#vocal techniques

[jules-has-notes]

Geoff Castellucci's bass singing tutorials

Relatively few singers and musicians are able to make performing their primary job, let alone their only job. So young Geoff started college as an education major and planned to become a music teacher. In some alternate universe, a lot of lucky kids have great memories of being in Mr. Castellucci's class. In our world, fortunately, theme park gigs were plentiful enough, 4:2:Five transformed into VoicePlay and was able to become self-sustaining, and we've been provided with this series of videos chock full of advice, demonstrations, anecdotes, and Geoff's endearingly corny humor.

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How to sing REALLY low – a short tutorial

In this first video, Geoff gives a brief overview of several common bass techniques — growl, vocal fry, and subharmonics — with descriptions and demonstrations of each.

release date: 6 December 2019

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How to sing LOW – your questions answered, part 1

After his initial video generated a deluge of questions, he made this follow-up to provide a few answers. The topics include further description of vocal fry, more detailed advice for practicing and performing subharmonics, ways to improve recorded sound in post-production, methods of increasing your lower range, and his opinions on the best bass singers.

release date: 8 January 2020

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How to sing LOW – your questions answered, part 2

The answers continue, getting more specific and personal. Segments include a demonstration of Geoff's natural range, a humble description of his own vocal type, the ending of "Oogie Boogie's Song", maintaining his upper range, microphone recommendations, increasing resonance, general vocal maintenance, other ways to improve overall musicality, and a shout-out to his subharmonic inspiration David Larsen.

release date: 17 January 2020

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Singing REALLY LOW – questions answered

In this final (so far) Q&A, Geoff provides yet more advice for practicing bass techiniques, shows off his best Thurl Ravenscroft impression, reiterates how to achieve cleaner sounds in post-production, explains the impressive descending parts in "Kidnap the Sandy Claws" and "Oogie Boogie's Song", considers more complex subharmonic techniques, demonstrates why he doesn't use ingressive phonation, provides further advice for practicing subharmonics, reflects on his own vocal development and maintenance, dashes some folks' hopes for an ASMR channel, and teases his hair care routine.

release date: 12 March 2020

[niconote]

NicoNote DARE VOCE workshop > Focus su Training e Parola > sabato 24 maggio 14h - 18,30h > Rimini

DARE VOCE – Workshop tematico e ricorrente ideato da NicoNote Un laboratorio dedicato allo studio e alla ricerca attorno alle molteplici declinazioni dell’universo VOCE.

SABATO 24 MAGGIO dalle 14h alle 18,30h

RIMINI Spazio Grottarossa ( Via della Lontra, 40)

Posti limitati a 10 partecipanti – Iscrizioni entro il 20 maggio

DARE VOCE / Focus su Training e Parola

Un pomeriggio di workshop intensivo condotto da NicoNote. Una sessione immersiva sul lavoro vocale e sull’espressività della parola, a partire dalle pratiche di training e messa in voce elaborate in anni di ricerca. Ogni incontro con NicoNote è un viaggio che attraversa corpo, voce e consapevolezza, risvegliando l’attitudine creativa e la visione personale del gesto vocale. In questa edizione lavoreremo su: training vocale e fisico, esercizi di tecnica e movimento, esplorazione dei mondi verbali ed espressivi, riflessioni teoriche e pratiche sulla “messa in voce”, la forza performativa della parola.

A chi si rivolge A performer, artistə, ricercatorə vocali e chiunque voglia esplorare la voce come strumento di creazione e consapevolezza.

Costi e iscrizione Quota di partecipazione: 50 € Per iscriversi: Non c'è selezione, tuttavia occorre inviare una mail - con una breve presentazione - a relazioni.niconote@gmail.com Oggetto: Workshop 24/05 Rimini

L’iscrizione è valida solo a seguito del pagamento della quota. Minimo 4 – Massimo 10 partecipanti. Non è prevista la partecipazione di uditori. In caso di annullamento per numero insufficiente di iscrizioni, la quota verrà rimborsata interamente.

