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Baritone/Bass Singers With High Notes?

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JackCee

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A study I read a while ago stated that around 5% of males are natural basses, so yes they are quite rare. I think Rob is right with around 40% of males being tenor and the rest being baritone (~55%). However, out of those baritones the biggest part is on the higher side of the baritone-type (lyric baritones), which is quite close to tenors.

 

However, voice types in general are not that much about range, more about timbre. Only in a very limited sound-ideal world (like classical singing) certain timbre-constraints and expectations about the amount of projection can also lead to range constraints.

 

I think some of the lowest voices that sing pretty high are Axl Rose and Ville Valo, who are both bass-baritones I think.

 

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Please, don't forget that Axl hits his high notes in a raspy head voice or a very light mixed voice, and you can't find any examples of him belting C5 or D5. Can you?

Yes you van..surprisingly i didnt follow gnr since chinese democracy but i heard one song where he goes up to E5 in a clean tone

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Yes you van..surprisingly i didnt follow gnr since chinese democracy but i heard one song where he goes up to E5 in a clean tone

Yes, it is on the song "IRS" from the album Chinese Democracy. He sings that note and it is clean.

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Yes, it is on the song "IRS" from the album Chinese Democracy. He sings that note and it is clean.

Exactly..i just checked my Shazam and saw it is IRS..i remember shazaming it in a local rock bar

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Please, don't forget that Axl hits his high notes in a raspy head voice or a very light mixed voice, and you can't find any examples of him belting C5 or D5. Can you?

 

I think a "belted" C5 or D5 is actually pretty rare in general. Most singers (including tenors) use some kind of mixed or head voice coordination on those notes. Nevertheless, as a bass myself I would say that my modal voice (M1) ends around the region of A#4/B4, which makes the sound on notes above that a bit different compared to tenors and also prevents the use of what you would call "full projection" or "belting".

 

However, notes above that are still connected and powerful and they can still be percieved as being "full voiced" by the audience. Compared to tenors using lower projection (light mass) they don't even sound that different.

 

So yes, there are some limitations in terms of projection/thickness of those high notes, but in most cases they don't even matter.

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Baritons can hit high notes... Well, not as easy as tenors do, but... Here is my list of bands with bari frontmen...

Nickelback, Killswitch Engage, Shinedown, Volbeat, Texas Hippie Coalition, Scar Symmetry, etc.

 

BTW Juan the Beast, a well-known youtube singer, is a bass baritone.

Juan is one of my favorite youtube singers.. I was not sure he was a bass baritone.. But this song makes me think otherwise.. 

 

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Juan is one of my favorite youtube singers.. I was not sure he was a bass baritone.. But this song makes me think otherwise.. 

 

Yeah Juan is ... well ...  a beast  :) (and a bass baritone for sure, maybe even a bass)

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Hi everyone, thanks for answering my last questions. There is a negative unspoken rule in pop/rock singing that

Tenor voice = great, you're awesome!

Baritone voice = you're okay...

Bass voice = you'll never sing pop/rock

I think Robert Lunte and Ken Tamplin have kind of lower voices but sure have high notes. I am not looking for a magical technique or anything like that... However, I'm very influenced by the radio (like many others) and there is not a single baritone or bass singer, it's all very "high-light" singing. Check Billboards Hot 100 charts... besides some rappers you will not see any lower voice singers charting.

Here is where I am asking for your years of musical knowledge, can you show me examples of baritones and bass singers with high notes?? I'm sure the terms may be inadequate for you guys but just anybody with a deeper voice singing high without falsetto. Pop, rock, any genre... but they should be able to sing above A4 without strain in full voice. I don't need the technical explanation but my musical influences are very limited because of this generations obsession with high-light voices. Please help me broaden my thinking and influences by sharing a video of your favorite baritone/bass singers absolutely soaring through high notes. If there is nobody, that is ok, I just thought i would ask :)

John Legend was categorized as pop at The Grammy's

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I believe (from what I've read) that Edu Falaschi (ex-Angra, Almah) is a baritone. Not sure how accurate the range video is but here are some clips:

 

 

 

He wasn't able to maintain that high range though

http://www.metalstorm.net/events/news_comments.php?news_id=14761

Felipe once posted some videos of him having a lot of trouble on later gigs, cracking notes, etc.

