If you’re 40 years old or younger, pop music may have ruined your voice! What do I mean? Well, since about 1980, we’ve been hearing pop music voices a certain way. A certain PROCESSED way. When we, the listening audience, hear pop music voices, they have been processed in the studio before you hear them in the finished product. They have been compressed, limited, EQ’d, pitch changed/corrected, doubled, and have added reverb and/or echo on them. You hear a VERY processed voice when listening to singers! This, in itself, is not a problem. The problem exists when you try to emulate that processed sound you hear when you sing! You start singing in a more breathy voice. You also sing with a high laryngeal posture – pushing the larynx upward in your throat. So what’s the problem? Both of these singing techniques introduce muscle tension to the larynx (which houses your vocal cords). The combination of a breathy voice with high laryngeal posture may have you sounding more like the pop artist you just listened to, but you’ve introduced so much tension into your singing voice that you probably can’t sing more than a couple songs. You may have noticed your “vocal stamina” is reduced. You may notice a more frequent sore throat when you sing. Your range may have started to shrink. Why is this happening?? Because you are trying to sound like a “finished product” rather than the human singer that you are. Know that in the studio, when the singers you hear on the songs you love are singing, they don’t sound like a finished product, either!! They’re only human – like you! It’s the engineers and producers that create the finished voice product – not the singer!
I have helped many singers unlearn this breathy voice with high laryngeal posture (see my other blog post “Working With Established Singing Artists”). It starts with fully engaging your vocal cords when singing, not holding them slightly apart to get that breathy sound. This relaxes muscles which you are typically holding tight. Then, we perform exercises to help you lower your larynx when you sing. Not so low that you sound like an opera singer – unless you are one – but gently helping your larynx get back to neutral position. This helps you relax even more muscles that you have been holding tight. The result? Your voice sounds like the “natural” you, not a processed version of you. And even more, you get back your vocal stamina, your vocal range, and no more sore throat! You can sing again!
So, stop trying to sing and process your voice all at the same time. How about you do the singing, and let the studio people deal with the processing? Let your voice flow without any tension or pretense. You be you. Like a true artist, there can only be one of you, right?