The mystery of his voice...
 

One thing that attracted my attention:
We all know, that Meat got a great and powerful voice. But one thing i cant underständ:
He can sing the most voluminous notes if he´s sitting. If he want to reach a higher volume, then he even bows himself forward!
I don´t know much about the physics of singing, but when i want to reach a voluminous note, then I try to be as big as i can. I want to reach a very big capacity of my loungs, a high resonance.
If I whould do as Meat does, I whouldn´t get one right tone!
Could somebody explain that to me?
R.

Frankly, I can't understand how Meat does it.:??: I have had classical voice training, and you are right - to reach the volume and higher notes, you need to be straight up and brace yourself as you take a full diaphragm-centered breath for supporting the notes you are about to sing. Meat does the exact opposite and gets the same results. That would be a good question to ask him someday.

Quick off-topic. I just noticed that we're neighbors. NY or NJ?

Ok...at the risk of sounding dumb as a stick...this is my theory...he stands perfectly straight when he just belts the songs out...he bends over when he puts an emotion into his singing. I think you can sing as powerfully as you can standing straight but to squeeze real heartfelt emotion out, you do have to lean forward...this is just a theory anyway...I actually tried it...yes...I am THAT bored...

And I think I actually saw it before when singers put real emotion into the singing they lean forward - I just never thought about it...

The man must have huge lungs anyway, I remember when I first saw him live, it all fell totally silent when he belted out the first note and I could hear his voice six rows back louder than the speakers.

Did You notice, that it is always at the end of Bat out of Hell?

Probably...most good opera singers are either heavy or at least top heavy...just like ML

And also, he inevitably has a mouthful of chewing gum and/or throat lozenges. It should not be physically possible to sing like that: bent over and with a full mouth. :shock:

Yes, I've read him saying that he always has gum in his mouth when he sings...

He gave an explanation, too, but i dont remember.

Did he? I don't remember either? You're much more attentive than I am. He just blows me away and I can't think of any details. It's like my brain explodes.

I guess it's something to do with me being a female...

It was on the commentary of the MSO DVD or in to hell and back. I will look it up the next days.

Must have been to Hell and Back...

I think I figured it out. He definitely mentions gum in To Hell and Back but might be explaining why he is chewing it on MSO DVD which I haven't seen yet...

I´ll look tomorrow, now i´m too lazy.

But for getting back on topic.
I tried to sing BOOH like he does, and i don´t get it! I got the best result if I stand like pavarotti does, i think you know what i mean.
When I´m singing with emotion, i have to contract every muscle and something like... getting power and then when it´s over i have to explode, i think that you know what i mean.
R.

You're all right. Opera singers do have large lung capacities. And you are inclined to lean over for an emotional part. But if that happens to coincide with a high note and/or extra volume, bending over quite a bit can make the process difficult, which is what Meat does, and is hard to understand.
I'm in NY.

Part 2: he chews gum to keep his vocal chords from drying out; has done so since the late 70's/early 80's.

I know what you mean...for me it's not a problem - I can't sing at all...

I have to pay more attention...so far I was paying more attention to his singing rather than his performance. North Jersey here

Alright...that makes sense...although it's still doesn't explain how he actually does it.

Meat said in Classic Albums - BOOH, that he taught himself to sing, experimenting with sounds and production. And I did read somewhere that back in the 70's, he was offered free operatic training, but refused because you couldn't have a dual career in opera and rock like you can now, and he couldn't deal with not being able to improvise. Considering all the wear and tear he has put his voice through with the 3 and 4 hour shows too many times per week that he used to do, it's a bit of a miracle that he sings so tremendously well today. You can't argue with success, but how he does it, is beyond all vocal training I ever had; it is still a question to ask him.

Interesting thing to note that ML sort of has a Russian counterpart - this one a woman singer. She was actually classically trained as an opera singer but crossed over to the "dark side". She had an amazing range too but what is more interesting that she acted out every song too...she didn't just stand there singing or shaking or whatever like many do...she actually created these little stories out of the songs and acted them out...like ML she was in movies too. Interesting...something made me think of her. I think it is something that makes them theatrical actors before singers. That doesn't explain mysteries of their abilities to sing while acting, sometimes in strange, seemingly uncomfortable positions...but probably nothing does. Sometimes you just can't explain phenomena and you can just enjoy and marvel.

I experienced something similar at Liverpool in 2002. At one point he was nowhere near a mike yet at about thirty rows back I still heard him shout "Yes!":shock: :lol:

I remember way back in 1987 I saw Meat at Newcastle City Hall.

