Definition
Extended vocal techniques are ways of using the voice beyond “ordinary” singing: extreme registers, noises, multiphonic sounds, techniques from non-Western traditions, spoken effects. In twentieth-century art music they were explored by composers and performers such as Arnold Schoenberg, Luciano Berio and Cathy Berberian (Sequenza III, 1966), Meredith Monk, Joan La Barbara; in pop many have become timbral signatures.
Vocal fry
- The lowest register (mechanism M0): the folds vibrate slowly and irregularly, producing a “crackling” or “creaky” sound.
- Uses in singing: starting phrases in fry that “opens” into the note (widely used in pop: Britney Spears in …Baby One More Time, 1998; Billie Eilish), ending phrases in fry, very low notes for basses (Russian basses also use fry to go below their range).
- Mixing: fry has many irregular harmonics; it can be irritating if too loud; balance it with compression and a de-esser.
Breathy voice and whisper
- Incomplete fold closure, lots of air: intimacy, sensuality. Modern pop, bossa nova, ASMR.
- Whispering (without fold vibration) is used as a double or as an effect.
- Recording requires a clean preamp and a close microphone; air noise should be managed with EQ (a cut above 10–12 kHz if excessive) and a de-esser.
Register ornaments
- Yodel: rapid, repeated shifts between chest and falsetto (Alpine traditions, country).
- Cry / sob: small expressive breaks.
- Glottal stop: a sharp interruption of the sound with the glottis, used rhythmically (R&B, pop).
- Light growl and raspy: moderate supraglottic distortion (see Screams and Growls).
Overtone singing and multiphonics
- Tuvan (khöömei) and Mongolian throat singing: one voice produces a fundamental and, by shaping the mouth, brings out a harmonic as a second melody. Styles: sygyt (high, whistled harmonic), kargyraa (very low fundamental, with the false folds vibrating at half the frequency).
- Western overtone singing: David Hykes and the Harmonic Choir.
- Sardinian traditions: canto a tenore (bassu and contra with guttural timbres), UNESCO heritage.
Spoken and theatrical techniques
- Sprechstimme / Sprechgesang: between speech and song (Schoenberg, Pierrot lunaire, 1912).
- Rhythmic speech (rap, spoken word).
- Laughs, sighs, breaths as musical material (Berio, Sequenza III; Meredith Monk).
Unconventional sounds
- Inhaled singing (ingressive), tongue clicks, snaps, whistling, vocal percussion.
- Ululation: rapid tongue movement on a high note, Middle Eastern and African traditions.
- Inuit katajjaq: two-voice vocal games with rhythmic breaths.
Uses in production
- Layers of fry or whispers under the lead for character.
- Breaths and sighs as rhythmic or transitional elements.
- Samples of overtone singing or ethnic techniques as textures (soundtracks, ambient).
- Film choirs often use breaths, whispers and rhythmic speech for suspense.
Vocal health
Techniques such as fry, growl and kargyraa are safe if performed without pain and without pressure, with warm-up and learned from an experienced teacher. Persistent hoarseness or pain are signals to stop. Many extreme techniques involve the false folds and take time to learn.
Practice exercise
Record a 2-bar phrase in four versions: normal, with a fry onset, whispered, with a glottal stop on the initial consonants. Build a chorus in which the normal lead is doubled by a whispered version an octave below, and add a recorded breath as a transition before the chorus.
Links
Vocal Registers and Breaks, Belting, Mixed Voice and Falsetto, Screams and Growls, Film Choir, The Harmonic Series and Timbre.