Adam's Vocal Abilities

#18

'3ku1' date='Feb 11th 2015, 4:05 AM'

Adams voice is the mix of natural talent, hard work, and a chemical reaction gone wrong.

#19

'Love2Lurk' date='Feb 11th 2015, 9:32 AM'

Adding to our convo.....a couple of links with blogs/articles about Adam's vocals.....

Dated....however....still relevant to Adam's voice....thought they were interesting....

Adam Lambert Insures Voice For $48 Million?
The Huffington Post | By Treye Green
Posted: 10/15/2012 4:18 pm EDT Updated: 10/15/2012 4:18 pm EDT
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/15/a..._n_1967831.html

Producer Rob Cavallo Exclusively Discusses Adam Lambert Album on Reality Rocks
SG Glamberts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwfEI2idxQI

Singing AdviceRescuing Voices By John Henny | Posted June 17, 2010
Stroud is a Los Angeles–based voice teacher who has been called to rescue many a tour or recording session. He has worked with such stars as Adam Lambert....
http://www.backstage.com/advice-for-actors...escuing-voices/

Adam Lambert vocal range .....with several videos
http://musical-elegy.tumblr.com/post/50596...ert-vocal-range

Professor Adam Lambert’s seminar on vocal technique
January 20, 2012
https://onthemeaningofadamlambert.wordpress...ocal-technique/

#20

'madamimadam' date='Feb 11th 2015, 12:25 PM'

My HUGE contribution to this thread... [0002.gif]

mmadamimadamm · 18h 18 hours ago
RT @ScorpioBert: RT @AdamgasmAussie: @ mmadamimadamm

#21

'BHS9697' date='Feb 12th 2015, 5:56 AM'

Here's the whole post, copied from a FB group here with poster's approval :Smile:

"Kym Smith

February 8 at 6:43pm

As promised, a bit more detail about the "technical stuff" which stops a singer performing when they have bronchitis. There are two dangers; the coughing knocks the living daylights out of your vocal cords, and in extreme circumstances can cause them to bleed (eww). Unfortunately, if your voice feels husky, the temptation is to try and push past it, as if you apply more pressure to your voice it will come out (sort of). some bits of the voice won't be affected - for a man, the falsetto range will probably be fine as it's produced by a different mechanism to the rest of the voice. The bits of the voice that get most badly affected are the middle and the "glory" notes, which is why he missed them out last night.

It's really tempting to try and carry on, but if you and don't rest up, you can end up with laryngitis, which is bad news as that can take several days (if not longer) of complete voice rest to heal.

However, the good news is that Adam will be getting the best medical attention that money can buy, and he's also an extremely fit guy, which will mean he has better powers of recovery that most of the rest of us! He will probably be advised to stay off anything alcoholic for a few days, as that dilates the blood vessels in your larynx. I suspect he will also be getting anti-inflammatories, zinc (for healing) and possibly antibiotics if they think there is any sort of bacterial infection. He'll also be advised to get plenty of fluids and probably steam inhalations as well, as they help to dilate all the crap in your throat and lungs.

There are one or two (pretty nasty) emergency treatments to get your voice back, but I hope he doesn't go down that road as you can end up paying for it later.

It may well be that the set will change for a few performances - I wouldn't be at all surprised if TSMGO and WWTLF stay out for a few days as they are both "high pressure" songs. I wouldn't be surprised if Roger does These are the Days, and they might also break up the set a bit more, as often when you're unwell you can sing for 10-15 minutes and then need a rest.

Sorry for the long post, but I know everyone's anxious about Adam's voice and I know all this crap because I've sung for years myself (anyone who has "friended" me, feel free to have a look through my photos and you'll see some of me doing opera!)

In the meantime, let's all think lovely positive thoughts..." :Smile:

#22

[quote]'BHS9697' date='Feb 16th 2015, 3:11 PM' post='26710049']
Besides being (imho :Smile: the best Killer Queen performance ever on this tour, the beginning of this video gives you a tiny glimpse of how much muscle work singing really is. If you can tear your eyes away from his gorgeous face for a moment (I know, it's hard :haha: ), take a look at his abdomen when he's laying on his back and starts to sing (up until he sits up):
https://www.youtube.com/embed/Woo2mfK_7mQ

(Shoot, I've forgotten how to embed youtube vids.)[quote]

#23

'badassalterego' date='Feb 16th 2015, 8:32 PM'

Hi there

Madamimadam has asked me to pop over here and post, as I'm another one of the peeps out there who has done classical singing training (it's my post from FB that was quoted here a few days ago). I did the full thing at music college, and have done opera, have sung with choirs and orchestras, straight recital stuff and a few bits of music theatre as well. Over the years, I have heard 000's of singers, both in classical music and rock music (so I've got a good sound library in my head!)

