Page 10 - Feb InDesign

Neil Diamond’s Vocals
CREDIT: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock
Photo: Ari Michelson (Greek Theater,
Los Angeles, 11 August 2012)
10
Right out of the gate, I never really rated Neil
Diamond as an amazing vocalist per se. You
may have a different opinion on that and that’s
obviously ok. But he is a brilliant songwriter,
performer and artist. From the first syllable,
you instantly recognise a Neil Diamond song.
Have you ever recorded a track, listened back
and just hated your voice? It’s very common.
Even the greats can feel this.
Embracing who we are as vocalists is one of
the most important things to consider when
we write/perform. Your current sound is based
on anatomy, physiology, habits, music influ-
ences, culture, personal preferences - and
unfortunately insecurities.
And it’s these insecurities that can really get
in the way of our voice. They can make us
clench our jaw (a form of trying to hide our
voice), bury our vocals in a mix, add strange
inflexions, slurs, elvis-ish tones, trying to sing
too strong, too high, too breathy, etc. In oth-
er words, trying to make our voice sound like
anyone but ourselves. I remember as a young
guy just starting out wanting to sing like Seal.
Wanna know how that worked out? Let’s just
say that a white ass redhead from rural Vic-
toria will never sound like a black 6’4” guy
from Britain. But in the process, it caused me
to use way too much breath, put my voice into
unnatural positions and sing in a range that
didn’t suit.
But how do we accurately differentiate be-
tween poor technique with a contrived perfor-
mance
www.writeawaymagazine.co.uk