David Phelps

[Consumingfire39]

Most people on here have heard Phelps and probably heard the song I am about to post.  I am just amazed every time I listen to it because there are SO MANY different mastered techniques throughout this song but despite the technicality the emotional is still on point.  

 

What to you are the most impressive techniques in the song?  Obviously the notes at the end are huge, and the transitioning from a soft tone to a heavy tone is very impressive but for me "divine" at 1:47 is the most impressive.  He isn't changing his distance from the mic at all for that.  

 

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Ironically he is a very loud breather, which from looking at some recent threads that seems to be an area some people think can hamper a singer.

[Bono]

Beautiful. To me he uses speech level singing technique

[Consumingfire39]

Beautiful. To me he uses speech level singing technique

Really?  I've always figured he had a classical background.  What is interesting with him is it is practically impossible to find him talking about his training, technique or background.  There is basically no information available on that.

[Bono]

Note that David Phelps uses a microphone to sing and you can hear his breathing and some nuances that could not be captured without it, let alone with an orchestra and a choir. He has classical background but in the sense of the classical staff you can hear on broadway, for example, where everybody uses a mic and many of the singers use speech level singing. Different from the classical background that is used in the opera.

 

Here you have a link where you can listen to the same song by Juan Diego Florez, considered the best tenor of the world at this moment (Pavarotti named him his sucesor, despite they are different kind of tenor, Pavarotti is a lyric tenor and Juan Diego is a leggero and they sing different repertoires; but this is other subject). He doesn´t use a mic and you can listen to him from everywhere on the theater. That is because he has developed his voice with a good classical background that includes bigger support or apoggio and other staff that is not really necesary when using a mic. I Put him as en example because, beside the different technique, their voices have lot in common, both of them have very light voices. As in addition I leave you other link, same song by Jonas Kaufmann, another great tenor of this time. He sounds deeper dan David Phelps not only for the different technique but for his type of voice, he´s a dramatic tenor.

 

 

[Consumingfire39]

That is about what I figured.  It is definitely a combination and some songs sound far more speech level and some far rounder and closer to an opera style.  I have heard that he can easily fill up a hall without a microphone but the songs he sings are not designed to be used in that fashion.

[Owen Korzec]

I thought I read somewhere that Phelps studied vocal performance at a university. 

[Steven Fraser]

I thought I read somewhere that Phelps studied vocal performance at a university.

Degree in Vocal performance at Baylor University, Waco. 1992.

[hsdad]

I watched the clip you posted for Juan Diego Florez and he clearly has two microphones in front of him as he sings.

[Danielformica]

so much better when he was young now he sounds like mush mouth