Interesting that he could be so "on" at a young age and then lose it. Seems like you have to be very careful how you treat your voice when you're young and then also take care to stay healthy as you age so you maintain the energy to do what you use to.

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Oh, interesting, came across this, a quote from Edu on wikipedia

"The problem wasn't with my vocal chords, I had a reflux problem. It's something that happens in your stomach - when you start eating things that are not so good, like Coca-Cola or coffee, your acid starts becoming bigger and bigger and then you feel the acid going up into your vocal chords. Formally I didn't have any problem with my vocal chords, my vocal chords were OK, but I had a high level of acid so often that I needed a break. I started singing very bad, and I didn't know why. When I would go to doctors, they would say I was fine, they didn't see any problem with my vocal chords. It was only a few years later when I found out that the problem was with the acid. Then I started getting treatment, and my voice started to become better and better. Nowadays my voice is OK, and this is very nice. I can sing Angra songs normally again, as I did in 2001 and 2002."

ain't that funny. acid reflux can make you think you're just not cut out to sing high!

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Juan is not a bass he would have crazy ringing in the low notes. Higher frequencies would be standing out. He is just a singer Bari or tenor singing low.

 

 

or to rephrase he is just a singer singing low notes

Yep you are probably right. After listening again I realized that the sound is quite compressed and the lows are actually very breathy compared to the mids. Not even sure if he is a bass-baritone even. It gets even more apparent if you listen to this:

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More whispered than sung on the low notes.

 

Compare that to my version:

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He wasn't able to maintain that high range though

http://www.metalstorm.net/events/news_comments.php?news_id=14761

Felipe once posted some videos of him having a lot of trouble on later gigs, cracking notes, etc.

Interesting that he could be so "on" at a young age and then lose it. Seems like you have to be very careful how you treat your voice when you're young and then also take care to stay healthy as you age so you maintain the energy to do what you use to.

 

Yeah, the Rock In Rio 2011 show with Angra was very bad... it was unfortunate to see a singer with such a great voice and range have such an off showing. But the Nova Era and Temple of Shadows albums are great during his time in Angra.

 

 

Oh, interesting, came across this, a quote from Edu on wikipedia

"The problem wasn't with my vocal chords, I had a reflux problem. It's something that happens in your stomach - when you start eating things that are not so good, like Coca-Cola or coffee, your acid starts becoming bigger and bigger and then you feel the acid going up into your vocal chords. Formally I didn't have any problem with my vocal chords, my vocal chords were OK, but I had a high level of acid so often that I needed a break. I started singing very bad, and I didn't know why. When I would go to doctors, they would say I was fine, they didn't see any problem with my vocal chords. It was only a few years later when I found out that the problem was with the acid. Then I started getting treatment, and my voice started to become better and better. Nowadays my voice is OK, and this is very nice. I can sing Angra songs normally again, as I did in 2001 and 2002."

ain't that funny. acid reflux can make you think you're just not cut out to sing high!

 

He is singing in Almah again now and there are some good songs in the newest album. Sucks that acid reflux can cause such problem for vocalists.

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Oh, interesting, came across this, a quote from Edu on wikipedia

"The problem wasn't with my vocal chords, I had a reflux problem. It's something that happens in your stomach - when you start eating things that are not so good, like Coca-Cola or coffee, your acid starts becoming bigger and bigger and then you feel the acid going up into your vocal chords. Formally I didn't have any problem with my vocal chords, my vocal chords were OK, but I had a high level of acid so often that I needed a break. I started singing very bad, and I didn't know why. When I would go to doctors, they would say I was fine, they didn't see any problem with my vocal chords. It was only a few years later when I found out that the problem was with the acid. Then I started getting treatment, and my voice started to become better and better. Nowadays my voice is OK, and this is very nice. I can sing Angra songs normally again, as I did in 2001 and 2002."

ain't that funny. acid reflux can make you think you're just not cut out to sing high!

