I really respect a man who admits he is wrong and I respect him even more when he corrects his mistake! keep it up

My landlord asked me if I was ok, he had been hearing some weird gutteral sounds from my appartment the past few weeks. Getting progress, tho!

David- Thanks for your commitment to spreading quality/correct information and not just teaching how to do a certain technique, but how to do it well in a way that will actually be functional and valuable for the users. Too many youtube videos just go for a "here's how you make the sound" approach but you've taken the time to break down how to make the sound actually sound good, and that's awesome! I remember discovering this technique a year or two ago and seeing plenty of awesome demonstrations but only finding written explanations of how to do it, which never quite did the trick for me and so I eventually gave up until I stumbled across your tutorial yesterday afternoon, and can now actually produce subharmonics (of course, not very well and not very consistently, but they've existed), thanks to your very well planned and thoughtful tutorials. I'll be starting college this fall for music education and though I've always been an instrumentalist I'm hoping to be in a choir every semester. This could be a fun tool to have for that once I get it down a lot better, which brings me to some questions. Have you used subharmonics in choir before? How low, and how did it go (were there times when it didn't work, too?)? Were they written low notes or did you choose to take them down an octave? If the latter how did the director respond? Would love to hear any tales of your super-low-subharmonic journeys in choir (or elsewhere) if you've got them, as it could be valuable to those learning how to use this technique to get an idea of the contexts they might use them in and any other things to consider before getting a little excited and going for an "every note an octave lower" oktavist approach. Thanks again for all your great work!

Today, the 28th of May 2020 i sung my first subharmonic. It was an A#1. It felt amazing.

Dude please please please make some exercises

Good man, humility and integrity always come back to reward you.

You mentioned learning the technique initially from the beginning of The Gambler. I just listened to it and realized that I slip into the subharmonic range when speaking softly sometimes. Now I just have to learn to control this tone.

I makes sense that the 2/3 ratio makes a pitch an octave lower that the 2 pitch. The vocal folds cross together half as many times as they would if you were to sing a solid 2 pitch. A vibration twice as slow creates a pitch an octave lower (if you don’t know, Hertz means vibrations per second. So the A3 David mentions as 220 Hertz is an octave lower than a concert A, an A4 or 440 Hertz).

For the longest time, I could not do this, but I finally figured out the easiest way for me to learn how to switch. I was trying to go to sleep and was laying on my side and just started trying and it happened almost immediately. Something about laying on my side helped a lot and I did it on a long e vowel.

Bro this really is amazing. Im a prof opera singer from the Netherlands and been dreaming for a long while to really master this technique (have had it for couple of years but then lost it). Now im finding this voice again. God bless!

Hey David! My brother who passed away Oct. 2018 was a gifted natural bass singer with great technique and tone. I would love to send you a song file so you can hear him.

Tuvan singing uses subharmonics too. It's not just a technical term for bass voices. If you put a tuning fork against a piece of paper and the paper makes a pitch lower than the tuning fork that's a subharmonic. That just means it's resonating sympathetically with regular vibrations from the source. Every other vibration hits and that drops it the octave. IDK how specific the term is when used as you're using it but it has a more general meaning which applies to Tuvan false cord singing "undertones" just as much. It's not wrong to use it to describe that kind of singing.

so a few months ago I stumbled across this after watching a home free video and I was amazed with the depth I can reach with practice. I have found that I can use this technique and subharmonic down to an F1/E1 (on a good day) despite my talking range fluctuating between F2 and Bb2. On top of that David I used the fire breathing technique you showed in a later video and lo and behold I too like Foust dropped into the 0 octave (Bb0 to be precise!) though for anyone else who reads this, I would advise you don't practice this for long periods of time as you will lose your voice as I suffered

Here goes the Kargyraa thing. Thanks again for your quick response.

I know this is three years late, but after watching some of your videos on this topic I'm astonished you didn't bring up organs. There's an organ stop called Gravissima which uses the resultant of a fundamental and its fifth in order to create a tone one octave lower than the organ could achieve sounding just single pipes. This seems to be the exact same technique as having the vocal cords resonate at 3:2 (fifth) frequency. The downside of this is that there's also always a high pitch produced (here an octave and a major third above the fundamental), so you have overtones at 2x, 3x and 5x the intended frequency muddying the sound. Meanwhile a real organ pipe at the octave can avoid these overtones. Maybe the human voice with its ability to control overtones can actually compensate for this a bit? Did you notice these overtones? If you sing an A2 subharmonic for example you should hear A1 and C#4 (a little flat because of equal temperament). This organ technique actually works for any interval, so while it gets muddier and muddier, one could technically go to quarts(4:3) and thirds(5:4, 6:5) to get even lower frequencies.

