Really good vids, especially Dies Irae

What is your comfortable range? Can you reach the full bass register? How did you develop the vocal range? I'm asking as someone who is a bass-baritone, but I can also reach very high with falsetto. I haven't really braved to actually do anything with it or even develop it further, because I really didn't come up what I could could with. But you gave at least some inspiration. Enough to consider seeking lesson and rehearsing again.

Glad I could help inspire! My strongest range is C3-A4 in my full voice. A lot of times the lower range depends on the day, but I can comfortably sing strong G's and on good days drag it down to Eb. I classify myself as a baritenor. I've been singing for 20 years and studied it professionally as well as performed professionally for years. It really just takes years and years of practice and constantly listening to yourself to see what you sound like objectively. Definitely try to see what you're capable of! You cant know unless you try those projects you think about doing.

I can easily go to F#2, E2 on a good day, but I dont actively practice currently, work and engineering studies eat my days. I got naturally really booming voice.

I just wonder should I just try to find a teacher who would be intrested in helping me out. Because I'm kinda ashamed of daying that I want to use my whole range. I have naturally very good skills when it comes to my voice, as in mimicry and bending it to very odd uses. Just the teacher I had for a while was very stiff, and that was like 10 years ago and he kind put me off of getting lessons.

It's not about finding a teacher, it's about finding the RIGHT teacher. That can take years to fine the right person who is able to vibe with you in a way that makes you excel. Look at your local universities or even community colleges to see what their vocal departments have to offer

Violin player here, so I know absolutely zero when it comes to choir. What do you mean by your lower range depending on the day? Is it a morning vs. night type of thing?

Yeah think about what muscles are active at different parts of the day you can always sing your lowest when you wake up because of how relaxed the throat muscles are

Can you walk us through your process? Is there an order you like to do your vocals, for example?

I start by sequencing the orchetsra parts, usually starting with the strings. After I'm done sequencing I set up my vocal template. Usually 3 or 4 tracks on each section. I start with bass and work my way up. After everything is tracked I just throw some hall reverb, pan the choir parts left and right to their prospective sections and a light choral eq and thats really all it takes. Sequencing takes the longest but tracking usually only takes a day or 2. Once everything is done I then record the videos and sing along with the parts, sync them up with the audio, and then its done!

What software do you use?

Logic Pro for audio and final cut for video

How did you build up your falsetto to have that female head voice sound? (It's not quite like a countertenor or sopranist, but it's close.) Do you do anything different when mixing the falsetto vs. modal voice?

I've worked hard on my falsetto over many years to give it as much of a feminine quality as I can it's all about tone placement and how the vowels are shaped/rounded. And zero difference on mixing. All there is is some EQing for the entire chorus with reverb/panning but not for individual sections. What you hear is what it is!

• Do you share a birthday with a composer (I share one with Handel, which is why I ask)?
• What's the biggest challenge of doing all the parts? What's the biggest technical challenge regarding these videos?
• Have you considered doing a John Rutter piece?
• Who are your favorite famous singers?
• As a fellow singer, I have to ask this - what is the craziest story you have from a performance/audition/voice lesson?

Wow what a list!

• The only musician I share a birthday with is Bon Jovi, no one else unfortunately

• Definietly matching all the consonants. Making sure all the T's and S's all match up when tracking. That and the super high soprano notes can be killer on certain vowels. The videos can be frustrating since I do each one in 1 take. If I do 1 word wrong, i have to start over and redo the entire thing because I know it wont match up with the audio

• Have you considered doing a John Rutter piece? I havent but I can definitely consider it. I want to start doing contemporary a capella arrangements of popular songs

• Who are your favorite famous singers? Funny enough, I grew up as a metal head. So my biggest inspirations when I was young were people like Serj Tankian, Maynard James Keenan and Jonathan Davis

• Oooo good one. So many stories. The dumbest question I've ever been asked is I was busking with my cello and singing and a woman literally asks me "is that your voice?" While she is LITERALLY 4 feet away from me watching me sing. I've also had my crotch grabbed on stage by a 400 pound bachelorette who took a gag bit way too far. Also had some one come up and push me off my piano to start playing his own thing when I was in the middle of a set when working a dueling piano show. Many more stories but those are the first few that pop in mind.

This may not be your thing, but think you'd consider a similar take on Bohemian Rhapsody? Love what I've seen cool stuff. Well, helps being a Mozart Requiem fan.

I did a quick cover of the intro to it on my instagram a few years back but I havent tackled the whole thing from the sheer amount of instrumentation. I've performed Queen countless times throughout the years, but never a full choir version. I have one of Somebody to Love but havent yet published it.

