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K-pop Vocalists' Vocal Analyses 
Hi drear friends can you please tell me which note dreamcatcher members were hiting the lowest and the highest for each member
From right to left Dami gahyon yohyeon siyeon jiu handong and siyeon
Soory for bothering you 🙂
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They all have name tags, it’s okay. Most of this game is shouting, I wouldn’t call the upper parts as singing in your head voice since they just start screaming and squeaking. The lowest note in the beginning by Sua was like G3, she was just pushing her larynx down. I wouldn’t count this as singing range unfortunately.
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Hi, Ahmin! How are you? I hope you’re well!
To be honest I’m not sure where to ask this, but maybe here is just okay? So this has been troubling me all this time. I was a part of choir–Well, I’m still but currently inactive. One day, during a tenor section with the coach, if I remembered it correctly, the note he told us to sing was F4. He told us to drop our jaw and “Make sure your Adam’s apple move down when you do so.” That is considered as “lowering larynx”, isn’t it?.-. I’m still confused, though, but I feel like that was… wrong? He told me if it’s not going down then we weren’t singing healthily @_@ I always thought there is something wrong with the teachings in my choir, so I would like to clarify things out…
And on regular practices, every time the choristers (both male and female) cracked while attempting high notes (Usually a G4 for me), he said like, “Use your support!” and told us to repeat the note until we didn’t crack. Was that also wrong? @_@ I thought if I couldn’t support G4 yet, repeating it in succession won’t be resulting in supporting it right away…
Thanks, Ahmin! Sorry for the long question(?) I hope you’re doing well as always!;)
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Hi! I’m well enough and you?
No, he’s not necessarily telling you to lower your larynx. If I give him the benefit of the doubt, he could’ve meant that you shouldn’t raise your larynx so he told you to lower it so that it won’t go up as you’d usually do. In classical singing a low larynx is usual too but I can’t say since I don’t know the full context of the situation.
It won’t result in supporting it right away and use your support is too vague but the thing is choir is NOT the place where you learn proper vocal technique, there’s no time for it.
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Whoa! That was quick! xD Same here, well. Glad to hear that from you;)
Ah, I see, but I’m pretty sure he was referring to lowering larynx. Is lowering larynx caused the voice to sound dark or… gulped(?) I don’t know how to put it@_@ Or that kind of sound is caused by tongue tension not lowered larynx? Yes, I guess I’m already aware of choir not being the place to learn proper technique. This things are just troubling me.
I want to ask another question if it’s okay.-. So when singing high notes, maybe G4 or G#4 and up for me, I can sing it very softly that it might be barely audible for a big room, but it sounds well if I sing for myself like in bathroom or my own small room. The thing is, when I need to sound louder, I tend to push the notes out and the risk of cracking is really huge (I’m not sure if what I’m saying makes sense, though).
Anyway, I really want to thank you and the others for this blog because I guess this blog is what makes me still stuck with K-Pop and encourage me to improve my vocal. Some times ago, I really had so much struggle to hit E4/F4, but now I think I’m comfortable enough with F#4 and struggle a bit at G4, though I think there’s still no way I’m supporting F#4xD Again, thank you so much!
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You can sing with a low larynx in classical singing and no tongue tension and that’s healthy. Well then you’re using the natural echo in the room for your voice to be louder and then when you use more volume you’re likely pushing. Awww I’m really happy!
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Yes, I think I’m also aware of that fact about classical singing. Is it a bit odd for me not to be able to sing out loud? Usually I had this kind of problem when approaching G4 and above but sometimes F#4. I really don’t know how to explain this, but I feel like something is stuck in my throat that it held my voice back from coming out freely (or maybe because I think that my voice would sound very loud and annoying if I make it loud–or pushing). This problem is kind of stressing me because I feel like I can do nothing as a tenor… Most of the time though I can sing F4 loudly and sounds just fine without anything holding me back. I know it will be a bit hard without you hearing me sing, but is there anything I could do to fix this kind of problem? @@ Sorry for another long question…
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No, that happens when your throat isn’t fully opened and your vocal cords not fully developed. I also have issues in places of my range where I haven’t developed the notes, so the sound is thinner and my vocal cords aren’t developed there yet. Are you sure you are a tenor? Unfortunately if I don’t hear the problem, I can’t help. Try holding your tongue out with your fingers while keeping your jaw dropped and see if it helps.