You've made some great tutorials, thanks for all the valuable information! After 2 days of practicing I managed to have a solid B1 and A1. They are still quiet and sometimes its difficult to enter the subharmonic register, but after that it's rollin' :) I can't wait to use it in a musical context but I have a long way to go. I definitely won't sound like a real profundo because I'm a baritone... Anyway, what is your voice type and range?

So basically it is a difference tone. I noticed a similar thing happening when playing a D chord on a guitar. Typically you only play the higher 4 strings, D, G, B, and high E strings and mute the low E and A strings. However, I noticed that when playing the chord a bit sloppily and not muting the A string, for some reason I was hearing a lower D2, as though I was tuned down into drop D tuning. After doing some research, I discovered that the D3 and the A3 are perfect fifths of each other. A3 is 220hz and D3 is 146.8hz. The difference between these frequencies is 73.2hz which is nearly identical to a D2 at 73.42hz. These notes together create a difference undertone of the lower D2 which is pretty incredible. I now always play my D chords this way because I like the lower sound they bring and don't necessarily have to tune into drop D to produce that sound.

So basically, the subharmonic register is using the interference pitch of the two vocal chords. Interference pitches are really interesting, and one of the best ways to explore them that I know of is Zach Poff's Pitch Playground program (I think it's Mac-only). Set the first pitch to 220 hz (A2), the second to 330 hz (E3), and turn off all the others - you will see that the interference tone is indeed 110 hz (A1). This makes sense intuitively, but you really can hear it when you adjust the relative volumes of the two pitches.

Tim Foust used growl! David Larson is confused!

I’m getting something sounding like this range, except it’s taking me a TON of air just to start it up and keep. I feel like I’m using three times the breath support to keep these notes going. Is this normal? I can only hold the note for about 5 seconds tops and them I’m totally out of air. Any tips?

I wonder if I gotta practice just my low vocals and as I keep doing it my throat will slip threw into a subharmonic, cause this technique is really difficult, atleast for me, I mean I can growl but this subharmonic sounds like you gotta slip into it in order to discover it and be able to adapt and remember the feeling of it in order to do it again. Other than that this technique is one of my favourite vocal practices.

I play tuba and really like bass parts in any song and think it is fun to sing them so this is helpful.

Do you have any tips on how to control it better? I get the notes and people hear them, but they are a bit hard to control and will sometimes go to full vocal fry. Should I just keep trying until I can control it or do you have any tips?

DAVID!! I need help! When I try subharmonic singing with the vocal fry I can't tell whether I'm getting it right or whether I just started singing really low. How can I tell if I'm actually getting it? What are some common mistakes to recognize that might mean I'm messing up? Thanks!

Would you consider doing a video on the "firebreathing" technique? I've been searching around and haven't really been able to find any info on it.

Could you show more visual demonstration? I get lost in some of your music talk and it’s confusing for me to get some stuff. Like if you go from fry to subharmonics to full voice or any order demonstrating how you get to it

Hi David! I have finally become successful at entering the Subharmonic register, and am getting better at controlling the sound. One thing I've noticed though, is that it's REALLY quiet. If I try to project even the slightest bit, I can't seem to stay Subharmonic. Any suggestions?

Question: my vocal range extends to an E2 or an F2 on any given day, and sometimes when I wake up,I'll be able to sing a D2, or even a C#2. Is it possible to get a nice toned D2 using subharmonics at any time?

Please correct me if I'm wrong. So maybe this is just confirmation bias, and I'm just feeling this subconciously, but to me it feels like half of my vocal chords is stiff and half is vibrating (split laterally). Both sides vibrate when in normal voice. Is this what it should feel like?

How should it feel when you do this? In the most basic form possible, just what should your body feel like is happening?

David, I'm still trying to get into the subharmonic range... but I will soon.. I'm a bit confused on the videos... some are named part 1...some P1... some part 2...some P2... which videos should I watch and in what order? Natural D2 here... but looking forward to some subterranean notes... soon Two words... Tim Riley...

Hey, I'm a super low bass, I get an A1 full voice but I can't seem to get the sub harmonic register no matter what I try, I can only seem to get lower with the growl method that Tim Foust and Avi Kaplan do, but that has a super airy sound. I always seem to slip into vocal fry with the sub harmonic method, any tips?

