Yo Kids!
Okay, so I'm watching American Idol. I hear them say "Too Broadway", "Too much Vibrato".
Dennis Deyoung wouldn't make it past them because he'd get those comments. I also have a lot of natural vibrato in my voice. It's just... there.
If you listen to someone like Sting, he has ZERO. I like Sting's voice, but it seems colourless at times.
2 questions:
WHY is vibrato a bad thing
How do you get rid of it without sounding either flat or un-colourful

I can see why vibrato can be too much, i overuse it alot...just because i like it so much :P
But it depends on what kind of music it is really. I dont think stings material wud sound too great with vibrato... and then a band like Rhapsody just wouldnt sound right without it.
As Jaime once said to me....its harder to hold a straight note than it is to hold a note with vibrato, and its true...i was baffled why i couldnt hold a straight not well a while back...lol...its because i covered everything up with vibrato. But you just have to practice without it to get it perfect in key...and i think that less is more really, so you may think it is un-colourful without vibrato, but if you sang a few lines in a song without it, and a chorus with it or something, it would have much more impact than all with vibrato or all without vibrato.
And 'another' thing also :P, sting has a nice husky, warm voice with alot of emotion, where as some people who sing straight with a completely clean voice and no emotion that dont sound as good, so it feels like they 'have' to add vibrato.

I have no idea how you would learn how to sing straight if vibrato comes natural to you, because it was the other way around with me.

Lee

I actually don't really like vibrato.I like some musicians that use it,but it's just not my thing.

I think what they mean when they say that is that they have too many fluctuations per second than what is desirable, or that they use it on practically every note.

I agree that many of the songs he's known for display an intentional absence of vibrato, and it did kind of become part of his signature, but Sting can use a seriously intense vibrato when he sings jazzy stuff. It's very fast and usually he just throws it on there at the very tail ends of notes or phrases. It sounds awesome! Listen to a live version of "Moon Over Bourbon Street" or any of the jazzier songs off Sacred Love for an example of what I'm talking about.

This has little to do with your point, but I just wanted to throw that out there because I'm a HUGE fan of Sting. :)

yeah... I wasn't really expounding on Sting so much as just saying that he uses almost no vibrato. It was an example. I like Sting, I LOVE the Police, but singing without vibrato does seem more difficult because it's just there in my voice. Never had to work for it. I would say I've got more the DeYoung vibrato than say, the Stevie Nicks type (real fast)but I hear people say "too much vibrato" every once in a while, so I was wondering how to take it out. Also, it DOES seem harder to hit a pitch correctly without it, which I never noticed before until I read the reply above.

Well if they meant it was too fast, then i can see their point. I really cant stand fast vibrato...it just doesnt sound nice and flowing to me. It just sounds too shakey.
I have no idea how you would unlearn it though :P
It took me about a year to learn it haha

read the post above yours... it's not too fast :)

Do you like your vibrato? If you do, don't worry about it;) Otherwise, do what I said with the tuner in our email.

JV

I Like it, but I can see where it might be considered too much or sound too old. Hey, I'm 44...