Ok so i'm absolutely very very very perfectly pleased with my lower range and mid range. It sounds great, lots of low end, very manly like those country singers.

HOWEVER!

My head voice/higher voice/high range whatever it's called sound wimpy, kiddy, girly, weak you name it but especially kiddy. I know this is true for many people but in my case it is absolutely HORRIBLE!! I'm not happy! I want a manly , full high voice with low end.
So I'm guessing the higher the notes, the more nasal and girly they sound. Does that mean that if I keep increasing my range, the high notes that were once girly will sound fuller and more manly?? Need some motivation here

(BTW NO OFFENSE TO GIRLS )

Ok so I did some research and I came across this site that tells you to use vocal fry to sing whole songs with

http://singing-high.com/turn-falsetto-into-full-voice-and-strengthen-your-mix-voice/

Is there anyone here that has done this before? Will this make your higher notes sound more manly/chesty?

Aha so a chesty head voice is called mix voice? I guess thats what I'm looking for

You didn't really give anyone enough time to reply to you..

RYV doesn't use the term "mix voice" really. However, a lot of methods do, one of the most common ones being SLS. Most methods tell you that you have a chest voice, a head voice and a mix voice. RYV teaches you have a falsetto and a full voice. It's all terminology really!

Before continuing and confusing you with terminology, can I ask you what note onwards you find sounds "wimpy"?"

This might not be what you want to hear, but it's more than likely just underdevelopment in that particular area of your voice..

Hey thanks Melanie and Harris yeah I understand that all those terms are not to be taken seriously
I like to think of the singing voice as one single voice that can be me used with different timbres/inflections/whatever I guess

HuskyHarris I begin to sound wimpy and thin (no offense to wimps ) on I think around D4

but i'm improving every time I do a practice session

My guess is that I have to keep doing Sirens higher and higher so the notes that sound thin now will sound fuller later? (I think I also read about this in the book but that was more like 'the higher you increase your range, the less louder you'll have to sing those high notes that you had sing loud before' or something)

Kinda like Gene Simmons from Kiss....his higher range singing sound consistently chesty and manly

Good mentality to have!

Yeah D5 is around the "bridge" area for most guys and you go into "head voice" around that area usually. I won't go into why as it is very time consuming haha.

Yeah you've pretty much hit the nail on the head! Practice practice practice and it will sound more resonant and "chesty"

Keep at it!

Alright I kinda figured it out I think
I reread some sections of the book and incorporated some non-vocal exercises
I can't do the Bullfrog so I'm doing the Open Yawn...10 mins so far...for keeping the larynx low

So the 'girly voice' that I was talking about (again no offense to girls it's just kinda weird for a big man like to sound like a girl) was just the result from a lot of nasality (DUH)

So whenever I sing higher range stuff now (above C4 for me, where I go from chest to head) I try to keep the tone down, way down and keeping the larynx low, to prevent the sound from getting to my nose and thus from resulting in a nasal tone.

I was inspired by this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsTO3zBXbjI
to incorporate a new exercise in my practice sessions, which is basically to take a phrase/line, start in a comfortable, full, chesty tone and sing that phrase, and then incrementally working upscale with that phrase, while trying hard to keep that same chesty manly resonance (without pulling chest obviously) like how Gene simmons does in the video

It really works!!! I sing a line an octave lower than the original key and I work up to that original key while keeping it non-nasal. I wonder if more people are using this??? It's definitely something different from just working on a vowel

AGAIN GIRLS NO OFFENSE I MEANT NASAL MELANIEJOY YOU RULE!!!

