Creating a great Mix: Tone-matching
In the guitar world, tube amplifiers (the very first kind of amps for guitar that were ever created) have been the sought after tone machines for guitarists.
The issues with valve/tube amps are that they are heavy, too loud when delivering a great tone, require increasingly expensive maintenance, etc. As such, despite sounding great, with the advent of digital technology being so powerful now, people have long been trying to recreate the sound of tube amplifiers in digital products.
These are often referred to as ‘modellers’ as they are trying to recreate a working digital model of an existing amplifier. The advantage of this is that the devices are much smaller, work at any volume level, and virtually no maintenance costs.
Tone-matching
Nowadays there are products that can do live tone-matching with an existing tube amplifier.
What this entails is that the modelling system is hooked up to an existing amplifier and it runs various listening diagnostics to the amplifier to try and mimic the amp as closely as possible, in terms of tone, feel, etc.
This is super-important that the digital model not just sound the same as the original amp, but that the model FEELS the same as the original, as the closer all those factors are to the original, the less of a discrepancy there is in the digital model from the original amp… thus rather than creating something that elicits the response of “oh, that’s a convincing copy”… people are left completely unaware they are even listening to something other than the original – the tone-matched model and the original amp sound become essentially one and the same thing.
What has this got to do with singing?
We’ve talked a lot about chest voice in previous articles (because a solid established TRUE chest voice is of critical importance in building a voice). Now let’s consider this tone-matching analogy in guitar amps, but apply it to voice.
What guitarists are trying to do with modellers, is to take something that sounds a beautiful way NATURALLY, and try to emulate that in a domain that does NOT naturally sound that way. It takes time and repeated analysis, constant tweaks, to slowly get the tones to match.
The Voice is the Same
In the same way, once the true chest voice of a given singer is established in that singer, we have the “original” sound that we are looking to recreate everywhere in the voice. Our goal is therefore to tone-match that sound as we develop the functional ability to move through the rest of our voice and our bridges. Remember, we cannot drag ACTUAL chest voice up incredibly high. Attempting to do this is why so many people injure their voice. We have to do so with correct function first, then slowly tweak, like the guitar modeller example.
We develop functional ability to move through the voice first, but increasingly tone-match note by note from chest through the start of the bridge and upwards, making sure that each ascending note matches the one before it, both in terms of tone and feel (and certainly control of volume, though that takes time). If even one note is not matched to the extent given above, the consistency of the mix is lost.
The better the tone-match as we progress through the voice, the better the sound… AND the feel for everyone involved. For the singer, for the audience, for everyone. Once you can start to tone-match your upper register to your true chest voice, high notes stop SOUNDING or even feeling that high.
Of course the pitches being sung are still high in an absolute sense. But the lack of feeling like the singer is reaching, the evenness of timbre, the fact that the notes still sound like chest… these all mean we are psychologically primed to recognise the sound as chest. In turn, it therefore “feels” like those notes are in a comfortable range (as both singers and listeners).
This is huge
THIS is one key attribute of developing a great mix. Once the chest voice is established appropriately, tone-matching that quality throughout the range is what breeds a solid, powerful and expressive, mix. Few ever take the time to get that granular about their voice and any mix that may be established, but countless testimonials of my clients show that it is very possible and absolutely worth it.
If you’d like to book in and experience this vocal transformation for yourself, please do click the link below. I’d love to start work with you.
Uptown Funk – Mark Ronson
Uptown Funk
Another AWESOME funk-laden masterpiece – Uptown Funk – from the master mixer Mark Ronson and legendary voice smith Bruno Mars. Things have been pretty quiet from Bruno in the intervening year since the amazing Superbowl half time show from Mr Mars, so it was great to hear him back.
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It’s so much like James Brown it’s unreal. 100% up to date, but also so retro – I love it. Check it out on repeat like I did
Stevie Wonder – For Your Love
The last few weeks I’ve been listening to lots of Stevie Wonder – he is an absolute monster songwriter and vocalist. This one is particularly excellent. In particular, check out the epic key changes and effortless pure high notes towards the end. The man is unbelievable.
I should also point out that he is a long-time student and friend of Seth Riggs – if you want to know more about Seth and his contribution to the progression of vocal technique (trust me, it’s important!) then just click here.
Love it.
Bruno Mars – Runaway Baby
Great artist, great tune, great performance.
Bruno (real name Peter Gene Hernandez) has only had one album to date, entitled ‘Doo Wops and Hooligans’ released in late 2010, but it’s pretty epic as a first offering. He’s currently getting a new album recorded and I plan on picking it up as soon as it’s out.
Reggae?
His debut album features a variety of tunes all with reasonably different styles, but all have a distinctive Hawaiian/reggae backdrop… you might think I’m making that up, but if you listen closely it’s a common theme running through almost every track and this is even admitted by Bruno himself in a few interviews, citing growing up in Hawaii as a major influence in his lifestyle and writing.
Here’s a thing or three…
Focusing on a few of the tracks:
– ‘Just the way you are’ – This has arguably been the most successful song from the album. It’s a feel-good anthem played at weddings across the world in the last few years. The melody on the chorus is really simple, memorable, and the last line is a good ‘hook’ that really sticks in your mind. I like it anyway!
– ‘The Other Side’ – The amazing Cee-Lo Green features in this track (Cee-Lo will be featured in a later blog post) and it is a stonkingly cool track. Artistically, I like the way the lyrics say very little, but you paint a whole world in your mind. Technically, the melody of the chorus is stupendous, as it 100% out of chest voice… not a single note in chest voice, and it goes a good octave about chest voice too. But you’d never know, Bruno just makes it sounds as effortless as he was telling you about it… amazing.
– ‘Runaway Baby’ – The song linked to above is the song that sold me on Bruno Mars and made me buy his album. I’d heard ‘The Lazy Song’ which I really don’t like (sorry!) and that turned me off, but then I heard this and saw this performance and it made me want to hear more of this guy. Great thing about this is how catchy the riff is, and how simple the melody is, but the rhythms are infectious. Love it.
And I’ll leave you with…
The best thing about Bruno (I feel) is how he marries technical ability with songwriting ability and has brought that out into the market relatively late in his life. He was in his mid-20s before he started to make waves across the world, which is late by some standards, but had been a successful songwriter in his own right for other artists. I think that is very encouraging for those who harbour desires of a musical career but think that because they are not 18 anymore then they can’t make it. Bruno stands apart and shows that this isn’t true. His technical ability is amazing, but he uses that to great effect to serve the songs he rights, which are immensely catchy in their own right.
In short, Bruno rocks, have a listen. The songs might seem impossible to some, but with the right guidance they are totally achievable. Also, let me know if there are any other artists you’d like me to look at.