Singer

Most musicians will agree that singing is the most vulnerable way of making music. At the same time, that vulnerability makes vocals a great vehicle for expressing and evoking emotion. When it comes to singing with emotion effectively, there’s one thing that’s absolutely essential: connection.

Your band is ready to record that long-awaited album and finally step into the recording studio. Whether you’re recording at home or in a professional studio, the question is: what can you expect and what should you look out for? If you’re the lead vocalist, how can you ensure that you and your band deliver the best possible performance and come away with great recordings?

Instrumentalists aren’t the only ones who get to improvise. Vocalists can do it too, ranging from adding subtle vocal embellishments to scatting or even all-out improv. In this article, we’ll be taking a closer look at the various ways you can improvise and inject ad-libs.

For singers, rehearsing with the band can be a real struggle when they can’t get their vocals to punch through the mix. Fortunately, there are a few things that you and the rest of the band can do to solve the issue.

If you’re about to audition for a band, a vocal course or even a TV show, then it’s worth knowing that every audition needs different preparation. In this blog, we offer some tips to help you get ready for every audition, and also give you some things to think about before you dive into your performance.

If your body and your breathing aren’t balanced, your sound won’t be on-point. For any singer or brass musician, correct breathing is essential if you want to achieve the purest notes. More importantly, musicians in general can definitely benefit from maintaining balance in their body and breathing. Finding that balance is not as easy as it sounds but, while it does take a lot of practice to get it right, the returns are immense, allowing you to play or sing using every cell in your body.

In an earlier blog about vocal damage, we talked about how you can prevent damaging your voice by using the right vocal technique. But, besides using the wrong technique, vocal damage can also be caused by external factors. In this blog edition, we look at what those factors might be and how you can avoid vocal issues. In short, this blog is all about how to keep your voice healthy.

The vocalist of any band always has the most vulnerable position. Not just because they’re usually standing up front, but because the voice is such a delicate instrument. The voice has no volume knob that can be turned all the way up and, as a band, that’s something you need to take into account. Support your singer and you’ll be a better band because of it.

Extreme vocals seek out the limits of your voice. Whistle tone refers to singing in the highest registers that the human voice can achieve while overtone singing is something completely different – it’s also a little bit easier to learn. Then there’s diplophonic singing which is something different again. Here, we take a look into the more mysterious side of vocal techniques.

Are backing vocalists simply failed lead singers? That’s a hard no for Marjolein Spijkers, who’s one of the most requested backing singers in the Netherlands. For thirteen seasons, she sang on the popular Dutch TV show ‘Ik Hou Van Holland’, and she was one of the original Frogettes (backing vocalists for big-name Dutch singer, René Froger). She has also performed at big venues, including the Amsterdam Arena, and knows exactly what is asked of a professional backing vocalist. Comparing the job to being part of the brass section,, Marjolein believes that “backing vocals are an integral part of any live show.”

In our series on vocal technique, we’ve looked at singing with and without compression quite a few times, but we haven’t touched on one part of it yet: the transition from singing with compression to singing without compression and the voice break that comes with it. Read on and learn how to deal with it.

Pain, hoarseness, losing your voice or even developing a lump or polyp on your vocal cords: these are all some of the greatest fears of any singer. So, how can you best protect your voice and prevent damaging your vocal cords? And if you are having vocal issues, how can you get rid of them? Rather than fearing that you’ll never be able to sing again, the first thing to do is trust the healing ability of your own body and take the time to relax every moment you get!