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A Baritone wants to improve his singing!


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  • TMV World Legacy Member

Hey,

I'm a baritone (I think) and I want to improve my singing. I really don't know what to think of it. I don't like the tone of my voice and my range is also not what I'd want it to be.

I would appreciate if you would comment on my singing so I can improve myself. You can really be harsh, cause I most definitely need it :lol: Oh and I know the clips aren't really well recorded, cause I used my iPhone, and it's A Capella.

Chandelier:

https://soundcloud.com/filling-emptiness/chandels/s-4dumy

You Lost Me:

https://soundcloud.com/filling-emptiness/you-lost-me/s-FKkAT

Love On Top:

https://soundcloud.com/filling-emptiness/love-on-top/s-raSWi

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  • TMV World Legacy Member

You are not a baritone in any sense of the word, pop, operatic, or whatever. The weight and range of your voice is tenor. Probably untrained tenor. In fact, in songs #2 and #3, you are singing too low for your voice. The first song was a little more natural for your range.

Also, don't worry too much about voice classification. And you would not be the first to think you are some kind of baritone only because you had trouble in the passagio area. In fact, just about every guy that came in here who thought he was a baritone was, indeed, not.

Your tone, especially at the low end, is breathy. Maybe you were too nervous. So, slow it down. Control the exhale and "relax" into the note.

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  • TMV World Legacy Member

Thanks for answering!

About my voice type, I really don't have the range of a tenor. My range is F#2 to D#4 and falsetto from C4 to E5. Isn't that the range of a baritone? Cause also, to me, my upper notes sound really forced (like in the third song, Love On Top.)

And what did you think of my overall pitch and tone? Cause that's what I really need to work on, I think.

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  • TMV World Legacy Member

Thanks for answering!

About my voice type, I really don't have the range of a tenor. My range is F#2 to D#4 and falsetto from C4 to E5. Isn't that the range of a baritone? Cause also, to me, my upper notes sound really forced (like in the third song, Love On Top.)

And what did you think of my overall pitch and tone? Cause that's what I really need to work on, I think.

A lot of times people who post here will sing way too soft and without energy. You can not really tell anything like this.

It is not Range that denotes a Baritone or Tenor but the power and sound of a range. Once you work on technique and get stronger in your singing your range may expand.

Singing usually takes at least as much energy as if you are scolding someone or having someone hear you across the room. Even a soft melody should be louder than your speaking volume.

"You need a strong foundation to reach the heights."

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  • TMV World Legacy Member

I did not hear anything in your samples that was close to F#2. And baritone is not just a range of notes, it is a vocal quality, notably, having a full ring, especially in the lower notes. The unfortunate thing is that the ranges of baritone and tenor overlap quite a bit.

You are an untrained tenor, if you really want a voice type. which means nothing. More accurately, you are a high-centered voice having problems with passagio.

I am not an expert of singing and you may very well continue to believe you are a baritone. I can't stop you from that. As for falsetto above C4, well, I use to have falsetto above about E4 to F4 - ish. Until I learned to resonate correctly. Then, I found the usable volume in my upper end. A long time ago. But I have been refining it since then.

Believe it or not, in a correctly functioning voice, there is an increase in volume in higher parts of the range, what you may interpret as forced.

Your pitch is pretty good and I can only recommend that you use clean vowels to keep that. Ah, oh, ee, eh, oo. Especially in the beginning. As a singer, you are a musical instrument, not a reciter of prose, no matter what the lyrics are.

Tone, you are a tenor type of voice, whether you choose to accept it or not. And did you know that a high tenor can, even with low volume, such as your low notes have, can make it down to E2? That's not me saying that but someone who knows a lot more about singing than you or I do. So, having an F#2 in your ability, regardless of volume, is not sign of being a "baritone." Geoff Tate is a baritone who can sing really high.

Scott Stapp, formerly of Creed, is a baritone, with a heavy tone, not including distortion effects.

You are not a baritone. But you can be a rockbaritone, which is a made up name, if you want.

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  • TMV World Legacy Member

Oh no, if you say I'm a Tenor, I believe you. It indeed makes sense now actually, because when I compared myself to other baritones I sounded different. And I know it really isn't that important, but I like to know what I am.

Anyway, this helped me a lot!