During Paradise he threw the mic onto the stage and sang the line "I can see Paradise by the dashboard light" unamplified. You could hear him clear as a bell throughout the auditorium.

I would have thought that he bends over more as he gets tired throughout the set? Hense him being almost horizontal at the end of BOOH!?

As for the chewing gum, I thought it was because he has acid reflux disease?

I keep on thinking about it...so I've asked people who are not fans and don't know much about him what they think. Interesting...they also think that it's because he is an actor first and thinks more about getting into the character and expressing emotions than how his notes will come out...

One thing you gotta' remmeber is Meat Loaf himself claims to entertain, not sing. I think it is all part of the act.

~Dave

That is part of what I am trying to say, however, it explains WHY is he doing it...still doesn't explain HOW...do you know what I mean?

Lucy is right about the acid reflux disease; Meat mentioned it in the commentary of MSO. But he also said he had been chewing gum a long time before that 'prescription' for medicinally dried out vocal chords. What I don't understand about the gum is how he can 'park' it so securely that it doesn't move no matter how open his mouth is, or how heavily he is singing.

And Meat does put acting first in his performances.

You´re right Virginia, i´ve looked it up, too. I can´t understand how much gum he can chew while singing! I´ve counted 3 pieces of it. I whouldn´t be able to speak with so much gum!

If I remember what he said correctly, Meat said he used to put in 5 pieces, but has now worked down to 4!

thats a useful technique. i find chewing helps coz my vocals dry quick, i just wish others wld see it like that and not whine at u for chewing come when singing.
hugs
leeann

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

Scientists have explained why we see a rainbow arching across the sky and why chocolate makes us feel so good .. but the rainbow isn't any more beautiful for understanding what causes it, the chocolate doesn't taste any better .. and a Turner doesn't look any more wonderful for having its brushstrokes dissected :-) We have a cherry tree in my road which is a mix of pure white and pink blossoms .. the Council had all the white branches pruned away one year (the vandals!) .. but the white has grown back. It's one of a kind .. a small wonderment .. and like so many of life's miracles that lift one's heart, I don't need to pick them apart to try and understand them, but just bask in the joy they give :D

Meat sees himself as a performer rather than a singer of songs .. How does he do it? Who knows? Like a Turner or the cherry tree, he's one of those miracles in life that I'm just happy to have wash over me :))))))

A very poetic statement. Thanks for that!

Very poetic and very true...I see things sort of the same way...

explain for me plz.
hugs
leeann

Hi Fallen Angel :D

Lotus was being naughtie... LOL. Read the last line of your post above, about "chewing gum" or something else... :shock: :lmao:

J.

Oh my dear lord...nobody noticed this until now...oh god...:oops:

I am dying here laughing....

OI. I noticed. :D

It's a common enough typo, now play nice. :-)

Common enough typo??? In which language???? I am playing nice...I didn't bring it up...but it's still funnnneeeeeeee...

lol

So you're saying Meat's a Cherry Tree :wtf:

Pud :twisted:

No

Have to reactivate this thread because I´ve noticed something:

We were talking about the two different ways of reaching voluminous notes. (bend over and the Pavarotti-way)
We´ve said that Meat bends over to reach voluminous notes and that´s very difficult to explain how it works.
(That was just a short review for those who didn´t read the posts above)

Did You see the AI performance?
There he´s singing exactly the other way...
Maybe that´s the reason why he wasn´t "that" good.

I think he didn't get into 'position' as much as usual because he was holding back for Katherine, and not using even half of the power he is capable of.

I think the way Meat sings, upon close examination, would make a professional opera singer cringe. From what i have noticed, he doesn't do a lot of heavy breathing when he performs. They are more like short, less controlled breaths. Opera singers don't have bigger lungs... they just have more control over their lungs and have the ability to get more air out of them. They have abdomens and back muscles like iron because they use them so much! Their sound, especially when it's biggest, comes from deep down inside them - they use the whole of their bodies to produce a sound. Standing in a different posture will create a different sound. Meat is the opposite to this really - most rock and pop singers are the same. You'll see him take a lot of breaths between phrases and words. He also uses his thoat and chest to shape the sound and give that unique vibrato of his. Overall it takes a lot more effort and strain to sing the way Meat does. So that's why I think Meat bends over a lot of the time to get big notes. He is using his upper body more than his lower body and bending over he is somehow trying to dig deep by tensing up. It's a habit he has gotten into. When he was younger he didn't do it so much. I think this way of singing has kind of taken its toll on him because you'll notice he needs to put a whole lot more effort in to performing now. Does any of what I said make sense :?

Meat still sound great though and always has done :D

if Steinman's a kitten, why couldn't Meat be a cherry tree? :devil: