Have a listen to Viktor Wichniakov's low singing. I mean really, that's just indecent!
I'm going to share with you all a secret of the trade. A really big secret, that explains how we get ridiculous low notes like that low low low G (yes, I can sing along to that, in the morning at least).
The secret is... microphones. Stick a microphone right at the singer's teeth, and suddenly the vocal fry becomes perfectly usable!
It's not really cheating... no more than "wake up, mr. Pavarotti - it's 4am, time for your low note," which is a very common practice in modern recording. What it really means is that no one is going to sing that low low low G in solo performance. It's just too quiet! Heck, even with a lot of tone, it takes a boatload of volume to get a note that low to be heard. I don't use my perfectly loud, non-vocal-fry low C in performance for just that reason, unless I'm singing acapulco. I'd rather be heard and a bit higher.
Anyways, today is the day to send me links to your favorite low voices. Let's hear 'em rumble.
correction: I can sing along to this recording, at most any time of day. Upon consulting a piano, that's only a C2 he's singing... low low C, my favorite low note. Sorry for the confusion.
Fri, 2006-03-03 23:10
I have some great Kipnis recordings, would you like me to send them to you via e-mail?
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»Mon, 2006-04-03 22:48
That is Yuri Wichniakov, the site where you got that from probably marked it as Viktor, but they were wrong.
I have the whole song of this, the "low G" he is singing is in reality a C#1. I guess our ears aren't strong enough to hear it, but a pitch-detector thingie will show up C#1 as the note he is singing.
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»Mon, 2008-08-04 14:28
Of course it's not a C#1. The song goes in C minor, and C# isn't even in that scale. It is in fact a G1, but because of the voices of the rest of the choir, the pitch detector probably wasn't able to measure such a low note, and picked a random noise from the sound ofn the room.
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»Sat, 2006-07-08 21:28
You may not be able to make a low C heard without using a microphone, but those aren't microphones that those basses are using on that recording. Just because most american pop singers or a cappella groups use microphones doesn't mean everyone does. These russkies take a more impressive (and classical, as befits a traditional eastern orthodox choir) route towards amplifying these crazy low notes.
Their trick is harmonics. They're in a huge chapel, and usually there's more than one bass singing. They have such command of those low notes that the overtones give a depth and thickness to the notes that you couldn't get in, say, an average room with average acoustics. Listen to that ringing sound in the background - that's the walls vibrating from the power of their voices. You don't get that in a microphone, and you can't even truly fake it digitally. If you can't hear what it is, listen to just about any opera recording. You'll hear that ringing as well, especially in bass and baritone high notes. They don't sing with mics - they learn how to project their voices using overtones and acoustics to make themselves heard. They didn't have mics back in the day, after all.
Also, it's a C# he's singing in THAT little clip, but check out the CD where it came from - Basso Profondo of Old Russia. In about the middle of that song, there's a section where he hits numerous Bb's BELOW Low C. Those are just incredible. Who knows how low these basses could go. Russians are nuts.
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»Wed, 2008-03-19 04:44
I have hear such music when I was in Russia, the notes you hear are incredible and so loud, the acoustics are just so superb, and in some of the cathedrals, like Kazan the choir is split into two groups and sing in different directions, all to maximise the intensity. Your entire body shakes and the notes get lower than most recordings show when the best choirs are in there
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