What Is Mixing in Singing? A Beginner's Guide

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Co-authored by Annabeth Novitzki

Last Updated: August 7, 2024

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What is mixed voice?

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How do you get a mixed voice?

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Mixed Voice Exercises

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Video

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Expert Q&A

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Tips

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Warnings

Ready to take your vocal chops to the next level? Singing in mixed voice is a great place to start—but how exactly are you supposed to get started? You've come to the right article. We're here to walk you through everything you need to know about mixing in singing, so you can be one step closer to upping your vocal game.

Section 1 of 3:

What is mixed voice?

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Mixed voice means singing in a combination of head voice and chest voice. This produces a full, bright sound that is similar to belting but is less likely to cause injury. It is often employed to bridge the gap between the head and chest registers: when you move between head voice (your higher notes) to chest voice (your lower notes), singing in mixed voice will allow you to sing smoothly without gaps or abrupt changes of tone.

Section 2 of 3:

How do you get a mixed voice?

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1
Find the break between head voice and chest voice. Sing ascending and descending scales. Feel your voice resonate: when do you feel it in your chest, and when do you feel it in your head? You will feel higher notes in your head, and lower notes in your chest. The notes that prompt you to switch from head to chest and vice versa are called your register break.
- Sing until you are sure which notes prompt you to switch. This will vary depending on how high or low your individual voice is.
2
Sing across your break. Sing the scales again, and try to sing across the break in your register (to avoid the clunk at the break-over point in your voicing). To do this, focus on maintaining the feeling of singing low notes from your chest as the notes begin to rise higher and shift (suddenly) into your head voice. If this feels strange, add your nasal voice to mix with chest voice by singing "ng" (like "ing"), by pronouncing the "g" as "gah" to find and learn this transition. Do scales pronouncing "nnga". Notice holding the "nnn" sound in "ng" is felt in the head/nasal voice area but "ng" blends immediately into the chest voice "ga" felt in the lower/chest-throat area.
- Your nasal tone should sound like a fire truck or even like a baby crying, which may seem odd, but it will strengthen your ability to bridge the break point. As your ability to sing in mixed voice improves, the nasal tone can eventually give way to a blended, pleasant tone by listening to yourself to notice how it sounds. So you culture/cultivate your voice by practicing your blending so your voice is not either head or chest but a blended voice much of the time.^{[1]
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- Modify your vowels. Vowels work differently in head and chest voices. If you try to force your vowels to remain consistent across your register break, you will not achieve middle voice.
- Sing elongated vowels gently across your break, and notice where they naturally change. A long "i" (as in "sigh") will become a short "i" (as in "trip."), etc.
- Begin blending voice before you hit the hard break point. Don't try to jump into your other voice. Rather, realize you're approaching a change to head voice while notes are rising but you're still comfortably below your break upward in the notes. Also, begin blending as you're approaching the shift to chest voice notes while you are still above your break point.
3
Train your larynx to lie low. Learn not to strain, to relax a little. Practice the special sounds that will show you how to naturally lower the tension in your larynx. Sing either word given below, one-at-a-time:
- "Gug" on a low note in your range, and continue singing "gug" up and down through a major arpeggio (each of the notes of a major chord sung separately).
- Sing "Mum" in the same manner. So, your larynx tends to strain to rise as you sing higher notes, but to get to your mixed voice you will want it to stay lower even as you climb to higher notes into the nasal/head voice.
- Don't force/strain your larynx. Sing the tones patiently into their place.

Section 3 of 3:

Mixed Voice Exercises

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1
Sing 5-note chromatic scales. Chromatic scales are composed of notes in sequence, like the keys of a piano. Start with a scale a few notes below the break point in your register—the moment you normally switch from chest voice to head voice. Sing 5-note chromatic scales above, through, and below the break, in ascending and descending patterns.
- Keep your tone even, and go slowly. Don't rush the difficult notes.
- You will naturally blend your head and chest voices if you sing below and above your register break without changing your tone.
- Play along on a piano as you sing, or sing along to a recording of vocal exercises.
- You can easily find free recordings of 5-note chromatic scales for vocal exercise online.
While warming up, sing short scales. Rather than singing each note distinctly, "slide" your voice from one note to the next. Sing up and down a scale. Go slowly and do not allow yourself to vary your speed, so that you don't skip over your register break.
3
Practice lip trills. Yawn widely to stretch your lips. Purse your lips and say "buh-buh-buh" while singing a scale. Try to make a good clear noise, not releasing too much air. If your lips keep losing the trill, stop and yawn, or put a finger in each cheek on either side of your mouth.
- Use this exercise regularly. The beginning of your routine is a good time for it, as it warms up your mouth.
- Do your trills for a scale longer each time.
- When singing using your chest voice, focus on not straining your throat.

Expert Q&A

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What does mixed voice mean?

Annabeth Novitzki
Music Teacher
Annabeth Novitzki is a Private Music Teacher in Austin, Texas. She received her BFA in Vocal Performance from Carnegie Mellon University in 2004 and her Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Memphis in 2012. She has been teaching music lessons since 2004.

Annabeth Novitzki

Music Teacher

Expert Answer

Mixed voice is when a singer uses some of the qualities of singing chest voice and some of the qualities of singing head voice. Physically, the singer is using techniques to change how much of the width of the vocal fold is vibrating.

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Question

Can you belt in head voice?

Annabeth Novitzki
Music Teacher
Annabeth Novitzki is a Private Music Teacher in Austin, Texas. She received her BFA in Vocal Performance from Carnegie Mellon University in 2004 and her Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Memphis in 2012. She has been teaching music lessons since 2004.

Annabeth Novitzki

Music Teacher

Expert Answer

Singers pretty much only use the word "belt" when specifically talking about chest voice, so no, you can't belt in head voice. But colloquially sometimes the word "belt" just means to sing loudly, so in that case, the word could be used.

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Question

What does singing in head voice mean?

Annabeth Novitzki
Music Teacher
Annabeth Novitzki is a Private Music Teacher in Austin, Texas. She received her BFA in Vocal Performance from Carnegie Mellon University in 2004 and her Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Memphis in 2012. She has been teaching music lessons since 2004.

Annabeth Novitzki

Music Teacher

Expert Answer

Singing in head voice happens usually on higher notes, where the sound is resonating in the mouth and sinus cavities instead of the chest. Chest voice is low notes and where people speak.

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Developing mixed voice takes a lot of experimentation and practice. There isn't even a definitive scientific explanation for how it works!^{[2]
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Find a vocal coach to help you learn this technique. Developing your mixed voice is a complex task that is one of the most complicated vocal techniques in singing. Many classically-trained voice teachers cannot do it! If you're determined to learn how to do it, find a vocal coach with experience in this area to guide you.

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Warnings

Do not strain your voice in either rising or moving downward when trying to achieve a mix. Any feeling of pushing or straining in your throat/neck area is a sign that you are at risk of injury.

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