I'm sure you've seen a dozen mixed voice singing "how to sing in mixed voice" tutorials on YouTube, right? Nay/Nyah/Mama all these funny sounds that are magically meant to help you sing higher notes in mixed with easy, but it just doesn't work no matter what you try...

You might even start wondering whether mixed voice is a real thing or just some marketing bs to make you buy lessons and courses - or worse, you might be getting a feeling that maybe you're just not meant to be a good singer because you have a bad voice at a fundamental level.

Let me tell you how NOT to sing in mixed voice instead so you can piece together exactly what you're doing WRONG in the process of learning how to sing in mix - these 5 mixed voice singing mistakes are the absolute voice killer and will absolutely stop you from singing in mix no matter what your.

1 - Treating mixed voice as "high chest voice"

If I had a dollar for every time a beginner singer came to me asking for a "chesty mix" - I'd have a mega-shit-ton of dollar coins.

The idea that mixed voice is meant to be 'chesty' is fundamentally flawed - because 'mix' in and of itself is actually a combination, a 'mix' if you will, of both chest and head voice at the same time. The intention of delaying your head voice to get a chesty mix is the definition of a contradiction - you simply cannot sing in mixed voice if you're trying to avoid using the CT muscle and your natural head resonance.

We're going to talk about this in a moment, but the key to proper registration in your singing is really to master your vowel - because your vowels are made up of complimentary frequencies, and as you sing higher, the frequency of your pitch is obviously changing, right? So, you need to change your vowel if you want to shift your register - and this is a key aspect to singing in mixed voice correctly.

2 - Clenching your abs

I know, I know - you've seen Ken Tamplin telling you to take a shit when you're singing and to bark like a dog; but this is also a flawed idea of support, which really means controlled exhalation/singing on the breath. Your support should neither be aspirate OR held.

I'm about to challenge your whole perception of support by telling you to push your belly FORWARD - like you've just had the world's biggest double-steak-burger-pizza-fried-beer-pie; basically, a food baby from your belly.

Now try to sing in full voice in the middle of your range.

It WORKS, right?

That's because your abs are your 'vanity core' rather than your true internal core or pelvic floor; your breath should be sustained, pressurized but also released and free at the same time - in essence, a compressed stream of air through a pinhead "leaking trye" type setup that brings your support lower and your placement higher.

Stop clenching your abs, you're singing - not dropping a duece.

3 - Yelling

In another "dime a dozen" moment, I'd be a very rich man if everyone who came into my studio trying to yell high notes in an effort to sing in mix gave me a dollar.

Now, it's not always your own fault if you're yelling - after all, your vowel controls your register, and if your vowel is too wide or too low for the harmonic you're trying to create from your pitch and tone, your body will often override your intention and try to give you exactly what you're asking it for; yelling.

Stop it.

Seriously, just stop it.

Stop.

STOP YELLING.

(Sorry, didn't meant o yell at you there).

4 - Hoping that falsetto becomes mixed voice... one day

Hope simply isn't a real vocal technique.

You need to work towards connection between head and chest voice as one long fluid note and register from top to bottom - if you're always just singing in falsetto, you'll never manage a full connection in your true voice.

Mixed voice shouldn't be yelled or pushy, obviously, but, at the same time - mixed voice isn't falsetto.

Crescendo from your falsetto sound into a brighter, full resonant sound and you'll find your mixed voice in no time flat - but stay in that safe falsetto and that's exactly where you'll stay as a singer, in falsetto.

Falsetto isn't magically going to become mixed voice one day by accident - you've gotta be proactive with your vowel, tone, the CT muscle 'cry' and also your register intention.

5 - Listening to YouTube gurus

Hang on a minute, don't I also have a successful YouTube coaching channel too? Yes, absolutely.

Hear me out though.

So, you've seen so far that the issue with your mixed voice can be one of a plethora of issues - from breathing to vowels to tone to register and everything in between.

So, there really is NO secret to singing in mixed voice other than knowing the goals to work towards and the goal posts to stick between to develop your mix in the right way.

Where my breathing was okay when I first started singing, my vowels and tone were completely off - your vowels might be okay, but your breathing might be totally off; so, the solution for how to find your mixed voice might actually be a different solution to the one that my voice needed.

Take everything you hear on YouTube from singing coaches and gurus with a hefty grain of salt - if someone claims to have the secret or answer to all great singing, you should run screaming in the other direction; because running screaming in the opposite direction will probably do more for your voice than advice that simply isn't designed for your voice or your specific issue. 

So, your first goal to work towards in your quest towards developing the most badass mixed voice technique ever is obviously connecting head and chest voice on small sounds - but we're going to sidestep that for a moment while I show you how to get started with a more advanced step in the process to move you along quicker; mixed voice vowels.