Hey just wondering what does your normal chest voice range go down to? C2 is mine on special occasions, and D2 on an everyday thing.

i actually ended up having Vocal nodules, DAVID ! kidding, that's not due to the Subharmonic technique, but due to our choir having some very high bass parts going all the way up to F4, and i were squeezing my throat muscles so hard to reach all the way up, killed my vocal chords. i were at an throat nose ear specialist and had my vocal chords filmed by a optic cam through the nose, and she told me i had the early stages of vocal nodules, this is 9 weeks ago, and my voice is nearly healed now! The choir director told me that when i get back in shape and can sing again i should back off from the notes that are too high, and focus on the deep notes :D ! those 1st basses can deal with the high shit !

I've watched a number of your videos. I'm a classically trained tenor who has always been fascinated by low bass singing. As I am trying to get the sub-harmonic to work I have trouble maintaining the lower pitch. It will sort of pop out for a couple of seconds then disappears and only the fundamental is heard. Any advice?

Hey David, is it possible to SPEAK using subharmonics? like creating a speaking voice effect using sub harmonics for speech, dubbing, etc?

Hey, I still don't understand something, I usually talk with a G2 but when I do subharmonics the max I can do is A1, why does that happen?

I got it a little better, it's weird though, its really hard to switch between the sub harmonic register and my full voice

im a tenner but me personally have accidentally gone really low some how, really easily but can't do it again. and i am trying to train my voice to sing lower and i believe this is how i might have tone it. any tips?

I HAVE TO LEARN THIS!!!!! But there's no one here in person to teach me. can I send someone a recording of myself so that they can tell me what I'm doing wrong???

I can get a note but it's poppy and the low tone is not very loud, does anyone know what I should do.

Can tenors sing in the sub harmonic register or is this just for basses? If I am understanding correctly, it is an octave below your fundamental "chest" register correct? So can you sing there and can it be blended into the chest like we do chest to head via the mix? Thanks a million!

Please teach how to do the growl technique!!!

i think technically throat singing is also a subharmonic technque, just a different one

I have hit a Bb2 before but my average lowest note is around a C#2 or a D2. Would I be considered a bass?

Bro that’s even more insane... how is it POSSIBLE that your voice chords can just flap differently then form an OCTAVE LOWER pitch, like wtf. And then on top of that how the hell do humans tap into this

So you actually sing higher with one chord to get a lower pitch?

U re adorable!

am i considered bass im only starting up 10th grade soon and i can hit DB2 and sing ED2 and E and above comfortably

So sbharmonic singing is just tartini tones in our voice ?

All I do is drop down to a lower note...

Man ... you’re you’re a very pretty guy

Interestingly, if you put this through a spectral analyzer, you will see that this low note actually doesn't exist. It is called a Combination Tone and it is created when your brain calculates the difference between two notes. It is most prominent when hearing a perfect fifth which is why this technique works.

Go Navy

I just heard about hertz, and figured out I can go down to 70 hertz

I think that your explanation of the mechanics is still not quite correct. I think that what is happening is that you are holding the cords at just the right distance so that when they come together they bounce apart and then they do not close on the next cycle. Since they didn't close, there's no bounce and so they can close on the next cycle. So they are bouncing, and coming together at half the frequency of the fundamental. And I expect that when you do the second subharmonic, you are adjusting the tension so that the cords bounce every third cycle. I don't think the difference in the two explanations is that important, but I do think it's a lot easier to think of adjusting the tension of the cords so that they bounce every other cycle, then to imagine that you can adjust the two cords to two different frequencies - that "crossrhythm" explanation just seems a bit far-fetched. You can get similar subharmonics by letting the tines of a tuning fork hit a piece of paper held in the air. The paper will give off a pitch and that can match the pitch of the tuning fork or, if you hold the paper just right, you can get subharmonics as it bounces off the fork.

I'm 13 years old and I can hit only D2.. Is that okay?

I just can't find my stupid subharmonic note. #cryingoveryou

you should change the title to indicate the mistakes made, and pin the comment where you mentioned this revision. It's still very possible for someone to watch that video and think everything in it is legit. I had to do this with a time signatures video I made mistakes in that had over 100k views, and now it doesn't get any views because of the [Old, bad, incorrect] in the title but there's no chance people will be mislead by it now.

you're camera is hunting...

I find this technique absolutely useless for singing. You only get 2-4 notes and they don't sound normal and as you demonstrated you can't get there without singing the octave above first. I don't know of anyone who can actually use this when singing a song.

wtf

may be video about singing and not talking would be good...

My lowest chest note is a D1. My lowest growl note is a B0. I'm like 19 lol.