|
|
Post by cassie on Nov 25, 2012 1:17:08 GMT -5
Today I listened to two different versions of NCOE again.. gosh... still goosebumps.. shivers down the spine..... who the hell sings like that sitting on a stool.. just fuckin awesome I noticed his voice sounds so different. The first one is smoothier the second one he added some..er...grit? (dunno know the right word :() to make it more rock-ish. Is this a stylistic choice? (Sometimes just makes me wonder what happened to his voice -___-) Yes, it is a stylistic choice for Adam. (For many other singers the grit is from straining to hit a note or sing loudly. It is produced by tensing the vocal cords and forcing air thru them. NOT good for the cords, and can lead, long term, to damage.) Adam, on the other hand, accomplishes the effect thru squeezing his tone. It is done with the neck muscles, not the vocal cords, and is, therefore, not damaging to the voice. At least that is what vocal coach and opera singer Angelina has explained to me. Adam has a depth of technique to color his voice in many ways. I would say his "natural" tone is that light, pure sound we hear that just floats. He is using technique to focus the sound into his "mask" or the front of his face and sinuses. When done correctly, it takes very little effort. (The effort comes in the hours of practice to learn how to focus the tone that way.) It is like skimming on top of a layer of ice with no friction or drag. Adam can then switch at will to singing with power in his mid-range. He expands his chest for added resonance in the low harmonics but still focuses the sound in his mask for the ring and brilliance. If he adds vibrato throughout it has a more classical, musical theater sound. If he squeezes, it sounds more gritty and rock. If Adam wants a more pop-y sound in his low and mid-range when he is not powering up the notes, he adds a certain breathiness to the sound so it has less prominent ring to it. You can hear an example of this with the Idol performance of Mad World at the beginning. He also does that at the beginning of ROF. It can also sound more sexy with that breathy tone. The point is, it is all intentional and stylistic. Well, with the exception of a few of the very early morning radio promo performances. Then, it is intentional, but it is to protect a voice that is not warmed up. If he were to push for power without being sufficiently warm, it would damage his voice, so he is taking it easy and singing lightly not for stylistic reasons but for safety reasons. And, when he is singing lightly you may hear less ring because, to be gross, not all the crud has drained out of his head after sleeping, so there is less of an air chamber in his head and sinuses to create that clear ring. Hope that answers your question. |
|
|
|
Post by butterknife on Nov 25, 2012 10:33:44 GMT -5
Today I listened to two different versions of NCOE again.. gosh... still goosebumps.. shivers down the spine..... who the hell sings like that sitting on a stool.. just fuckin awesome I noticed his voice sounds so different. The first one is smoothier the second one he added some..er...grit? (dunno know the right word :() to make it more rock-ish. Is this a stylistic choice? (Sometimes just makes me wonder what happened to his voice -___-) Yes, it is a stylistic choice for Adam. (For many other singers the grit is from straining to hit a note or sing loudly. It is produced by tensing the vocal cords and forcing air thru them. NOT good for the cords, and can lead, long term, to damage.) Adam, on the other hand, accomplishes the effect thru squeezing his tone. It is done with the neck muscles, not the vocal cords, and is, therefore, not damaging to the voice. At least that is what vocal coach and opera singer Angelina has explained to me. Adam has a depth of technique to color his voice in many ways. I would say his "natural" tone is that light, pure sound we hear that just floats. He is using technique to focus the sound into his "mask" or the front of his face and sinuses. When done correctly, it takes very little effort. (The effort comes in the hours of practice to learn how to focus the tone that way.) It is like skimming on top of a layer of ice with no friction or drag. Adam can then switch at will to singing with power in his mid-range. He expands his chest for added resonance in the low harmonics but still focuses the sound in his mask for the ring and brilliance. If he adds vibrato throughout it has a more classical, musical theater sound. If he squeezes, it sounds more gritty and rock. If Adam wants a more pop-y sound in his low and mid-range when he is not powering up the notes, he adds a certain