Stevie's Soft vs. Loud Voice
 

I've mentioned this in other threads, but I don't remember ever really getting an answer. Is it more difficult to sing softly than it is to belt out a song? Is it an issue of control? A big part of my love of Stevie's voice comes from soft, unexpected moments. I notice that when Stevie sings live, she sings strongly in places where she didn't used to. I think Landslide lost its appeal to me years ago because of that.

It seemed Stevie lost a lot of those dynamics you speak of when she started using in-ear monitors. She seems to sing with that same strength and volume throughout every performance. I think it's an audio thing more than anything. I am a professional singer, and I can tell you when I use in ear monitors, the sound is so accurate that you often lose the passion in the performance. I think between her monitors and a vocal coach she probably stays "on script". I think it really does make me miss some of the mystery and allure of Stevie's early vocals, I heard someone say of her once "she never sang the same song, the same way twice". I don't know if that is true of her anymore unfortunately.

In the past Stevie has used her softer tones in concert but I think over the years it has become a matter of confidence. Around the Tusk era when her vocal range deepened and she forever shied away from the live higher notes, belting actually became easier for her. Certainly in the modern era, I think it has become a way for her to take care of her voice. I find however in a few of live renditions of songs that the louder tone does not suit the song and the song for me loses appeal. I found this especially with Storms and later versions of Silver Springs after the Dance era. Her early louder tones however were fantastic and I found that she used them more appropriately in the earlier Mac days to about the end of the Wild Heart tour. Fast forward to today, and I think the latest album and the live versions are showing a better control and closer to her mid-later 90's vocal comeback. TISL and Say You Will for me were both hit and miss as to whether she carried the tones successfully.

I do think that singing softly intentionally is harder than singing loudly unintentionally. Sometimes, you get a situation where a person can't sing softly so your really bored during the song until they get to the loud part. I think in Stevie's case though she may sing louder because she still wants to prove that her voice is strong at her age. I do think that FWIW has lost just teeny tiny bit of is meaning when she performs it live. Because of her belting out all of the notes.

Btw, I totally agree with you about Landslide. To me the definitive version of that song is the one on the FM Live album. The fragility in her voice totally puts the lyrics to that song in perspective.

In recent years she really does drop-dead vocals on her ballads, but she tends to disintegrate into hoarse, winded, bellowing vocals on some of her more uptempo things.

Apparently singing softly not only requires more skill, but can also damage the vocal chords. Stevie's only been doing her now-patented scream-belt since she's been using vocal coaches (since roughly the Dance era). Before, she sort of sang from the back of her throat... which gave her voice a beautiful tone, IMO. These days she pushes her voice out from her diaphragm... which really is the 'proper' way to sing. But I think it's totally ruined the character of her voice & it's beautiful nuances. She's been throwing in softer interludes into her songs lately, but it's almost like a lightswitch... there's no transitioning, and it comes across as quite jagged. Stevie has thanked and praised her vocal coach for nearly 15 years now, but I just don't think coaching has been good to her at all. It's not like he's saved her voice from deterioration... I think her voice has deteriorated more in the past 10 years than it did in the 30 years prior. But these are just my opinions... I'm sure others will fiercely disagree with my summations. :)

Completely agree!!

It's not a matter of singing softly being bad for your vocal chords, it's a matter of singing softly incorrectly being bad for them - just like singing loudly incorrectly can also damage them. My guess is that Stevie had probably been doing both of those things.

It seems most likely to me, that Stevie probably has damaged her voice (I use probably loosely, I think it's very obvious..) over the years, and as a result, she no longer has as much control over her voice when she sings softly. That's why in a live setting in particular, she tends to belt things out. That's why we got the soft voice on the Moonlight studio version (she CAN still sing softly), but we don't get it at the concerts.

Edit: louie, I agree about the degradation of her voice. Listening to live vocals from 10 years ago is a huge difference from now. Stevie may have lost some range between 1975 and 1997, but what she's lost now is a lot of her unique tone quality and color.

Here is a stunning version of Landslide out of the Dance Era. Her tone and texture is often better here than the studio version:

http://youtu.be/FhNrrrCCTdA

Don't know if the link will work, but it's U-Tube of Stevie and Lindsey I think from David Letterman.

I disagree that Stevie has completely lost her tone and texture, I think it's very present on In Your Dreams and some songs live, such as Love Is and Moonlight. But I do agree as a whole that it is difficult for her to carry a whole concert and some songs just need to be retired. Personally, I would love it if she devoted more time to recording and made occasional appearances like this year's Wiltern or maybe 12-24 date tours (of different areas), and save the stellar vocals (that I truly believe she still has in her) for recording purposes. Besides have we ever known an artist who the bulk of her best work is recorded but unreleased? :o

The singing stronger vs. softer may depend on the voice itself and also the lenght of time singing. I am a singer, and for me when I first start it is much easier to get the falsetto's, etc. After a few songs my vocal range can change a bit as it warms up. When I first start singing, it is not so easy to belt out those strong loud vocals, but after about 3-4 sounds I am right there getting the sweet tone. I can hit the highest notes when my voice is warmed up, but not the soft high notes. For my specific vocal tone, I have to hit the high notes much stronger. They are clearer, but I couldn't sing something like "Beautiful Child" right after belting out "The Ghost's are Gone". My voice needs to rest 5-10 minutes before the chords kind of get back to a normal place.

For Stevie, because she is belting out songs for 90 mins on stage, it is very hard for her to hit those falsetto's for example in "Sorcerer", it is probably much easier to lower the register or just sing the notes in full force. When I try to sing soft notes after a strong song.... my voice tends to crack when I hit the falsetto's.

But, like I mentioned it does depend on your vocal type and alot on your training. I can say my voice can now go for longer periods of time the more careful I am with it. but, if you want to get those really pretty soft tones from me I do need some hot tea, lime, and a few minutes to let my voice rest.

I also miss her lighter softer vocals and think it has more to do with a (boring) vocal coach these days. Sure she might have been wrecking her voice singing all over the place those early years but that was when she was the most exciting and fun. I also agree with some other artists who sing lightly like Alison Krauss and Patty Griffin, sometimes a whisper is louder than a scream when singing cause those two ladies can sing with a whisper and it still hit up in the rafters because of their singing style. :nod:

very interesting discussion ....i'm not a singer and know nothing about the art of singing...i have been a long time fan of stevie and have witnessed her losing the infliction in her voice...and the varity of notes she will use....all i can say is that regardless of her limitations, as time has passsed she has vastly improved with holding her notes and staying on key...she is doing something right...must be the vocal coach!

Agreed. Listen to any recording of Landslide from the Tusk Tour and none of them are identical, she always finds some word or phrase or lyric or melody in the song to sing differently.

ahh, i love that she's at least been bringing back the soft voice for some of her vocals. i think part of the reason i don't care for Love Is on TISL (besides Sarah M background vocals sounding like a garbage truck backin up..boop boop boop) is when Stevie belts out "corner of her MOOOOOUUUUTH!!" it just makes me cringe, if i listen to it at all. I do like it live tho' cuz she softened that up just a tad. if only she could go in and re-record it... tho i know most people just love it... the loud, belting vocal just doesn't work for me on any ballad?? sorry:o