and thready in the upper range and the lack is hidden in the amplification and the equalization applied to the vocal mic.

It's also not uncommon, I think, for someone to be capable of two ranges. I can go from high tenor down to baritone and once in a while, I can hit upper bass. Especially if I have a cold.

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This Town Ain't Big Enough -

First off, even in falsetto tone, for we all know falsetto is a tone, not a range, it is difficult to pull off a split-arpeggiated melody with staccato lyrics that include full gutteral and labial stops. And that was in mid-tenor, no less. Man, you've got some chops. Someone should pimp-slap Andrew Lloyd Weber and his compatriots for doing things like that. Anyway, your only weak spot was the ending note. And not because it was out of range. But because you backed off the breath. As Graham Hewitt once said, if you can sing it soft, you can sing it loud. It just depends on the air pressure, the resonance, and the proper tension on the right part of the vocal chords.

I noticed your timbre was more open-throated on this song, less bel canto. So, in traditional opera, you may be baritone to mid-tenor but I think in pop music and contemporary theater, you might be full tenor. And I think you are having an easier time in pop tenor because the shape of the mouth is more open an lax, where the vowels are shaped in the back of the mouth rather than with the mandibular muscles and the lips. In fact, I bet it's harder for you to sing pop baritone since you are so used to the bel canto in that range.

Next time you do this song, hit the last note with a gut punch, like your swinging to bat the ball out of the park (center field into the parking lot and knock out someone's windshield.)

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Empty Chairs -

Great emotion in your voice.

I understand how it felt or sounded different in your head than it sounded in recording. I found that effect when I did "Sweet Child of Mine." For me, most of that song was mixed, with the higher parts being head tone, but I think I was still mixing a little. In playback, I couldn't hear any passagio or transition, which I guess, is success.

In that case, your instincts maybe what is needed to accomplish the range. When I was younger, I would try and match timbre. But it helps to remember that a high note is a small note with a different resonance and resonating space than say a basso profundo grumble. That is, to access the higher end of your range may require a resonance different than that which you may have at, say, B2. For example, if you could D5, I doubt you're going to sound like you do at middle C. Don't let that scare you off.

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...I'm not exactly sure where you are resonating most of your range. It sounded chest for baritone and lower tenor. Mixed for mid tenor and you had to change resonance for the upper tenor and that you were a little uncomfortable with it, not because it was impossible for you to do but because it took you out of the bel canto technique...

Thanks for taking the time to comment. It would help further if I could be sure which ranges you refer to by mid tenor and upper tenor. Do you have specific ranges of notes in mind here or is it easier to relate this to parts of the song? For example are you calling the lines "bat out of hell when the morning comes" (second and higher version in the chorus) and "sinners before the gates of heaven" again the higher version mid-tenor? These go up to about A4 (or is it Ab4) IIRC. That would leave upper tenor to descibe the Bb4 and high C (C5).

Is the question how to achieve that part of the range while still using the bel canto technique?

I am not specifically trying to make this song sound like opera though I guess that has happened so some degree. Thinking back a few years I would have struggled to sing above E4 and if I did it would be by flipping into a very much weaker sound. Having got to the point where I can reliably sing the next few notes, presumably "bridging" one part of the voice to the next - i.e. some kind of mix I find a new "brick wall" at about Bb4 and again, I can get the other side of it with a sudden change. At first doing this for the high C seemed like a bit of a cop out and I was sure in my own mind that note was then in falsetto but interestingly since singing that note in that way, not just in this song, I am finding it is getting stronger and I have more control over the volume of it. So I am wondering what the chances are of being able to bridge from the F4 to A4 region into the Bb to C5 region without such and obvious change.

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I lack the technical ability to describe mid tenor though I could say that it is what I think of in say, the singing of Jon bon Giovanni.

As for falsetto, there are some notes I am hitting that sound like falsetto on cheap recording equipment and other times, I know it's falsetto with lots of volume, akin to Justin Hawkins of The Darkness.

And I may be ill prepared or qualified to truly help you but I wanted to give my input as a layman. Again, I am not a vocal coach or professional voice teacher in any stretch of the imagination. I am an electrician who has sun "I don't believe in love" by Queensryche, a capella, while making wire junctions in a junction box. And my friend, John, a hugely devoted Queensryche fan, had no complaints.

What I can say is that it depends on the material, to some extent. I believe, unless someone will correct me (which won't hurt my feelings) that some sounds and lyrics or word shapes are easier to sing in passagio than others.

But really, I liked everything you did. I do listen to opera sometimes, mainly arias. One of my favorite voices in the world is Sarah Brightman. She gives me chills down my spine.

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...I think part of the difference is the expected venues for different types of music. Bel Canto opera, your style, is designed for the singer to sing in an acoustically shaped hall with no electronic amplification. As opposed to "Bat" which is often song into a microphone and indeed, many pop singers are kind of weak and thready in the upper range and the lack is hidden in the amplification and the equalization applied to the vocal mic.

That difference is reflected here in the recordings. Sea Fever was recorded with an AT825 single-point stereo mic probably about 1.5 metres away (4'6") connected to a minidisc recorder and no artificial reverb - the reverb is from the room. The other tracks were recorded with a Rode NT2A at a distance of maybe a foot and will include some EQ, some artificial reverb and some compression.

It's also not uncommon, I think, for someone to be capable of two ranges. I can go from high tenor down to baritone and once in a while, I can hit upper bass. Especially if I have a cold.

That's interesting - so far operatic tenor arias seem much harder to sing (for me) than either their baritone counterparts or a large body of rock/pop music which seems to be set in a tenor key.

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Thanks for the technical info. You know, I think back to how you sound, even on "Bat out of Hell" and there is definitely an operatic influence, even if you weren't going for that.

As for having multiple ranges, I think that is more possible in pop and rock because of the style of resonance. Surely, you can tell the difference between you and Rob Halford of Judas Priest. Part of that is due to how you resonate notes. One of the best singers to ever vary resonance for different effects is Ronnie James Dio. You can see it in his face. In addition to his moves and costumes being similar to an actor in an opera, you can watch how he moves his lips and mouth to create certain tones of resonance, just as one does in opera. The proof is in the pudding, so to speak. Can you hear the difference between how you sound and how Jon bon Giovanni sounds?

I was plucking on the guitar just now to get an idea of the transition you are talking about in your previous post. I think having a passagio at or around F4 is possible and I think you might be able to hit that note, seeing what I can of your different resonances and registers in your submissions. I know I could hit F4 but not softly and not with an operatic timbre. I could probably do it in full volume falsetto or even a bit of metal timbre but that might be due to my physical limitations. And my voice has changed over the years. In the beginning, to hit high C, I might have been doing a metal-type croak. Now, I can hit the note cleanly, which may sound like falsetto but certainly doesn't feel like it when I am doing it. And it's hard for me to relate to others such as yourself what it sounds like because of the limitations I have with recording equipment. In person, I know I have some overtones, even in mixed voice, that you just can't get from the recordings I have put up.

Would you have the luck at say F4 that you had at high C, for example? That's a tougher question. There's a physical limit based the shortest length an adult male can contract his chords to and still make a sound. For lack of a better description, I think it's logarithmic. That is, the change from being comfortable finally at high C to being comfortable at F4 is going to be very subtle, I think. How do you get there? Sheesh, you could probably teach me about singing and technique. I just know what's worked for me.

I guess what I am saying is, how important is it to get to that note? You may end up changing resonance and timbre to get it and that would take you away from the operatic sound, at least for a while.

Please forgive my layman's command of the terminology.

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ron, just curious, why are you using his real name and not Bon Jovi?

Bon Jovi is a band name and a business name / stage name. His real name is Jon bon Giovanni. I was using his real name to speak directly of him. I didn't mean to cause confusion. Bon Jovi includes Ritchie, Tito, et al.

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Would you have the luck at say F4 that you had at high C, for example? That's a tougher question. There's a physical limit based the shortest length an adult male can contract his chords to and still make a sound. For lack of a better description, I think it's logarithmic. That is, the change from being comfortable finally at high C to being comfortable at F4 is going to be very subtle, I think. How do you get there? Sheesh, you could probably teach me about singing and technique. I just know what's worked for me.

Ronws: Just a quick point... the vocal bands are stretched, not contracted, to make higher pitches. This stretching action thins the vocal process, reducing the cross-sectional mass and increasing the tension... both of those cause the freqency to go up.

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Sorry, Steve, I didn't mean to mispeak. The image I have in mind is contraction even if that's not what's happening. The reason being is that, to me, and I could be wrong but the image helps me mentally, is that a high not is a small note, properly resonated and supported. Most times, a contraction tightens things up. It's part of the guitar analogy, I think, that would make me think that. On a guitar, you do make the string shorter by pressing on a fret. But then, as I have mentioned before, I know the guitar is not accurate, our voices are more like variable reeds. Anyway, my bad.

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Sorry, Steve, I didn't mean to mispeak. The image I have in mind is contraction even if that's not what's happening. The reason being is that, to me, and I could be wrong but the image helps me mentally, is that a high not is a small note, properly resonated and supported. Most times, a contraction tightens things up. It's part of the guitar analogy, I think, that would make me think that. On a guitar, you do make the string shorter by pressing on a fret. But then, as I have mentioned before, I know the guitar is not accurate, our voices are more like variable reeds. Anyway, my bad.

Ronws: Oh, no problem. I know exactly what you mean about using contraction (the note getting smaller) as a a mental image or concept. IMO, It is very helpful thought when it comes to preventing oversinging/pushing.

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