Tone Quality in Singing Explained: Why Your Voice Sounds Flat, Thin, or Inconsistent

In this episode, Sarah breaks down tone quality in singing and why it’s one of the most misunderstood aspects of vocal technique. She explains the four main components that shape tone, why singers often chase tone instead of building it, and how imbalance leads to flat, thin, or inconsistent sound. You’ll learn why tone is an outcome of coordination — not something you force — and how to start listening for what your voice actually needs. This episode helps singers move from guessing to clarity.

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Transcript

0:03

If you're tired of not making progress and you're ready to be the artist, you know you're meant to be, you are in the right place. You are listening to the Singers Path podcast. The Path or performing artist training hub will cover everything including singing tips that actually work, advice from top industry professionals and life-changing mindset shifts out with the Starving artist and in with the Thriving Artist. I'm your host, Sarah Bishop, professional singer. Actor, educator and entrepreneur. I'm not afraid to speak the truth and stop the gatekeeping of quality information so you can actually become the artist you dream of being. So let's get on the path, shall we? Even though we're all on our own journeys, it always helps to have a guide. Hello, hello. Welcome to the Singers Path podcast. It's me host Sarah Bishop, and I'm here again, the final of the four parts special series where we are breaking down the most asked singer questions that I've gotten. Again, if you have some singer questions that I did not answer here that you direly want answered, make sure you, you know, communicate with us. Send us an email at this at. Singers path@gmail.com. Um, and we love to read them and connect with you guys. We love that. If you also love this show, 'cause if you're back here and you've listened before, we would love for you to read up. Relieve us. Oh my God, at this point that I'm recording, this is so late. So I'm like tripping over my own tongue low. We would love if you could leave us a five star written review, take a screenshot of that and send it to us our way. And if you do that, we actually enter you to win a free lesson because we really value you taking the time to listen to this today. Very much appreciate it. Yeah. And it helps us get this out to more people, and that's really the mission is to help more people. So what's the last big question that singers have? Okay, let's go. We already talked about what the fuck is breath support. We already talked about how to stop singing. Breathy. We talked about how to, uh Oh, sorry. Puzzle piece. Oh no, this one's hard. That was weird. Okay. Sorry guys. Back. We already talked about breath support. We talked about how to stop singing breathy. We already talked about how to sing higher and what voice type are you? Well. We are at the last and final part, and that is tone quality. How do I get into good tone? Quality Shit. I sound like a naly squeaky bitch. How do I fix that? Okay, this is how, all right, we're gonna talk about how you can actually find a tone that you actually. Like even right now and some things to play with.'cause like, I wanna give you some action actionable things. So I'll give you some quick things to get you starting to experiment and then I'll also point, point you in the direction of that more long-term, like actual. Like real success, like actual huge improvement. Okay, so the first thing I gotta say, and I know I've been saying this, um, and this might not apply to you guys on the podcast, Zoe, and if this is the case and you would really love to make sure you join the wait list so that you know next time you're the first to know and you can jump on board, but group lessons are available for registration. Only until January 17th, 2026 guys for the winter quarter, winter trimester, whatever. If you're on the live, make sure I see you in there. I, I would love to connect with you if, if whatever I'm talking about here makes sense. Get in there. We love group lessons. Yes, they work just as well as privates. If not better, if not more. Um, you can go to the page. It talks about that. There's like tons of student reviews on there. They talk about singing in group. They learn from each other. Everybody's kind and supportive. If you're nervous to sing in front of others, this is the purpose. Perfect, perfect place to. To work on those nerves. This is the perfect place to work on audition material. This is the perfect place to train your ear if you're a teacher. This is the perfect place just to sing for the sake of fucking singing and actually improve really fucking fast and substantially. Okay. I've been so emotionally moved by the progress that I've seen with my students. I'm so proud of them. It's my favorite thing to teach. I feel so blessed to have this container, and I just know if you are feeling any of that niggle to join, like you're like, Ooh, I wanna do that. That's your sign, baby. Like, we want you in there. You're being called. So do it. Follow it. If you wanna join on the live here, you can go to the link in my bio on the main page and also know that um, there is a prereq. Okay? So that's so that we get the results so that we're all on the same page. Okay? So you do have to have pillars. I understand it's an investment. There are also