Info logistiche Spazio Grottarossa – Via della Lontra 40, Rimini (A pochi minuti dal casello autostradale Rimini Sud. La zona non è ben servita dai mezzi pubblici.)

La ricerca vocale di NicoNote alias Nicoletta Magalotti sintetizza 40 anni di lavoro sulla VOCE nella pratica teatrale e musicale, nell’ incontro con maestri tra i quali Gabriella Bartolomei, Yoshi Oida, Roy Hart Theatre, Akademia Ruchu, Francois Tanguy, nello sviluppo di un percorso artistico e didattico personalissimo. Un approccio alla Voce che abbraccia la tecnica vocale a 360° mutuando pratiche e studi sulla vocalità provenienti da diversi mondi musicali, teatrali, performativi fino a pratiche di meditazione sonora.

immagine: Volto che canta / Marco Mazzoni

[jesuistrestriste]

patrick and art who never got into tennis and instead formed an indie band in the early 2000s.

art sings and plays the guitar while patrick plays the drums.

they don’t exactly ‘blow up’ at first, but they do eventually gain a pretty decent following. and with this following came groupies.

they took a handful of them on their small state-wide tour; kissing and touching and humping and fucking each other every night after the shows — fueled by alcohol and weed and a little bit of arrogance.

one of their little groupies happened to be you.

you’re their favorite, actually.

you can take everything they give, and you can deal it right back when they need some sense slapped into them. sometimes literally.

pat likes to pull down your panties at the back of the tour bus and buck into you rhythmically from behind. his fingers will curl into your waist before he sneaks a hand down the front of your stomach and then lower to seek your sweet spot. rubbing it with fast circles of his thumb. his mouth’ll find your neck, and before you know it he’ll be sucking and biting like he’s starved of the taste of your body (even though you sucked him off before they even got on stage). he smells like sweat and peach vodka. “who’s my biggest fan, huh? thaaat’s it… louder, baby… louder—! aagh-! fuck, fuck fuck-“

art’s a lot more sensual and slow. he likes to go down on you, spreading open your legs as he eases you down into a chair in the green room of the show’s venue. licking a glassy stripe up your folds before he smushes his face into your wetness and shakes his head from side to side, pushing his tongue into your hole as he moans. he likes when you grab a fistful of his messy blonde hair and force his head back so he has to look up at you. it’s even better when you let him rut against your foot. he’s a disaster personified; blue eyes rolled back, hands shaking on your thighs, and the scent of his almost-sleazy cologne wafting off of him in waves as he worships you. “mmmnn, god, i could stay here forever… come in my mouth, please… i wanna feel you come on my tongue…”

best band ever.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Lan Wangji Goes To Lotus Pier AU: Part 1: Dread on Arrival

(Part 2)

[locklylemybeloved]

that one part of who we are where hozier goes AAAEAEAEAAAÆÆÆAAAEAEAAAÆÆÆAAAAAAAEAEAEAEAEAAAEAAAEAAAAAEÆÆ yeah i felt that.

[soprano-sfogato]

Christine’s part is more about the middle voice, not high notes

I’ve written a post about Christine’s technique in Leroux’s novel, but now let’s talk about the role of Christine in ALW’s musical. I can literally write a book about it—before I’ve chosen opera as my career path, I was aiming to play Christine one day (I had taken voice lessons from one of the actresses who played her many years ago, and I nearly auditioned for the London production). But today, I’ll try to write about this part in a nutshell.

High E is not the most important thing

I know that the role of Christine is primarily associated with that high note, but the whole part is more complex than just one note. It’s wonderful if you can sing this note with ease, but it doesn’t mean that you can sing the entire part well, because

Having a good and strong middle voice is crucial

Christine’s part sits mostly in the middle voice, and since that’s often the most challenging part of the soprano range, you need solid technique to manage singing in that tessitura. If you struggle with your middle voice, it would be impossible for you to sing this part. That’s why you should

Work on your chest voice

A developed chest voice is essential for a strong middle voice. It’s also critical if you want to handle the lower notes—Christine sings quite low at times, even below middle C. Chest voice is a must for this part, and it will also help with

A few high notes

Christine sings high during the Think of me cadenza and at the end of the title song (and in the ensemble at the end of Masquerade). That’s it. It’s not difficult if you have strong, proper technique. Regarding the Think of me cadenza, you should also

Be familiar with the opera style

Yes, Phantom is a musical, but Christine is an opera singer, and the score gives you the opportunity to show it! Plus, if you’ve sung some arias before, it will make the Think of me cadenza (in any version) much easier to sing.

