Mike,
1. Scott Walker.
In the example you sent, Scott Walker sings in mezza voce or
'voix mixte' as it is some times called. Obviously there is
not much of a Singer's Formant to be heard in this kind of production,
but that is due to the very light adduction of the folds,
whereby they produce much less higher harmonics.
This does not mean the SF is not there. It's just not 'filled'
with harmonics from the voice source (the folds).
Like you said it's possible that the position of the epiglottis
influences the SF. In mezza voce the epiglottis is more open than
in 'normal' singing, so it could be that the SF is less pronounced.
By the way, maybe you already know this, but one can directly measure
the formants with Gram or VoceVista by using 'vocal fry'
or 'ingressive voice', so you could try for yourself to see what
happens.
2. The 1 to 6 ratio between the tube diameters stems from Sundberg.
This seems to be the key factor in SF.
3. Low larynx and power. I'm not sure whether it is possible to
produce a significant SF with a high larynx. I will look into
this but it seems unlikely to me, as I can't imagine a C&W
singer using 'twang' cut through an orchestra without
amplification. This brings me to a second advantage of the low
larynx. If the larynx is relatively low, the strap musculature
of the larynx is more likely to stay relaxed, even in situations
where the subglottal perssure is very high (as in loud oparatic
singing). Research has also shown that with a low larynx the
movement of the thyroid cartilage w.r.t. the cricoid cartilage has
a larger 'range', which increases vocal range, but I can't
remember the details from the top of my head.
Wim
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