What do I think of Adam's voice? It's ****ing marvellous.

I'm a real newbie to Adam, as I only heard him sing for the first time on 31st December when he performed on the BBC (I'm a Brit, by the way). I'd already bought tickets to one of the January QAL gigs on the strength of the reviews, so was more than impressed with his sound on TV. I'm a long-time Queenie by the way, and saw them perform with Freddie and also with Paul Rodgers, so I'm used to the way Queen do things. Seeing Adam perform with them on TV was great - I thought he was a really good match for their style and he could certainly get round the notes (I think it took my husband about three days to get his eyes back in their sockets after watching it!).

The live show was something else - the range and versatility Adam has is fantastic, and I agree with elsiebear's comments about him. You haven't heard the best of his voice yet, and as long as he looks after himself, he probably won't truly peak until he's about 40 (although athletes peak much younger, it's a much slower burn with singers).

What makes him sound like that? That's a fairly complex answer, Physically it's a combination of what you've been given in terms of the anatomy in your throat and face, your lung capacity and how your vocal cords vibrate together. Your range is fairly set, but can be changed and enhanced to an extent. Most men are naturally baritones and most women are naturally mezzo-sopranos, so the rare voices are the people who can access very high or very low notes. Somehow it's the higher notes that are more attractive, which is why we get turned on by a soprano or a tenor's glory notes!

On top of the physical stuff and the natural range, there is then the work you do on top of it - and most importantly, how well you are coached and taught. Bad teaching can completely ruin a voice, so Adam's very fortunate that he's been well-taught throughout his life so far. Training a voice starts with the basics, like breathing and posture, and then moves on to stuff like extending the range and also making a voice "match" throughout, as this is what our ears find attractive.

Sometimes you'll hear someone sing and they sound as though they have two or three different voices - this is a physical thing caused by your larynx moving around. If you sing up a scale and watch your throat in a mirror, you'll see your larynx rise as your voice does, then it will drop back down and reset itself. These "gear changes" have to be smoothed out so that you make the same sound throughout. Some people have these in a more pronounced way than others (which means more work in the practice studio, unfortunately).

Adam's got a beautifully matched voice and this is a combination of the way he's been taught and also sheer hard work. He's also done a lot of work on his top range - he's got a naturally light speaking voice anyway, which usually determines the pitch of your singing voice, but (and this is where some of the mental attitude stuff comes in) I suspect he has worked up the top of his voice by sheer will, as huge amounts of singing are determined by what goes on between year ears - i.e. if you really want to do something, then you'll do it.

And on top of this, there is the X-factor stuff, which is about the light and shade you put in your voice (classical singers tend to call this "colour"). Adam has got an extraordinary range of colour in his voice, and he can mix the various parts of it very well. He uses bits of pure falsetto (like the first few notes of STL) and uses a lot of ringing high overtones when he's at the top of his voice (glory notes in Save Me). He can also fine his voice down to a pure tone that is a mixture of the two (last line of Save Me).

How much colour you get into your voice is pretty complex - some of it is the way your face is built - Adam has got a long jawbone and good cheekbones, which always helps. You also have to be able to listen to your own sound and feel where it's resonating. And... a lot of the X-factor is added by how you communicate the music. Really brilliant, riveting singers hardly ever shut their eyes for more than a couple of seconds, as you put across huge amounts of any song with your eyes. Adam's communication skills are fabulous and this will light up any song (you'll know this far better than me as you've listened to him for years!).

I was so utterly gobsmacked (Brit term for bowled over) by Adam's performance with Queen I'm going to the last show of the tour in Sheffield. This is the first time I've ever, ever gone to more than one show of ANYBODY's tour in my life.

Oh dear, that's a lot of words - I have a bit of a verbal diarrhoea problem, do forgive me. However, if anyone wants to pick my brains, or you want to chat, please feel free!

:flowers:

#24

'madamimadam' date='Feb 16th 2015, 8:46 PM'

Yay!!!! You came!!!!! I love, LOVE, WUB your post....

Can you expand on what Adam had to do due the bronchitis... I'm mesmerized by how he changed things (to my ears), but would love to know HOW he did it and how he made sure not to cause long-term damage to the magical instrument that is his voice?

#25

'madamimadam' date='Feb 16th 2015, 8:53 PM'

Elsiebear: I found you a partner in crime... The two of you just do all the technical techie talk and I'll be sitting right here, chin in my hands, watching the action!

