Vocal Range!

Mods, please move this to a more appropriate place as I don't really know where this belongs. I just thought some might find it interesting.

http://www.vintagevinylnews.com/2014/05/digging-deeper-axl-rose-is-not-singer.html

Now I'm the first to admit that I have no knowledge when it comes to this stuff but some of these results really surprise me.

Does Phil Anselmo really have a greater vocal range than Ian Gillan & Freddie Mercury?   

Or that apparently Tom Araya & James Hetfield have wider vocal range than Joey Belladonna   

There are loads of surprises for me on this list and just shows what I know! (I can hear Shawn of Fire mumbling 'Too f*£king right'  across the Atlantic   )

Thoughts?

Too much science and tech speak for my tiny brain to comprehend.

I call bs.

David Lee Roth above Rob Halford?! Am I reading this right?!   

That list is stupid

second time I've seen this today


Too much internet

It's stupid but possibly true. However: "Keep in mind that this list is based on vocal range and does not attempt to rank by perceived quality." The dispute that can be raised here is that the ranges most likely included falsetto as well. That's a poor gauge of width. And it certainly doesn't make Axl Rose better than Freddie Mercury. Some of these also confuse me though, like James Hetfield, because I've never once heard them sing higher than their standard range.

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Phil probably did hit higher notes Ian Gillian or Freddie Mercury. I've never been able to hit that last note in Cemetary Gates even though we tried to cover it. How about you Shawn? Granted, I don't believe he ever hit that one live either, it's a magic studio one-of-a-kind note. Ian sang all his stuff consistently live for a time, so that makes a big difference.

Mike Patton has the greatest range (maybe) but the lowest quality of anyone on that list IMHO.

Interesting. But as everyone knows, it doesn't make someone a better singer overall. Range is just easily measurable and one aspect of a singer's appeal.

Highest notes I can recall in metal, Ski in "Silent Madness" tied with Eric AK "Doomsday for the Deceiver". It's a B note on the 19th fret of the high E string on the guitar. I think I did hear a flower metal guy hit a note higher once but I forgot who it was, and since it was a lousy song I didn't care.

Temple of Blood wrote:

Interesting.  But as everyone knows, it doesn't make someone a better singer overall.  Range is just easily measurable and one aspect of a singer's appeal.

This.

corplhicks wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

Interesting.  But as everyone knows, it doesn't make someone a better singer overall.  Range is just easily measurable and one aspect of a singer's appeal.

This.

Yep.  No way in hell is Axl Rose anywhere NEAR the singer Freddie Mercury was.   No one is; I don't think the planet has ever heard a vocalist as good as Freddie.   I like some Guns n Roses but readily admit that Axl's voice sounds like a cat with its tail caught in a toaster.

tohostudios wrote:

corplhicks wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

Interesting.  But as everyone knows, it doesn't make someone a better singer overall.  Range is just easily measurable and one aspect of a singer's appeal.

This.

Yep.  No way in hell is Axl Rose anywhere NEAR the singer Freddie Mercury was.   No one is; I don't think the planet has ever heard a vocalist as good as Freddie.   I like some Guns n Roses but readily admit that Axl's voice sounds like a cat with its tail caught in a toaster.

Axl is the biggest reason I don't listen to G&R much anymore. I got sick of his whine.

Jim Gillette from Nitro has a pretty awesome range.

It's an interesting list, but it's essentially a comparison of highest and lowest recorded notes. For example, Roger Waters is probably up there because of some of the screams on Careful with That Axe, Eugene - he didn't sing in a higher register on a regular basis. So really, the best singers are those with a wide range and the ability to utilise that range and that's something that can't be measured.

It would also be interesting, though probably difficult to establish, who maintained their ranges the best. We all know that some singers can no longer hit the notes they used to as their voices have deteriorated over time due to a variety of factors.

Painkiller wrote:

Boris2008 wrote:

Does Phil Anselmo really have a greater vocal range than Ian Gillan & Freddie Mercury?   

I haven't compared the vocalists, but...

Yeah, Phil had a pretty badass range in the early days. An unhealthy lifestyle ruined that, though. Dude sounds like he straining just when he's talking.

Temple of Blood wrote:

Phil probably did hit higher notes Ian Gillian or Freddie Mercury.  I've never been able to hit that last note in Cemetary Gates even though we tried to cover it.  How about you Shawn?  

Yeah, there was a time I could hit it...probably could still hit the next to last one. But Ian Gillan has hit some pretty damn high notes. And most of the super-high notes in Queen were Roger Taylor.

I'll take vintage Axl over Freddie Mercury any day, vocals wise.

Although that list really reads like gibberish to me. I know nothing about vocal range or whatever other things go into measuring someone's vocal capabilities. I just gauge things on how they sound to me.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

And most of the super-high notes in Queen were Roger Taylor.

I see Brian May made it to the list, but not Taylor - I would have thought that his range would qualify him for the list thanks to those high notes.

The note that Eric Nally hits on 3 minutes in this defies belief, but I guess he'd lose out due to lack of death metal growls!



I still love this song   

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

Phil probably did hit higher notes Ian Gillian or Freddie Mercury.  I've never been able to hit that last note in Cemetary Gates even though we tried to cover it.  How about you Shawn?  

Yeah, there was a time I could hit it...probably could still hit the next to last one. But Ian Gillan has hit some pretty damn high notes. And most of the super-high notes in Queen were Roger Taylor.

When the first Gigantour came to Dallas, Dream Theater did Cemetary Gates with Russell Allen, Burton C. Bell, and James LaBrie and James hit that note flawlessly. I know his range has shortened since his bout with food poisoning all those years ago, but that night he was on his game.

ZombieHavoc wrote:

Although that list really reads like gibberish to me. I know nothing about vocal range or whatever other things go into measuring someone's vocal capabilities. I just gauge things on how they sound to me.

Pretty how I see it as I too don't understand that stuff. Though I do love singing and have a lot of favorite vocalists. I wish I could sing half as well as most people mentioned there. My problem as a singer is that I can only sing well in the lower to mid ranges. I try to go higher and it sounds like crap. Of course it's probably moot because at this point in my life I'm not sure I will ever be able to sing in a band. Hell, I can't even get motivated to go to a karaoke bar (that's mostly do to the fact that I can't bring myself to go to a bar by myself-I really need to make some friends ).

I have a suspicion that this list was compiled by listening strictly to the recordings throughout a singer's career and picking out both the lowest and highest note they were able to sing. Period.

That being the case, it's a little generous when you consider a male singer would be naturally higher voiced when younger and lower voiced when older.

It can be generous to someone like Anselmo who probably has a 3 note range these days but who once had a really wide range (but may have struggled with the low notes he naturally sits on now). Ditto, even when you look at Mike Patton - I love his voice, but RANGE doesn't really define his vocal melodies. His voice is mutable, but it's not like he's engaged in vocal acrobatics at any point in his career. Maybe give the guy a prize for being an elastic vocalist?

The big surprises for me on the list were finding out how low Ripper and Joni Mitchell are. That said, when I thought about it, both of them have/had powerful voices that exist in a really high range, but neither really had crazy vocal lines in the stuff they sang.

It definitely made me feel better about my voice when I saw how many good singers I can reasonably mimic were in the 4 octave range. Suits me just fine to be even mathematically comparable to the greats.