Sang a cover of Won't let you go. Have some questions

[hewonders]

Hello guys!

I need your help in diagnostics of what kind of sound is that: https://soundcloud.com/hewonders/wont-let-you-go Is it head voice? I don't have troubles singing that, but my friends keep telling me I sound like a gay if I sing that way well I must confess it doesn't soung like a man, but I can hit those notes easily! And If go "chest" my larynx tighten and nothing goes right! What am I supposed to do? How can I chest the sound and make it more manly? Thanks in advance

[ronws]

Yes, that is head voice and you make it more chesty with resonance.

secondly, what is wrong with sounding gay? Are you saying that Obama is wrong for freeing the gays from oppression? In reality, I have had several friends who were gay, and smart, and hard-working. so, what is the the problem with gay? What is the problem with sounding gay? Why do you care? Why do you friends care? My voice also sounds like a woman. When I was a teenager, people on the phone would address me as ma'am. Problem is, I am really tall and big and strong and fast, even as an old man. I am the ironic opposite of Bruce / Caitlyn Jenner. I look like a man and am glad to be a man and sound, at times, like a woman.

Where as she is considered a woman (pre-op) and still has that manly and low voice while speaking at the Espy awards.

So, if your friends still have a problem with it, send them my way. I will fix it to where they never have problems. Again.

[hewonders]

Thanks ronws.

seems like I didn't put it correctly.. In my community among my friends / acquaintances / familiar musicians people tend to think that a guy who has a high voice he's kinda "gay"))) of course its figuratively.. and for the record if we go to 17-18th century boys who had very high voices they were "castrats" and nowadays people kind of making up a connection.. of course its irrelevant and we're living in a 21 century, but here we have an opinion that true man has to have a "man" voice, not poor similarity.

My fiend keep telling me that the way i'm singing it's just a falceto and every man has got a falceto and you can use it in any tessitura. And he calls it humming, not singing.

Falceto and head voice are not independent register and it has meaning only with a mixture with chest and only in a full voice training we can use all the riot of color, but what I have is just an appendix.

And how can I add some resonance?? I tried to make a little smile inside of my mouth and to open my mouth a little wider and to "yawn" the sound, which actually makes a sound more deeper...

[Xamedhi]

Well, what you want to do is to keep your speaking voice active WHILE using this voice. Call it falsetto or headvoice, or M2.  

What I did to find my mix ( a commonly used term for what you want to achieve ) was exercises like "buh, buh, buh" or "muh, muh, muh" on an octave, trying to keep a Patrick Star kind of voice. Or doing those scales feeling like you want to hold smoke in your lungs, or like you're stoned.  This will naturally keep your larynx down

The other is the extreme, is a whiny voice, like "nya, nya, nya" or "nye" ( with an EH, sound not an EE ).. this is the opposite, and will keep your larynx up, but will encourage the activation of your "chest" muscles.  

You can also try to mess around with your tongue out and your mouth open as wide as you can, downwards, not horizontally. 

This mix, will be always easier and safer to achieve if you keep your diaphragm low, feeling like you are still inhaling while making a sound, and try not to expel more air than you need.

I'm not an expert in singing, at all... but these are the things that have helped me. I hope it helps you, mate.

[hewonders]

Thank you!

I've been doing Buh-buh excersice and muh muh.. This excersice seems like helps people to get over bridge and find out a smooth transition from chest to head voice.. and maybe its works.. i've got this trouble: Notes from low C to E they don't sound kind of well.. they are my transitional and I've got a choice: whether to sing them with low head-voice or "chesty" voice as on the following recording: http://picosong.com/mb7R/ since 29 second... and then goes HV..

And by the way maybe you can open a secret how to sing less disgusting? http://picosong.com/mb7H/

I heared about NYA excersice.. and I heared it's kind of twang excersice.. more nasal... don't think it's a good idea for my voice.. cause it has more high frequences and nasal overtone..

[Xamedhi]

Muscularly you can get a mix right now with the right coordination, what you need to find to "not sound so disgusting" is to train the control over your cords ( for sound) and over your resonators ( for tone ).  Doing excersices, whiny or dopey, will not change the sound of your voice, it is only an excercise. So if you can get results doing whiney stuff, just do it     The tone/timbre can be changed by adjusting your resonators ( your palate, mouth, the pharynx, etc)

[hewonders]

Thank you, Xamedhi!

So you think if I go further by singing that way i'm doing right now (head voice) I will get the goal eventually?)

