Highlight’s Vocal Analysis: Yoseob

Vocal Range

G2 ~ C#6 (3 Octaves and 3 notes)

Supported Range

B2/C3 ~ G#4

B2/C3 ~ C#5 (with head voice)

Voice Type

Tenor

Strengths/Achievements

  • Strongest vocalist in Highlight
  • One of the better lower ranges amongst tenors in K-pop
  • Capable of producing resonance consistently within his supported range
  • Able to support his voice as high as G#4, with some support present on A4
  • Able to sing down to C3 and B2 with consistent support and a neutral larynx
  • Sings with a connected head voice at times
  • Good intonation
  • Able to transition well into both falsetto and head voice
  • Uses a balanced mixed voice
  • Able to produce a very steady even vibrato

Points for Improvement

  • The higher he goes outside his supported range, the more yelled his mixed voice becomes
  • His falsetto can sound often pushed, strained and yelled as he ascends above D5
  • His lower range is often unsupported and may also have a low larynx below B2
  • The throat isn’t always relaxed on certain mixed notes, causing him to sound pushed
  • Nasality can be very present in his head voice
  • Although he has a nice lower range, he mostly sings a repertoire that does not show that range
  • Mixed voice is somewhat underdeveloped above Bb4, causing his voice to sound unbalanced
  • Vocal runs can often sound sloppy and poorly produced

Registers

  • Lower register: Generally able to keep his voice very forward in his mask, with a nice chest placement throughout his lower range around the 3rd octave and the beginning of the second octave. He may at times lower his larynx below B2 or simply become quite airy and lack the proper support necessary.
  • Mixed register: A very relaxed and balanced mix of chest and head voice is present in Yoseob’s voice. He is consistently able to keep a lifted soft palate as well as producing resonance up as high as G#4. Even above his supported range, placement isn’t lost, but there’s tension and push from the throat and excessive air, with at times a high larynx.
  • Upper register: Able to produce a connected head voice up to E5, but inconsistently and may at times push with a nasal falsetto and too much throat tension above C#5. Even then, transitions are usually well done, the voice doesn’t lose the sense of pitch even in his head voice voice and falsetto.

Agility

As a light-lyric, Yoseob’s voice possesses an ease for faster passages in the upper register, even in his head voice and his mix. Even so, he does have the lack of precision with his vocal runs, where many times the separation of pitch may be present but the proper rhythm between the notes and the connection isn’t established fully, so his vocal runs often sound sloppy and out of place. Those occasions include the high falsetto runs in “희야“, and runs in his mix such as in “When I First Saw You“.

Overall analysis

One of the older idols in the current K-pop music industry, Highlight’s Yoseob secures a safe place as the group’s main vocalist. Without a doubt he’s a vocalist with a strong sense of support, pitch, musicality and placement. As a light-lyric tenor, Yoseob’s voice retains a very bright tonal quality throughout his registers and even presents a more balanced mix that takes away any signs of huskiness or strain to his voice.

From the bottom of his range, Yoseob’s weakness starts with the fact that within the repertoire written for Highlight, by member Junhyung, the songs do not ever highlight his lower range. If they did, they’d be able to show that Yoseob is one of the male idols with one of the better supported lower ranges, being able to keep a forward placement in his lower range with a stable larynx down to D3, such as in”When I First Saw You“, C#3 as in “왕이 되기 싫어“, C3 in “Close Every Door” and even B2 such as in an acapella version of “괜찮겠니“. Although there’s support in Yoseob’s lower range above the average skill of tenors, there’s still room for improvement as he descends below B2. Notes below B2 either become unsupported, such as the Bb2’s and G#2 of “Caffeine“, or are produced with a low larynx such as the G2, G#2 and Bb2 in Highlight’s “low note and high note battle“.