#26

'badassalterego' date='Feb 16th 2015, 9:04 PM'

Getting round the bronchitis would depend on a few things:

* how quickly they caught it
* what drugs they gave him (very likely antibiotics, unless they were sure it was a viral infection) + zinc, possibly an inhaler to open his airways, stuff to keep him hydrated. The thing I hope he didn't opt for were steroid injections into the vocal cords, as it's a temporary fix that you might pay for later and I wouldn't fancy doing it
* altering the set - which they did
* clever kidology - like getting the audience to do more sing-alongs
* avoiding the bits where you put pressure on the voice - nearly all of the high notes went out, and the ones that he did do there was more falsetto in them as you don't access them the same way as a glory note
* help from the sound engineers - if you have a look at the vids from Vienna, you'll see that he was singing with the mic closer to his mouth than usual. This meant that he could backpedal and sing a lot softer than usual. Of course, if you're not singing with a mic, like opera singers have to, then you are stuffed until you have got the full power of your voice back and you just have to take a rest. Also, they had messed with the mix of the voices - Brian, Roger and Spike were all turned up to compensate. Also, Adam deliberately avoided putting pressure on his voice, as that's what makes you hoarse as you end up bashing your vocal cords together. Again, if you have a look at the vids, you'll see that when he was going for higher notes, and singing louder, he didn't pull the mic away from his mouth. Normally when you sing with a mic, you have to do this to make sure you don't distort, but as he was singing a lot quieter than usual, this wasn't necessary

Missing the Brussels gig was crucial as he really had to give it a rest, and also having the extra day between the concerts has helped a lot as well as it gives you more time for your throat and chest to heal and clear all the crap and gunge out of it.

He sounds as though he's a lot better now - of course, it helps that he has a vocal coach with him and he's also young and fit (my God, is he fit). He will have also had the best medical backup that money can buy and that counts for a lot.

Right, I really need to go to bed now - it's 1.00 a.m. in the UK and I'm moving house on Wednesday!

:w00twave:

#27

'svca' date='Feb 16th 2015, 10:27 PM'

Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting....I am so fascinated by the physiology of Adam's talent.

I've loved singing my entire life, but I don't think I've ever run across anyone with the scope of Adam's voice and talent. Coupled with his character and personality, it's no wonder we are totally, hopelessly in love with that man :wub: :wub:

#28

'marlock276' date='Feb 16th 2015, 11:51 PM'

Wow! This is all so fascinating! I love this thread!

#29

'loveroftalent' date='Feb 17th 2015, 12:02 AM'

Me Too. I love it!!!

Badassalterego: Thank you Thank you. I loves reading your post.

#30

'BHS9697' date='Feb 17th 2015, 12:56 AM'

This thread is officially my heaven right now! :w00twave:

To the amazing experts here: is it possible to say what kind of a vocal technique Adam is using, e.g. the Complete Vocal Technique? He has done some opera during high school as well and her thought it was hard work!
:Smile:

#31

'ssuussaann' date='Feb 17th 2015, 3:57 AM'

This thread is fantastic!

Whatever happened to Masterclass Lady, who also used to comment on Adam's technique? I had a look at her site but everything there seems old.

#32

'Love2Lurk' date='Feb 17th 2015, 9:21 AM'

Thank you badassalterego & welcome
Yes....Love reading about Adam's vocal abilities....He is amazing for sure :thumbs: :wub:

#33

madamimadam:2171 wrote:
'badassalterego' date='Feb 16th 2015, 8:32 PM'

Hi there

Madamimadam has asked me to pop over here and post, as I'm another one of the peeps out there who has done classical singing training (it's my post from FB that was quoted here a few days ago). I did the full thing at music college, and have done opera, have sung with choirs and orchestras, straight recital stuff and a few bits of music theatre as well. Over the years, I have heard 000's of singers, both in classical music and rock music (so I've got a good sound library in my head!)

What do I think of Adam's voice? It's ****ing marvellous.

I'm a real newbie to Adam, as I only heard him sing for the first time on 31st December when he performed on the BBC (I'm a Brit, by the way). I'd already bought tickets to one of the January QAL gigs on the strength of the reviews, so was more than impressed with his sound on TV. I'm a long-time Queenie by the way, and saw them perform with Freddie and also with Paul Rodgers, so I'm used to the way Queen do things. Seeing Adam perform with them on TV was great - I thought he was a really good match for their style and he could certainly get round the notes (I think it took my husband about three days to get his eyes back in their sockets after watching it!).