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Ah, I guess thinner is really the word that explains my problems well. Maybe I can send you a record of my singing later when I got back to my college city(?) I’m pretty sure am a Tenor, though sometimes I feel like I’m not (but still I don’t feel like I’m a Baritone) because compared to the Weak ~ Average Tenor Idols you have analyzed, I have difficulty to sing their upper range but the lower range (maybe down to C3/B2) usually is not really a problem for me.
Thank you for the advice! I’ll try it soon as I get the chance to practice! xD
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Hi, Ahmin! It’s me again (sorry if I’m bothering you). Now that I finally (maybe) got a time to record something, what kind of… thing should I record? I want to ask your help to clarify my voice type, let me know of I do support or not, my issues with airiness, nasality, throatiness, and etc. Usually should it be some kind of the vocal exercise included in your videos?
I have a question but you don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to(?) Can we strain with a neutral larynx? xD On the opposite side we couldn’t support with high or low larynx, right? Does airiness also prevent support?
Thank you so much, Ahmin! Keep up the good work! >o<
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You could do a vocal exercise and sing a verse and a chorus of a song that you’re comfortable with. You can support with a low larynx, but a high larynx means that you’re not stretching the vocal cords, you’re squeezing them with outside tension. Airiness also prevents support yes. So you could not properly support with a non-neutral larynx, but I’m not sure if I’d say you can strain. You can be shallow though.
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Ah, I see… For the vocal exercise one, is there any specific range or should I just go from G#2-G#4 just like that?
I guess I was putting it in a wrong way when I say “Can we strain” xD but thanks for answering quickly, Ahmin! I will try to record myself as soon as possible;)
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Any range you’d like me to hear.
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Hi, Ahmin! It’s me again (and again)… I finally got the chance to record myself although with the low volume and quality…
So what I did is the vocal exercise in this video, except for the “Ma” one I guess.
This is the “Hum”: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NnSexybOCUEejjpzBh2CAVlRy-2n9n1k/view?usp=drivesdk
This is the “Ning”: https://drive.google.com/file/d/16HdENqZReVNPuqK3qLGA_dFfXgOK39jk/view?usp=drivesdk
This is the “Pap”: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1azTjaKG5xW61MujqXRrb3mqOi0YzPx_G/view?usp=drivesdk
To be honest I’m still embarrassed though because even myself most of the time don’t find my own voice pleasing (?) So anyway how did I do?
For the “Hum” exercise, I feel like when I singing while humming, I need to put a lot of chest (or throat I’m not sure) that made me unable to go high, likely to crack and lose volume so early like at E4. Am I doing anything wrong? And do I not place my voice well enough? (Gosh, I suddenly can’t think how to write this sentence in the right grammar).
In the “Ning” one, I think I’m switching to falsetto along with the placement(?) I’m not sure though if I was placing my voice on the mask but the falsettos surely sounded different.
The “Pap” one is maybe the one that I could say I’m most comfortable with. Do the shaping of the vocal affect our ease on reaching certain notes (low or high)? Sorry for the Bb2 to G#2 lol I kinda messed them up xD
And this is singing.
#1: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ra_YvaijTnjLA746G5_Le7s2Z6Oyg0cw/view?usp=drivesdk
#2: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12onIKzwRkSTYnFT9PxJtjcRn0TNpK4aW/view?usp=drivesdk
I know singing in Korean is not.the best for me but I’m not following and enjoying any music besides K-Pop (is this weird?) so I can’t find any song that I’m comfortable with aside of Korean Songs. Lost in Love by Girls Generation it is. The first one is transposed +5 (to know about my F4s and maybe C3s?) and the second one is +6 (F#4s and C#3). Am I doing bad? I feel like when I listen to myself singing it’s way too dark(?) no matter what language I’m singing in (does language matter?).
That was really a ton of questions I’m really sorry:(( It’s okay if you currently don’t have the time, just this blog alone is already more than enough for me xD
Thank you very very very very very much, Ahmin! I hope you’re doing well as always!
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Hi there! So let’s see what’s up finally!
Humming, okay I hear some things. First I seem to hear that you’re mixing much earlier than you’d lead to believe you would. Your hums are nice, I don’t hear too many issues with air being pushed. But the tongue is stiff, and you’re not using your soft palate to guide your voice and so as you approach C4 and above, you don’t have freedom to let your voice simply float up naturally. You place it too low and keep the throat too closed, so there’s a lack of openness overall.
Ning is actually supposed to be a Naeng, like AYE, like a whiny more opened Aye vowel. Ing is a bit too harder to place the sound. You hold your breath too much when you sing, it sounds like you’re keeping yourself a bit stiff and not really keeping the airflow consistent with the throat open. So the sound seems to be kind of shy. The jaw needs to drop more and I need to hear more soft palate happening, because right now the soft palate is barely being engaged. The head voice was placed in the mask though, so that’s a good thing for the purpose of the exercise.