To sum up, while Christine’s high notes are impressive, the role requires much more than that. A strong middle and chest voice, and familiarity with operatic style are essential to mastering that part.

[gunnrblze]

Merrick very lowkey listens to opera. He’s not embarrassed by it but it’s definitely something he could be bullied by his teammates Logan over, so it’s his little guilty pleasure secret

[yuzuyoon]

can you explain more about jimin's vocals sounding different? i noticed something but i know nothing about singing 😭😭 he said that he had been taking singing classes for 2.5 months tho

Ofc I can explain. I'm not very good at explaining things and I tend to trail off into tangents, so just bear with me for this. 

To understand how his vocals have changed, we have to look back on his old vocals and what made them “bad” compared to today. I'm sure you’ve unfortunately seen the clip all the antis use to drag jimin from the fake love performance with charlie puth. I hate the clip because Jimin seemed super tired and sick, but it is regretfully the best clip to show the difference between then and now. In the clip, he sings his lines, but they’re super shaky and it just doesn't sound good. You can hear that he sounds tired. His vocals lack control and stability and pitch. It’s just not good. 

Now this doesn’t mean Jimin was a bad singer. Jimin has never actually been a bad singer, but he did use some techniques that put a lot of strain on his vocals. This on top of bts’s crazy schedules at the time meant Jimin's voice was getting overworked. It led to his voice sounding quite tired at times and fatigue in general, manifesting in sore throats, losing his voice, voice cracks and even getting sick, like the fake love performance. if you wanna kinda feel what i'm describing, just try and belt incredibly high notes for 5 minutes straight very loudly and see how your voice feels after. I mean, you can just yell for 5 minutes straight too. it's exaggerated, but your voice becomes super tired and raspy after it and trying to sing nicely after it is super hard and your voice is super shaky after it. 

In the minimoni music episode, jimin mentioned how he needs to learn balance between his new and old techniques and said to sing older songs, he sings forward and up in his head, near his nose. Generally, when belting high notes, you want to aim for the power behind it coming from your diaphragm and your abdomen. Jimin saying that's where he sang makes me think he hit all those bts high notes by tightening his vocal cords to hit high notes. This is not good technique if you want to produce healthy sounds. When you watch him sing you can tell it takes a lot of effort to reach and sustain the note. The high tone he has is beautiful but his producers assumed high tone = the capability to belt high notes.

Jimin's voice sounded best when he would use falsetto and head voice. when he would use chest or mix it could sound a bit shaky and weak. this and his vibrato was inconstant and shaky as well. Sometimes these problems would completely disappear, but that’s not a good thing at the core because it meant he lacked consistency to continue with good technique. These are the main things that I notice a difference in. The key word for Jimin's old technique would be "tight.” If there’s anything i’d want you to focus on it’s listening to how high and tight jimin’s vocals used to sound. They sounded thin. It lacked the depth it needed to thrive. 

So what’s the difference now? Well if i described jimin’s old vocals as tight, high, and thin, I would describe his new technique as open, deep, and resonant. I’ll have to find some clips to show the difference side by side. 

he's not tightening his vocal cords to produce higher notes. if there is a note that's very high, he leans more towards a mix voice (head voice and chest voice) to produce a sound that can sound like belting without actually belting and puts breath support behind it to really push the resonance or he goes straight head voice. He’s not trying to hit challenging notes by pushing himself and hurting his voice anymore. he's pulling the weight of singing from lower down now for those more middle to lower notes and then leaning more into a mix for those higher notes. you can start to hear the difference back in the like crazy jazz version. He skips the highest notes to catch his breath and his voice sits more at the back of his throat instead of up in his nose making a lovely sound. I know to make the difference happen in my own voice but i don't know how to explain it, so you’ll have to try to sing the difference for yourself?

