The Vocal Challenges Facing Different Voice Types: A Complete Guide
When it comes to understanding your voice, it’s easy to get caught up in surface-level metrics: your vocal range, how high or low you can sing, or what genres seem best suited to your voice. But these markers are only meaningful after training—and they can all change with the right guidance. Instead, there’s one deeper trait that underpins many of the vocal challenges singers face: the weight of the voice.
In this guide, we’ll explore:
- The unique vocal challenges faced by weightier voices
- The corresponding issues that lighter voices encounter
- How both types can sometimes fall into traps usually associated with the other
Weightier Voices: What Their Vocal Challenges Are
Many singers focus on range or genre fit, but the true starting point is something more foundational—the weight of the voice. This is a cluster of traits, but primarily includes:
- The pitch of your speaking voice (higher or lower)
- The resonance of your speaking voice (amount of low vs high frequencies)
These give an impression of the voice’s natural muscularity and resonance profile.
Three Challenges of Weightier Voices
1. It’s more physical work to sing well
Weightier voices often have thicker vocal folds or generate more low-frequency resonance—or both. Hitting notes with power is often easier, but getting to those notes is much harder. Vocal folds in these voices must contract more firmly, making singing more physically demanding.
2. They are prone to yelling
Thicker vocal folds send a wider frequency spectrum into the vocal tract. This increases acoustic pressure, which can disrupt vowel shaping. Less experienced singers often end up yelling to relieve the pressure, sacrificing tone and technique. Additionally, lower resonant frequencies require more space in the throat to accommodate high notes properly. Without that space, the sound may feel tight or thin.
3. Weightier voices tend to need to be louder
These voices often resist being sung quietly. Operating below their natural volume threshold can lead to tension or a jammed-up feeling. It’s not about singing loudly all the time, but about maintaining enough vocal energy for optimal function.
Note: Lighter voices can experience similar issues—but for completely different reasons. Diagnosis should be based on how your speaking voice sounds, not just how it feels when singing.
Book a session with me if you’re facing these challenges and want tailored help.
Lighter Voices: What They Struggle With
Lighter voices are the inverse of weightier ones. They often have:
- Less vocal fold muscularity (leading to higher speaking pitch and brighter tone)
- Less low-frequency resonance (often due to smaller vocal tracts)
Think of it like a small-bodied acoustic guitar strung with thin strings: it’s bright, strident, and quieter.
Three Challenges of Lighter Voices
1. It’s harder to get a bigger sound
High notes come more easily, but adding power is more difficult. With less fold mass, there’s less potential for strong contraction—yet identifying and building on what is available is crucial.
2. They are prone to sounding strident or weak
Thinner folds produce fewer, brighter frequencies. While this reduces pressure on the vocal tract, it can also make the voice sound too thin or piercing. Singers may overcompensate by yelling to sound stronger, which distorts tone and tires the voice.
3. Lighter voices tend to need to be quieter
These voices function better at lower volumes. Pushing past a certain loudness can make them jam up or become strident. Power comes not from force, but from focus and resonant shaping.
Again: don’t assume you’re a lighter voice type based on these symptoms alone. Listen to your speaking voice to assess the true weight of your voice.
Book a session with me if you’re a lighter singer facing these obstacles.
When Lighter and Weightier Voices Behave the Same
So, what happens when lighter voices sound like weightier ones—or the reverse?
Singers Are More Than Their Instruments
While the challenges above are based on mechanics, singers are problem-solvers. They often try to fix vocal issues through their own adjustments, which can backfire.
Volume Adjustments
- A weightier voice trying to quieten itself might sound thin and weak—like a light voice.
- A lighter voice trying to bulk up may over-sing and run into the same vowel shaping issues as a weightier voice.
Range Adjustments
- Weightier voices struggling with high notes might lighten up to reach them, leading to thin or overly wide vowels.
- Lighter voices trying to sound fuller on low notes may over-muscle, giving a forced and dark tone.
Conclusion
The primary challenges of each voice type are clear, but singers often develop secondary issues by adopting techniques suited to the opposite voice type. These self-imposed adjustments can mask your natural strengths and make your voice feel foreign.
Fortunately, these issues are solvable. The key is understanding your voice’s core identity—and working with it, not against it.
Book a session with me if you’d like help unlocking your natural sound.
I’ve talked before about the worst voice I’ve ever worked with, but recently I’ve been thinking about the better voices I’ve worked with. I wanted to write about the “best” voices I’ve ever worked with, but realised that’s not a helpful definition. So instead I wanted to discuss the singer with the biggest range I’ve ever encountered.
Many years ago…
About 10 years ago, I was working with the singers of a boy band. They were all about 19/20 years old, and all really good singers. Each had their own thing they did well, and each contributed something the other couldn’t.
Now, when we do an initial consultation, we do an assessment on a singer’s voice. From there, I can explain what is going well, what is not going so well, and what we need to do to improve their voice. I will then often go into a lip bubble or other equivalent warm-up if the singer’s voice permits.
With one of the singers, our first session had an assessment that was fairly normal. We identified some issues he had, and we went into a warm-up from there. And when we did the warmup, his voice kept going up without issue. And up… and up…
His voice kept going up to such an insane degree, we ended up at D6. For those who don’t know, that’s above soprano high C. Most female singers would kill to be able to get up there with the ease this GUY was able to get up there. It was bonkers. Continue reading “The Biggest Range I’ve Ever Worked With”