One of the highlights of Yoseob’s voice is the fact that his mixed range is consistently supported and connected to his lower range and is consistently resonant even as high as G#4. In many occasions, even from the beginning of his career as a Highlight member, Yoseob showed the understand of how to properly control his breath support and keep a neutral larynx with resonance and good placement on F#4’s, such as in “엄마“, G4’s in “Fiction” and G#4’s in “Caffeine” and “왕이 되기 싫어“. Many times also, Yoseob shows a nice control of dynamics in his mix, being able to support his voice on G#4/G4 and below even without necessarily having to powerfully hit a high note and instead singing through the choruses of many songs, such as in “I’m sorry”. Even when Yoseob is taken outside of his supported range, he still shows a consistent understanding of how to keep a lifted soft palate and a forward sound. In performances such as “Breathe (숨)” and “Beautiful“, Yoseob produces A4’s with an opened sound and with support, even though there may show tension mid-note or the throat might get slightly tense. He is generally able to show support, with an extra push of the throat as he ascends into A4 and above A4, the larynx generally raises and the sound becomes more yelled and less stable, such as the B4’s and C#5 in “왕이 되기 싫어” and the C#5’s and Eb5’s in “Goodbye Baby“. Even then, Yoseob generally sings more so within his supported range and doesn’t tend to try and hit notes outside his supported range without reason. His mixed range, however, still shows signs of unevenness as he ascends above Bb4, showing a lack of full development and that due to how heady his mix is, he would need to develop better muscle coordination in order to add more chest tone and quality to the upper part of his mixed voice.

In his upper range, the range that he actually uses the most within the Highlight repertoire, Yoseob shows the most issues. His voice generally is able to produce a connected and supported head voice, such as the Bb4’s in “Baby Baby“, but even then Yoseob shows the tendency to become rather nasal and add tension to his voice as he ascends above his highest connected head voice note, E5. Even above C#5, he shows inconsistency in producing a connected head voice and will many times push a strained falsetto, which at times may close his throat and cause him to go flat, such as in the acoustic live performance of “12시30분“, where when he ascends into an F5, his throat closes and he shows clear signs of strain. As he goes even higher above F5, such as the F#5 in 희야“, the G5’s in “Thanks To” and even the A5 and C#6 from Highlight’s “low note and high note battle“, his voice shows a clear disconnection of placement, a backward throaty high larynx sound, with a lot of push and strain. Arguably this exposes him the most since this is the register he needs the most when singing the repertoire which is written for Highlight, causing him to not be able to highlight the best parts of his voice.

Musically, Yoseob possesses a clear understanding of how to change his voice to produce mellower sounds and add emotion, grief, sadness and happiness to his vocal delivery through the usage of a gradual increase in volume and control of his support, without losing the tonal quality and support he possesses throughout his supported range, such as in “미워요” and “그대와 영원히“. Not only are his ears very sensitive to music, he is also very sensitive to pitch and how he produces his sound, whereas in the acoustic live performance of “12시30분“, he sings a flat F5 in the first chorus of the song, he quickly fixes his approach to the note in the other two choruses and doesn’t show the same kind of intonation issue anymore. More so importantly, he has the ability to sing well and in tune consistently, even when singing with someone who’s almost tone deaf, such as his duet with a fan on “YoojaeSuk’s I am a man“. Lastly, he also consistently produces an even, supported and healthy vibrato throughout his range.

As a vocalist, Yoseob’s consistency shows that he’s a very professional artist who takes his craft seriously. He doesn’t try to sing outside his comfort zone and shows humility even stating that he feels that his singing isn’t that impressive and that he doesn’t have the lowest voice nor the highest voice, showing that he is unaware that compared to many male idols, he possesses a very well versed and controlled instrument. For future improvement, perhaps singing in a repertoire that highlights the strengths of his voice, instead of the weaknesses, would be wise. Also controlling the rest of his range and developing his mix would allow for a more impressive and powerful vocal delivery overall.

Musicianship

Yoseob is not much of a risk-taker and does not try to add unwanted vocal runs without reason to his vocal performances. Having said that, he is also not flaw-free when it comes to improvisations and although he has been able to add some mild differences into his delivery of songs such as “Beautiful” and”Caffeine“, at other times he will add poorly produced and strained falsetto notes to his vocal performances, sounding flat and sloppy, such as the F#5 in “희야” and the G5’s and A5 of “Thanks To“. Regardless, he is not one to try and do this regularly and within his supported range, he shows control of pitch, rhythmic changes and melodic ideas.

