Vocal Instrument Vst

[Lenora Rademacher]

Thefirst step to being successful in Vocal Techniques is understanding that the vocal instrument is the entire body with no external instrument. You cannot see your instrument, take it apart or put it away; it is with you at ALL times! This may be quite an adjustment for the instrumentalist since working with a voice is especially personal. Students might initially feel helpless because they cannot directly control the voice. Over the course of decades of teaching Vocal Techniques, it has become apparent that certain instrumental playing techniques can affect the study of singing, both positively and negatively. I have the unique perspective of being an instrumentalist myself, as I began musical studies on the cello, and taught beginning and middle school band early in my career. Making students aware of how their external instrument affects singing has helped them progress faster during the semester, as well as to gain a deeper understanding of their own instrumental study, making them better educators.

All musical instruments have the first four elements in common in the production of sound. The fifth element is also common but has a different meaning unique to singing. The following chapters of this text are based on these elements.

The brain and neurological system send commands to and receive messages from the body. Because the impulse behind all vocal sound is emotionally and mentally driven, one must consider the role of the brain and nervous system as the motivator of the vocal process.

Sound is created in the larynx as the vocal folds come together. Wind instruments also use air to initiate tone, while other instruments use vibrations in different ways. Piano/strings/percussion all initiate sound by a point of contact with the instrument

The voice is quite unique because the tone is created within the larynx, in a living being, made of membranes, muscles, ligaments, and cartilages. These all coordinate in managing airflow and adducting the vocal folds to create a fundamental tone (buzzing).

The organs of speech (tongue, jaw, cheeks, teeth, lips, hard and soft palates, and dental ridges) coordinate in producing all sounds of verbal communication. This necessitates the in-depth study of diction (how languages are produced) by singers.

The skeletal structure keeps the body from collapsing, much like the frame of a building. Skeletal muscles create movement of the body. Muscles cross over joints and shorten (contract) to move. When a muscle contracts the position of a joint changes. To contract and move in one direction, muscles from the opposite side of the joint must relax.

Muscular antagonism is the balance of muscle tension and relaxation between agonist (prime mover muscle group) and antagonist (opposing muscle group). It refers to the natural muscle opposition that occurs in physical activity. Too much tension in one muscle group inhibits ease of motion.

Like athletes, singers must focus on fitness and exercise, diet and nutrition, and rest. These have a profound effect on the singing voice and of course, are beneficial for all musicians. When the body is healthy and fit you have more energy, which aids the progression of vocal study. Students with low energy levels tend to have more difficulty projecting sound and finding ease in singing. It may be difficult to breathe easily, or their posture is poor because the muscle effort needed to keep the body aligned feels strange or uncomfortable. Singing requires efficient muscle coordination throughout the body. In the torso for breathing, the neck and larynx in creating sound, and the throat and mouth in forming words.

Singers are highly dependent on their respiratory capacity and must learn how to optimize their ability for taking in air and managing it effectively. Many singers, especially young singers, either work too hard to inhale or do not use enough energy. Raised shoulders and noisy intake of breath are signs of excessive tension. Doing physical warm-ups before singing releases tension and creates energy.

Stretch arms toward the ceiling. Make sure your shoulders and neck do not become tense. While the arms are up, lean to the left, reaching the hands toward where the ceiling and wall meet. Feel your side lengthen as you stretch. Inhale, and as you exhale feel yourself lengthen more. Come back to center and stretch the other side. Focus on lengthening the side rather than pulling.

>Whilst breathing is an automatic process, singers can learn to control the flow of air and engage the muscles involved in breathing. An understanding of the diaphragm muscle falling and rising with each breath and how we can connect with this muscle during phonation, enables singers to achieve a smooth flowing sound and better sustain notes.

Also referred to as vocal folds, vocal cords are complex structures, providing a valve for the airways and producing sound as air passes over and they vibrate. When you sing, the folds come together as they vibrate and it is this vibration which makes the sound. The higher the pitch, the faster the cords vibrate. The lower your pitch, the slower the cords vibrate. The vocal cords are protected by the thyroid cartilage and sit within the larynx, also known as the voice box. You can feel your larynx moving by putting your hand on your throat and swallowing.

The larynx is another complex structure of cartilage, membranes and ligaments. It is also very muscular - lifted and lowered by these muscles - you can physically feel this movement by placing your hand on your throat and singing high and low notes. Control and understanding of how to place your larynx when singing is key for different styles of singing.

Tension within the body, particularly the tongue and jaw can affect your singing. Singers often identify tongue tension, jaw ache and neck strains, which has an impact on your larynx as they are interconnected. Identify where your tension lies first and then you can practice releasing the tension through exercises such as tongue rolls and jaw massages.

Bernadette Doyle is Head of Singing at City Academy. As well having shared the stage with many well known performers, including Paloma Faith and Laura Mvula, she is also an artist in her own right. If you want to give your vocal instrument q workout and work on your singing skills, stage craft or songwriting skills, we have a range from courses to choose from:

Microphones can be engineered to emphasize selected audio frequencies, or to de-emphasize selected audio frequencies. For example, many voices have a more pleasing quality when the frequencies in the range of 3,000 Hz (Hertz) to 8,000 Hz are enhanced. The SM57 and the SM58 emphasize this range of frequencies. But apply that same emphasis to a piccolo or violin and the results can sound shrill. This is because the piccolo and violin produce strong acoustical signals in this frequency range. If the microphone adds emphasis in the same frequency range, the result can be unpleasant to the ear. No need to add Tabasco to a recipe that uses habanero peppers.

Microphones can be engineered to easily mount on specific instruments, e.g., saxophones or brass instruments. A mic that mounts to a saxophone may not be comfortable for a singer to hold. And a microphone that is designed to fit a singer's hand would be awkward to mount on a viola. Obviously, the physical size of the microphone plays a major role in this aspect.

To summarize, a microphone that is designated for instruments can certainly be used for vocals, and vice versa. So, it is the microphone's response to audio frequencies and the microphone mounting method that primarily determines if the microphone is better suited for instruments or for vocals.

Velvet Vocal is a fantastic vocal Kontakt instrument that combines over 500 vocal samples in 10 complete song performances sourced entirely from specially recorded pro vocal performances in pristine 24bit audio.

The producer has enlisted a variety of very talented female downtempo vocalists to produce a collection of mellow leftfield vocals, giving this library a fantastic diversity and usability in most genres of music.

This is all packed into a beautiful Kontakt interface for total ease-of use and ultimate sound manipulation.

The Velvet Vocal instrument includes 10 song patches that include verse and chorus phrases from each song. These can be mixed and combined, and by using the two Off-Set controls you can change the starting points of the samples using the waveform display. This allows you to create new phrases and to personalise the existing phrases. These phrases can be manipulated in many ways by the GUI controls including time-stretching or syncing to your host application.

Velvet Vocal also comes fully equipped with a complete FX section that includes chorus, flanger and phaser, compressor, EQ, filter, convolution reverb, overdrive, delay, amp simulator and cabinet simulator.

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