To produce a vocalist well, you need to understand the instrument: what voices can do, where they are strong, and how to talk about it. This chapter covers range and registers, the vocabulary singers and producers use, and the basics of vocal harmony.
Voice types
Classical music sorts voices by range:
- Soprano - the highest female voice.
- Mezzo-soprano - middle female voice.
- Alto (contralto) - lowest female voice.
- Tenor - highest common male voice.
- Baritone - middle male voice.
- Bass - lowest male voice.
Popular music is far less rigid, and many singers do not fit neatly into one category. The labels are still useful shorthand for where a voice sits.
Registers
A voice has registers - ranges where it is produced in different ways and sounds different.
- Chest voice - the lower, fuller register used for speaking. Powerful and warm.
- Head voice - the upper register. Lighter and brighter.
- Mixed voice - a blend that lets trained singers carry power higher without breaking.
- Falsetto - a breathy, light upper register, especially in male voices. Intimate and fragile.
- The break (passaggio) - the transition between registers. Untrained voices may crack or flip here.
Finding the range
Ask the singer to sing a simple scale or siren from their lowest comfortable note to their highest, and note both. Then find where the voice sounds best - often not the extremes but the upper-middle, where it has power and colour. That is where the most important lines of the song should sit.
Vocal vocabulary
These are the terms you will use in sessions:
- Vibrato - a regular, slight variation in pitch on sustained notes. Some styles use lots; others want straight tone.
- Straight tone - no vibrato. Common in pop, indie and electronic music.
- Runs and riffs (melisma) - several notes on one syllable. The signature of gospel and R&B.
- Belting - powerful, high chest-dominant singing. Musical theatre, pop climaxes, soul.
- Breathy tone - air audible in the voice. Intimate, soft.
- Vocal fry - a low, creaky sound at the bottom of the voice. Used for texture at the start of phrases.
- Scoops and fall-offs - sliding up into a note or down off it.
- Ad-libs - improvised phrases, usually between or over main lines.
- Diction - the clarity of consonants and words.
- Phrasing - how a line is shaped: where breaths are, which words are emphasised, how notes are timed against the beat.
Using this vocabulary lets you give precise direction: "straight tone on the verse, a little vibrato on the last word of the chorus".
Harmonies
A harmony is a second vocal line sung at a different pitch alongside the melody.
- Thirds - a third above or below the melody. The most common and natural harmony - sweet and blended.
- Sixths - a sixth below is the same note as a third above, an octave lower. Rich and warm.
- Fifths - open and powerful, but can sound hollow on their own.
- Octaves - the same melody an octave up or down. Adds power without new harmony.
Harmonies usually follow the notes of the chord rather than a fixed interval. A harmony that stays exactly a major third above the melody will often step outside the key. Build harmonies from the chord tones: if the melody is on the root, the harmony might take the third; if the melody is on the third, the harmony might take the fifth.
Types of harmonic motion
- Parallel - both lines move in the same direction by the same interval.
- Similar - same direction, different intervals.
- Contrary - opposite directions. Strong independence.
- Oblique - one line holds a note while the other moves.
Do this now
- Find your own range, or a singer's, and note the lowest, highest and best-sounding notes.
- Choose a melody and sing or program a harmony a third above, adjusting it so every note belongs to the chord underneath.
- Add a second harmony a sixth below the melody.
- Write a list of five direction notes for a singer using the vocabulary above.