Techniques for improving tone on medium range notes

[carp]

The high notes / belting thread has occupied us for a while, maybe you experts would turn your attention to improving tone for singing in the range of say E3 to E4, where a lot of classic rock and similar music takes place.

 

You may remember this thread from not too long ago. 

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I feel like I have a lot in common with the complaints/observation he has with his tone, and would love to hear what you all have to say about singing in this range.  Not so much as a solicitation for personal advice but as a general topic for discussion.

[SingBetterIn3Days]

Could you post in the form of a question, please?

It might be easier to address something specifically.

[KillerKu]

For me it's about

 

1. Good support

2. Balanced resonance to achieve goal

 

The resonance part might be the part you're having more difficulty with. I think being able to control the amount of resonance in the pharynx (openess of throat, darker resonance) is very helpful in combination with being able to control the amount of nasality and twang (bright resonance). Some good vowels for finding some brightness, would be like 'nya, apple' or 'ahhhh.' Good vowels for finding darkness would be like oh, aww, or woof. Resonances can be balanced in almost endless ways. And I can do falsetto swells as well. 

 

How I sing depends on what I'm expressing and how I feel about it. David Bowie is a great example of someone who can manipulate his resonances to create different personas. He went from Ziggy Stardust (very little richness)

 

 

 

to including more and more of a crooner richness in the course of a few years.

 

 

 

But he kept doing both approaches throughout his life. He was closer to Ziggy on the Next Day than he had been in many years. So the first step is to find the sound, the second would be to figure out what 'improvement' means for you.

[carp]

SB3D you're right, and I had realized already that it was a very vague premise for a thread, which probably explained the lack of response to it.  I think I even tried to delete it because of that!

Killer thanks for the reply and advice.  Those examples are interesting, they really do illustrate a bright vs dark tone.  However I would say even at his brightest there is not the thinness that I get from myself and from the thread I had referenced.   I'm sure that the issue is resonance - getting that open throat for one thing.    I had a lesson with Rob the other day and came to realize that I was really dumping my larynx, in a misguided effort to deal with my tendency to speak & sing with a thin voice and with too much tension.  He also made me realize that I was not edging (getting that bright resonance) nearly as much as I thought.

I'm realizing that I need to more completely embrace my tenor-ness, and work with it while getting the appropriate resonances.  I've also realized that many of the singers I like most tend to use more of the forward bright resonance.

[KillerKu]

SB3D you're right, and I had realized already that it was a very vague premise for a thread, which probably explained the lack of response to it.  I think I even tried to delete it because of that!

Killer thanks for the reply and advice.  Those examples are interesting, they really do illustrate a bright vs dark tone.  However I would say even at his brightest there is not the thinness that I get from myself and from the thread I had referenced.   I'm sure that the issue is resonance - getting that open throat for one thing.    I had a lesson with Rob the other day and came to realize that I was really dumping my larynx, in a misguided effort to deal with my tendency to speak & sing with a thin voice and with too much tension.  He also made me realize that I was not edging (getting that bright resonance) nearly as much as I thought.

I'm realizing that I need to more completely embrace my tenor-ness, and work with it while getting the appropriate resonances.  I've also realized that many of the singers I like most tend to use more of the forward bright resonance.

​Yeah, there usually isn't much benefit in depressing the larynx very far. It can muffle or mute the sound and cause strain. Openness will help a lot more with a dark tone in this range, but if you have a naturally light timbre, you obviously wouldn't get as dark as someone else.

Next time you yawn, don't pay as much attention to the larynx going down, pay attention to the walls of your pharynx expanding. I like having some of that open sensation especially in this range you're talking about.

[Owen Korzec]

well in the other topic the issue is the phrase is actually too high for him at the moment, he needs to strengthen his full voice more. C4-G4 phrases are damn high for most beginners.

As for E3-E4, we first of all can YOU send an audio clip? everyone's different

With E3-E4 is that if you just actually train fundamental vocal technique with a good coach you should have no issues down there within months.

When people fail in this range it's usually just because they simply need any kind of decent coach to tell them what needs to be done and guide them through it for a while. You can study with a program forever and not get this simply because you didn't reach out for an opinion on YOUR voice from someone who really knows the voice, and then STICK with them so they can fully guide you personally through learning your fundamentals. It has to do with your ear and basic vocal control and depending on the problem, a lot of people just haven't yet developed the aural or kinesthetic sensitivity to overcome this alone in a quick way or even learn it from a program (they think they're doing it right and they're completely unaware of all these obvious problems) and then it could take years for them to hit the simple lightbulb moments to get them there. Believe me there is almost nothing you ADD to get great tone you just have to UNDO misconceptions about how the voice works best and retrain a new "norm" and it will become the same way you speak as well. If you can just find someone to break you out of your shell of delusion/ignorance/blindness to the desired qualities of the skill (i don't mean this as a personal attack - this is just the reality of the state of most beginners in any skill in life) and show you simple fundamentals of singing properly in a comfortable range, and spend maybe $100 to train that...heck maybe you could get it down in one lesson and practicing along to the recording...problem solved. This type of thing can be solved for good in months if you are smart about it, and then your tone will continue seasoning over time. But the fact that you find issues in E3-E4 tells me that you should NOT MOVE ON FROM THERE. Everybody male singer should develop a great C3-E4 first...you can't ignore it, it's too important AND too easy.

