Help me sing with better tone and technique?

[JasonV]

Hello all! First post here, and well I've been wondering how I can get better overall with tone and technique...

Especially with higher notes because I'd like to develop a stronger, more powerful/masculine tone like you'd see from Paul McCartney, Bruno Mars, Freddie Mercury, Matt Bellamy, or Phil Collins in their high registers. I know my voice is unique and will never be exactly theirs, but I'd like it to be less "airy" and more legend"ary" still.

Here's all I can tell you about my voice: http://youtu.be/lUBFXW3JAtg

• My chest register is from F2-ish to E4

•BUT! From C4 (Middle C)... As I get to E4 I strain/struggle more and more!!!

•From F4 and beyond I absolutely have to use my head voice

• My head voice can start at Ab4 and goes up to A6... but by the time it gets to A6 it becomes incredibly unpleasant :'( but at least it's the correct pitch.

•I suppose Ab4 to E4 is my mix.

I'm hoping you can give me insight as to how I can practice with either singing with ease at my higher chest voice parts (Like from C4 to E4), or getting a chest voice sort of feel to my head voice as though I'm belting, but with ease rather than it sounding like I'm straining (Like from Ab4 to hopefully C5). Both would be even much more appreciated as would any vocal exercises, links to information, or just tips and help in general.

[Owen Korzec]

I'd say the first thing you need to work on now is extending your chest voice range. That's something you'll probably need voice lessons to learn. The best you could do on your own is learn how to "hit" higher notes in chest voice, so you can technically work to extend it on your own, but to learn how to actually sing those new high notes in a healthy manner that's not going to sound and feel strained...it's highly unlikely you'll be able to figure that out without the help of a good vocal teacher or a VERY good vocal program.

Also you will need to make your voice less airy in order to get that extended chest voice range. It's important to know that straight away.

Don't worry about A6, you'll probably never actually have to SING that note lol.

And let me clear something up about "mix". Don't mistake mix as being a middle voice, a third register in the middle...that's not what it is. It should be more accurately called mixing, because it's a skill that encompasses the entire singing voice.

One way to think about it that I am personally a fan of is that the entire singing voice, except for falsetto and vocal fry, is a mix of chest and head. And that all the register changing that people talk about involves how much chest voice there is vs. how much head voice there is and how it relates to pitch and intensity.

So it's all a mix and we are just changing ratios of chest and head:

The lower you sing, the more chest voice, the higher you sing, the more head voice, if the intensity is held constant.

The louder you sing, the more chest voice, the softer you sing, the more head voice, if the pitch is held constant.

Oh and there are many more variables involved too, like the vowel, the tone, the amount of air, that all affect each other and we have to be aware of that stuff and manage it too. Put it all together and you have a pretty complex grid of interrelated variables to navigate through and it's what we struggle with as singers, especially since due to the nature of our physiology, the more evenly we have to mix those registers to produce the desired sound, the harder it is for beginners to produce.

I hope that clears some things up?

Okay that was the long and incomplete answer. The short and complete answer is to take lessons with a great vocal teacher that helps you train your voice to be what you want it to be, and consistently practice what they assign you, for several years. That's the absolute fastest, most reliable way to achieve what you're looking for. So I personally recommend going that route (it's the only thing that worked for me!!!), and I wish you good luck in your journey!

[JasonV]

Thanks for the general information Owen! And thanks Dante for addressing some of my problems and giving me video information! Should I redo the descending scale using "NO"s and post it starting from like F2 until it's difficult?

Also, Phil has been emailing me about his program and sending me his videos of techniques as well as written information towards some problems. I do believe he is a great teacher, especially since breathing correctly for support allowed me to hit a G4 in chest (though really loud and unable to otherwise) but at the moment I can't currently afford weekly lessons despite how affordable they are. I do take a choir class if that at all means something but the course doesn't expect me to hit any notes on a treble clef.

[VideoHere]

some great videos dante.