hey Chris Lee here I've been wanting to do a vocal analysis for Dan Reynolds for a while
so this is good timing Imagine Dragons Children of the sky haven't seen or heard this yet but if it's
anything like Dan's back catalog of amazing vocals I'm sure there's going to be plenty to [Music]
unpack come all my lives led to this and now I see what I've become I always had
doubted that I could ever be someone that matter
that he's got such a wonderful breathy mellowed quality to his voice absolutely
love it and the other thing I've always enjoyed um about the vocal Arrangements
in Imagine Dragons is all of like the way they layer different tambers and
different characters of his voice I mean listen to the beginning again [Music]
here so anthemic and the reason that that works partly is because there are so many different
types of tambers in there right he's and there might be other vocalists in there too but he's
modifying there's lots of intervals going on
but there's lots of shapes being represented lots of vocal [Music]
shapes that mattered that shattered all these glass ceilings up all that I want is see
all all the things that I could be that head voice layer in the background it's so subtle
and the way they pan it around listen to the way that they change changed the the vocal approach
like you it's almost like in addition to looking at all of these you know amazing pictures and and
uh you know footage in this video you're getting all sorts of different Vantage points of the human
voice is to see all the things that I could be destinies calling me Children of the you
got the the the octaves up here you've got the the oo and the O's and these layers and
then that's Blended perfectly with the sound sound of the rocket the arranging and this is
this is what's always struck me so much about Imagine Dragons is the the arranging his voice
is amazing the arranging is just topnotch call children of the sky flying up so high let me be
that one by the bright Sun yep Children of the guided by the Light let me reach New Heights
star the night Children of the sky let's go back and analyze that chorus there's there's
an extra amount of range that's being used here to accentuate the subtle Distortion that he's
using he's using a couple different types of distortion here so I want to break that [Music]
down okay notice how he cleans up Sky we've got without Distortion just boring Children of the
sky and sky is clean but he's got this compression on chill it's it's subtle chill chill chill chill
chill Children of the sky Children of the sky he Heats it up and backs it off listen again
call Children of the sky and then lengthens on Sky Children of the sky Children of the sky he's he's
painting with his vocal tamber his and his his texture variance it's so cool and there's no like
doubles or anything on this particular line then Watch What Happens flying up so high on flying so
that's children of that's a higher constriction and we also have a growl on flying children F
flying flying so high hear the difference fly if I really exaggerate it it's like that cookie
cookie cookie which you shouldn't do a lot of it's harder on your voice but he's going for a lower
constriction there if you'd like help developing some of these Distortion techniques in your own
voice and you're not quite sure where to start you need a good foundation and I can help you with
that Foundation click the link below and join my free course and I'll get you set on the right path
to be able to start using Distortion and mixed voice and all sorts of other things that you would
love to be able to do with your voice but aren't quite sure how to get there let's look further
here Children of the flying up so high flying so high fly highing oh it's two different types right
there flying up high up flying up up it's very lightly distorted and then listen to hi
children fly up hi there's this release of air this you can tell that he's he's got a master
control over his air flow and compression here that's what allows him to go in and out of these
different distorted sounds but it also helps him back off and ease out of lines ex his exits are
impeccable [Music]
F right there one so high let me be that one find the brightest Sun oh there's that sound again Bri
brightest Sun he's doing the same thing we just talked about but on a much higher note requiring
a mixed voice coordination which I also cover in many other videos and set the foundation
for it in my free course listen to how he changes the tamber as he goes higher he's
simultaneously lighter and grittier let me that one find the bright Children of the sky Guided by
the Light let me [Music] reach night you might think of Dan Reynolds as having a lower laryng
positioner and that's what gets him his sound but really it's Dynamic if you listen
carefully he's got a good lower posture lower but it's floating and it'll go up
in the midst of compression in the midst of all he's doing with his air flow he's really letting
his larynx float it's not a fixed larynx that gives him amazing range and Dynamics the minute
we give into the need to fix our laryn because of something we've been told we lose that [Music]
freedom Children of the that's cool [Music] I
cannot give up hope though there are storms within my
[Music] SE out here my SE won't turn back when I lack sometimes it's hard
just to believe I've wanted to save us from ourselves just wanted there's a
perfect example of what I'm talking about there listen again to that that head voice
transition [Music]
us intentionally omitting any sort of word and just going along the vowel shapes that
he's using there as he as he transitions vowel shapes he lets his larynx float
upward a little bit directs his resonance to to be a little bit more nasal we got
this I'm exaggerating it on purpose most singers try to find an ideal tone or an
ideal resin placement for their voices Dan is good at using Lots even in the midst of one
line even as he's just using his head voice this is what makes his voice more interesting and it
points to what I was talking about earlier where sometimes his LNS is low sometimes it's a little
higher sometimes his voice is coming more through his nose sometimes it's more forward and coming
just out of his mouth without a lot of fenal placement to save us from ourselves just wanted
to raise up to save us from ourselves all that I want is to see all the things that we could be
Destiny calling me Children of the sky flying up so high let me be that one to find the brightest
Sun flying up so high let me be that the posture changes listen carefully let me be that
one listen to that transition
here find the bright sun sun sun darker as he's
higher brighter as he's lower he inverted it that time so
[Music] interesting children of the sky Guided by the Light let me reach
new night there's also some vocal doubling some very subtle vocal doubling when he goes
up into those higher notes to give it some extra texture and we've heard that on a lot
of other Imagine Dragon songs one of the reasons his voice is so full is because
there's lots of him but it's all placed and panned in a way that that sort of keeps you
unless you're really listening for it keeps you from noticing that it is multiple versions of
Dan Stars among the night when we look back what will we see we were
a part of everything up in the heavens down to the Seas we were
a oh the the way he's drilling into the when we look and then sort of throwing or
or speechifying the word back when we look back again exaggerated but when we look back back
there's this conversational warm ing sensation you get when it's not this like diva is you know
when we look back what would we see there's this imprecision and emotional connection that comes
from like combining sung phrases or sung notes with spoken or almost spoken notes within one
phrase we were a part of everything up in the heavens down to the Seas we were a of
everything everything there's really a lot of size on the ends of his phrases if you're a
vocalist do you intentionally sigh out of any notes if you don't try it it will open up all
sorts of things with your singing it allow you to be more intense because you're releasing tension
by the action of the Sigh we were a part of everything up in the heavens down to the Seas
we were a part of everything when we look back what will we see we were a part of everything
you can hear pH size at the end of every single phrase in this section as he's getting
more and more intense we see we were a part of everything up in the heavens down to the SE we
everything Children of the sky oh what a what a change that M I love
it when songs do that of the sky the flying up so
high Children of the sky Children of the take me
to we Children of the oh I got to hear that
again everything Children of the sky Children of the flying up so
high Children of the
sky take me to high that's some serious reharmonization there wow that is so
fun the chords are climbing off of that major chord as the note choices are they're modified
also from the original Melody but it's they're hearkening back to the original Melody as the
chords have changed this is just a composition genius here uh was was part of this section
with Children of
[Music]
the wow wow wow every little aspect of Dan's voice that I had hoped to hear
and be able to analyze for you came out that was that was awesome again
if you would like more help discovering the way your voice can work in ways like
this click that link below and join my free course I'll see you for more