I mean will I degrade or evolve if I conrinue singing with head voice? Cause whatever I tried I can't sing in a mix mode(

And by the way is that possible not to sing with childish-boy voice?))) I'm actually a grown man and hearing my voice from the other side arouses weird thoughts))

http://picosong.com/m85T/

[Xamedhi]

Well, the strength in your vocal muscles is already there. You certainly have a LOT more strength than when I started finding my mix, so I really think it is an issue of coordination and control rather than weakness.

Could you please post a clip of your speaking voice?  Or singing something in your lower register?  It would help a lot.
 

 

I recorded these yesterday to demostrate what I meant with the excercises I described.
Keep in mind that my voice is also a work in progress ( I've been studying singing for a year and a half now ) so muscularly I am not great..  but the execution, the quality of the excercise is what I meant to ilustrate.

https://app.box.com/s/d1srmr0a082a66rgxt6nkfnbpt4nd6xf

My chest voice was quite weak when I started, so I had to play around a lot with my voice to find the feeling of compression and "meat" haha    This sounds can help you find that  --->  https://app.box.com/s/cc05v9bofh5p1foto92pbxvgvoaxwntj 
Those ones I did with my mouth open very wide, vertically, and sticking my tongue out. The tongue out endorses closure.

 

I hope I am of help    If any other singer or coach can give you their advice it would be cool.  It's always great to have a lot of diferent opinions and means of achieving a goal.

 

[Xamedhi]

Ah, I forgot to mention... keep in mind that those excercises where the ones that helped me find the feelings I needed to mix and match muscles inside my throat.  Those helped me discover my "mixed" voice.  I don't train that way now, I train chest and head voice isolated, and then do sirens up and down full out throughout my range.  I just found that doing those for training don't work so well on me, progress was too slow compared to other stuff.

[hewonders]

Well "buh-buh" exercise you're singing more "naturally" with your natural voice and with "chest" obertones. And I was doing it more somewhat "openly" with "head" fluctuations of vocal chords. And I think I got the idea!!!! I will try it soon!!! Thanks so much! Gonna repeat your way of doing this excersices))

[ronws]

Thanks ronws.

seems like I didn't put it correctly.. In my community among my friends / acquaintances / familiar musicians people tend to think that a guy who has a high voice he's kinda "gay"))) of course its figuratively.. and for the record if we go to 17-18th century boys who had very high voices they were "castrats" and nowadays people kind of making up a connection.. of course its irrelevant and we're living in a 21 century, but here we have an opinion that true man has to have a "man" voice, not poor similarity.

My fiend keep telling me that the way i'm singing it's just a falceto and every man has got a falceto and you can use it in any tessitura. And he calls it humming, not singing.

Falceto and head voice are not independent register and it has meaning only with a mixture with chest and only in a full voice training we can use all the riot of color, but what I have is just an appendix.

And how can I add some resonance?? I tried to make a little smile inside of my mouth and to open my mouth a little wider and to "yawn" the sound, which actually makes a sound more deeper...

Yeah, I don't care about the castrati. Let go of the gay thing. You wanted an opinion, so you got one.

Sing as your voice can do.

So, do you hate your voice or do you just wish it was lower or sound like some other singer? I don't have advice for that but others here might.

I have a high and light voice and I like it just fine. I sang "I believe in a thing called love" in the original key. Maybe your friends should stop by and call me gay. I am not gay, but I could take the supposed "insult" and keep right on singing high and light.

[Robert Lunte]

Ron, Xam,

Thanks for helping he wonders on this... 

[hewonders]

Thank you guys for recommendations.

I've been trying to sort this whole thing up on my local forum, but seems like people out there have been trolling me all the time and I'm forced to search for the truth here with your priceless help ;))) Sorry for my english in advance. I'm not native speaker

And that's where I got stuck:

One guy recommended to me to lower the resonance more close to the chest. So I've been trying to feel or sense the feeling of a chest resonation despite singin using a headvoice. The thing is I have to feel the resonation below my adam's apple. And that's what I've got:

Legato excersice on "A" http://picosong.com/JmvG/

on "I"  http://picosong.com/Juse/

Fragment of a song with that dropping a sound to chest: http://picosong.com/JusL/

Here we have a picure I painted:

Singin with chest voice I can go up to D or E of the 1st Oktave and if I go like this higher I will damage my vocal chords and It'll be a "forced" sound.

If I use the "Headvoice" technique I can go higher but It'll be without chest resonation as you heared on the recordings.

Thus, if we consider a mixed voice will it include 50% of chest and 50% of head? Or would it have 30% of chest and 70% of head?

The thing is that headvoice singing is deprived of natural obertones and timbre, but is easy to sing the high notes.