If you do Duel of the Fates by John Williams I swear I’ll spread your channel

I thought about doing it but the only issue is finding a recording with no vocals already. Or sequencing the score myself which is hundreds of dollars

Watched the Dies Irae and Hallelujah-- some of the (all female) sopranos in our chorus struggle to project on the high notes in Hallelujah so I was simultaneously impressed and pained to hear that one.

I'm also a little in the baritenor range (sing baritone in one community choir, 2nd tenor in another), any specific exercises you recommend to help make the tenor high notes a little easier and stronger?

Thanks! The Hallelujah was insanely hard to pull off. Focus on that passagio. Work on bringing your falsetto notes lower and your full voice higher. Dont jump right into the high notes in warm ups. True warm ups really can take HOURS before your voice is fully adjusted. Focus on your core support as well. Being a tenor is not easy if your voice is not naturally that high, but it IS obtainable

^{I have one question.}

HOW?

Starts with P and rhymes with Cactus

Picactus?

Plactris

I’m terrible at singing and have no idea what pitch, singing in key, tone, etc means.

How do you recommend I spend my quarantine time in order to get better - at least to be able to sing along with friends during karaoke?

Most important thing is to record yourself. Record everything you sing and force yourself to listen to what you're doing. Everyone always hates listening to themselves on a recording but it is absolutely essential to improvement. So practice to yourself! Listen if you are flat, sharp, or what doesnt sound quite "good". That would at least help your ear develop to what your abilities really are.

Great advice! I also downloaded one of those tuner apps on my phone and have tried matching notes. I’ll play a C for example but hit a C# when I try to sing it back. But I don’t really know how to lower my note... I try and I’ll get like an A instead...

Tuners for voice are unreliable because the voice fluctuates so much that it is nearly physically impossible to sustain the exact hz of your note so it moving around is completely normal

thank you - your videos are amazing and your voice is absolutely amazing, btw!

Thanks!

Damn, I don't even know if a note is sharp or flat lol.

I once got barred from karaoke at my local.

Sharp is higher, flat is lower. Theres nothing wrong with signing in the key of off! Just tell people you're singing in a non-western tuning system ;)

Any chance you could take a crack at something like Spem in Alium? What are your favorite less-known choral works? Thanks!

I could definietly consider it. I'm running out of the popular ones, so I'll definitely start branching out soon. I'll consider that! I'd love to try tackling some Ligeti like the Lux Aeterna or something ambitious like that. Soooooo many voices and crazy counting

What color is your toothbrush?

White sonicare

Who’s your favorite contemporary choral composer?

Whitacre has really been dominating these last 10-15 years. Puts's operas have also been pretty significant.

I played Lux Arumque in my high school symphonic band, I had no idea Eric Whitacre was contemporary. Mind blasted.

Oh yeah hes only 50

And I’m almost 30. Mind. Blasted.

29 here buddy I feel ya

And ohhh that hair

Liquid curl definer, hydrating spray, and styling mousse

Have you done any Whitacre pieces as your one person choir?

Not yet but hes one of my next projects!

Who would win in a singing competition? You or Andy form the office?

Depends if we're singing 5000 candles in the wind or sex hair

What's your vocal range?

On my best day about Eb2 to B5

Given your extensive experience in a capella, what's your opinion of Jacob Collier's work?

Brilliant theoretical mind, but I kinda look at him in a way where if he was an artist he could say "oh that color is KD#55687" and my thought is ok so? Being a theory nerd I respect his analyses but ultimately it ends up being a party trick in many ways. (Yes I know that opinion may be controversial to many people) Great artist with a great mind, but ultimately not the way I generally approach music

What's your setup?

Focusrite 18i8, a couple carotid and condenser mics, depending on what instrument I'm recording. Mostly Audio Techinca mics. iMac and Logic Pro X and Final Cut. Presonus Eris 8 inch monitors.

Setup https://imgur.com/gallery/K0kCClF

hi! ive significantly lost the bulk of my falsetto in the past few years. i know i should get a teacher but its not in the budget at the moment. any tips on opening up my falsetto?

YAWN. Do yawns starting at your highest note and slowly sigh down to where your voice wants to crack. Feel how your muscles and throat readjust when you are making your yawn sound and isolate that openness. Short of hearing your voice that's the most basic tip I can offer. Practice speaking in it as well!

thank you !!!! another question : have you ever heard of / used the linklater technique? if so any thoughts about it?

Never heard of it but I'll check it out

Can we hear your normal talking voice? And what's your guilty pleasure to sing in the shower?

