If you are worried about your singing technique and a bit down in the dumps this blog will hopefully get you up and running with a few simple exercises and tips. Sining is so central to any culture and to peoples personal lives. You want your voice in tip top shape every time you enter a Sydney Recording Studio. Even if you are not a professional singer, it is well worth your time to learn to utilise this most valuable instrument. After all, you take it with you everywhere you go and in any Sydney voice over studio!
Stay hydrated!
Before anything else, we really need to understand that the vocal chords are a sensitive, functioning part of your body. They are your instrument and you have to look after them in every aspect of your singing technique. A very simple tip is to drink lots of water. This will keep your vocal cords moist so they can easily operate. You can also drink any other water beverage other than alcohol. It is advisable that they are unsweetened also. A warm tea is fantastic. Cold drinks are a bad idea and can tighten up your throat. The best temperature is luke-warm.
Breathing
Equally important and simple as far as singing technique goes is breathing habits. The best way to breath is from your diaphragm. Breathing from the diaphragm will give you far more control and force when you need it. Its better for dynamic range and consistency. It can take a while to get used to using your diaphragm. You should try lying on your back on the floor and place a hand over your abdomen just below your rib cage. When you breath in you should expand from here. Push your hand up as you breath in. Try singing a long note or a scale when you breath out and use this area of your abdomen to support the note. Do this a few times in a row and vary the strength and volume of the note. Experiment with this and become comfortable with this area of the body. It will pay dividends for all your singing habits. Another useful idea is to place a book on your diaphragm and aim to push it out when you breath in. This affects voice artists as well. If you enter a Sydney Voice over studio you want to understand these points.
Posture
One of the more overlooked and simple aspects of singing technique is posture. Maintaining a good posture will do wonders for your projection and strength. Try not to slouch or lean in odd directions when you sing. In order to really maximise your breathing and have a clear passage of air flow you want your back to be straight. A good way of training yourself into this habit is to stand with your back against a wall upright. Try singing in that position. Equally, lying flat on the floor will have the same affect.
Opening up your vowels and mouth cavity. Creating space in your mouth provides room for resonance. Ideally you want to practice keeping your tongue on the bottom of your jaw and away from the soft palette. The best way to do this is to open up your vowels and in particular sing the sounds “ah” and “uh”. This will automatically give you the goal of opening your vowels.
Once you have become accustomed to the feeling of an open jaw, try singing A-E-I-O-U with your jaw open in the same way. This singing technique will certainly feel odd at first but you will discover that it gives you much more flow and clarity when you begin to sing with this in mind. Of course there are exceptions in certain phrases and styles of music but generally and open jaw will give you more projection. No matter how fancy the microphone, without correct projection no Sydney Sound Studio can help you.
The position of your chin
One of the more challenging aspect of control is keeping your chin parallel to the floor while singing. Odd as it may sound, we do have a tendency to raise the angle of our chin when we are reaching for higher notes. This unfortunately restricts the vocal chords and does the opposite of what we actually want. While it takes practice, it is certainly worth while and helps your over all control and strength.
Extending your vocal range
Once you have initiated all the above steps you can begin to think about extending your vocal range. Don’t rush this part of your singing technique! Firstly, find you range and know your limits. Don’t push out new notes and strain yourself. It is important to be comfortable with the range you already have and sing the highest and lowest notes with smoothness and clarity. When you have eliminated any airy-tone, you can begin to expand the range. Any new note should come gradually (most likely in semi-tones). Don’t add a new note until you have mastered all the notes in your range. There are safe ways to expand your range with a teacher. Get all the advice you can in this area and remember to proceed slowly with adequate warm ups. Make sure you warm up before entering a recording studio. There is nothing worse than pressing the record button and realising your vocal chords are tense, un-lubricated and strained.
Different areas of your voice
Transition between the different voice areas. Your voice is made up different areas.
- The male voice has 2 different areas: The middle voice and also Falsetto. The middle voice is the lower, deep chesty voice and the falsetto is a thinner higher range.
- The female voice however has 3 segments: the chest register, the head register, and the middle register. These refer to the area from which the notes come in the body. The areas they resonate most
- ◦ Head voice is where you sing high notes, they will literally resonate in your head. Try placing your hand on the top of your head as you sing these notes and notice the vibrations up there. Likewise, the chest voice is where you sing lower notes, they resonate in your chest. The middle voice – other wise known as the mixed voice – is the area between your chest and head. It is the cross over area and requires work in order to create smooth transitions.
- As you move from high notes to lower notes, you need change from head to chest voice. You will actually feel the notes moving up towards your head or down to your chest as you sing. Do not strain or try to keep notes in the same place as you ascend or descend, you want them to move through the different areas as this will create less strain.
Persisting with what you have learned
Save the above pointers on singing technique to your hard drive, sing daily and in a matter of weeks you will actually see progress. You will soon have the confidence to enter any Sydney Recording Studio ready to record a hit song.