Thanks! :D

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  • TMV World Legacy Member

I have to agree with everyone else here. Your voice is higher centered. I don't know your speaking voice, but my guess is that the three samples you provided here are in your typical speaking range. This is normal for singers to start their singing journey in their speaking range.

I think you should take it easy on yourself. You can match pitch, which is so much better than other beginners. (When I say "beginner," I'm not necessarily talking about ability level. I'm mostly talking about someone who is beginning to take an interest in improving his voice.) So at least you can match pitch. That's a great start! Don't take that for granted, because there are plenty of people who have a hard time matching pitch. Even better, you have a good concept of negotiating between your tonal voice and your falsetto. I have over 15 years of experience working with beginning male singers. The fact that you understand that you have change registers in order to match pitch in the higher parts of the song is a good sign. It puts you far ahead of a lot of beginners. So don't be so hard on yourself.

To improve your tone, you're going to have to get some more power behind your sound. I think MDEW and ronws would agree with me that we can't really hear what your tone is. There's a lot of breathiness in your sound. Again, that's very typical of beginners. Learning how to sing better starts with learning how to control the outflow of air.

Try this exercise:

1. Experiment in a large room. Stand at one end of the room and shout "HEY!" to the other end of the room. It's not an angry shout. It's just an attempt to get someone's attention. Put your hands on your belly and feel what happens when you shout like this. What do you feel? (Real question that requires a real answer.)

2. Do the same thing again, but this time, draw out your sound and hold "HEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYY" for a longer time. You need to still be using the same type of energy that it takes to get someones attention across the room. And you need to still have your hands on your belly.

If you are doing it correctly, then your true tone would come out. It would not be the same type of tone that you used when you recorded the songs. Hopefully, you like this tone better.

Improving your singing starts with learning how to coordinate that pitch matching (which you already do) with the breath energy underneath the sound.

To answer the second part of your concern, your range will improve drastically when you learn how to get the breath support down.

Let me know what happened when you tried the exercises I suggested. :)

The Aspiring Singer
Resources and inspiration for aspiring singers - from beginners to professionals
www.theaspiringsinger.com
Twitter: @theaspiringsing

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  • TMV World Legacy Member

Aspiring is right, your tone may subtly shift as you engage in more practice and/or training. May I also suggest that you be not afraid to make a "fake" sound. For your entire voice is "fake." Made up from mimickry to learn language, to even learn other languages because of what you hear.

For example, I have a southern accent, tempered with being born and raised somewhat on the West Coast. But I learned spanish from mexicans I worked with, not a teacher in a school. So, when I speak spanish, I sound mexican. Is that me being fake? I know it seems incongruous. A giant gringo like me sounding as if I was from Juarez. Although a true spaniard will hear the different, not only in dialect but the words, the vocabulary of tex-mex, which is a modernization of traditional mexican Spanish.

I can "fake" some different accents while speaking English, my native language. Scottish, irish, english, canadian. I also speak some German and can speak english with a german accent. Is that fake, or just freaky?

Either all of it is fake or none of it is fake.

So, fake it, baby, fake it. fake it all night long. Fake it during the day. As long as you are faking it on pitch, you have overcome the primary technical hurdle.

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  • TMV World Legacy Member

@TheAspiringSinger

Oh I'm glad my pitch is fine haha, and I will make sure to try those exercises and post the results on this topic after have done them.

Your feedback was really helpful!

@ronws

I sometimes sing in Hebrew, Dutch or French, but mostly it's English. However, depending on the song, I sometimes sing songs in different accents like British or Cockney. But again, It's mostly American English.

Anyway, I will try doing that more often then :D

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • TMV World Legacy Member

@TheAspiringSinger

I did the exercise, and still my tone sounded the same to me.

I guess the reason why I was using so much breath until now, was that I didn't like my voice. I'd describe it as whining, especially with the higher notes. So I think the breathiness was supposed to cover up my tone. But now I know that's what I have to work on!

But this got me wondering.

Can you actually still sound good, by having a great technique but a not so great voice?

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  • TMV World Legacy Member

@TheAspiringSinger

I did the exercise, and still my tone sounded the same to me.

I guess the reason why I was using so much breath until now, was that I didn't like my voice. I'd describe it as whining, especially with the higher notes. But now I know that's what I have to work on!

