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Leaning into a note...

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derekreno

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So this is a term I've been hearing a lot lately. I know it has to do with a more "aggressive" sound, but I'm not quite sure the technique behind it. Does it mean, pushing harder to get the sound to distort?....cause the notes I can distort, I'm not really "leaning into them"....it feels more like I'm cutting back, to get that sound. Any thoughts peeps?

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Maybe Bob will have a different meaning when he says to lean into a note.

And I know I told you to lean in the same places that Dave Grohl leans into.

So, here's what "leaning into a note" means to me and it will probably change tomorrow.

And it is usually required on the higher notes, whereever those notes are but are usually in a chorus, which is usually sung higher than the verses.

Tighter resonance and and a more controlled breath stream, which could mean anything from hold back air to pouring the coals, to borrow a railroad term (from the days when locomotives were steam-powered and you increased speed by putting more coal in the furnace to create a higher temperature to make the water hotter and drive the engine harder. Early locomotives had at least one, if not two cars behind the engine that held nothing but coal briquettes.)

But it's hard to describe in words, easier to submit a sound. The higher parts are me "leaning into the notes."

"Ramble On" by Led Zeppelin

http://www.box.com/s/86968135117ca096e8b8

Critique as you want, this is what I think of, when I think of the term, leaning into the note.

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Ok, so more or less, higher notes...I'm talking G4-C5, take a more aggressive approach to it? Not shouting (obviously) but giving it a bit more gusto? I guess kinda like high head notes like maybe an F5, where you just add a tad more compression to get those to distort.

I'll give your link a listen when I get home Ron.

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Hey Derek it's just having a feeling of sitting on the note more. So at first it might feel quite heady falsettoey and as time goes on you feel like it has more of a chesty normal full voice quality without really doing anything but raising the intensity. Like a crescendo you start focused on a small heady note and gradually raise the volume and intensity to a full tone with no glitches or gripping. Hope that helps

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When I talk about leaning in the note I'm referring to putting more chesty weight into it. The push never comes out the mouth, it comes from holding BACK the air and tensing the abs more and raising the volume so more chest resonance comes out.

That's what I was wondering, cool. Cause I'm holding back air on gritty notes...I heard "leaning in" and it confused me cause it feels more like I'm pulling back...air that is :D

Hey Derek it's just having a feeling of sitting on the note more. So at first it might feel quite heady falsettoey and as time goes on you feel like it has more of a chesty normal full voice quality without really doing anything but raising the intensity. Like a crescendo you start focused on a small heady note and gradually raise the volume and intensity to a full tone with no glitches or gripping. Hope that helps

So basically, messa di voce...just pushed/compressed a little more for the effect? I'm gettin there dude...slowly but surely it's starting to get easier :)

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My personal perception of leaning into a note is just simply adding intensity.

To me it's like, if I just pick a comfortable note and smoothly crescendo from the softest I can sing it to the loudest (mesa di voce), when I get to the loudest point that's where I'm leaning in the most. I guess on a technical level it mostly has to do with increasing subglottal pressure (which is done by applying more air pressure beneath well adducted vocal folds) and the folds vibrating deeper (chestier quality/feeling/sound).

And I would say leaning in refers to purely the physical/muscular nature of adding intensity. Not acoustics/formants/resonance.

I'm no distortion expert but based on what I can do with it so far, I don't think of adding distortion as leaning in. Similar but not quite. It's like an offshoot of the concept, a path 45 degrees to the left of leaning in...

My $0.02...I'm not a teacher just an intermediate student, this is how I see it personally

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derek, let me replace that with this....this is beyond great.

this is really leaning into the voice....

That's actually a good example...better then Jack Sparrow Michael Bolton :D

Funny thing is, I actually stumbled on the sound I was wanting, farting around with a Zac Brown cover last night....a friggin country tune, lol. He's got this part where he belts out a G#4, and me just screwing around trying to give it a rock edge, got this gnarly gritty sound that for the life of me I can't recreate now! Should've recorded the thing...:/

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To answer your question from earlier, Derek, yes, more gusto, which is not shouting, just putting some kind of oomph into it, which is actually an auditory illusion.

And maybe "leaning" presents the wrong mental image, to some. But like Frisell says, an intensifed concentration on air metering and a goodly amount of resonance. The note sounds loud and "pushy" even if you are physically not really pushing.

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cool, but leaning into a note can be clean leaning.....leaning doesn't have to end up with distortion or rasp. (stevie wonder comes to mind.)

I think it get the "leaning" term now...in a nutshell just bringing more chest resonance into a note? I just chose to lean a bit more into it, for the raspy effect ;)

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