Label (Type of Vocalist)

MH Vocalists: Mid-Range Head Voice Vocalists

MB Vocalists: Mid-Range Belters

LR Vocalists: Low Range Vocalists

WR vocalists: Well Rounded Vocalists

Vocal Range Video(s)

Best Vocal Performance(s)

Video by: Ahmin (Kitsunemale)

Analyzed by Ahmin (Kitsunemale)

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251 thoughts on “Highlight’s Vocal Analysis: Yoseob

  1. Hi!
    I was just wondering whether there is a reason why those who tend to be main vocalists use microphones, whilst the other even lead vocalists use the headset type mikes? I was watching a few of Beast’s performances and noticed that Yoseob tended to use a proper microphone while the other members didn’t.
    Kinda irrelevant but who is in your banner at the top? I recognise Kyuhyun, baekhyun, Jessica and Taeyeon but was curious who the rest were.

    Thank you for taking the time to publish this analysis, it really means a lot to me 😀

    Like

    1. I’ve noticed that too, I think it’s more to do with them having more freedom to use the microphones and use actual mic technique. Mic technique just has to do with knowing where to place your mix in relation to your mouth so that you don’t sound too loud or too soft. A head set makes it hard because it’s always in one place, sometimes you have to use your hand to move it closer to your mouth because it might not actually pick up the sound of your voice. The microphone allows the main vocalist to have more freedom so they can control their voices and use it for adlibs as well. It would be Baekhyun, IU, Taeyeon, Kyuhyun, Jessica, Hyorin and Jung Yonghwa. ^ ^ No problem, I’m glad you liked it!

      Like

  2. This is one of the older analyses on the site. On the newer analyses, many of the YouTube videos are embedded directly to the note in question mid-video while in this one it only embeds to the beginning of the video.
    You have updated some of the older entries with better examples (Ailee, Girls’ Generation, Hyorin) so would you consider updating this one (or other old ones) as well?

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    1. The problem with that is that we didn’t do it before because it was quite time consuming and a lot of the examples are actually highlighted in his vocal range video. It’d take a lot of time to go through these analyses and update them but I understand it is something that’s quite different for analyses that are somewhat older. Actually Ailee’s was updated as a whole, not just with new examples but it was a whole new analysis. Hyorin’s analysis was updated with examples only after her change in technique and SNSD’s updates were directly as the analyses were rewritten. There’s absolutely no need for a rewrite on this analysis but the links with time stamps could be fixed, I just can’t say when it’d happen since it is quite time consuming. I hope you understand.

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    1. Did you mean 2:45? He is in a mask placed head voice. I can’t remember off of the top of my head but by hearing it, I wanna say it’s F#5? It’s mentioned in the analysis so please take your time to find it in the head voice paragraph of the overall analysis. ^ ^

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      1. sorry I meant around 2:30 actually, and i mean in the party of the chorus “urin machi” in the ‘i’ vowel he goes on like a scale, he sings it 3 times, every time higher, and i was wondering which notes those were, and if all of them were head voice or just really high mixed voice

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      2. oh i see, thank you! sorry for the lousy timing of my time stamps lol, i was half asleep but i thought, if i don’t ask right now I will keep forgetting for another month lol

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  3. can i ask your opinion. what do you think about 1:19 and 1:27 highnotes. compared to yoseob, was he okay? yoseob has somewhat pushed highnote and this white guy, i heard airy voice on him, but i’m not sure.

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    1. It goes down to like G2 and A2, it’s in a pretty low range but he’s not doing bad at all! It’s actually like there, the sound. The support and development are still in development but he’s making an attempt not to push his larynx down completely nor to use just a vocal fry.

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  4. what do you think about his note from 00:02-00:07 and 00:11. and rest his perf from 00:00-00:26. this is from his latest musical

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  5. his voice sounds different. like making the song sound more emotional, is this one of technique? cover of park hyosin. was he doing good?

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    1. He sounds like he is kind of half-crying, he kind of sounds a bit raspy and closed, kind of like he isn’t warming up. Maybe you interpret that as “emotional.” He didn’t sound like he was in his best condition.