breathiness to the sound so it has less prominent ring to it. You can hear an example of this with the Idol performance of Mad World at the beginning. He also does that at the beginning of ROF. It can also sound more sexy with that breathy tone. The point is, it is all intentional and stylistic. Well, with the exception of a few of the very early morning radio promo performances. Then, it is intentional, but it is to protect a voice that is not warmed up. If he were to push for power without being sufficiently warm, it would damage his voice, so he is taking it easy and singing lightly not for stylistic reasons but for safety reasons. And, when he is singing lightly you may hear less ring because, to be gross, not all the crud has drained out of his head after sleeping, so there is less of an air chamber in his head and sinuses to create that clear ring. Hope that answers your question.  FANTASTIC answer!! Cassie. Thank you so much. I know he is insanely good. But your answer to my question just leaves me in awe of Adam's crazy techniques. I think I have one more question (sorry keep asking questions :-/ ) ... I heard some 'expert' commented that Adam's weak spot in his crazy range is somewhere in the middle register (don't know which note but it is said in the song WWFM that is obvious and maybe the first phrase of first verse in BTIKM as well). I don't know what do they mean by 'weak'. Thanks again. Cassie. |
|
|
|
Post by cassie on Nov 25, 2012 14:24:18 GMT -5
FANTASTIC answer!! Cassie. Thank you so much. I know he is insanely good. But your answer to my question just leaves me in awe of Adam's crazy techniques. I think I have one more question (sorry keep asking questions :-/ ) ... I heard some 'expert' commented that Adam's weak spot in his crazy range is somewhere in the middle register (don't know which note but it is said in the song WWFM that is obvious and maybe the first phrase of first verse in BTIKM as well). I don't know what do they mean by 'weak'. Thanks again. Cassie. Keep asking questions. They bring up interesting topics for discussion. And other readers, please feel free to chime in with answers as well. I am not the only "expert" on singing that we have. I am not sure what they mean by "weak" either. I suspect from what you have written, that they are referring to Adam's passaggio, or the natural "break" in his voice between chest, mixed and head voice. Oddly, many vocalists consider Adam's ability to shift between chest, mixed and head voice seamlessly as a strength, not a weakness. So, what is passaggio? What do we mean by a break in the singing voice? It is like a car that has to shift gears. You start in first gear, but as you pick up speed you get to the point where the engine is revving at maximum and cannot push the car any faster. You then have to switch to second gear. Then third, then fourth. If you do not switch gears at the right point, if you rev your engine too long in low gear, trying to force the car to go faster, you can burn out the engine. Humans have a "low" gear for their voices. It is the voice you use normally when talking calmly. It is also the voice untrained singers use most often. As the singer goes up the scale, he or she (can I just say "he" cuz we are talking about Adam?) will reach a point where he cannot comfortably sing any higher without using a lot of breath to force the note to come out. (It is a similar muscle movement to forcing feces out when you are constipated. Sorry for the yucky analogy.) In order to keep singing up the scale, the vocalist must shift gears. They do so by changing where the sound resonates in their body. First gear the resonance is in your chest. Second gear moves the resonance into your head and sinuses --- smaller resonance spaces for higher notes. It still uses the chest resonance as well. You may see this referred to as mixed or blended voice. As the singer continues up the scale, there reaches a point where he must shift gears again, this time purely or mainly moving the resonance to the head only. (head voice) The sound of head voice is lighter, and generally more ringing than the chest voice. The note or area of the scale where the singer shifts gears is called the passaggio or "break." The goal is to be able to sing the scale from bottom to top without any notable change in the sound of the tone --- without a discernible "break." It would be a bit like shifting a car without revving the engine or stalling it out in the next gear. The sound of the engine is fairly consistent. An untrained singer may be able to shift gears, but the difference in tone is very easy to hear. Like shifting a car from first to third gear