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To: "'vocalist'" <vocalist>
Subject: FW: QUESTION
Date sent: Wed, 26 Jan 2000 12:59:42 +0100
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-----Original Message-----
From: CAIO ROSSI DE OLIVEIRA [mailto:caioross-at-zip.net]
Sent: 25 January 1999 22:17
To: vocalist
Subject: QUESTION



> According to a friend of mine who is an experienced musician, there's no
way to enhance someone's voice in live performance, although there's a
gadget named > >Vocalist ( oops!! ) that can double, or maybe triple your
voice at a higher or lower octave in order to produce backing vocals.

Your friend is quite wrong. If the voice is reaching the audience through =
a
sound system, the signal (i.e. the voice) can be manipulated, indeed the
sound system is itself manipulation. His statement is only correct if the
singer is not using a microphone.

> Regarding the quality of voices, like Mariah's, Houston's and the like,=
I
really like them,

The discussion surrounded the technique with which they sang, not the
quality of their voices

> though they don't really sing the kind of music I like ( prog metal,
melodic heavy, etc ). It seems to me you shouldn't be so demanding regardi=
ng
their live performances,

> Why on earth not? As a rule you pay more to hear someone live than you d=
o
for their CD.

> since they must sing much more often and with much more stress than mos=
t
opera singers.

Untrue. A contract soloist in Germany sings about 100 performances a year.
Many sing more - I did. Things are more variable on the international
circuit, but 100 to 150 performances seems the usual range. Some do 200 - =
4
performances a week. The chorus singers at the ENO do 11 sessions a week, =
of
which 5 are normally performances. A Mariah or Whitney would be unlikely t=
o
do more than 50 perormances a year at the very most unless they had a heav=
y
tour on (I think Celine said that she doesn't like doing more than 2
performances a month or 30 in the year because her voice needs so much res=
t
before and after). If the CD sings well they don't have to do more.

Not sure I understand your comment about stress. Do you mean that they run=
a
greater risk of hurting their voices in the course of a performance than
opera singers? That's probably true: it is one of the things an opera
singers trains to avoid. It's much more difficult for an opera singer to
adapt the repertoire to their vocal deficiencies; such adaptation is the
stock in trade of the popular singer. Often the deficiency ends up being
sold as a strength: a voice in tatters can easily sound like raw passion.

> And they can't stay motionless in the middle of the stage like most ope=
ra
divas do.

Do they? Could've fooled me. Sure there are a few, but then you don't see
Alison Moyet turning cartwheels on stage either.
Maybe the one's you've seen have been following the thread on indulging
before a performance.

> I have many bootleg cds from my favorite band, Dream Theater, and their
vocalist, James LaBrie, an incredible singer, doesn't sing in them as well
as on the studio
> cds I have. However, when they came down to Brazil, his voice had
studio-like quality. another example is Andr=E9 Mattos, from Angra, a
Brazilian melodic heavy . >metal band singing in English. He sings pretty
high ( in their first cd they covered Kate Bush's 'Wuthering Heights' and =
he
sang just as high as she did ), but I've b e en to many of their concerts
and in only one his voice was as amazing as it is in the cds.

> As I don't want to mix up topics, I'll be writing more on immediately
forthcoming e-mails.

Interesting note, and a good debut. Welcome aboard.

Best Regards,
Caio