The live show was something else - the range and versatility Adam has is fantastic, and I agree with elsiebear's comments about him. You haven't heard the best of his voice yet, and as long as he looks after himself, he probably won't truly peak until he's about 40 (although athletes peak much younger, it's a much slower burn with singers).

What makes him sound like that? That's a fairly complex answer, Physically it's a combination of what you've been given in terms of the anatomy in your throat and face, your lung capacity and how your vocal cords vibrate together. Your range is fairly set, but can be changed and enhanced to an extent. Most men are naturally baritones and most women are naturally mezzo-sopranos, so the rare voices are the people who can access very high or very low notes. Somehow it's the higher notes that are more attractive, which is why we get turned on by a soprano or a tenor's glory notes!

On top of the physical stuff and the natural range, there is then the work you do on top of it - and most importantly, how well you are coached and taught. Bad teaching can completely ruin a voice, so Adam's very fortunate that he's been well-taught throughout his life so far. Training a voice starts with the basics, like breathing and posture, and then moves on to stuff like extending the range and also making a voice "match" throughout, as this is what our ears find attractive.

Sometimes you'll hear someone sing and they sound as though they have two or three different voices - this is a physical thing caused by your larynx moving around. If you sing up a scale and watch your throat in a mirror, you'll see your larynx rise as your voice does, then it will drop back down and reset itself. These "gear changes" have to be smoothed out so that you make the same sound throughout. Some people have these in a more pronounced way than others (which means more work in the practice studio, unfortunately).

Adam's got a beautifully matched voice and this is a combination of the way he's been taught and also sheer hard work. He's also done a lot of work on his top range - he's got a naturally light speaking voice anyway, which usually determines the pitch of your singing voice, but (and this is where some of the mental attitude stuff comes in) I suspect he has worked up the top of his voice by sheer will, as huge amounts of singing are determined by what goes on between year ears - i.e. if you really want to do something, then you'll do it.

And on top of this, there is the X-factor stuff, which is about the light and shade you put in your voice (classical singers tend to call this "colour"). Adam has got an extraordinary range of colour in his voice, and he can mix the various parts of it very well. He uses bits of pure falsetto (like the first few notes of STL) and uses a lot of ringing high overtones when he's at the top of his voice (glory notes in Save Me). He can also fine his voice down to a pure tone that is a mixture of the two (last line of Save Me).

How much colour you get into your voice is pretty complex - some of it is the way your face is built - Adam has got a long jawbone and good cheekbones, which always helps. You also have to be able to listen to your own sound and feel where it's resonating. And... a lot of the X-factor is added by how you communicate the music. Really brilliant, riveting singers hardly ever shut their eyes for more than a couple of seconds, as you put across huge amounts of any song with your eyes. Adam's communication skills are fabulous and this will light up any song (you'll know this far better than me as you've listened to him for years!).

I was so utterly gobsmacked (Brit term for bowled over) by Adam's performance with Queen I'm going to the last show of the tour in Sheffield. This is the first time I've ever, ever gone to more than one show of ANYBODY's tour in my life.

Oh dear, that's a lot of words - I have a bit of a verbal diarrhoea problem, do forgive me. However, if anyone wants to pick my brains, or you want to chat, please feel free!

:flowers:
'aviddem' date='Feb 17th 2015, 9:30 AM'

#34

'badassalterego' date='Feb 17th 2015, 7:01 PM'

Hi again

I've had time to read through all of the thread properly now, so I can pick up on one or two of the other things that have been discussed earlier...

First of all - facial tension (or lack of it) as elsiebear observed. One of the things that you learn very early on when you learn to sing, whether you do classical or music theatre, is that you need to get rid of unnecessary tension from your body. You only want tension that's under your control at all times!

A lot of singers deliberately do things like yoga, Alexander Technique or meditation to help them with this, so you'll often see a singer looking a bit zoned out before they perform.

Singers who screw their faces up often end up with problems - you can put pressure on your throat and/or tongue doing this, which is bad news for your voice. If you're singing properly, you don't need to contort yourself and actually, whether you're just standing on an empty stage and singing, or in an full-scale opera, you want your face in repose as much as possible.

There are huge discussions about how you add emotion to what you're singing - a lot of actors are into the Method, whereby you actually *feel* what you're portraying. This may work with acting, but there are some real no-nos if you do this when you're singing, as some emotions will close your throat. Therefore a lot of singers are taught to use emotion a bit like a mask that you put over the top of the music. This leaves you in control of what you're doing and means that your voice still works perfectly. if you're a good actor, the audience only see the end result.

