That's good to know. I realize that many here on RUclips are just looking for a quick tip and a short video, so they may not appreciate what I do, but I'm just trying to stay true to who I am. I'm glad you approve!
I noticed that there are belt vowels in CVT, but it is not clear if you're supposed to shoot for one of those vowels, or the ones that are as close as possible to the words we're supposed to be singing. Since CVT Edge has 4 vowels that work in it, that's four possible "accents" or sound colors that are accessible if you only pick one of those vowels and sing everything through that filter (formant frequency).
I haven't trained in CVT, and my knowledge of the program is limited - just what I've learned here and there from forums, websites, and videos. I'm sorry, but I'm not sure that I'll be of much use in helping you decipher the CVT model. As a general rule, the higher we get, the more limited our possible vowel options are in that same coordination/mechanism. This is purely a resonance (formant tuning) issue. (And there's a reason why a soprano's vowels, in the highest parts of her range, all sound very similar: front vowels sound the same and back vowels sound the same.) If you're in the mixed voice range throughout the passaggio area (for males, around Bb3 to G4), I think it's possible to keep the vowels fairly speech-like, but even in that range, there is still a bit of modification that is necessary due to changing harmonic-formant relationships, but the modifications are more subtle than they are higher up in the scale. (If you were singing in classical styles, you would 'narrow,' 'round,' and darken your vowels in the range, and the vowel would start adopting a neutral vowel set-up in the pharynx, so each vowel has a little bit of 'but' then 'good' in behind them.) In the end, we simply have to find the most suitable vowel for the pitch that we're singing, and those vowels are determined by our resonance needs (e.g., where our natural first formant frequency is for the given vowel), register (mechanism), voice type (affected by passaggio locations), desired quality/tone/sound, etc.. I don't believe that the exact same modifications work for every singer and for every context. When it comes to diction, I always say that context assists diction in that the modification of the vowel is not even noticed by the listener because he/she hears the tone within the context of the word or entire phrase and only actually hears the quality of the sung tone, not the language value. In belt, I do find that the vowel options are limited, and most singers tend to modify to a select few choices. In mixed voice, though, I think we can more closely approximate speech vowels (with some slight modifications as pitch ascends). Johan Sundberg states that CCM singers actually maintain fairly speech-like vowels. Their vowels don't modify nearly to the same extent that the vowels of opera singers do. So, if you can keep the vowel more speech-like without compromising tone and vocal freedom, then do so. But don't attempt to keep the vowel exactly like speech at all costs. I find that there are often tiny 'tweaks' (manipulations of the tongue, lips, jaw, and soft palate) that we can make to the modified vowel that can create the illusion of it being its original speech-like value, but really it's adopting an acoustical (vowel) value. That is a matter of experimentation. I also like to use mixed vowels in the break area (especially for belting, but also for heavy mixing) that can help create this illusion yet make the vowels easier to sing. I'm sorry that I probably didn't offer you any more clarity on this matter. You might have better luck posing this question on a CVT forum.
singwisevocals Actually, you just clarified a very difficult concept for me. Thank you! I have something to contribute in exchange. Give me a second...
Hey Karen I just don't know how to thank you..your videos are superrr amazingly helpful..although I thought if u could assist me wid my issue thou, I just recently discovered my mix ...although I did follow your tips and exercises for a while but due do busy schedule I couldn't make time for a daily vocal practice . I followed a different approach for the mix thing..I just yoddled my way up along A3-A5 ...and after a month I found my mix..but my issue is that it's sounding too bright having this nasal quality similar to Mitch Grassi from Pentatonix ..how do I darken it to an extent where I could use my voice like most pop artists do?.. Tbh it was a pleasure watching ur videos..Kudos! uve changed my life. ^~^
And that would be why you stuck around to the end of the video to hear me say that! (I love nerdy science stuff, too!) Thanks for watching and commenting.
Vow. modif.-s are different for different people? I've watched spectrums of many many many mixed voice(not belt) male singers and there are the same picture - quiet H0 and loud H1, quiet H2 on "a" "e" "o"; and loud H0, quiet H1, loud H2 on "i" "u". I've found only difference between male and female spectrums.
We have to consider the natural formant frequencies of the individual, even amongst individuals of the same gender. Due to slight morphological differences between individuals (e.g., size and shape of the mouth cavity, dimensions of the pharyngeal cavity, even size of the tongue), the natural formant frequencies differ from person to person, even when singing the same vowel. And how that vowel is shaped to create the same formant frequencies is going to differ depending on those individual inner dimensions. A male with a smaller mouth cavity, for example, will naturally have a higher second formant than a male with a larger mouth cavity, and so in order to tune his second formant to the same frequency (or align it to the same harmonic of the same sung pitch to give that harmonic an energy boost) as a male with an anatomically larger mouth cavity (and, therefore, lower second formant), that individual has to make different adjustments to the vocal tract. There are certainly formant envelopes, and if the singer gets outside of this envelope, it's no longer the same vowel. So two male singers using the same resonance strategies ('tuning') are not necessarily modifying their vowels in precisely the same way. The singer with a naturally lower formant is going to have to make more radical changes to the vowel on the same pitch as someone with a naturally higher formant. Those modifications will tend to take place at different pitches. And, of course, there are the considerations of style and desired sound quality. So if we want a bright, twangy vowel or sound quality, we're going to modify differently than if we desire a darker, rounder vowel quality.
All of the research that I've read shows clear differences in resonance tuning strategies between males and females due to the greater spacing of the harmonics the higher the frequency. But, due to the naturally higher formants of females, they're going to modify differently even on the same phonation frequency as males. E4 (329.63 Hz), for example, is above the average first formant for the /ʊ/ vowel for males, but below that for females. So the male will be modifying the vowel earlier, either to raise or stabilize the first formant. The female would not modify in the same way until a couple notes up. I think you might be confusing resonance tuning and vowel modification. Vowel modification is relative to the formant frequencies of the individual as well as phonation frequency. So a male and female can demonstrate the exact same resonance tuning (i.e., resonance coupling), but not be modifying the vowel in the same manner because their formants lie at different frequencies. In order to adjust their formants to align with the same harmonic frequencies of the sung pitch, the adjustments of the resonator tract are gong to be different.
singwisevocals i love les mis as well! but i like Jean ValJean's part more)) What have i done sweet jesus what have I done, become a thief in the night, become a dog on the ruunnn have i fallen so far and is the hour so laaaaaate nothing remains but the cry of my faithhhh or someithng like that)))))))
singwisevocals there's even an app called SMULE where people sing together, where we could sing ONE DAY MORE^^ though valjean's part is really intense hm kills my voice every time
I love Valjean's character and songs the most, too... but I'm a girl! ;-) I cry every time I listen to that musical, and especially when I hear Valjean's part being sung by Colm Wilkinson. His voice gives me goosebumps every time.
Please babble away! I have too few friends who can talk shop like this, so it is always a privilege to hear you.
That's good to know. I realize that many here on RUclips are just looking for a quick tip and a short video, so they may not appreciate what I do, but I'm just trying to stay true to who I am. I'm glad you approve!
Seconded
Great video! Can´t wait for Part 4!
Thank you!
Brilliant Brilliant!!!!
Thanx so much
I noticed that there are belt vowels in CVT, but it is not clear if you're supposed to shoot for one of those vowels, or the ones that are as close as possible to the words we're supposed to be singing. Since CVT Edge has 4 vowels that work in it, that's four possible "accents" or sound colors that are accessible if you only pick one of those vowels and sing everything through that filter (formant frequency).
I haven't trained in CVT, and my knowledge of the program is limited - just what I've learned here and there from forums, websites, and videos. I'm sorry, but I'm not sure that I'll be of much use in helping you decipher the CVT model. As a general rule, the higher we get, the more limited our possible vowel options are in that same coordination/mechanism. This is purely a resonance (formant tuning) issue. (And there's a reason why a soprano's vowels, in the highest parts of her range, all sound very similar: front vowels sound the same and back vowels sound the same.) If you're in the mixed voice range throughout the passaggio area (for males, around Bb3 to G4), I think it's possible to keep the vowels fairly speech-like, but even in that range, there is still a bit of modification that is necessary due to changing harmonic-formant relationships, but the modifications are more subtle than they are higher up in the scale. (If you were singing in classical styles, you would 'narrow,' 'round,' and darken your vowels in the range, and the vowel would start adopting a neutral vowel set-up in the pharynx, so each vowel has a little bit of 'but' then 'good' in behind them.) In the end, we simply have to find the most suitable vowel for the pitch that we're singing, and those vowels are determined by our resonance needs (e.g., where our natural first formant frequency is for the given vowel), register (mechanism), voice type (affected by passaggio locations), desired quality/tone/sound, etc.. I don't believe that the exact same modifications work for every singer and for every context. When it comes to diction, I always say that context assists diction in that the modification of the vowel is not even noticed by the listener because he/she hears the tone within the context of the word or entire phrase and only actually hears the quality of the sung tone, not the language value. In belt, I do find that the vowel options are limited, and most singers tend to modify to a select few choices. In mixed voice, though, I think we can more closely approximate speech vowels (with some slight modifications as pitch ascends). Johan Sundberg states that CCM singers actually maintain fairly speech-like vowels. Their vowels don't modify nearly to the same extent that the vowels of opera singers do. So, if you can keep the vowel more speech-like without compromising tone and vocal freedom, then do so. But don't attempt to keep the vowel exactly like speech at all costs. I find that there are often tiny 'tweaks' (manipulations of the tongue, lips, jaw, and soft palate) that we can make to the modified vowel that can create the illusion of it being its original speech-like value, but really it's adopting an acoustical (vowel) value. That is a matter of experimentation. I also like to use mixed vowels in the break area (especially for belting, but also for heavy mixing) that can help create this illusion yet make the vowels easier to sing. I'm sorry that I probably didn't offer you any more clarity on this matter. You might have better luck posing this question on a CVT forum.
singwisevocals Actually, you just clarified a very difficult concept for me. Thank you! I have something to contribute in exchange. Give me a second...
