Explaining Karen's Vocal Range

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Is there someone that can help explain this in "everyday" language, for the people who are not knowledgable in notes, scales & key changes.

1st Example:

On the recent BBC Radio Interview, the host Mark Radcliffe was talking about someone riding in a car down the streets of Los Angeles w Karen, I think his name was Tom Bartlett (not sure of the last name) but it said that Karen was in the car & she was singing in a really high voice beautifully & Tom said to her, I never knew you could sing this high, then it was said Karen had a "4 Octave Range" (I think this is what they said) Then Karen said something like yeah, the lower octive was the money in the basement.

So Karen actually knew she could sing just as well in a lower key than she could in a higher key, right? Wouldn't it have been flusterating for Karen in her career to know that she could sing in a higher range but never had the chance to really record there cause her lower range was what the public wanted & brought in the money. I don't know....Maybe this is why Phi Ramone choose songs in a higher range for her, because he knew she could and this was what Karen wanted to do at the time?

Was a 4 range Octave something that was rare in singer of that time era? Or even this one of today's????

2nd Example:

In the liner notes from Richard on "As Time Goes By" On the track, California Dreaming-He says this: "This is one of my favorite tracks on this collection. Karen at 17 is a marvel. I especially like the way she jumps an octave, from chest voice, to head voice on the letter (and note) "A" in the opening.

What does Richard mean jumps from chest to head voice? I always thought a real singers voice comes from the diaphram (chest) not the head. Is Richard talking about the split sec in the very beginging with the A in All the leaves are brown?

If Karen was capable of singing in a 4 Octave Range, did she use this range in the Carpenters recording? Or did she only use the lower range all the time?

If you have any thoughts on this, I'd like to hear yours.

 

[engineer]

A few quick points.

"Head voice" vs "chest voice" are terms used to describe ways of singing ("singing from the diaphram" describes support, not voice). A "chest voice" is in your lower register, and it involves using your vocal cords in a way to produce lower notes. The "head voice" is created by changing the way you are using your vocal cords, so that you end up with higher notes. The "passagio" is the place in your voice where you need to switch from one way of singing to the other in order to produce those notes.

The note in "California Dreamin'" where Karen jumps is on the phrase "if I was in L.A.....California," with the jump happening duing "A" of "L.A". She was singing below her passagio in the lower octave and jumps to the higher note (above her passagio) flawlessly. It usually takes years of training for a singer to be able to jump their passagio in such a smooth way, something that Karen was able to do at the age of 17. That's why Richard's so impressed with that.

As for having a four-octave range, that's about two more octaves than most singers ever use. Karen didn't use her upper range nearly as much as the lower because she didn't sound nearly as distinctive in her upper range. You can recognize her voice instantly when you hear the opening phrase of "Goodbye to Love," but had she recorded something two octaves higher than that you probably would have to listen for a minute to figure out who was singing.

Phil Ramone used her upper register more than Richard did because he was trying to do something different, to go in a different direction with her voice so as to distinguish the solo project from the standard "Carpenters" fare.

Singers are only successful if they can be distinguished from the rest of the pack. Most of the truly successful singers out there are that successful because you can instantly tell who is singing. Why else could Rod Stewart have sold as many records as he does, with his horrible voice? It's all about recognition. Richard and Karen both knew that the money was in the basement -- her voice singing in a low key was instantly identifiable as Karen Carpenter, and the public loved it.

And just because someone has a four-octave range doesn't mean that they should use it. Take Mariah Carey -- she has the range, but some of her high singing sounds like someone strangling a cat. It's just screechy and unpleasant. However, it became her identifiable style, and as we know, identifiability is often more important than talent.

Dan

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Phil Ramone used her upper register more than Richard did because he was trying to do something different, to go in a different direction with her voice so as to distinguish the solo project from the standard "Carpenters" fare.

Singers are only successful if they can be distinguished from the rest of the pack.

Dan, you explained that perfectly, I enjoyed reading that response, thanks. Now I understand that better than I did before.

I guess the reason why alot of the Carpenters fans don't like the solo album is because of that, It wasn't that "distinguished" voice we all know as Karen. I'm still amazed that Karen had this type of range in her voice. I guess that is why Petula Clark said, "She could have sung anything"

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Dan, I've been re-listening to that part where Karen jumps an octave on if I was in L.A.....AAA. Seeing that she had the ability to do this with her voice at the age of 17. I wonder if Richard told her to do this when they recorded this track? Or did she do this on her own.

Also are there any other Carpenters songs or Karen's solo work where she displays this ability to jump an octave within a song?