payment plans where like, hey, if you're like, I act, I wanna, I wanna join so bad, but like I really can. Because I don't have the prereq. I can't do both at the same time. Then start with pillars, babe. That will get you fucking leaps and bounds, okay? And we'll hope to see you in next time. I can't guarantee when that will be the next time. I, you know, with my life, every time I do these group lessons, I can't be like, this is always happening forever and always it is a special thing that I love, but like life happens, right? I book. Jobs, like family stuff, like, I don't know. So if you want in, if you're feeling the pull, that's your sign babe. And I hope to see you in there'cause I love you and I'd love to connect with you, really, truly. Okay. If you're listening, uh, on the podcast again and you missed it, make sure you join the wait list. Alright, so let's get into this tone. Quality, okay. Tone, quality, a another kind of vague, elusive, elusive thing. Like we kind of know what that means. We can hear it. We can know if we like it or not, but how do we like get to a good tone quality? Well. Here's a couple pieces, okay? If you haven't listened to the other three parts, one of the first steps to good tone quality is actually not singing as breathy and getting good resistance. That's a big part of it. That's what's gonna give it. Its ringness and its overtones. So if you need help with that first step, go listen to that episode. So resistance is the first step to ringness. Okay? The second thing, and I'm gonna say this before we get really fancy. Again, and I know I sound like a broken record, but a big way to get to a good tone is to regulate and permit yourself to have a bad tone. The only way out is through, especially as you're actually balancing, which is gonna be my other, my next answer for how to get into good tone, quality, vocal balance is everything for tone, quality, truly. Like fucking truly, when you're getting efficient, um, function, that's when your fucking authentic sound, you know, all the teachers like, get your authentic sound. That's what it is, bitch. That's what it is. Bitch. Vocal balance. That's what it is. Functionality mixing. And you know what's also cool about mixing is you are also like acoustically mixing the treble and base frequencies, which also make up the tone. What's your mix? Right? How are you in your fucking skull, in your body? Blending the sound in your body to be perceived by others That has to do its own. Right. So again, in like the most actionable step, the long road step, quote unquote long road, the actual fucking solution is again, like I said, get your ass in pillars and get come in group. Now, one other thing I'll offer if you're like, well, that again, financially, like that's a jump for me now. There's also the Discover Masterclass, or sorry, I always say that. Discover Mini Course. Okay. That's a way cheaper option to get you to at least the first steps to understanding focal balance. Okay. That will teach you to be your own. The teach you to to. Start to be your own voice teacher, like legitimately, like know what the voice teachers use. Um, and that's way cheaper. So that's a good place to start. Okay. But that will start moving you in the direction of vocal balance. Okay? Vocal balance is huge in your tone quality because then it gives you an opportunity to actually have more choice in your sound and also get your most efficient ringy talent that exists. But, and this is what I was saying before, the only way to vocal balance. Is through shitty sounds. I'm sorry. So before we get to balance, unfortunately you have to learn to regulate your system while sounding like shit. Like I said, it's like you gotta become the ugly duckling before you become the pretty swan. And no matter what level you are of learning to sing, like everybody has to do this, I don't care if you've been in fucking Hamilton, everybody's gonna not like their sound sometimes while they're experimenting. The way to a good tone is to, to experiment with a bad tone. Okay? Because if you can't, if you're not willing to sit with that tone and like fuck with it. You are never gonna work through it. You're never gonna find the subtle nuances that actually make or break the difference in your sound. Actually, this is sounds crazy, this is left field, but it's true nervous system regulation and getting your body to cooperate, stay present in your body enough to actually do the subtle physical nuanced changes. They're so tiny to be able to feel them and know what to do. That's a huge step. I don't think anyone's ever said that. How do you get a good tone? Oh. Regulate your system so you can actually fucking move your voice a little bit. Huge, huge. Most of you aren't fucking doing that. It's like you get triggered hearing nay, nay. You're like, I'm done. I left my body. Oh my God, a gee, forget it. You guys are like, gi, I hate it. I can't. I hate it. Oh, I hate it. And then you never practice it, and then you stay exactly where the fuck you are. And you are like, I hate the tone quality in my head voice. I'm like, well, you never live up there. And you're like, well, it sounds bad. And I'm like, yeah, it has to sound bad while you're strengthening it and learning to figure it out. It does. It only sounds bad before it sounds good. Okay, so that's huge actually. How do you get a tone quality? Let it sound bad and get your body okay with it. Get your