with bumpiness and a very different sound to the engine. If he messes up the shift, you hear the "break" as his voice cracking. Or, an untrained singer may not be able to get his voice into the second or third gear at all, and just revs the low gear higher and higher til his voice sounds raw and like a scream. Whew! Are you still with me? Adam's natural "break" between mixed voice and head voice is around a G4/G#4/A4 depending on how warmed up his voice is, what the weather and humidity are, how tired his voice is, etc. In this video, starting at 1:06 on the chorus, Adam shifts to second gear, a light mixed voice. Then, at 1:24 on the word "know", which is the A4, he shifts into pure head voice. Coming down the scale at the end of "myself," the last note switches back to mixed voice on the G4. Then, to chest voice for the verse. Can you hear the difference in the tone? I think that the people commenting on his "weak" area are talking about that shift at A4. When Adam is singing lightly, you can often hear the difference in tone. He is not trying to hide it. In the next version, he sings the high part of the chorus the same as the first version, but at 3:24 he does NOT shift into third gear, but stays in second gear all the way up to the high D5. Can you hear the difference in the power and fullness of the mixed voice? Adam is able to take that mixed voice insanely high when he chooses and is warmed up. Perhaps some people consider this passaggio at G4/A4 as a "weakness" because sometimes you can hear a definite difference in tone. I don't, as I have heard him shift gears without any noticeable difference in tone, and extend his mixed voice thru this range at will. When I hear a noticeable difference in tone it is most often a stylistic choice or a choice to protect a voice that is not warmed up sufficiently. |
|
|
|
Post by cassie on Nov 25, 2012 14:37:46 GMT -5
I am relatively new to this wonderful forum so I missed the old discussion on Adam's vocal. Just wondering where can I find out the old Adam#1 Vocal Master threads? I've been trying but the old link don't work anymore. :( :( :( Any ideas? Thanks. I was hoping someone else would answer you, because I don't know how to access those old threads, and would love to be able to. Anyone? |
|
|
|
Post by rihannsu on Nov 25, 2012 15:23:54 GMT -5
I am relatively new to this wonderful forum so I missed the old discussion on Adam's vocal. Just wondering where can I find out the old Adam#1 Vocal Master threads? I've been trying but the old link don't work anymore. :( :( :( Any ideas? Thanks. I was hoping someone else would answer you, because I don't know how to access those old threads, and would love to be able to. Anyone? Check with Q3 but if they were at the old Adamtopia board I think they got wiped unexpectedly when the host abruptly shut down. I think I remember Q3 saying everything that was still on that site was gone. |
|
Albiku
Member
@Albiku
Posts: 3,021
Location:
|
Post by Albiku on Nov 26, 2012 3:07:09 GMT -5
Cassie... :2tears: :2tears: :2tears: :2tears:
Your explanation about the passagio with examples deserves a medal. From time to time, you could post a video and go into detail with what Adam is doing, like you did with the examples. I loved it. Even better, I UNDERSTOOD it.
Thank you so much. :2tears: :2tears: :2tears: :2tears:
ETA: By the way, I went to my very first opera on Saturday (it was Turandot), and you have no idea how much I enjoyed it. :2tears: The woman who played Liú (Eri Nakamura) was amazing, she got a standing ovation. I loved her so much that as soon as I got home I went to Youtube to find her. It was very, very surprising how very different her voice sounds when it's recorded compared to how she sounds live. If the change in Adam's voice when he's singing live is anything like hers, I can't even begin to imagine how good he must sound. :2tears: :2tears: :2tears:
|
|
Albiku
Member
@Albiku
Posts: 3,021
Location:
|
Post by Albiku on Nov 30, 2012 14:13:28 GMT -5
This is one of my fav performances of Trespassing, and I wanted to ask about the note in 3:26. It sounds different from the way he usually sings the high notes:
What's he doing there exactly, to make that awesome sound? :dunno:
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
Location:
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2012 7:04:44 GMT -5
Sounds like a voice crack to me  |
|
Albiku
Member
@Albiku
Posts: 3,021
Location:
|
Post by Albiku on Dec 1, 2012 9:11:21 GMT -5
Sounds like a voice crack to me :4OMG: :4OMG: :4OMG: Well, to me it sounds awesome! 8-) |
|
Holst
Member
Posts: 4,786
Location:
|
Post by Holst on Dec 2, 2012 21:09:32 GMT -5
|
|