Heres a video of me talking to a crowd for a lesser singing voice and yelling. I hope it suffices. https://youtu.be/NqulopIyVdg

And guilty noises in the shower? Tuvan throat singing. Though I'm not ashamed of it at all.

What Tuvan khoomei styles have you figured out? I find a surprising amount of people can get the basics of sygyt, but struggle with producing kargyraa. I can manage both but have trouble keeping real control over overtones and maintaining an unvarying fundamental pitch.

Kargyraa is my favorite to practice to feel and hear how low I can reach the undertone. Sygyt is also a lot of fun to try with multiple pitches on the overtones, but man dissolving the fundamental is SO difficult

How would you recommend someone to train their ear? I’ve been trying for a few months to improve my ability to hear intervals/notes but nothing’s really stuck with me

There are so many websites and apps you can use that take you through solfege, intervals, scales, chords, etc. It really is about constant repetition like learning a language. Just like you learn to gear differences in inflections for phrases, it's the same thing in music. You have to constantly expose yourself to it and consciously say "I recognize that it's a 3rd!" Or "oh these 2 songs have the same chord progression!"

i am deathly afraid of singing in front of other people, yet i consider myself a singer ( lol )

clearly you are FAR past any fear of singing in front of others, but was that ever something you had to get over? im not talking so much about being off key or messing up but the soul bearing vulnerability of singing. was there ever a turning point where something changed and you were confident in sharing your gift?

Personally, I've never had stage fright. I've worked hard at what I do to perform, so I've always looked at performing as my chance to share with people all my hard work. In fact for me, the bigger the crowd, the easier the performance and lwas pressure because rather than say 3 people each having 33% of the total judgement, for a crowd of 100 each person would only make up 1% of the judgement

Any tips and exercises on how to improve intonation? Must be way more challenging when you do a choir piece.

Listen to yourself. Record yourself constant and be hyper critical of when you hear yourself slip out of tune

Hows your Russian? Prokofiev - "Song about Alexander Nevsky" or "Arise, Ye Russian People"

Russian is SO hard to sing but I've always wanted to do a section of Babi Yar from Shostakovich

What are you thoughts on Dimash Kudaibergen? His lowest note hit so far live is C2 and his highest is D8.

My thoughts are that is a metric fuckton of notes

What is one Choral song piece that you wish you could do solo but don't quite have the range to reach?

Personally miserere mei would be my favourite, but i think i would need to clamp my balls in a vice to reach some of those notes.

There are some Ligeti pieces I'd love to do that for now seem nearly impossible

Absolutely amazing voice range how did you achieve that ??

About 20 years of practice

Really incredible work!

Are there any other hobbies or passions you have?

How long have you been singing for?

I'm sure you've spent some time expanding your range, were there any notable difficulties you've had singing in the Soprano range? Especially given the female tone of it?

Lastly, would you like to make a career out of what you've done in these videos?

Really incredible work!

Are there any other hobbies or passions you have?

How long have you been singing for?

I'm sure you've spent some time expanding your range, were there any notable difficulties you've had singing in the Soprano range? Especially given the female tone of it?

Lastly, would you like to make a career out of what you've done in these videos?

Thanks! Music is my main passion in all forms. Composing, performing, arranging, teaching, conducting, even piano tuning. Anythng with music is my passion. I've been singing since I was 8 or 9 so roughly 20 years. Range has been a particular issue for me. there were years in high school when I lost some of the higher falsetto notes due to my voice changing, but it was nothing that didnt come back eventually with proper training and practice. A career? I mean sure singing in my basement and getting paid would be awesome. I have a career in music already but it never hurts to monetize from your own room.

I imagine the neighbors being like "what the FUCK!?!" as they hear the same song over and over and over again... but at different pitches (or whatever it's called...).

Thankfully the neighbors are in their 80s and can barely hear

how does one sing? I am horrible and I always hear from the diaphragm but when I do that and push air out through what feels like that, its very low tone, I have never really gotten proper teaching even in class/high school, anyway videos or anything you could recommend?

Your core is the gas tank. Your diaphragm is the pedal. Think of your core like the bag in a set of bagpipes. Or a balloon that you hold the ends of to slowly let the air out. Its 90% a mental thing that allows the body to make the physical shift

I’m looking to do something very similar! Can you recommend some recording equipment and editing software?

Edit: ALSO can you share a snippet of how you mark up your music?? :)

I record my audio in Logic and edit the videos in Final Cut. I dont tend to mark up my music much. I may circle a few notes or words but in general I like to learn what's on the paper as it is

Thoughts on the prog metal group TOOL?