Your tone will grow in this range REALLY FAST. It is one of the first things to set into the voice honestly.

Another part of this is just go sing and be a singer. Sing with other singers, listen to singers closely, watch them perform, tell your friends you are a singer, start singing at family parties and see what the feedback is, etc...

The people with huge tone problems in their comfortable range tend to be that way because they are so blind to the whole scene of singing, they have never compared themselves to anyone and developed standards for what is good and bad - this is actually a point where the more you emulate, the better you get - don't emulate one person, take inspiration from a little bit of everybody and shape your voice as a mixture of what feels natural to you and how you'd like to sound - but really be critical with yourself and compare honestly. For instance, notice how many freakin singers DO NOT SING BREATHY!!! I find it unbelievable so many beginners start this way, they turn on this breathy "singing voice" to try to be pretty...NO, just SPEAK ON PITCH and you would be closer!!!!

[Felipe Carvalho]

Focus on EE.

[benny82]

Focus on EE.

​This, nothing improves your tone in the middle range as much as good twang compression.

[KillerKu]

​This, nothing improves your tone in the middle range as much as good twang compression.

​

And yet one of the highest selling mid range singers in the history of music didn't use much twang at all.

 

 

 

[VideoHere]

Oh no?

Killer, there's twang in sections of that tune. It's not blatant but it's there.

 

[SingBetterIn3Days]

opening the pharynx causes more full sound (dark) the opposite of twang (bright). Beginning singers will benefit from starting with a more full resonance in the medium range. Vowels that contribute to a more open pharynx are "ah" and "oh." 

Adding brightness later will certainly help with register shifting, but itS important to develop a strong, full, open resonance first. Then, you will feel what it is like to sing uninhibited, with power, and feel aweome!

[KillerKu]

opening the pharynx causes more full sound (dark) the opposite of twang (bright). Beginning singers will benefit from starting with a more full resonance in the medium range. Vowels that contribute to a more open pharynx are "ah" and "oh." 

Adding brightness later will certainly help with register shifting, but itS important to develop a strong, full, open resonance first. Then, you will feel what it is like to sing uninhibited, with power, and feel aweome!

​

My friend was really struggling with resonance and I don't think very fancy a of times, so I broke it down into having cat resonance cat (twangy rawwwr) and dog resonance (pharyngeal woof). So I taught her how to sound like the ultimate dying cat and the woofiest of dogs. I then imitated a cow and said it's more towards the dog, but still has some cat. She's finally starting to get it.

 

I think lopsiding either direction could be tough. You might meet a dog who is woofing at you or a cat who is meowing at you. I do think on average it's good to get an open throat cause it's much harder to constrict and 'pinch' with an open throat. A beginner is less likely to pinch a woof intuitively, where as the catty sounds' are more likely to get pinching imo.

[SingBetterIn3Days]

That's creative! It's hard to be a cat and dog at the same time. Aka, of course your want a balanced sound, but I've gotten the best results with students who find their open, more full sound first. Especially with modern music, there is a lot of, for lack of a better term, "wussy" singing. So taking it into the other direction of strong first is a great way to develop a good sound and build confidence. Then brightness can be added. It's easier to add brightness with vowel modification in higher ranges anyway. :)

[VideoHere]

I agree totally.  If I were a vocal teacher, twang would not be at the top of my list.  A beginner may not be able to know and differentiate twang from squeeze.

[benny82]

 

 

 

And yes, for the best sound you have to be dog and cat at the same time... The difference is just that you can sing without the dog part (it just sounds awkward), but you will hurt yourself (especially in higher areas) when you sing completely without the cat part.

 

 

I have a cat and a dog, I be chillin' .

 

 

 

[Felipe Carvalho]

I would not resume focus to twang vs darkening, but it does depend on these two. The key aspect for what we perceive as tonal quality and beauty is homogeneity AND clarity.

If when you register your vowels you let the quality of your voice change too much, you will lose in plasticity, and if you are not clear in what you are articulating, you also lose in plasticity.

If you remember CVT modes and its relationship with vowels, you will get a really good picture of the problem, that begins on the low range and is specially important on the mid-high and high. In resume: clarity can and will get in the way of homogeneity.

[MDEW]

    Tone is an aesthetic thing and subject to opinion. Yes it would be good to just go with what seems resonant and easy to you but the truth is that some will still find it lacking even if you are spot on with your resonance. I can sound like Willy Nelson(Bright, Nasally) or Waylon Jennings(Dark, Woofy). Each to me seems resonant as needs be while I am singing. The best response that I received with my tone was when I was doing something that is always warned against, Either Distortion with False Folds or singing through a narrowed false fold passage with too much wind......Go figure.  Both of these cuts down on the high frequencies.