Can someone post light head voice transitioning into twanged for me?

[Snax]

Hey gang,

I read a really good post from Robert Lunte and wondered if someone can post an example of themselves doing this so I can hopefully imitate it and try to better isolate my twang. Here's the partial post I'm talking about...

"Now then, how do you get more isolation? Why is it that your still pulling in constriction? This is becuase you are likely not placed properly in the head voice. Your bringing constriction into your head placements and therefore, into your twang. Remove the pollution! Commit 100%, not just 70% to the head voice. Submit absolutely to singing windy and fluty and falsettoey for just a few scales to insure that you are fully, 100% in the head voice and never begin your twang calibrations until you have achieved a pure heady placement and total isolation from any constriction, because if you do, you could hurt yourself! Playing with twang is serious business, you have to be careful. It will make your sound amazing once you get it, but it can snap back at you if you dont respect the need to fully get placed into your head voice before calibrating contractions."

I guess what I'm asking for is for someone to record themselves singing in the "soft,fluty head voice" and then introduce twang so I can hear the change. Thanks so much!

[jonpall]

Snax, I posted something like this on the "VIDEO HERE (Bob's) magic moments" thread. You could check that out to start with, but bear in mind that I'm no expert. I don't want to help or teach people too much about something I don't have full mastery over. So take it with a grain of salt.

[joshual]

I'm with snax here, could be really great to have a good exemple of isaloting twang.

[VideoHere]

Hey gang,

I read a really good post from Robert Lunte and wondered if someone can post an example of themselves doing this so I can hopefully imitate it and try to better isolate my twang. Here's the partial post I'm talking about...

"Now then, how do you get more isolation? Why is it that your still pulling in constriction? This is becuase you are likely not placed properly in the head voice. Your bringing constriction into your head placements and therefore, into your twang. Remove the pollution! Commit 100%, not just 70% to the head voice. Submit absolutely to singing windy and fluty and falsettoey for just a few scales to insure that you are fully, 100% in the head voice and never begin your twang calibrations until you have achieved a pure heady placement and total isolation from any constriction, because if you do, you could hurt yourself! Playing with twang is serious business, you have to be careful. It will make your sound amazing once you get it, but it can snap back at you if you dont respect the need to fully get placed into your head voice before calibrating contractions."

I guess what I'm asking for is for someone to record themselves singing in the "soft,fluty head voice" and then introduce twang so I can hear the change. Thanks so much!

hey snax,

i took a shot a it here....it helps when i think of a witch or the actor paul lynde...it dosen't hurt at all but ya gotta keep the throat open and stay relaxed. i used lots of support (i'm pretty sure this is a form of it.)

i was going for an extreme sound.

i'm just experimenting with it because i've learned it's what gets that lou gramm sound in "i want you."

please folks, comment.

http://www.box.net/shared/3yxopvvvgb

[ronws]

Excellent articulation at pitch. And a really clear example, to boot.

[VideoHere]

Excellent articulation at pitch. And a really clear example, to boot.

thank you ron

[Robert Lunte]

Hey, decent phonation Bob! Where did you learn that stuff? 8 ^ ) ... this is kinda funny... cool Bob... but If I may... I think your twanging a smidge to hard... if your trying to be funny, it worked... but just to be safe... be careful, dont want you to hurt yourself. I would suggest doing another one that isnt contracted so damn hard... relax... think "steve perry" and show these guys something a bit sweeter...

This is a great opportunity to just bust out one of these on the fly, instant web cam videos on my computer and I would be more then happy to show you guys , were it not that Im sitting in an airport and I dont want security to hall be away. Ill get to it tomorrow from my home studio. At TVS, we call these "twang calibrations" and if you want to impress your friends at cocktail parties, you can refer to it as "Messa Di Voce" or Messa di voce (Italian, placing the voice) is a musical technique that involves a gradual crescendo and decrescendo while sustaining a single pitch... this context is a bit different. I think they mean it to be just volume and are not intending it to be vocal mode calibrations, but we'll twist its definition to suit our contemporary talk-track requirements.

[ronws]

This is another one of those days/nights where I really learn a lot from you guys. Thanks for having this site and thanks to everyone for sharing their examples and experience.

[jonpall]

Maybe I'm mistaken but I felt that he was twanging somewhat hard because he wanted the sound to distort. I don't know, maybe you don't need to twang quite as hard to get the same sound, so Bob, keep that in mind - only twang as hard as you need to get the sound you desire. I think that, in the beginning when people are messing around with these sounds, they tend to twang AND support slightly harder than they will eventually need to. So as long as you keep that in mind and gradually learn to losen all possible constritcting muscles in your throat, you should be fine. Listen to any signs of pain in your throat, every day.

