Head Voice, Mix Voice, etc....

Hey guys, first to introduce myself. I'm a hack guitarist, been playing for years. I always sing when I play, can't help it. But I never sing loud enough for people to hear. I'm just tired of hiding behind my guitar & would like to gain some confidence singing.

I've been burning through the internet looking for all the help I can get on the internet. & though there is a lot of "information" about head/mix/chest voice, I still don't get it.

The best I can tell, they're talking about where the sound is coming from.... like you should feel it resonate in your chest, if you're singing with your chest-voice, from your head if you're singing with your head-voice, and from both, if you're singing with your mix-voice.

The only problem with that, is what if you feel the resonance from your throat?

Generally, if you feel a lot of stuff going on in your throat as you sing, you're doing it wrong. When you resonate freely and properly, you should almost feel a kind of pressure inside your chest/head. The pressure comes from the resonance, obviously.

As to the nature of chest/head/mix, I won't go into that, because this forum is quite skilled at not reaching a consensus on that point.

Anyho, if you want confidence and brilliance when you sing, you're gonna need to resonate properly. That's not easy. I made a thread where I tried (and largely failed) to compile a list of techniques one might use to get the resonance going. I think the thread title was something like 'Let's make a list!'. Search for it and see if it helps you.

Good luck!

Take some voice lessons. A good teacher will be able to diagnose your problems.

That's very common, even students taking lessons for some time have this problem. You're singing inwards and can't project. Common "advice" is "sing loud", "yell", "place the tone forward" , "sing for the audience at the back" etc... and seldom gives result because it's difficult for the singer to assosiate those terms into practical use.

Try Masklins list, take lessons, search the net for how to resonate etc... But most important: Don't give up!!!!

I will bet $100 that you talk soft, it is often a habit problem. But I bet that you can talk louder if you want to. Try to analyze what you do different then. One good practice is to take a note and a vowel and start to sing it very light and make it gradually louder and then lighter and so on.

My problem is opposite: I sing to loud in the midrange that leads me to pushing hard when going down or up, which leads to tensing. This gives me limited dynamics and range, so I practice singing songs with different volume. Driving in my car I take a song on repeated loop and start with the volume so low that I can barely hear it and sing so I can hear both my voice and the song. The next repeat I notch up the volume 1 step and repeat until I can't hear my voice over the song. then take the whole thing back until I barely hear the song again. This takes time, but works! It's important to focus on being relaxed and use support from the diaphragm to control the air pressure and mouth position to control the resonance.

Good luck!

I would recommend that you try and resonate everything from the soft palate (the back of your mouth). And also keep the resonance above the neck and within your head, for all notes, even low notes. If you let the resonance "drop" into your throat then you're using too much chest voice and vocal weight.

You might try singing a song in various keys. Notice if resonance appears when you sing in a particular key. I'm not sure if I can resonate near the limits of my range.

It helps me to hear myself sing. I think even a cheap microphone plugged into my guitar amp helps me sing better.

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Still, it isn't very clear.

There should be no resonating from the throat, ever; if I understand what you are saying.

You should be able to feel the resonance in your chest? Yes?

You should be able to feel the resonance in your head? Yes?

Either way, I should try to "hear" my voice in front of me?

Basically, how do I know if I'm singing in head-voice? If I'm at the upper end of my range, am I to assume I'm in head-voice? If I'm singing a low note, is it safe to say I am in chest-voice?

Of course you'll feel vibrations in your chest, its a natural acoustical phenomenon (especially low notes). Larger cavities/spaces will resonate the lower tones, and the opposite is true for higher tones. But this is merely an after-effect. You should also note that everyone's voice is built differently, the way you feel resonance will vary from person to person. Some people could have a lot of chest resonance, while others have more head resonance, but essentially you should have a bit of both. Personally, I like to keep some head resonance throughout my whole range, which makes it less tiring on the voice.

In terms of hearing the voice. I would not rely on trying to hear your own voice. Every acoustic environment is going to make your voice (also your own perception of it) sound different. Its better to focus more on the "sensation" of singing. When the voice is working well, it almost feels like you're "drinking the sound" or sometimes it feels like a "laser beam". lol