How to add dynamics to your singing

What it sounds like

Technically accurate and completely unmoving. Every line arrives at the same weight, so nothing in the song can be a climax because nothing was quieter than it.

What is actually being measured

The dynamic range of the isolated vocal in decibels — the spread between its quiet and loud passages, after the level of the recording itself is factored out.

Flat dynamics open as a problem below 15 dB of range across the take, with severity increasing the closer to zero it gets.

Why it happens

Most flat dynamics come from singing at whatever volume feels safe. Beginners default to a single comfortable level because both ends are risky — quiet exposes pitch, loud risks strain — and the safe middle is where nothing goes wrong and nothing happens.

How to fix it

• —Mark the dynamics on the lyric sheet before you sing. Decide where the quietest line is; that decision is the whole technique.
• —Practise the quiet end. Singing softly in tune is harder than singing loudly in tune and is where the range comes from.
• —Build one long crescendo across a phrase rather than accenting individual words.
• —Do not confuse dynamics with compression. If you sing with range and the recording sounds flat, check what the microphone chain is doing to it.

The drill

Sustained notes with a required volume shape — quiet to loud and back — where the pass criterion is the size of the change rather than the pitch.

Common questions