Myles' vocal tone through the years

[TenaciousBe]

So recently, while I'm at work, I often just turn on YouTube Music and let it play "my supermix," which of course plays a fair amount of Alter Bridge. And something I've noticed now, that I didn't really realize at the time, is how much Myles' voice has changed over the last 7 albums. When something from ODR or Blackbird comes on, there's a bit of a rasp to his voice, almost a slight MF4 feel to it. Somewhere around the ABIII / Fortress days, it seems like he changed the way he sings, it's more clean and open. It's even more noticeable on TLH (and especially the Live from the O2), where he really began opening his "oh"s up more like "ah"s, with a bit more nasality. And then it feels like he's reeled that back in a bit through WTS and P&K, which I like. He's feeling a lot more natural, proper enunciation while still keeping that clean feel. I dig it! I just wonder if it was a conscious move, or if these are just natural changes as he ages. Maybe trying new techniques to preserve his voice as he moves from AB to Slash to solo work and back?

Thoughts?

[maximzub]

I don't know about whether it's aging, a conscious move, or a subconscious move. I've noticed that in old recordings of me singing, I was singing with more of an "ah" to my voice, but as time goes on, it's become more of an "oh". I didn't consciously try to go in that direction (nor do I have a vocal coach that gives me exercises that would make my voice go in that direction), so it's probably just about singing the way it's comfortable to sing at the moment.

[Whitebird]

He's just getting problems hitting 'aah' and 'eeh' notes, he has no problems with 'ees', for example Metalingus bridge, he sings it as 'set me freeee' not 'set me freeeh' and it sounds perfect

[Schulzy]

This has been a hard thing for me to deal with over the years. Myles' Mayfield 4 voice has such a nice mid tone to it and his high, held notes are legendary. I'm no vocal expert but he carried much of that into ODR and Blackbird. Even ABIII had elements but Make It Right started the shift where I noticed a change. It became shrill and cringeworthy. Fortress minimized it thankfully but the whole tone of that album was different not just his voice. All Ends Well and the "believes" hurt especially on headphones. By the time he embraced Slash and all of the Axl-isms I think it was a conscious decision. Much of the GnR catalog requires that nasal, sneering, feel to it and I think some of that has lingered. When you contrast The Last Hero with Breathe thrown in as a bonus track it is so noticeable. "You can't deny it!" (had to throw that in there). Could have also gone with "That's right"! I think on P&K we get the full breadth of his vocal range and even on my favorite song he veers into that ouch zone before pulling it back in. I appreciate his unique sound and when comparing to other limited range vocalists (John Cooper from Skillet comes to mind) I realize his strengths are far greater than his weaknesses. Whatever he can do to maintain his voice is well worth it.