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  6. wait a minute about Yoseob, you should change from Beast to Highlight because they can’t promote as Beast due to trademark issues that means Highlight is their new group name.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. hi, what do you think about their harmonization? kikwang using head voice or falsetto? they are sounds good? 00:00 – 00:38

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    1. He was using head voice, I’m not sure I’d call it supported. Their harmonies, octave unisons and such were pretty nice actually.

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      1. Wouldnt it be pretty Impressive For Someone on Kikwangs Level To Support his HV. I mean considering his Support in his mix and Chest Register Arent As impressive. Or is it easier To Support HV than mix?

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      2. You know now I got a question : If a tenor supports from D3/Eb3 up to F4 he would be considered Weak To Average but what if hes able to support his HV up to C#5. Would that bump him up to a low average?

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      1. more control on lower range and supported high notes. but some high note quite ambiguous for me though

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      2. You didn’t provide time stamps but someone else asked about it, so here’s the answer: He was singing C3’s in the verse, with many Bb2’s and A2’s as well, which had tone but were kind of too full of vocal fry and not enough chest voice. Some transitions into head voice in chorus. He is not singing especially high nor in a challenging range for him in the chorus. I am hearing mixed F4’s, which is nothing new. Very quick phrased G4’s. 2:23 A4, strained there’s where the problem lies. But from C3 ~ G4 and A4 in head voice he sounds fine. 2:44 the vowel lacks focus for that G4, he needs to shape the throat a bit better, but not too bad. The head voice transition wasn’t bad. 3:00 high larynx on the A4’s. So yeah I don’t particularly hear anything new.

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      3. i’m sorry, i just open it again after so long. thank you for answer. so, i just saw “tenor” on voice type. is it new? cuz i swear before that written lyric tenor. may i know why? i kind like it when i see whose is lyric tenor and whose is full tenor.

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      4. Because in contemporary music specific fachs are only rough estimates and guesses and they’re kind of not necessary so in order to eliminate issues with voice typing beyond our ability, we’re keeping it simple from now on.

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  8. At 2:07, what note is it and how can I make that sound?

    At 0:11, is Yoseob off key? Also at 0:52, it sounds kinda weird. Is it intentional?

    Hightlight sang baddly in this video. Is this what live sounds like?

    Thanks

    Like

    1. You mean singing a G#4 on an Oh vowel with a slight tightness and a bit of a push to make it sound “sexy?” I don’t know what sound you’re referring to. It’s also not Yoseob’s voice, it’s him lip synching to the kids in the video.
      0:11 He wasn’t off key, he just didn’t start the note at the center of pitch, he did a bit of a slide up to it. 0:52? What do you mean weird? You have to be more specific with your comments. It’s just him straining above G#4, then switching to a nasal head voice. Again this isn’t anything new, this is something discussed within the analysis. There are plenty of moments of Yoseob sounding exactly like that before in the analysis.

      It wasn’t bad singing, at least not from Yoseob, the only one who supports his voice. No, live singing isn’t “bad singing.” Live singing is prone to mistakes, but there are plenty of live singing videos of Yoseob in the analysis, as well as for every other vocalist on this blog. Many have off days but many have good days, so I don’t understand your point with “is this what live sounds like” as if everybody lip synched and the only reason they sound “good” is because it isn’t live. That’s disrespectful to vocalists who consistently sing live AND well.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. A maior parte do refrão é cantando ao entorno de F#4 e G4, com alguns A4’s cantados na garganta dele como 0:51 1:04 2:27 2:49 A4’s e B4’s. A qualidade da voz dela tá mais rouca e mais na garganta do que antes nessa parte da voz dele, eu não entendo porque. Pode ser cansaço.