But can you actually still sound good, by having a great technique but a not so great voice?

It takes a while. Not just a few exercises. Technique will make the voice sound better. Part of the processes is finding out what to listen for and how to readjust your sound.

"You need a strong foundation to reach the heights."

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  • TMV World Legacy Member

@TheAspiringSinger

I did the exercise, and still my tone sounded the same to me.

I guess the reason why I was using so much breath until now, was that I didn't like my voice. I'd describe it as whining, especially with the higher notes. So I think the breathiness was supposed to cover up my tone. But now I know that's what I have to work on!

But this got me wondering.

Can you actually still sound good, by having a great technique but a not so great voice?

Who says you don't have a great voice?

Here's a guy with a voice that is probably wonkier than you imagine yours to be. And he has more money than you. More than he can spend.

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  • TMV World Legacy Member

Point being, before you decide your voice is crap, you need a sense of relativity.

Which is not to be confused with Einstein's Fearing of Relatives. That is the effect noticed when family arrives to visit and they only stay for the day, but it seems like forever, leading one to assume the expansion of time in space..

:D

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  • TMV World Legacy Member

@TheAspiringSinger

I did the exercise, and still my tone sounded the same to me.

I guess the reason why I was using so much breath until now, was that I didn't like my voice. I'd describe it as whining, especially with the higher notes. So I think the breathiness was supposed to cover up my tone. But now I know that's what I have to work on!

But this got me wondering.

Can you actually still sound good, by having a great technique but a not so great voice?

In addition to everything that ronws and MDEW have said, which I completely agree with, "fixing" your tone will require more than just breath energy. Breath support is just the beginning. And learning how to control and manage the breath is going to be a lifelong pursuit in singing. Every singer has struggled with breath support, and will continue to work on it for the entire length of their singing careers.

Then, on top of breath support, there are physical coordinations that have to happen with the larynx, throat, tongue, pharynx, soft palate, etc. Don't get overwhelmed. You don't have to necessarily think of it in such technical terms (yet). Just understand that there are many elements to creating a great sound.

And I agree that one exercise is not going to fix much. It's just a demonstration and an experimentation in experiencing different sensations with your singing voice. (That's a lot of "tions" in one sentence.) Good vocal technique will come with practicing a variety of vocalises, scales, and, of course, songs.

Do you have a repertoire of vocal exercises to help you get started?

The Aspiring Singer
Resources and inspiration for aspiring singers - from beginners to professionals
www.theaspiringsinger.com
Twitter: @theaspiringsing

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  • TMV World Legacy Member

In your clips you were pretty close to whispering. Even soft songs have more volume/energy than normal speach.

Singing takes the kind of energy that you use when you are scolding someone or making sure you are being heard.

For a little while sing some scales whith "Hey" like you are trying to get someones attention across a busy street.

Hey!, hey!, hey!. Then expand that Hey..... Hey-ey-ey-ey.

That is pretty clost the the same thing Aspiring said in his first post but sing scales with it. You want to get used to using that much energy in your singing.

Even when practicing your songs practice with an exaggerated loudness. This is only for you to get used to singing louder and getting full cord closure.

I am not a teacher. These are only suggestions to get you out of the whisper singing habit.

"You need a strong foundation to reach the heights."

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  • TMV World Legacy Member

Well, practicing singing in a ver low volume is another kind of training also. Full breath support training. But yeah, MDEW is right, in your current stage you should sing loud and explore your range. Release also the higher you go, and it doesn't matter if you go a little breathy as long as you don't try to go louder. The idea is to start feeling that your "chest" and "head" voice are connected and in fact, just one. You just have to find the muscular balance, which takes A LOT of time.

Good luck, mate!

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  • TMV World Legacy Member

Well, practicing singing in a ver low volume is another kind of training also. Full breath support training. But yeah, MDEW is right, in your current stage you should sing loud and explore your range. Release also the higher you go, and it doesn't matter if you go a little breathy as long as you don't try to go louder. The idea is to start feeling that your "chest" and "head" voice are connected and in fact, just one. You just have to find the muscular balance, which takes A LOT of time.

Good luck, mate!

I agree with the low volume being great to practice or train also. Too many times people associate low volume with whispering, which is bad. Low volume full closure great.

"You need a strong foundation to reach the heights."

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