Day Six: At the Top of One's Range

When Marvin Gaye was recording his breakthrough hit: "Heard it through the Grapevine", his producer, Norman Whitfield, strongly urged Marvin to perform the song at the very top of Marvin's vocal range. This made Marvin uncomfortable, taking nearly a month to record the vocals. Singing at the top of one's range is typical of most Motown recordings. There is just something special to hear a vocalist stretch to hit the notes, powerful to hear agony vocalized.

This morning the song I was recording was in my lower register, but I decided to, in the spirit of Motown, change the melody to push my range to the limits. I am not sure how pretty it is, but I did feel a little agony doing take, after take in the upper register. It was interesting because I really have no idea what my range is. I just mostly stick to singing in the easy baritone, so this was quite uncomfortable for me, but a great experience. I definitely had a blast recording and working on this very short idea, and hopefully I can come back to this song and finish it out. Without further ado:

All for Naught