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  9. Thank you so much for your analysis ❤ I can't even imagine listening to 100 songs and analyze all of them it must be tiring, so much respect to you! As a fan of Highlight myself I don't even know some of the songs that you included in the video (I failed *cry*) lol.
    I just saw the male vocalist ranking and actually surprised that Yoseob is pretty up there since their songs almost always highlighted Yoseob's high notes which in some cases/notes too high for him and doesn't sounds pleasant in the ear (especially during 2014-2016 promotion). But knowing how much korean shows love doing high note battle, I'm kind of understand why Junhyung push Yoseob to sang those high notes. I personally love Yoseob's low and middle range and after reading your analysis, thankfully my ear doesn't deceived me! 🙂

    Also, I read half of the comments in this article and somehow I feel like I need to clarify some things (even though it's too late and unnecessary, but better than never). I read 1 older comment and realize that there are still some people whom doesn't understand the meaning of well-rounded group, which the actual meaning is most of the group members are pretty good at singing; dancing; acting; variety skill; personal talent; etc. Highlight is indeed one of the well-known well-rounded/talented groups because most of the members (I'd say 4 out of 5 or used to 6) are pretty good at other fields (especially in variety skill, acting, MC-ing, personal talent, and composing) and actually praised by the professional of each fields.

    However I admit that many fans still misinterpret their singing technique, just because Highlight always done great in singing live while dancing, they automatically said that all the members are good at singing. Each members definitely have great stamina to be able to hit the notes correctly most of the times during live performance, also their determination to (almost) never relied on backtrack vocal (even during 2.5 hours concert full of singing and dancing) is very impressive, but there are still many flaws and room of improvement. Now that they are in their own agency, I wish that all members train their technique even more especially Dongwoon because in my opinion he has a pretty voice, but lack of technique which is a waste. I think I saw Dongwoon's improvement in the last 2 or 3 performances so I wish this is a good sign.

    I'm so sorry that this has become a very long one, I can't help it "-"

    Liked by 1 person

  10. please check out yoseob newest videos

    00:13 nasal head voice.00:21 supported and resonance

    00:08 what note is this? it like has tension on it. 00:22 he can be more opened, i afraid to use the word, maybe i makes mistake.. it is shallow? it like a little closed throat.

    00:04 supported, 00:09 tight and flat.
    00:35 it’s sounds nice and supported, but i don’t know that was resonance or not. what notes is this? it same with 00:09, right?
    is resonance just can be present when someone do belt or long notes? can’t it be present when someone just sing?

    Like

    1. 0:13? There was no head voice there. 0:21 There was no resonance, I’m not sure the time stamps are correct. 0:37 there was a sustained A4 which wasn’t bad actually.
      0:08 G#4, it was just a bit closed. 00:22 where?
      0:09 You mean the Ooh vowel? 0:35 F#4 he was kind of running out of breath, so he didn’t really smoothly settle into the note. 0:09 was G4. No, resonance can be present on phrased notes as well.

      Like

  11. omg i put with wrong order 😦

    00:13 nasal head voice.00:21 supported and resonanc
    then

    00:08 what note is this? it like has tension on it. 00:22 he can be more opened, i afraid to use the word, maybe i makes mistake.. it is shallow? it like a little closed throat.

    this for third video
    00:04 supported, 00:09 tight and flat.
    00:35 it’s sounds nice and supported, but i don’t know that was resonance or not. what notes is this? it same with 00:09, right?

    Like

    1. 0:13 Oh okay! Yes C5 and C#5, tight head voice. 0:21 supported yes but no, no resonance.
      0:08 It’s G4, a bit tight cause of the vowel. F#4 at 0:22, yes it’s a more opened vowel but he sounds like he’s out of breath.
      0:04 No, I wouldn’t say that’s supported. It’s tight and closed, A4. 0:09 not sure about being too flat, but definitely quite tight. 0:35 This A4 is a LOT better than the other ones and it is one of his cleanest A4’s, but it’s quite a bit pushed and I’d say I hear a high larynx. It’s the same as 0:04, not 0:09.

      Like

  12. omg i put another wrong video
    first video

    this is for second video.

    this for third video
    00:04 supported, 00:09 tight and flat.
    00:35 it’s sounds nice and supported, but i don’t know that was resonance or not. what notes is this? it same with 00:09, right?

    Like

  13. hello~ another video from yoseob. i find something that he doesn’t usually do, maybe cuz he doesn’t have chance to sing like this.

    he sang kind of rock song, i think it usual for someone to sounds like rough, harsh, cuz the song need to sang that way. but on 00:30 what happened? it like he just let go everything. what the? it’s just like throw something out and catch it back again. feel free. is it good? is okay to singer sing like that? and note 00:38 nice vibrato though. that was supported? i guess it was.