@@singwisevocalsWhat is CVT?
@@ST52655 Complete Vocal Technique. It's a course/training based in Europe.
Thank you for the specific examples.
You're welcome!
Hey Karen I just don't know how to thank you..your videos are superrr amazingly helpful..although I thought if u could assist me wid my issue thou, I just recently discovered my mix ...although I did follow your tips and exercises for a while but due do busy schedule I couldn't make time for a daily vocal practice . I followed a different approach for the mix thing..I just yoddled my way up along A3-A5 ...and after a month I found my mix..but my issue is that it's sounding too bright having this nasal quality similar to Mitch Grassi from Pentatonix ..how do I darken it to an extent where I could use my voice like most pop artists do?..
Tbh it was a pleasure watching ur videos..Kudos! uve changed my life. ^~^
Where is part 4 to this series?
I love nerdy science stuff lol
And that would be why you stuck around to the end of the video to hear me say that! (I love nerdy science stuff, too!) Thanks for watching and commenting.
Amazing voice!
Sing to us, please.
Awww! Thanks. I'm currently rearranging an original song and putting together some musicians to help me with the recording.
Share here in channel
I will. It's pretty intimidating, though!
Karyn has a beautiful voice.
Thanks, Bob! I can always count on you to lift my spirits!
Vow. modif.-s are different for different people? I've watched spectrums of many many many mixed voice(not belt) male singers and there are the same picture - quiet H0 and loud H1, quiet H2 on "a" "e" "o"; and loud H0, quiet H1, loud H2 on "i" "u". I've found only difference between male and female spectrums.
I was wrong, there are same spectrograms for male and female.
We have to consider the natural formant frequencies of the individual, even amongst individuals of the same gender. Due to slight morphological differences between individuals (e.g., size and shape of the mouth cavity, dimensions of the pharyngeal cavity, even size of the tongue), the natural formant frequencies differ from person to person, even when singing the same vowel. And how that vowel is shaped to create the same formant frequencies is going to differ depending on those individual inner dimensions. A male with a smaller mouth cavity, for example, will naturally have a higher second formant than a male with a larger mouth cavity, and so in order to tune his second formant to the same frequency (or align it to the same harmonic of the same sung pitch to give that harmonic an energy boost) as a male with an anatomically larger mouth cavity (and, therefore, lower second formant), that individual has to make different adjustments to the vocal tract. There are certainly formant envelopes, and if the singer gets outside of this envelope, it's no longer the same vowel. So two male singers using the same resonance strategies ('tuning') are not necessarily modifying their vowels in precisely the same way. The singer with a naturally lower formant is going to have to make more radical changes to the vowel on the same pitch as someone with a naturally higher formant. Those modifications will tend to take place at different pitches. And, of course, there are the considerations of style and desired sound quality. So if we want a bright, twangy vowel or sound quality, we're going to modify differently than if we desire a darker, rounder vowel quality.
All of the research that I've read shows clear differences in resonance tuning strategies between males and females due to the greater spacing of the harmonics the higher the frequency. But, due to the naturally higher formants of females, they're going to modify differently even on the same phonation frequency as males. E4 (329.63 Hz), for example, is above the average first formant for the /ʊ/ vowel for males, but below that for females. So the male will be modifying the vowel earlier, either to raise or stabilize the first formant. The female would not modify in the same way until a couple notes up. I think you might be confusing resonance tuning and vowel modification. Vowel modification is relative to the formant frequencies of the individual as well as phonation frequency. So a male and female can demonstrate the exact same resonance tuning (i.e., resonance coupling), but not be modifying the vowel in the same manner because their formants lie at different frequencies. In order to adjust their formants to align with the same harmonic frequencies of the sung pitch, the adjustments of the resonator tract are gong to be different.
did you just sing a fragment from les mis=D cool)
I did! It's my all-time favourite musical (and always will be)! And Eponine's role is so wonderful.
singwisevocals i love les mis as well! but i like Jean ValJean's part more)) What have i done sweet jesus what have I done, become a thief in the night, become a dog on the ruunnn have i fallen so far and is the hour so laaaaaate nothing remains but the cry of my faithhhh or someithng like that)))))))
singwisevocals there's even an app called SMULE where people sing together, where we could sing ONE DAY MORE^^ though valjean's part is really intense hm kills my voice every time
I love Valjean's character and songs the most, too... but I'm a girl! ;-) I cry every time I listen to that musical, and especially when I hear Valjean's part being sung by Colm Wilkinson. His voice gives me goosebumps every time.
singwisevocals, ikr! I cried when I saw Colm in the movie as the priest! I was like omg it's hiiiim))