Saturday, November 3, 2012

Vocal Range and Profile: Hayley Williams



Range: Bb2 - A5 - A6
Vocal Type: Light Lyric Soprano (4 octaves)
Vocal Rating: B
Recommended Listenings: All I Wanted, Decode, Ignorance

Positives:
Voice that is well connected throughout all registers. Sharp tone that allows her to be heard over the roaring instrumentation of her band. Her vibrato is one of her strongest assets, as it can make her notes roaring and can give them a mystical quality (See the chorus of Decode). Her stamina and breath control are excellent, allowing her to headbang without the pitch changing, or sounding out of breath. She can also control voice cracks as a way to convey emotions (See Still Into You).

Her lower notes are dark, well supported, and accessed with a neutral larynx down to D3. As Williams ascend, she cuts the weight found in this register in favor of a brighter tonality.

Her middle-register is well projected and contains an original "twang" thanks to her articulate diction and phrasing. This area is bright and girlish.

Her upper belts are cutting and resonant, and convey emotions better than the rest of the range. As she ascends, her mixed voice becomes headier, though overall is chest-dominant. Her versatility here shines, projecting a much bolder and edgier sound in some instances (Decode), while being smoother in others (Renegade).

Her head voice, though very underutilized, is extremely bright and full (Miracle), and connected to the rest of the voice. The whistle register, though also underutilized, is piercing and executed excellently.


Negatives:
Her head voice and whistle register are rarely used, though this is common in Alternative and Rock music. Her upper belts can sound like shouting, and sound strained towards the top of chest voice. Her upper belts live are inconsistent and falter in intonation. She has been known to blow out her voice after and during concerts due to having vocal nodes, however, the feats she has accomplished with her nodes speak to her endurance and technique.


D3 - A6


Bb2 - A5