How do I sing with a much more powerful chest voice like Mark Lanegan?

RockonDanny

I went to see Mark Lanegan last night. He was awesome. He has such as rich, deep and powerful chest voice. I naturally have a low range and a deep voice but as I start to get up to middle C (c4) my chest voice sounds really thin.

Mark Lanegan`s, on the other hand, stays thick and rich.

Most of my favourite singers are pretty similar, (not as thick though). They don`t tend to bother with head voice, it`s all thick chest voice.

So far, I have used the weekend warrior materials and my voice is getting smoother up in the range but down in chest from C3 to E4 it is just not that thick. Pretty thin compared to Mark`s to be honest.

Here is an example of his style - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miM22yylXTY

Not for everyone I`m sure, but I love this sound and would love to add this sort of thing to my style as it really suits the music I write.

I keep pushing it harder but not sure on how to develop this thickness. Do I push the voice harder it or do I do something else?


Thanks guys

Furious_Phil

Chest voice has to be "stretched" over time, not forced. It will gain girth with properly developed resonance as well. This is a training thing over time, and there are no safe shortcuts.
The Weekend Warrior course will help you get the basics down, but if you want to really put the rubber to the road, you'll want to be at least getting the full course.
As I described before, Weekend Warrior is like the sample food you get at CostCo, it is fantastic and whets your appetite for more; the Main course is the actual full-on meal.
Its kind of a natural progression of sorts... I went from full course, to the Pro series as I wanted to develop what I had even further, as I am captured by the adventure of growing my voice to where I always wanted it to be.

Cheers,

Phillip

RockonDanny

Ok, thanks.

As for the pro course, it`s something I`ll think about but first I would like to see more results from Weekend Warrior course. Apart from a little smoothness I`m not seeing too many results just yet, but am trying. Hopefully, something I`m missing will click.

I would like to stretch chest over time to reach like an A4 in chest but for now I`m more bothered about thickening the current chest notes up.

For me I`m still singing in chest voice but it sounds thinner than I would like, how do I thicken that up? and how do you add resonance?

I guess that is my question.

Appreciate the reply

highmtn

Hi, @RockonDanny !

I thnk that what I hear in Lanegan's voice that you are calling "thickness" is a smoky-woodsy sound. That is the sound of a voice that has done what Ken calls "maturating". It matures. That comes after a good while of safe and healthy use of glottal compression to safely distort the voice, while alternating with clean singing.

What we normally refer to in KTVA as "girth" or "thickness" or "weight" is more of a low-frequency component that makes the voice sound "Thicker". Lanegan has a very fine-grit sandpaper sound that makes his voice very interesting. That comes with TIME and proper technique on glottal compression. You can get that without glottal compression, but if you do, you may wreck your voice. You need the glottal compression as a safety net for your voice. Then, in time, you will learn to finesse from overt distortion (at safe levels) to relax into more fine-grit like the smooth texture that makes Lanegan sound so good. Lanegan's voice has maturation. It has the smoky-woodsy sound. Almost like white noise from an audio generator becoming a component part of his voice, overlaid on the notes.

Don't expect to get maturation from the weekend course, because it doesn't even get into the basics of distortion and compression. That's more of a PRO level of development. Weekend Warrior will give you more use of your voice, but it's not the game-changer of the full course. Even with the PRO course, you are talking about some serious time and energy spent developing your voice. You need to get well into Volume 3 level before you have a firm enough foundation in KTVA training to even think about adding distortion to your plate. You need that for the safety of your voice.

RockonDanny

Thanks for the in-depth response. I get what you mean about adding the layer of grit will take time.

It`s a shame the weekend course doesn`t touch on this. It seems like there is a lot missing from it compared to the full course. I probably should have just gotten that one and will probably do so soon.

Can I ask what you mean by `glottal compression`? It`s a term I have heard but have only a vague idea what it means.

As for Lanegan`s sound, I know the grit is something more in the future, but how do I get the deepness on those chest notes that he does, not so much the distortion but the bassiness?

When I hear him sing, say a C4 and other singers sing the same note not only does he have the grit but he has the bass and fatness in their to make it sound strong.

Other singers sound thin in comparison. Is this also glottal compression?

highmtn

Lowered larynx increases "bass". Covered sound increases "dark" sound. Singing in chest voice vs head or thinned tone makes "thickness".

Glottal compression is holding back the air and singing on reduced quantity and reduced pressure / volume. You use that when singing clean and especially when distorting to ensure that you don't oversing and wear out your voice.