 

[Mark-T]

I think the solo album has alot of classic "Karen" moments-
Make Believe, Last One Singin' the Blues, If We Try come to mind.

Mark

 

[andywithaz]

I would describe Karen's voice as the perfect voice


Andrew
...updating avatars, online...

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Didn't want to start another thread so I guess it sorta can fit here.

What is the musical term of that noise that Karen makes with her voice.

It can be heard in a number of places. For instance:

Made in America-"Somebody's Been Lying" on the last words...In Love at approx 3:16 to 3:19

It's a little bit on Lovelines-"Your the One" again on the word...Love at approx 3:27

Karen Solo CD-"All Because of You" at approx 2:58 on the word.. Because.

Interpretations-"Trying to Get the Feeling Again" right before she turns the page at approx 1:50 on the word...again.


It's like a vibration to her voice, do you think that she does this on purpose?or Do you think it just happens naturally?

Can you think of others songs she does this? I get goosebumps when she does that to her voice. I love it.

 

[song4u]

Do you mean vibrato? That's natural, but it can be controlled or trained.

 

[engineer]

I hear what you're talking about, Chris. It's not vibrato; it's more like a rasp...

My vocal coach friend calls that a lack of support. It happens when the breath support drops below the level needed to sustain the sound. Used quite often in pop singing for dramatic effect, because it sounds intimate, like a whisper.

Dan

 

[Jeff]

Karen's voice takes on this hue in WOJB where she sings WOJB to li'ive. Love her interpretations. They make her sound unique and memorable. DESPERADO also has many twinges of color and style. Sometimes when Anne Murray drops deep into her lower register it hauntingly reminds me of Karen. I listen to her periodically just to hear a rich alto. A poor second in my opinion, but nonetheless reminiscent of a superstar.

 

[andywithaz]

This is what I was trying to explain in the thread that I created about Karen's voice being softer in earlier years. If you listen to the earlier songs there isn't as much rasp and vibration in her voice as in the later years.

 

[kennyv]

Could anyone tell me whether or not Karen used her head voice in the medley where she sang "breaking up is hard to DOOOOOOOOO (is this where it happened from chest voice "to" to head voice "dooooooo"?) before it leads to WOJB.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

ARGH!!!

Regarding my last post above...How could I forget the most important song that has this rasp, vocal crackle lol. Just listening to "Rainbow Connection" from the new Gold Cd.

Listen to Karen sing the last note....and meeeeee.

I LOVE THIS. Maybe Richard would have re-placed it if they ever re-recorded it but I love when Karen does this. Goosebumps for me

 

[andywithaz]

I'm the exact opposite. I hate it! But after all Karen was only human.

 

[close2u]

Listen again to the ending of "Rainbow Connection" -- it's not Karen's usual raspy "vocal fry" sound... it's literally a "cut and paste" job done by Richard (or the engineers) to lengthen the last note she's holding. Listen several times and in headphones -- you'll hear it! It's just an editing procedure. I thought it was Karen's voice at first, too!

Randy

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Hey Randy, I've listened to this a bunch of times just now w/ my headphones, can you explain a little more by what you mean cut & paste.

Now that you bring this up, Maybe I'm thinking this is not really her voice doing this, it almost sounds more to me like a defect in the tape head, almost like it droped out for a milisecond & then picked her vocal line back up again hence making it appear that her voice crackled when it didn't?

Am I wrong?

 

[close2u]

I am not sure if this will clarify, but I'll give it a try. I should have said "COPY and Paste" -- what Richard (or whoever) did is copied a short portion of the end of Karen's note on the word "Me...." and "tagged" it on the end to make the note last longer. I assume he felt she cut off just a bit too soon to really fit with his arrangement at the end of the tune...

When I say "copy and paste," just think of it how we can copy and paste on our computers. It literally copies a section of her vocal track and pastes it on at the end to make it longer. I know we have several resident engineers here -- maybe they can chime in and help. I know that is the editing that happened there, but I doubt I am using the right vocabulary here.

Randy

 

[engineer]

Randy, I do hear what you're talking about, but I'm not sure whether it was done to lengthen the note, or for some other purpose.

What is odd is that Richard left that ragged spot there. To my ear, what it actually sounds like is a punch-out -- a later take was recorded over an earlier one, and the new recording was punched-out slightly before the old one had ended, leaving the little bit of overlap. If this were a digital edit done in 1999 when the song was being completed, I would think that Richard would have fixed the rough transition.

It does appear to be an electronic sound, not a hitch in Karen's vocal, so Chris could be right -- it might just be a bad spot in the master tape. Again, why the rough spot was left in is odd, since there is plenty of software available to fix such problems.

Dan