Mike,
I listened to a few sample tracks on the internet by both Steve
Perry and Chris Cornell. I did't know these singers before, but
listening to these tracks I would agree that Steve Perry is closer
to the classical type of resonance than Chris Cornell, meaning that
it sounds as if he keeps his larynx lower when he reaches for the
high notes than Chris Cornell, who really pulls it up high and
'squeezes' out the high notes. Neverheless I think even Steve Perry
raises his larynx for the top notes, be it to a lesser degree. The
effect of this typically is that the first formant goes up
and 'tracks' the second harmonic of the sung tone, resulting in a
shouty tone, which in his case is less obvious because he does
not 'push' the voice as much (i.e. he probably uses less subglottal
pressure).
A classical singer would keep his larynx in exacly the same place
all the time and use his SECOND formant to resonate the third, fourth
or fifth harmonic (depending on the vowel) of the sung tone, which
gives more 'ping' to the tone. Voice teachers sometimes call this
'forward placement'. The lower larynx is also better for the singer's
formant, which brings out even more high harmonics in the tone and
adds to the carrying power of the voice. Thus a classical singer
would be heard (unamplified) over an orchestra, while Steve Perry
would probably not. The down side is that pop/rock singers don't
seem to like the resulting sound.
Note that I couldn't find the tracks you recommended. If you have
them in MP3 format and could send them to me or put them in
the files section of Vocalist, I'll be happy to listen to them.
Cheers,
Wim
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