    Like

    1. The way he is mixing isn’t bad, his A4’s are really not coming out that badly. 0:30 What you said about throwing is correct, he was kind of flat and he kind of pushed the note out without focusing the stretch of his vocal cords. It’s not too bad, since he did grab it afterwards. 0:38 It’s supported yes, F4.

      Like

    1. Kikwang when he sings, he generally sings with a lot of air pushing against his vocal cords, with his throat closing and his larynx high. He doesn’t show proper support, I’d rather actually not hear him singing high because then he’s guaranteed not to support. I’d rather hear him singing lower where there is a higher chance of him supporting. Yoseob sounded good, he was singing within E3 ~ G4, which is well within his supported range. The beginning of the third video is pretty thin, airy and nasal. Again, I don’t hear support at all when Kikwang sings.

      Like

      1. ahh could definitely hear Yoseob being more comfortable singing here though it was short. So it was because its well within his support range. I have zero knowledge in judging vocals but i know Gikwang does sounds nasally but somehow his voice here sounds quite calming to me. Does this just basically a preference or it has something to do with he stays within his range? Sorry if my question doesnt make sense

        Like

  14. could you give a little analysis for yoseob’s new song? his voice sounds so full.. maybe because the note quite lower, i just know its bright but have weight.

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    1. He is singing within a very comfortable range, he has no range to struggle. His head voice is peaking at C#5 where there’s slight tension but he sounds fairly supported throughout C#3 ~ G#4 ~ C#5, which was the range of the song. 3:17 except for this Aye vowel, he is tightening his throat a lot more than he needs to. 3:32 This aye was a lot better.

      Like

  15. could you please take a look here 00:00-01:37.. he was singing with head voice, i think. sounds nice. he quite rarely singing like this.. i means from beginning till the end.. live

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    1. I got a notification from youtube that Yoseob released a new video in the highlight channel and I saw your comment and I thought you were gonna ask about that. lol He is using a bit too much air for his runs but that’s nothing new. He sounds generally relaxed, this is perfectly within where he supports although some of his vowels around G#4 were a bit tighter than they needed to be. He also hit a few D5’s, with slight pushing of too much air.

      Like

  16. If there is a new vocal ranking(2018 ver.), will yoseob go to a higher place? And what do you think with his new album? Thank you ><

    Like

  17. According to a Soompi article, Yoseob’s been attending a vocal academy. The article quoted him saying “There was a time when I stopped attending out of arrogance, but about a year or two ago, it occurred to me that the vocal cords are muscles. I need to keep using them, or else.”
    So I was just wondering whether or not you’ve noticed any changes in his vocal ability within the past few years? And, like, whether it’s a good thing (the vocal academy is helping him maintain his vocal technique so it doesn’t degrade/worsen) or a bad thing (the vocal academy isn’t helping him develop his vocal techniques)? Thank you!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Well since I haven’t heard him idk but I’m really happy and proud of him for his mentality. Hopefully he got good instructors!

      Like

  18. Hi ahmin. Is this post still receive updates? I mean it’s already 2 years since before and yoseob just discharged from army. He appeared in King Of Masked Singer nowadays, so I was wondering if there’s improvement in his vocal

    Like

  19. Hi ahmin, I learnt so much from you in terms of vocalization. I hope you still receive updates as for this post yoseob is back from the military and got crowned 8 times in King of Masked Singer. I wonder if his mix has improved and recently their group Highlight make a comeback, can you tell if other members vocal has improved? Thank you.

    Like

  20. Hey ahmin, I was wondering, how come yoseobs supported head voice seems to be more powerful/bigger in volume than others? is it cuz he places it on the mask? most others singers that ive seen u analyze sound rather soft when using a supported headvoice, yoseobs always seems stronger, i was wondering why that is, thank you

    Like

      1. oh thank you, i didnt know u could add chest to a head voice, i thought it would become a mixed voice if u added chest to it

        Like

      2. Oh you can since they’re muscles. Mask placed head voice almost always has a higher degree of chest muscles added.

        Like

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