 

Yep.  I had this a couple times and it affects you psychologically.  At one point I thought I had ruined my voice.  I believe this is what happened to James LaBrie in the 90's with Dream Theater when he would often struggle at concerts.  Now he is in perfect singing health and has no problems singing high in concert.  I'm glad Edu figured it out and is able to sing as before.  What he was saying previously just didn't make sense.  Reflux or LPR is a real thing that happens to some people and it doesn't matter how good your technique is.

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Yeah Juan is ... well ...  a beast  :) (and a bass baritone for sure, maybe even a bass)

 

Hmm?  I wouldn't conclude that he is a bass from this. Yes, its low, but its not exceptionally low... I can sing these notes. I felt this was a bit mumbled... couldn't understand what he was saying?

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Hmm?  I wouldn't conclude that he is a bass from this. Yes, its low, but its not exceptionally low... I can sing these notes. I felt this was a bit mumbled... couldn't understand what he was saying?

Yep, see my answer to Dan. The mic volume really tricked me into that.

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Exactly..i just checked my Shazam and saw it is IRS..i remember shazaming it in a local rock bar

Yeah, I couldn't possibly know what I was talking about even though I listened to that album every day solid for six months.

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Juan is not a bass he would have crazy ringing in the low notes. Higher frequencies would be standing out. He is just a singer Bari or tenor singing low.

 

 

or to rephrase he is just a singer singing low notes

Could you please post an ex. of a bass that has that crazy low ringing and higher frequencies standing out?

Most really low voices iv heard don't have that or is it just me not knowing what to listen for?

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i think i heard a true bass in person once. Not just the deepest voice I've ever heard, but deepest BY FAR. It's not like the kind of voice that makes you go "hey nice low range man" it makes you go "wow". And I could feel that everybody in the room was blown away. 

Also, might as well leave this here  :) 

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Just remember that there are different types of basses, too. That guy in the YT video is a profound bass (which is the lowest known voice type in classical characterization). These basses are EXTREMELY rare, even rarer than those 5% "real basses" I stated.

 

For most basses the differences compared to baritones are not as extreme as you would think from that video. Because of the rarity of profound basses most basses you hear in opera for example are "standard" basses or often lyric basses.

 

Steven Fraser on this forum is a lyric bass if I remember correctly. Personally, I'm probably a "standard" bass or maybe a lyric bass, too. I have never been classified "professionally", but basically all classical teachers (inlcuding Steven Fraser himself) that heard me immediately thought of me as a bass.

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Could you please post an ex. of a bass that has that crazy low ringing and higher frequencies standing out?

Most really low voices iv heard don't have that or is it just me not knowing what to listen for?

 

When judging a voice we often go by the timbre. And actually the timbre is a main factor in voice types. However, the timbre of the voice can be changed easily by larynx position. A tenor can mimic the timbre of a bass by just lowering the larynx a lot and the timbre is then perceived as being low.

 

But because of the lowered larynx this tenor will lack compression at the same time, especially twang compression, which will make "the ring" (high frequencies) vanish from his sound. This can even go so far that the sound will become airy and falsetto-like on the lowest notes. Raw volume will also suffer and the sound can not carry over an instrument.

 

That's what Daniel is pointing to. A real bass has lots of high frequency overtones on his lows which make them able to carry at least over acoustic instruments. With a classical sound shaping those lows can even carry over small orchestras. When I have time today I can record something, which maybe makes it clearer.

 

On the high end of pitches you have the same thing but the other way round. A bass can mimic the timbre of a tenor but has to raise his larynx a lot for this. This will often lead to overcompression and an overly bright and metallic sound on high notes. Basses are often lacking the softness, darkness and roundness of a tenor on high notes.

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