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Feedback on vibrato?


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I have always had a very straight tone with no vibrato but lately I've started developing what seems to be a vibrato. However because I'm not used to hearing myself sound like this it's very jarring and sticks out rather than blending in. So I would love to hear any feedback about whether it actually sounds ok, if it sounds natural, or horrible, or it's getting there and I need more practice?

 

Any feedback, good or bad, honest and brutal would be very much appreciated :-)

 

https://soundcloud.com/simon_jones/always-on-my-mind-willie

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You have a really good voice, man. I also agree with Ido, the vibrato sounds a bit forced. It sounds interesting, but I probably try not to overuse it too much. Also it actually sounds more like a tremolo effect rather a vibrato. Usually a real vibrato has "spin", more overtones and ring to the sound.

What exactly are you doing to make your vibrato? Judging from the sound of your vibrato, I'm guessing that you're doing it by pulsating your diaphragm repeatedly.

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davie - thank you! yeah, I'm still a little confused as to what counts as a vibrato, technique wise I've been, as you mentioned, sort of pulsating my diaphragm. Sometimes I read that you do that to get the effect, some say it's the pitch...and some say it's a combination of both :-p

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Your overall tone is nice. But as others have commented the vibrato does sound a little forced.I don't know whether this would be classed as vibrato as opposed to a vocal wobble and it does seem to be something which would be under your control.  If you say you used to sing without it and now you've developed it, it may be you need to look at your singing technique overall.

As said the actual tone in your voice is nice, but try and keep those end notes in one true tone without the wobble. It can get a bit tiring to listen to because the listener is waiting for that same finish, at the end of each line. I want to be surprised and interested in what's coming next.

There are lots of articles on the internet which deal with "vocal wobble" and there are lots of reasons why you may have developed this, so worth looking into.Hope that's not too harsh.

 

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DCMusic - Thanks for your comments, I appreciate your honesty! It absolutely is something I can turn on or off, which I'm hoping means it hasn't developed because of bad techique but also that it won't harm my voice.

I will look into the vocal wobble articles and find out more about it and see how I can change into something more natural sounding.

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I have to be honest, I ended up ditching my vibrato because of how forced it sounded. However I tried to do it again tonight to see if I could get a more subtle sound to it. And it's weird because if I play back the video slowed down you can hear for the most part the pitch is bending down during the vibrato...but then some of the time it just get's quieter and then louder...and then everynow and then the pitch bends up. I didn't even know I could do all three...during singing they all just sound the same which is frustrating because I don't know how to fix it.

Do you think it's gotten any more subtle and are there any exercises/ways to correct this?

 

 

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Slightly more subtle in the new clip. I'm not sure if the way that you're approaching the 'vibrato' is really correct though. Like I mentioned before, your approach sounds more like a 'tremolo' or trembling effect, like your just repeatedly stopping your breath flow to produce it. True vibrato should actually come from a really steady airflow.

I know a pretty good exercise for developing vibrato that my teacher showed me. I can record you an example if you'd like.

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