Jimin saying that he knew his technique would hurt his voice really was the confirming detail for me. We knew he was never satisfied with his vocals, but we never saw him outright say he knew how he was singing was wrong. I think the lack of vocal lessons back then was probably from their insane schedule and simply just a lack of time to get them done. No time to do vocal lessons meant that their schedule was packed to the point of overwork, which is another reason he was sounding off at that time. With the huge break bts got to work on solo stuff, there was so much more room for lessons, and i'm glad he took the opportunity because now he sounds amazing!! All these differences aside, Jimin still sounds like Jimin, and that’s the most important part

here's a little comparison video so you can try to hear the difference

I explained the fake love clip already, but when you listen to the who clip, you can tell he’s singing from a deeper spot and he’s really pulling strength from his breathing. Those higher notes are actually easier to sing when you use a “deeper” sounding tone. (and earlier in the clip when he sings the pre-chorus the final phrase sounds so crisp and clear an resonant and i basically swoon each time i listen to it)

[faery-snow]

Musical Observations about «Wo Men»

It's been two months since Xiao Zhan dropped Wo Men, and it's high time I post this! When I heard Zhanzhan would release a full album, I expected a high-quality but run-of-the-mill mandopop album. I would no doubt love it, but I would love it because it's his voice.

And then we got THIS.

These are things this vocalist has noticed during my obsessive re-listening. I've used XZS's official pinyin titles (I'm thrown off by the official English translations 😅).

1. Borrowed chords in the first song

The song Wo Men is in minor key, but uses borrowed chords, or chords which it shares with its relative major. This is what makes it sound so eerie. Modal interchange is used for tension; the haunting, unsettled feeling as your brain contends with overlapping patterns from 2 key signatures.

I think it also works particularly well with the song's theme, this crossroads between hope and despair, questions about whether cruelty is an inescapable state for humanity.

I also love that this is the first song. We start with unsettling questions and end the album with gratitude as the night ends. He ordered the songs very deliberately, and it makes so much sense that Zhanzhan would organize it this way, a journey toward hope.

2. Diverse vocal techniques

The songs of this album give him a variety of vocal contexts, to show different versions of himself. He is a singer who can take advantage of that, and he's shown it.

For instance, in Douyi Yang there are a lot of opportunities for embellishment that he didn't take, on purpose, and the execution is beautiful. He leans into more sustained straight tones instead of vibrato. Showing us that vocal control.

Lemme talk about pitch correction for a second. One of my roommates overheard me listening and joked "his voice sounds like Michael Bubble." I don't listen to much pop music, but I do know Michael Bubble has a reputation for being autotuned, so I was a little offended. 😅

But Xiao Zhan's vocal quality is smooth without synthetic help, and we know that for several reasons.

For one, his live performances are smooth, which is not a result of corrections because he has a tendency to start half a tone off. If they were correcting anything, that would be easy to do and the first thing to change.

(It's a common struggle to start half a step off when performing live. Singing is done both by ear and by feel; but your instrument feels different when you have a burst of adrenaline tightening your muscles and changing the length of your larynx, altering its resonance. Back before he knew how to adjust his in-ear correctly, he often took the left ear out so he could quickly fix his key. He still does this sometimes; it always makes me fond.)

Another reason is that you can hear small vocal anomalies -- the natural blips of a human voice. Everyone has these and it's the reason why skilled singers may choose to autotune. (Personally, I think this is unnecessary, but that's a Whole Essay.) Those vocal anomalies show up in his previous songs and performances, and also in this album.

All that to say, his voice really is that smooth.