Colour - I mentioned this last night, and it's interesting to see that Adam talk about using colour in his voice as well. Some vocal colour depends on what type of voice you have naturally - lower voices are naturally darker, for example.

OK, this gets a bit complicated now as some colour is actually added by minutely changing the resonances in your throat and mouth - but, you do this with your mind, rather than wrestling with trying to move bits of your body by a few nanometers!

Vocal colour is actually about acoustics (physics - arrrgh!) as it's about adding harmonics and overtones to the basic sound. Some of this is governed by what you're singing about - WWTLF has a darker tone to it as it's a sad/wistful song, and songs in minor keys will always sound darker (I won't blow your brains out with the technical explanation of this, as it's a Total Head F*ck)

When you're performing though, you add the colour by using the words. Good singers really hook themselves into the words that they're singing, and it's instantly noticeable when someone doesn't do this - the song will just sound "dead". This is where Adam has a massive advantage over a lot of other singers with the music theatre experience, as he will naturally engage with the words and use his acting ability. This is one of the things that makes him such a riveting performer, and it's not just about projecting the emotions out to the crowd, it's about being able to draw people in towards you as well. We've got used to hearing him sing Save Me in halls where you could hear a pin drop, and that's because he is making himself appear vulnerable, and this will instantly draw an audience in.

Vibrato - just a quick point about this. Interesting that there were some critics during AI that found Adam's vibrato intrusive, as this is a natural part of the voice and is created by the action of breathing. If you hear a voice that is completely without vibrato, it's pretty unpleasant. You need at least a bit of vibrato to make a voice sound like a living thing. However, you do have to watch out if you get vibrato in specific parts of the voice, as that can mean you're exerting too much pressure on your throat, or pushing your voice into the wrong place

Complete Vocal Technique - I had to look this up, as I'd never heard of it. It looks as though it's a way of teaching for pop and/or music theatre. However, the thing to remember with singing is that there is one way of doing it right and about a million different ways of telling people how to do it!

The basic principles are the same for any singer - you have to get your voice out without straining your throat and hurting yourself, and the way to do this is to keep the airflow going (usually known as "support"!). I've been taught a number of ways over the years - the teacher I had at college used highly complex terminology, but in the end it was about producing the most beautiful, even sound possible. The teacher I've worked with more recently works in a different way, as a lot of what you do is about being constantly engaged with the words - as this is what keeps the airflow going! If anyone's really interested, I'll post a link to his webpage.

So, I've typed a lot again - hopefully there will be some vids etc. from Prague soon.

And happy birthday to Marie! :flowers:

#35

'sealuv' date='Feb 17th 2015, 9:14 PM'

all i can say is 'badassalterego'.... a rousing WELCOME!!! ...your posts along with 'Elsiebear''s are pure gold for me.......i miss this type of input about adam's technique....i always get a kick out of peeps who say that he doesn't play an instrument...the man has the most beautiful instrument in the world........and as to playing...well... we know it reaches the heavens........

#36

'madamimadam' date='Feb 17th 2015, 11:03 PM'

Yea, what she said!!!!!!

Loving this thread to bits!!!!!!!!

Tell us more, guys... I'll be sitting right here.... :Smile:

#37

'Elsiebear' date='Feb 18th 2015, 7:14 AM'

I'm so thrilled that this little post I made has become so popular .

Also fantastic to 'meet' :Smile: badassalterego

Singing correctly and all the various styles of teaching is such a massive subject . I've heard people argue for hours about which is the ' right' method . Well don't belive there is just one method . At the end of the day which ever way to get to the end result is very personal , as long as you get there through breathing and placement without putting strain and stress on the voice.

I listen to John Farnham a lot , in fact he is very similar to Adam in quite a few ways (vocally and personality ) And he too is a great example of singing as a controlled rock tenor ... like Adam when he sings it often sounds wild and dangerous but If he wasn't doing it correctly then he would have burned out many years ago but instead he is still as strong today as back in the 70's .

Opera star Alfie Boe often says that the technic learned to perform opera can be applied to all genres of music .... something he demonstrates very well in concert , fillting from opera to rock and roll in a second.its so true because really at the end of the day the things you learn whist studying vocal technic simply give you the core you need to build from . The little tricks we singers use combined with correct breathing etc once learned can then be applied to any situation and style

I will say again though because it's so important to me .... What Adam has is a gift from God and no amount of training could have 'created' that voice . Only built on and strengthened it .He is a very talented and special gentleman who is so blessed . And we too are blessed and love him so much for sharing his talents with us .xx :bleh:

Adam's Vocal Abilities

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