Ep.34: How to Sing Mix: – Part 2 – What makes a Great Mix?

 

Ep.34: How to Sing Mix: – Part 2 – What makes a Great Mix?

 

In part two of How to Sing Mix, I’ll discuss what mix sounds like, including the differences in the sound of Mix with Classical, Broadway, Rock and Pop singers . Did you realize that Renee Fleming, Sutton Foster, Michael Bolton and Ozzy Osbourne can all be singing in a Mix?

 

In the previous Episode 33, How to Sing Mix part 1, I said Mix is everywhere in the voice. There are several things that must be present for Mix to be everywhere in the voice.

 

 

How to Sing Mix Everywhere in the Voice

 

The vocal cords remain connected and the mass of the cords reduce as the pitch ascends.

 

 

The resonance from the lower register splits and mixes with the upper register in each bridge of the voice. (A register is an area of the voice)

 

 

Maintaining the vertical sound beam produced by the vocal cords keeps the Mix. This includes singing below the first bridge in chest voice. (Watch Ep.33)

 

The vowel narrows little by little as the pitch ascends. It never splats wide on any pitch.

 

How to Sing an Optimal Mix?

1. There’s no tension from extraneous muscles surrounding the larynx. There is no reach, squeeze or pull. The larynx stays resting at the level in the throat where you speak (Speech Level).  As a result the pitch is spot on.
2. Without squeeze from the external muscles, the vocal cords and air from the lungs work easily with a feeling of release and freedom. The cords can sustain either a soft or powerful tone with ideal vibrato.
3. The vocal cords remain connected from lowest chest to highest head voice and back down again. You sing easily through the first and higher bridges with an even, connected tone and balanced vowels.
4. The right breath support is working.

 

Mix Get’s Messy and Confusing

Once the above foundation is laid, the Mix the singer develops varies. This is because:

1. THE SINGER’S MIX IS OFTEN NOT PERFECT!!!
2. There’s different genres of music. One sings opera, classical or religious repertoire. Another sings rock. Another sings Broadway, another R&B and so on.

 

The rock singer may have a higher larynx and use very little vibrato. The pop singer’s larynx is not as high and maybe adds more vibrato. A broadway singer varies depending on the style of the show.  A classical singer has a lower larynx with a lot of vibrato. All are in a variety of Mix.

 

Listen to how different these 4 singers sound singing in a Mix. [Examples from Renee Fleming, Sutton Foster, Michael Bolton, Ozzy Osbourne]

 

 

Can you hear that they’re all in Mix even though it may not be a perfect mix?

 

The mix foundation is the same, the application varies because of the lyrics, style, emotion and the language.

 

3. Sometimes professional or gigging singers get in vocal trouble and don’t have the luxury of time to develop an optimal mix. They get their mix as good as possible in the time available, and keep refining and improving it lesson by lesson.

 

Mix is masterful because it gives you the ability to sing whatever you love, any genre, while maintaining a healthy voice even into your golden years.

 

Mix is a vocal type. Do you know your vocal type? I’m not referring to whether you are soprano, alto, tenor or bass. Your vocal type is what you tend to do when you sing.

 

Visit PowerToSing.com and take the vocal test which I call the PowerTest. Take the quiz and discover your vocal type. Then visit the Knowledge Center and watch the videos about your vocal type and download the exercises designed to help you get closer to the ideal Mix.

 

To see more examples of famous singers singing in Mix, watch the video Mash-up of Mix Singers in the Knowledge Center.

 

I’m Chuck Gilmore with Power To Sing. You can sing higher, with beauty, confidence and power.

 

I’ll see you inside the next video.