Which isn't to say they didn't do any pitch correction. I could see it going either way:

Pitch correction is the current trend in music production

On the other hand, he hasn't used elsewhere that we're aware

On the other other hand, he's never done a project where he had this much control

If there is pitch correction, it is minor. Douyi Yang is a potential candidate to me, not because of the straight tones, but because of how perfectly matched his harmony is in the chorus, where the timbre he's using could sound sharp if the harmonies were at odds. Either Zhanzhan absolutely nailed it (possible!), or they used pitch correction on the harmony line.

I really like the "realness" to Xiao Zhan's voice. In Yexingren Dezibai and Guiling, for example, you can hear small hiccups in the lower notes. They didn't correct those. I really appreciate that.

It lets his talent come through.

3. Syncopation

In Huan Yuan, he does a lot of releasing on the half-beat. Syncopation is a common technique, but doing it through an entire song is hard. Holding through every half-note, counter to the song's rhythm over and over, takes focus.

4. His own backup vocals!

I LOVE THAT HE DOES HIS OWN BACKUPS AND HARMONIES. You could tell in some songs right away. There were others like Piaoliu and Dengta where I wasn't sure, and then we got the 20min of bts footage which confirmed it.

They're beautiful: he's good at harmonizing after all! (I love BTS set videos where he makes harmony up on the fly, SUCH a choir kid thing.) Another way for him to show his vocal chops. It also makes this album all about him; I don't mean in an arrogant way, rather that this is him showing what he wants to show.

5. Lyricism

He's credited for partnering on lyrics for Wo Men, Piaoliu, and Buyao Huitou, and it's possible he worked on other songs to a lesser extent. Which makes sense: of course he would do his own lyrics for a passionate project like this.

(Translation credit to @izanyizhan, ty so much for your hard work!)

Wo Men: This is not the song I expected from him! It's complicated and dark. There is SO MUCH about this album where he defied our expectations.

Piaoliu: This is an extremely vulnerable song, wow. A brave song, going against expectations and against social niceties and standing up for what you really want. Xiao Zhan is a polite person and it's cool to get a song from him that's so bold.

Buyao Huitou: "I'll take my stubbornness and go towards the center of the light" - Enough said. The lyrics of this song are so determined and hopeful. And the vocals crescendo beautifully. It's my favorite song.* I love that he said it's written to himself.

*(Look, I have 3 favorites, 6 second-favorites, and 2 that I "only" love. This album is everything I ever wanted musically. Not lying, my 10 most-listened-to songs of 2024 were this album, even though it came out in Nov. 😅)

(And of course those of us with turtle minds got caught on, "As long as there's a single glance waiting for me to start the show." That hit me hard. The feeling of having my S.O. in the audience, when there's that one person I'm excited to perform for. Wow. I imagine when you're a superstar with millions of fans, this takes on even deeper meaning.)

6. Live orchestra

You can tell the difference and it is yet another thing elevating the quality of this album. (I feel like I have a personal stake in this because one of my parents is a professional musician haha! But also, it really does make a difference.)

Next time I want to (lovingly) complain about waiting a long time for things, I will remind myself of this album, which is incredible precisely because he spent 3 years on it and worked with such high-quality people.

7. Vocal range

If I had to pick 2, Guiling and Buyao Huitou are my favorite songs, and it's because he effortlessly transitions across his range through chest voice, head voice, and falsetto.

I cannot express how much work over multiple years it took me to learn to do this, and you can get out of practice (although we know Xiao-laoshi is always singing on his sets!). Navigating those transitions is (in my not-professional opinion) one of the hardest skills for a vocalist; I'll back that up with the fact that plenty of professional vocalists (including Wang Yibo) struggle with it.

Another part of why it sounds so good is that Xiao Zhan knows how to make the weaknesses of his voice work for him. Not only can he use vocal break as an effect, he is also aware of where his voice breaks naturally and uses that.

Take Piaoliu, where he uses the edges of each register to actually put more emotion in.

There are many great singers out there, and there are singers with more training than him, but he showed he has a solid foundation in a wide range of techniques.

8. Storyline

I won't talk too much about this because I would just be reiterating what Zhanzhan wrote about each song for the release. But I appreciate that it tells a thematic story, and of course it's a story characteristic of him: (a) contemplating the human condition (b) on a hopeful trajectory.