But the bottom line for me is, that you did exactly what me and Jens were trying to help you with - it's the exact same sound production, IMO. So great job! Now you just have to do it a million times and play around with it before you can do it without thinking on stage I could be mistaken but I heard some other sound in the background on top of the distortion which sounded like a gargle sound for a few seconds and then went away. In that case, there's nothing to worry about. I'm guessing that you were doing this pretty cold, i.e. not really warmed up and some saliva was in your throat that needed to be cleared, or something like that.

[Snax]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I think I'm on the right track with this twanging now and thanks to you guys I can proceed with confidence.

I'd still love to hear an example of a head voice (not falsetto this time) transitioning into a twanged calibration and back on a single pitch. No need for the distortion as I'd just like to hear the onset of the twanging and then the change as it goes back to the untwanged head voice.

I'll say it again that this forum has been a God send to me as I've been getting reacquainted with my new voice post surgeries. :)

[analog]

Snax,

let me know if this is the "headvoice" sound you were looking for. I'm starting in head voice then "tightening the twanger" then back to head voice. I had to put the recorder across the room so you could hear the volume difference. Also...I am actually "holding back the breath" like a sonofabitch when I twang, so even though it gets way louder, I'm not blowing more air.

http://www.box.net/shared/17qrkg402e

[Snax]

Thanks analog! That's exactly what I was looking for buddy.

[analog]

Sure man...looking forward to more songs! How the AC/DC going?

[Jens]

videohere great example, there are some moments in your example where I think you really shine! from 0:41-0:43 you really had that sweetspot, you can hear it cause you center verywell on the eee! great job this is exactly the coordination me and jonpall wanted to teach you, but as many others already said you start twanging to hard and the falsefolds starts to touch. It's nothing wrong in doing that, I just wanna clarify, it's a great way on getting distortion! But if you can keep that "sweetspot" im talking about it's more then enough twang both for adding distortion and cut to your voice.

Train this some more and I want you will be a piece of cake!

[VideoHere]

thanks to all my friends,

rob, was not trying to be funny or disrespectful regarding your expertise on this, just wanted to show a transition with a rough edge as i work towards that "i want you" part in that shadowking tune i'm learning. it's funny...i can do that sound you folks heard but the "i want you" (guess it's the particular words that make it hard) eludes me for now.

i might want to add that while i'm a novice "twanger" i will say that the ability to twang is also an ability to "act" or imitate as well as sing to produce the sound. listen to jon bon jovi, he's a big-time twanger (just saw bon jovi this past saturday).

here's a couple "twang lights" (lol):

the first is adding twang to a portion of seal's "crazy"

his is light and airy, then i'll twang and you can hear how it changes the tonality to be brighter and louder sounding...i like seal's better...just did it quick to show the coloring. it's nice to know you have a choice.

http://www.box.net/shared/i3xvj6rpbt

this next one i was really going subtle "twang x-tra lite" (lol)

chris isaak's "wicked game"

http://www.box.net/shared/yuloq45tlp

hear the difference?

[ronws]

I could here the difference, Bob. And I like your version of "Crazy" as much as Seal's, though his is great. Yours inspires more confidence and conviction.

And it is more subtle in "Wicked Game" though it also sounded like you were farther away from the mic or just singing softer. My wife is a big fan of Chris Isaak and I love his self-deprecating sense of humor and have heard a number of his performances. He sings soft, as a rule, anyway.

[VideoHere]

I could here the difference, Bob. And I like your version of "Crazy" as much as Seal's, though his is great. Yours inspires more confidence and conviction.

And it is more subtle in "Wicked Game" though it also sounded like you were farther away from the mic or just singing softer. My wife is a big fan of Chris Isaak and I love his self-deprecating sense of humor and have heard a number of his performances. He sings soft, as a rule, anyway.

ron, i'm a big fan too!

what do thnk of this gal's version?

(kinda has a "jewel" sound going.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_iRVSdUuQc

[ronws]

ron, i'm a big fan too!

what do thnk of this gal's version?

(kinda has a "jewel" sound going.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_iRVSdUuQc

I think her version was great and she could be a great torch song singer. As to why she would get voted off, it helps to remember that the vote is from the public, rather than the judges or other contestants. The same public that made "Born in the USA" a number 1 hit for Bruce Springsteen. The same public that thought that during the previous season of American Idol, the other singer was better than Adam Lambert. Even the winner thought that Lambert was the better singer, and not just because he had a higher range. The same public that went nuts over "Macarena." Sad, isn't it?

But that's what I like about this site. The people here aren't just all about "how do I get a platinum record?" people here about being the best, regardless of success or lack thereof. And that is the best thing. Make your own sound. There's an audience out there for you.