Tool is fucking badass

What are your thoughts on performers like Nick Pitera and Peter Hollens, who do similar one-person performances but with things like pop music and Disney and musical covers?

I love what you’re doing, by the way. Going to have to spend time tomorrow listening to your videos.

More power to them. I love doing the classical route because I see no one else doing it on their own, but I want to start branching into Disney and what not (without being sued by them of course)

Truly incredible, the power of modern technology, mixed with human will power.
In ages past, it wouldn't matter how much strength or will you had, if you could not organized a group, or find the funding to do so, such a thing would not be made.

Do you have any intentions of creating your own works, something original using you're clearly impressive skills?

I actually have my BM and MM in music composition and am currently working on some cool commissions all involving steel pan and steel pan ensembles integrated with orchestra

Hi. I'm a self-taught vocalist and am most comfortable singing in the style of prog and metal genres (think Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Dream Theater, Avenged Sevenfold, etc.). This type of style encompasses mostly a few types of vocal techniques like grunge, screams and a strong head voice. I also have done some acapella covers with friends. However, I've really struggled trying to achieve the vocal textures in choral music, i.e. the massive resonant 'oohs' and 'aahs', and have a very weak vibrato. I would really like your help with the following:

1. How do you get into choral music? Which composers should I listen to in order to get a good introduction to this?

2. Are there any resources online to self-learn? And how did you begin your own learning process?

3. Any other tips you have for an absolute novice to this style of music?

P.S: I absolutely loved the videos you've done already. Keep up the awesome work and thanks for doing this!

1. How do you get into choral music? Which composers should I listen to in order to get a good introduction to this?

I've been in choirs since I was in middle school so lots of constant exposure. Definietly listen to as much Bach as you can. Some composers off the bat you should try are Bach, Handel, Mozart, Palestrina, Wagner, Puccini, etc

1. Are there any resources online to self-learn? And how did you begin your own learning process?

Countless. The issue is finding someone that is credible and isnt just spreading bullshit. In general, if its free, expect a drop in quality of information. I started learning piano when I was 4 and it has just escalated into a masters in music composition over the years. Good teachers are essential.

1. Any other tips you have for an absolute novice to this style of music?

Literally just make noises. Experiment. Its allowed to sound like shit. Music is almost exclusively trial and error. A composers best friend is the eraser, not the pencil.

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I mean yeah if you have a certain range that fits you into a certain type. Even if you have a rasp rock voice or classical voice, your range is your range. It's fine to have multiple styles, but type I equate with range classification

What is your day job?

Middle school music teacher

This is freaking awesome. Great job!!! I'm a metal guitarist and mediocre vocalist (my timbre is weird). I've had numerous instances where I would love a choir type background for various parts, but obviously I don't have access to a choir. I can match pitch quite well, and I've thought about writing choral sections and doing all of the voices as well.

My question is, when all of your voices are combined, do you feel that weird timbre or not-great sounding power in a certain voice is masked when there are other voices going on at the same time? Or, is your whole range of vocal ability just awesome by itself? Hopefully this question makes sense.

Again, wonderful job, and I love what you did with all of these. I subscribed to your Youtube channel and wish you success.

Thank you! Theres definitely a magical point when tracking when it crosses from just a bunch of individuals voices into 1 solid section. I would say as you would expect, the female parts can tend to be the least qualitative sound on their own but when blended with everything else it ends up balancing itself out. Amazing what some reverb and panning can do

I am pretty late for this, but I'll give it a try.

Are there any pieces that made you say:"Nah, screw this, I cannot do THIS one."?

Any Ligeti piece absolutely terrifies me

Proof: https://i.imgur.com/fWFugWB.jpg

Do you sing in your apartment like the chemist from breaking bad?

He was actually type casted by me

What software do you use to arrange/quantize your videos?

Logic Pro X for recording the audio and Final Cut for the video. I should note theres no quantizing on my vocals, only in the orchestral sequencing.

I tend to be on pitch relatively well, but I failed making my school's top choir because the tone quality of my voice was not good enough. Is there anything you would suggest to help with that?

If you're serious about it, find a good teacher. Its essential to setting up your foundation

First off, this is amazing, great job! Just curious, did you do this out of boredom from not being able to go out? Or was this something you've been wanting to do?

If you check my YouTube page from the links I posted, you'll see I have at least 6 or 7 of these over the last 2 or so years. I do it for fun. It's a unique creative outlet that makes me think I'm not being lazy and doing something creative by not letting my day job take completely over

What happend to your balls?

Quarantine has left them drained, withered, and useless