I might also be interpreting this through my decade in western publishing for my day job. Storytelling looks different across times and cultures, but I noticed that the album follows the three-act structure typical of a lot of modern fiction -- he even released it like that. It could easily be coincidence, though.

(Western publishing likes to hold up things like three-act structure as "universals," but, like. With no actual evidence. 😂)

9. Composition

There are some things in this album which would be unusual for "run-of-the-mill mandopop," such as the heavy use of borrowed chords, the intro/outro, the discordant strings in Wan'an (which I have mixed feelings about personally lol!), etc. He didn't play it safe; at points, it feels almost avant-garde.

Considering this is his first album, I think more outside the norm is better, especially if he wants to be taken seriously as an artist. Meaningful art involves risk and breaking expectations! (Therefore, I forgive the purposeful discordance. 😂) ((I would anyway because we got 10 full songs of his voice!!!!))

There are a lot of good reasons that «Wo Men» is rating so highly. I'm not the only person who expected him to release something more commonplace. And then he released ART instead.

It feels similar to what Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo have been doing to transition away from traffic stars to serious film actors. He's moved away from boy-group popstar to establish himself firmly as a serious singer.

10. Ta & Ta

I always notice when songs refer to someone's gender. It was very inclusive of Xiao-laoshi to refer to both very specifically like this. 🌈 My LGBT self really super appreciated that.

Ten songs, so ten bullet points for verisimilitude! It's just a random thing, but this line in Wan'an:

"You xiangqi ta (她) huoshi ta (他)"

(Reminded again of her, or of him)

晚安

I really love that the «Wo Men» Outro ends with some spatial tuning as the strings fade out, then the footsteps, and then his voice is panned left, like you're passing one another on the road. Like the album's theme of passing others on life's journey. And it makes me think of every time he's said he's just a normal person like everyone else.

Plus Xiao Zhan saying goodnight to us gives us emotions. What a way to end the album.

(All images from Official Weibo accounts of Xiao Zhan and XZS.)

[jules-has-notes]

interview — Bass Singing Central podcast with Geoff Castellucci

When many performers suddenly found themselves with unexpected free time, a lot of them turned to online outlets for their creativity. Professional gospel singer Matt Fouch reinvigorated his interview series with other basses, and reached out to one of his most requested guests. They chatted about Geoff's history as a singer, techniques for improving various aspects of performance, the people who have inspired him, the joy of reaching new audiences (and astonishing them with those low notes), what drives him as a musician, his favorite pieces to perform with VoicePlay, and the tutorials he'd been releasing over the past few months.

release date: 28 April 2020

[honorthysalad]

My bet is that Yoshiki forgot to take the tracker off his shoe and when he and ‘Hikaru’ get sucked into the other side, Tanaka is just like “dont worry. It’s a special supernatural tracker; I can still locate them on the other side, even here. They’re somewhere in Kibogayama.” Kurebayashi looks at it and goes, “I think I know where that is…” because it’s her house. And then idk Maki gets assassinated by the foot frog or smth

[chicalepidopterareblogs]

Can we talk about Sam's vocal technique? Sure this is a studio recording but postproduction can do just so much to a voice for it to sound this good, right? Dynamics for example are almost entirely up to the singer's ability and Sam is SO GOOD. He does 57 different things in one verse. Goes from breathy to full to vocal fry seamlessly. Uses all kinds of expressive variations to create drama from singing through griding teeth to making a loud squeak while adding so much nuance to every single one of them like the half brat/half animalistic final growl and it's only 1:30 minutes. Remember some people doubting Rockstar Samstat cause he isn't a tenor. Well, they didn't know what baritone Sam Reid is capable of, or David Bowie for that matter

[anambermusicbox]

UUMMMMM IS ANYONE GONNA TALK ABOUT THIS????

[elkkiel]

one of these days I'll write an analysis of Vessel's vocals on Descending because my good fucking gravy dude I have so many thoughts and my heart is bursting with affection for that song