heart and your system. Make sure your heart rate doesn't fucking go up. Make sure you don't wanna crawl outta your skin when you sound bad for a second. Huge. Huge. Okay. Now we'll do one other thing that this is, I'm just slapping, I'm just laying bars down on this. Bars and bars and bars. One other tone quality thing that we'll talk about here that's more like functional and actually a little bit more advanced that you can feel right now. Laryngeal position, this is huge for tone quality. And is actually really advanced. So this is, this is something once your ba like larynx position comes in with balance as well, but like having masterful nuance control of laryngeal position has a great deal to do with the warmth of this sound. Most of you don't like your sound because it sounds nasal. Or too bright or pinched, or little girly or nasty. A lot of that can be traced back to a larynx that is sitting too high. Now, before you jumped on my fucking throat again, there's a spectrum of singing. There is no, no, like this is the exact position of the larynx or the lyrics always sits low or the lyrics is always high. Stop thinking in those black and white bullshit. That's not how it works. It's always moving. It's a mechanism. Okay. It's in relation to, it's a scale, it's a spectrum. When you sound like, yes. Your, your lyrics is too high in relation to where it would be rested. Okay? Not all sing. Like when you go higher in your voice, your lyrics is gonna go up. When you try to mix belt high, your lyrics is gonna go up. That's not bad. That's actually necessary. Okay. We actually do exercises called pharyngeal exercises that focus on a narrowing of the pharynx and a raising of the larynx. Okay? Na, na, na, na, na. Wait. We actually do, and this is what I mean, if your system's not on board to like, fuck with this, you're never gonna do what you wanna do. Okay? So that's why this is step one. But that bright quality is actually the safest way to mix belt high. That's why we use it. It's necessary. That's why it sounds bright. Okay? That's necessary. Also, the position of the larynx and the shape of the mouth will help with tone quality for understanding pockets of resonance. So different. This is what I mean, like voice is a spectrum. You finding resonance in one area of your voice is not gonna be the same as finding resonance in a different area of your voice. Sorry. You're gonna find resonance in chest different than how you would find it in your second paggio in DNE. Okay? Each different. Okay, so if, so think about it like again, rule of opposites. So if what we're learning is a high larynx, hey, can make it sound kind of bright and like nasty and easel. Sometimes we do that on purpose for function. If it's doing it to, in a way that you're like, I hate this, I hate this sound. Okay, what's the opposite? If it's too high, it needs to go down. So in relation to that, you would need to lower your larynx. Okay. That is what causes the sound to warm up. It adds depth. When your larynx is lower. It adds almost base quality, base frequency versus that higher, brighter larynx. The reason it sounds bright and bra and nasal and bratty, some of the air might be coming out of your normals, which is why it might sound like genuinely nasal, but a lot of it is just, it has a lot of trouble, has a lot of cut. You don't like it. Sounds too bright, too bingy. You would. Now, the way to get your larynx down is to think a little dumb. So instead of going you, you think the opposite. Okay, let me see if I could do it on the same note. He, na na nay. So that's bright. Hi larynx, na nay, nay, na nay, nay. That would be using a nay on the do right. So my laryn went all the way up here and then I dropped. It's the same note. I think ne I'm singing the same note. Okay. But you can hear the difference in the treble quality versus the bare, the base quality in the mix or, well, I'm not really mixing there, but like in the, like in the acoustical mix. Okay. So, but here's the thing, again, it's a spectrum. It's a balance. It's, it's a rule of opposites. Okay? So if the sound is too bright, you need to lower the larynx. If the sound is imposed, which is you pressing the larynx, which comes with a whole other slew of fucking problems, okay? Too much like muscle tension in other ways, right? This can cause another tension and this can cause muscle tension. We just generally wanna live in a rested position, okay? If we're gonna, if we're gonna blanket something, rule of thumb, try to live in a more rested position. Okay, that's going to greatly improve your tone quality. If it's too bright, you need to think dumb to warm up your sound. If it's too like open and it doesn't have cut at all and is falling back, and all of those things that people say, you bring in a brightness or a pharyngeal, a narrowing of the pharynx, a bright a, a kind of, um, bratty quality, and that adds trouble, that's gonna brighten the tone. Okay, so when someone like Ariana Grande in Glinda, or for Ed is, she's like a vocal master, like she's in that booth like deciding how she wants, how she wants something to sing, how she wants such to sound. So she chose for Glinda for her character, I think, unless someone fucking did her dirty. But I feel like they didn't, I feel like she chose this. Her larynx sits higher for a brighter girlier sound, and she also has a lack of resistance for airiness for this kind of ethereal thing, and it's really bright, so. I dunno if I can even sing it this light. Um, it has that kind of like little girl brightness and I think she kind of chose it versus something that would have more richness in, in tone quality was if she got better cord closure and she got her larynx down, boy. Now that was not a good example because it's 2:00 AM and my husband's sleeping, so I can't fucking sing it. But like you can hear the difference versus bye bye. Or in pose. Even if I went really too far, I can't even do it. I'm like trying to press it down. So basically, here's the thing, if you're like an opera singer and everything sounds like too dark and weird and tense. And you sound old. Yeah, probably haven't imposed larynx. Sorry if that offended anyone. My bad. If you sound bright, your tone, your larynx is probably too high, so you gotta release it, have it rest. If it's too high lowered, if it's too low, raise it. Okay, so it's rusting. Huge, huge tone stuff. There's so many more layers to this. There's whole resonance pockets, there's vowel shapes that can influence tone. There's tension. There's where your tongue is can influence tone. Like we could go for fucking hours into tone, but if you don't have balance, you don't have tone. If you don't have resistance, you don't have tone. Okay, so. Do those first steps and then we'll fuck with the tone. Actually, the tone will improve if you're finding balance more and you understand how to live more comfortably in those areas of the voice. One thing I will say, when people hate their tone in their head voice, which is why they don't wanna fucking sing up there, 'cause I think they sound squeaky. Bye bye. A lot of you aren't creating the proper space, right? And sometimes it's palate, but sometimes it's just o dropping your fucking jaw. And treating everything a little bit more open up there is gonna make the tone sound better. So instead of like keeping your mouth close, even just changing. The space that your jaw is dropping is gonna make a big difference. Especially a lot of people train in head voice on ease and news because, and I do that too, because that's what gets your vocal. It's like the most natural thing to get your vocal folds thin. But it's like when I have someone, I'm like, I'll have a student, I'm like, Hey, sing an E up here, but then open your mouth. They're like, what the fuck? I can't, like, it changes the vowel. So then you're learning how to hold basically the vow with your internal like tongue shape. Eh, and then you're letting to unhinging your jaw. So anyway, there's many layers. Bitch, we, you go so fucking deep. This is why I'm like, I'm sorry. Fucking respectfully. There is no fucking quick fix bitch. There's no, there's no quick one secret answer, bitch. The secret answer is balance your goddamn voice. Learn what your voice needs and give it that. Sorry. That's the fucking secret. You want a secret? Learn what you need. Give yourself that. Wow. All right. That's the way to better tone. Better tone, better life. Happy wife. Better life, better tone. Phone home, bitch. No, I don't know. What am I saying? God. God knows. All right. I'm delirious. I'm gonna go to sleep. Um, this is almost as UNH unhinged as my other favorite podcast episodes when I was drunk with DJ during happy hour. I think we talked about, I don't even remember what we fucking talked about. Drunk with DJ on Hop, happy Hour Singers Path podcast. The other one unhinged as fuck. We did a voiceover roulette. That was insane. We like, we like read voiceover sides that we got like either had as an actual audition or we got them from like Chachi, bt, sorry about it. They were horrific and DJ's really good at it. So I look dumb as fuck, horrific. If you wanna hear top level cringe even more so than getting bombarded by, um, a Middle Eastern man on my life when I didn't mean to accept him. Um. Go check this out. Please go. Listen, if you're on the live, please go Follow Singer's Path podcast. Where all these episodes, there's so many more. I think we have over 50 episodes from the last year. I'm just giving, I'm just fucking dropping bars. Bitch. It's time. This shit needs to get outta the world. I'm ready to connect with the people that need it. I'm given so much information I wanna help. So help me like push this out. Okay, go follow, share with your friends. Listen to me being fucking unwell. And um, also. If you love what I'm putting down on the live, you wanna join group lessons, get your butt in there. I can't wait to connect with you. That is the best way and really cheapest and only way to work with me right now. And I would love to help you. Um, if you're listening to the live, make sure you get on the wait list so you don't miss it next time. And, um. If you want something that's lower price, just to get you started, discover is a really good place to start. Okay. Discover mini course. All of that's in the link in my bio, on my page on TikTok. Um, I'll link everything below in the show notes. Leave us a five star written review. Would really appreciate that, and we'll see you next time. Thank you so much. Bye. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a five star written review on Apple Podcasts. This helps me get this information out to more artists all over the world. Let's work together to spread the joys of music. Until next time, I'm your host, Sarah Bishop, signing off from the Singers Path podcast. Thanks for listening.