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From:  Greypins@a...
Greypins@a...
Date:  Sat Aug 4, 2001  7:22 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Re: Seth Riggs' Recent SF Master Class (Wim's question)


In a message dated 8/4/2001 2:02:32 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
w.ritzerfeld@c... writes:
w.ritzerfeld@c... writes:

<< The down side is that pop/rock singers don't
seem to like the resulting sound.
>>

absolutely, wim. and, this is the biggest problem with teaching pop
singers - how to teach them the safest and most efficient ways to achieve
their aethetic goals without compromising those ideals. the further apart
the aesthetic desire is from the ideal production, the more likely a
compromise will fail as, it will serve neither particularly well.

with regard to pop singers producing much in the way of the 'singer's
formant; my experience has been that some produce quite a bit even though
their larynges tend to rise with an increase in pitch. i recorded one of my
male students (on a cheap tape recorder) whose high range is not unlike
cornell's (and this was without the aid of a microphone). using gram50, i
did a spectral analysis of his voice and compared it to my own on the same
tape (i should mention that all my training has been classical and, though i
prefer to sing other music, that training still forms the basis for my
singing). we both produced quite a bit of activity in the range of the
singer's formant. the differences were that i produced a denser line in the
area of 400-600hz. while he produced much more activity above 3500hz. in
the analysis of my own voice, i have not noticed and increase in the density
of the singer's formant with a greater lowering of the larynx. instead, it
seems that the activity above the singer's formant is reduced.

what i have found has more of an effect on all types of singers, in
regard to producing more of the singer's formant, is the improvement in the
signal from the vocal folds. using the 'door squeak' trick (which i got
from seth riggs' "singing for the stars" and lloyd had mentioned in
connection with lindquist) consistantly produces the most immediate changes
in the largest group of singers, in my experience. and, it would seem that
larynx height has far more to do with timbre than power.

btw, i will send you a file of 'say hello 2 heaven'. by any standards,
it is astonishing.

mike


  Replies Name/Email Yahoo! ID Date Size
13580 Rock aesthetics and singer's formant (to Mike) wa Wim Ritzerfeld   Sat  8/4/2001   3 KB

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