Sounds like a good exercise. Once you get all your chest range more solidified then that foundation will be so much stronger to keep the whole voice together. And have a stronger/fuller sound Visualization is something that might help you too. Visualize your notes and not thinking of them as higher, but more like a different position; as the RYV book says zipping the cords up.
Also to keep your throat open- working with the tongue tension release is something that REALLY helps me. My throat and voice feels so open after massaging all that stress out of there.
Melanie

Hey Hard4,

It sounds to me like you are naturally a baritone or bass-baritone singer. I used to try to sing along to all these tenor singers and think, gosh, my range just sucks......not true at all! My range was just a LOT lower than I thought it was. I can naturally hit a A Flat 2 up to about a G4 with no training. I measured my range and looked it up......NOT a tenor. LOL! I sound real "meaty" in my lower range and my wife always said I sounded best down there......which is great because I love Randy Travis, Alan Jackson, and Johnny Cash. My voice was constatly tired and felt strained because I was singing sooooooo much higher than I was ready for. I put on a Randy Travis cd one day and sang along with every song note for note and my voice didn't feel tired or worn out at all. That was an epiphany for me. Don't let your vocal classification put you in a box. I'm not saying that. Just think of it as your starting point. You might have to train a lot longer to hit some of those higher notes than someone who naturally has a tenor range/timbre. You are probably never going to sound like a tenor in Timbre/tone either. That doesn't mean you won't sound good. You might not sound like Steve Perry, but you can still sound good up there. There are some baritones that can hit some really high freaking notes. Rob Halford comes to mind as well as Geoff Tate. Take heart man. Don't give up. At first your higher range is gonna sound kinda weak. Don't despair.

I hope you don't think I was saying that you can't sing high or that you shouldn't train for it. Just don't neglect that awesome low end that you have. Chicks dig it man.

hahhah! My wife and I were having a bottle of wine the other night and I broke into Your Man by Josh Turner (covered by Scotty McCreary on American Idol). She was nekkid by the time the song was over. hahhahahha!

Hey Ben I love Johnny Cash too! My lower voice probably comes closer to Randy Owen from Alabama though lol
And actually when I sing in my higher range I actually sound quite a bit like Steve Perry or so my friends tell me, I looked him up after some years and yeah I guess I come pretty close
Which is actually not what I want :P and then my friends tell me "you ******* YOU KNOW HOW LUCKY YOU ARE!?"
Thanks for your advice I'm a just keep on training
YOUR WIFE GOT NEKKID?? **** I GOTTA TRY THAT OUT~!!

I'm also guessing I gotta use more diaphragm support

I LOVE Alabama btw! Steve Perry is definately a natural tenor singer. I know a lot of people on this board don't put much stock in vocal classifications, but I think it is important to know, just so you know where you are starting from. I mean if you don't have a low voice, you can only go so low, you probably won't ever sound like Johnny Cash, no matter how much you try. Even if I extend my range to that of a tenor, I'm never going to sound like Steve Perry or Brad Delp. I might hit the notes, but your tonal color is your tonal color. The Ultimate Breathing Workout is great for learning how to breathe and support properly. I wish I had gotten it and mastered it before trying Raise Your Voice.

Don't try it with my wife or we will have a problem. I was just saying that the ladies love those low voices. Barry White anyone? LOL! Just kidding. Maybe you are a tenor. Only you know. Most of those "manly" country singers though are baritones or bass-baritones. Trace Adkins, Randy Travis, Johnny Cash, Alan Jackson, Josh Turner, Keith Whitley, George Strait, Vern Gosdin, Clint Black, Merle Haggard, Jim Reeves, Junior Brown, Kris Kristofferson, Towns Van Zandt, and Waylon Jennings. That is what I think when you say "manly country singer". That is what threw me. I know that every wants to have these amazing high notes, but don't neglect your low end man. I cant even come close to singing like Steve Perry. Man, that would be awesome. I'm not really too worried about it. I sing well and I have a good voice and I sound like me. I'm gradually working to increase my range, but I'm not letting that be my end all be all. I just love to sing. Do you use Jamie's Ultimate Breathing Workout? I just got it three weeks ago and it is really helping me sing much more effortlessly.

You can have a pure head voice, which means no chest at all. And then there is the mix which some refer to. It's more of a higher chest voice. Since you can't always keep the chest activated once you hit the purely head voice notes. And if you keep working at it the mix and head voice will both become stronger. Just remember mix requires chest and head voice does not.
Melanie