Bap uses a bit more pushing of air but to a healthier extent than most other types of pushing. Now I hear breathiness happening and a lack of vocal cord engagement. I need your vocal cords to tighten up more and the throat again to remain opened. Like when you go up above E4 or so, you start to keep the vowels pretty closed and squeezed so the higher notes just won’t come out opened. You have to use the soft palate and the throat. Try exercises from #8 as well because they can give you a better foundation.
You’re not using your soft palate, that I can hear clearly. Your throat is barely opened, you’re not dropping your jaw, your pitch is fine but you’re not using much chest voice and you aren’t keeping the stretch of the vocal cords tight enough, so the support is shallow and then the wobbly vibrato comes out. You’re very heady throughout, again lack of chest voices but also lack of forward placement. So your sound is soft, slightly breathy but placed more towards the back of your throat than the front which can be very counterproductive.
So how do you address these things currently? How do you practice? Is this your first time doing vocal exercises on your own outside of a choir context?
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Hi too >.< Gosh, I don't know why but my previous comment (which was quite long and responding your reply well) got cut and it only got the first ans the last part… Now O have to retype it…
For the humming yes, I feel like I'm having a lot less freedom when humming that I started to feel hurt upon approaching E4. I can't seem to get the idea of my tongue being stiff? What kind of thing does it cause and what should I do to fix that?
Lol, I'm laughing when I know it should be Naeng instead of Ning. Does the jaw being not dropped enough have any relation with me singing ning instead of naeng? I feel like it's harder to put the jaw down when singing 'ee'. Anyway, I want to clarify things though. Do I really use head voice and not falsetto? And to mask place, smiling and lifting the cheekbones can help, right?
Ah, I see. Even though you said I'm becoming tight at E4, I rrally feel like being so upon approaching G4 or maybe F#4? Or is that just my personal easiness?(?) I mean I'm really unaware of vocal issues so I could be really wrong xD
Before reading your reply, things I know about my voice are huge breathiness in llw notes, frequent nasality on low notes, slight breathiness in middle notes, singing way too softly, wobbly vibrato, closed throat in higher notes, and maybe unable to use connected head voice. After reading your reply I realize I have so much more problems than I have addressed myself xD Again, thank you!
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Hi too >..< It's such a big help for me to improve my vocal! Is it okay if I send you my recording occasionally?
P.s. Is my Korean pronunciation bad? xD (I really think it's bad thogh) I mean, I'm currently learning Korean but I've never been in good terms when it comes to speaking with foreign language lol. Again thanks!!!
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It’s not that bad at all! But it’s still not confident and that shows in your singing unfortunately. For now I’ll say you may but I need to rethink this whole performance ole sending me recordings thing soon because it’s becoming a bit overwhelming.
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hello, i personally really like how balanced sohyang’s mix is. are there any vocal exercises that you would recommend to blend head/chest voice the way she does so that when i sing in my upper limit i don’t get tired so easily? 🙂
(also i posted this on sohyang’s page but i wasn’t sure if you’d see it considering it’s still under your old wordpress blog + your link to sohyang page here doesn’t work :’D)
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The Sohyang page is gone, how could you post anything on it? ._. Well first of the diaphragm has to remain expanded to keep your power and stamina. If you contract too much, you’ll get tired. If you push too much air, you’ll get tired. You have to develop the cord closure on this kind of breath. Have you seen tips #8?
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it’s here! https://kpopvocalanalysis.wordpress.com/2014/04/14/kim-sohyang-vocal-analysis-2/?iframe=true&preview=true/comment-page-4/
oh and i didn’t mean out of breath – my stamina is alright but the way my tutor teaches me to sing above b4 is to use primal sounds, and while they do get the sounds out easily, i can’t use that same shouty sound for every song plus it takes up a lot of energy >< i was wondering if you knew any exercises where i could get my range up without being too chesty?
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No, I know you didn’t mean out of breath. That’s my point, so that’s why I asked if you’ve seen vocal tips #8. That’s where the answer is. Oh I see, since kpopvocalanalysis.net for that page is gone, that link doesn’t redirect! Yeah comments there won’t work.
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ahh i got confused sorry! i looked at the debunking kpop myth #8 video rather than the vocal tips video lmao
also at 4:44 would you recommend this exercise too ? 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiTcc0Hh1mo&t=518s
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