Mike Patton - Most Versatile Vocalist EVER?

[Johnny Scumm]

When you think of a vocalist, maybe your favourite singer or just someone random, you associate them with the genre of music and vocal skill that you always hear from them.

Axl Rose/Myles Kennedy - Singing rock songs, sometimes powerful Rock "Ballads", with the high vocals in.

Matt Bellamy - Pretty much sticks to singing rock songs, but has a vocal register which is very accessible.

Kurt Cobain - Gritty voice, automatically associated with Grunge.

But...

Mike Patton - Sings with Faith No More, also with experimental band "Mr. Bungle", where he puts more than singing in. Also the lead singer of Tomahawk. Solo, he's created an album consisting of experimental sounds, as well as an album featuring classic Italian songs. On the side, his voice provided the "Noises" for all the monsters in "I Am Legend" and also the voice of the monster in the game "The Darkness/The Darkness 2".

Wikipedia states;

Patton's vocals touch on crooning, falsetto, screaming, opera, death growls, rapping, mouth music, beatboxing, and scatting, among other techniques.

Mike Patton has an (almost) endless list of things he can do and I'm absolutely obsessed with it. His singing with the band "Faith No More" was where I started, with songs such as "Epic", "Ashes To Ashes" & "Chinese Arithmetic".

[YOUTUBE]T6oKhMPemjY[/YOUTUBE]

That's Mike singing in the song "Ashes To Ashes", which is just a simple display of his singing ability. Then we move onto Mike's more recent solo career.

[YOUTUBE]j8URwHKzwhk[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]zaUrzMeS4xg[/YOUTUBE]

If you dislike the first one, I don't blame you. That's Mike showing off his vocal experimental skills. He created an album of around 30 of these pieces, using minimal enhancement on his voice, mainly recorded in a Bathroom. The second video is "Deep Down", off of the "Mondo Cane" album, where Mike covers many classic Italian songs. If you wish, listen further to "Urlo Negro", one of my favourites.

Finally, Mike's more strange stuff. Mr Bungle.

[YOUTUBE]18wHoMOBPh4[/YOUTUBE]

My favourite song "My Ass Is On Fire". All very experimental again, with Mike leading the piece.

[YOUTUBE]Jt856_nRxQk[/YOUTUBE]

"God Hates A Coward" by Tomahawk, where he uses a Gas Mask to aid his voice along. The last video I'm going to post is another experimental solo piece, which is performed entirely from a score. Everything Mike performs is noted down on the paper in front of him, using images or words. It's definitely one of my favourite performances of his, a song called "Moonchild".

[YOUTUBE]qPsXRiV6yo4[/YOUTUBE]

So, now some questions.

Are you a fan of Mike Patton and/or any of the bands he's been affiliated with?
Do you believe that Patton's vocal is very versatile, possibly the most versatile vocal you know?

 

[Manowar]

Yeah, I really like Patton. One of the most diverse guys out today.

Recently I was listening to the debut album of Tomahawk and I totally forgot how great and underrated it is.

 

[WrathUponEden]

He's up there for sure. He's always been one of my favorite vocalists. His style is so unique...

I also love Stu Block ; his work in Into Eternity is just incredible. He can do whatever style he wants and it sounds great.

 

[CraigThe13th]

Amazing showman too! Fufilled a lifelong dream of seeing Faith No More live at Download 2009. He was awesome and always will be awesome, I'd like to seeing anyone come up with a vocalist who can match him!

 

[Suibon]

A bit of a correction for the OP: the solo Mike Patton performed is named Litany IV, off of John Zorn's Six Litanies of Heliogabalus. It isn't Moonchild, though Patton did collaborate with Zorn on the album of the same name.
​

 

[Mark Henry's Beard]

Mike Patton's ridiculous versatility is evident to anyone that ever listened to a Faith No More record. To go from "Digging the Grave" and "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies" to "Evidence" and "I Started the Joke"...there's nothing he can't do.

FNM is my favorite band of all-time and Mike Patton is the reason why.

 

[Alex]

I've been listening to my Faith No More greatest hits CDs. And by god Mike Patton is versatile. While there are some singers who can do multiple styles of singing, Mike Patton seems to be able to change without any effort and is seems to be very comfortable with whatever style he's doing (unlike others who come across as forced). This means generally you can't really get tired of his vocals because he can change it to suit whatever he's singing.

He's a wet dream for any band who needs a great vocalist (I'm looking at you Velvet Revolver)

 

[edyson2]

how to become a better singer

The first step to being a better singer is to learn proper breathing technique. As a singer, the best way to breathe is from the diaphragm, not from the chest. The reason being, by doing this you are able to fill your lungs with more air. This will enable you to sustain notes longer, and will also allow you to prepare for vocal warm ups. Breathing should be slow and steady, and this should be practiced all day long, not just when singing. For a singer, this way of breathing should be constant.

The next step is to work on how the air is going to be expelled from the lungs through the folds of the vocal chords. The first exercise that can help you practice this is one called "lip rolls." With the lip roll exercise, the lips are gently placed together, and then the air is expelled almost like a baby doing a "raspberry" if you will. It is not that easy to do and must be practiced efficiently before moving on to the next exercise.

Third, one should use the lip roll exercise and apply it to a musical scale. The air should be expelled while almost "humming" the note of the scale, slowly progressing up the scale, and then back down.

After the previous exercise, one can proceed with the "shhhh" exercise. IN doing this, you breathe in deeply from the diaphragm, and then expel the air in a harsh "shhhhh" sound and let all the air out slowly.

The above exercises may seem silly, but they will not only help improve your vocal range, but will also act as warm ups so you will have less stress on your vocal chords, and will be able to sing across registers more easily.


Read more: how to become a better singer

 

[Nickelback_rules]

Mike Patton is great man but come on..what about Chad Kroger, that guy is a whole other animal man. He friggin rules. Like..if you listen to "Rockstar" and "This is how you remind me" Man, his voice kicks some serious ass dude!

 

[smizzy]

Mike Patton is phenomenal. On terms the terms of versatility, no doubt he's the greatest.

 

[VeraSacRifice]

Learning How to Sing Higher

When you're learning how to sing it seems to be most peoples' ambition to increase their range right from the start. There are tools out there to help enable a person to do that but it doesn't really come easily in most cases. It takes lots of hard work and practice and dedication.

There are vocal lessons out there that claim to be able to increase a persons' range in the first hour of using the technique found within the lesson. To be honest I was (like you may be) a little skeptical because I had been singing for a fairly long time already and I pretty much knew that you could increase your range but it was not something that would be accomplished in an hour or so, but rather over the course of weeks or months and with regular practice.

On the other hand I also knew that there is a physiological "thing" that goes on in your body that tends to limit what you can do vocally. One of the keys to being able to sing higher is to know how to break through these how to sing higher barriers

 

[Julnori]

How to Become a Better Singer

If you want to know how to become a better singer in just a few days then listen up! There is no magical way to do this, no controversial or little known technique! Singing takes practice and passion and dedication. However, assuming you have these things then there is one little trick that if you have not practiced before will help you sing better in just a few days but is certainly not the whole story.

This method is to help you sing more clearly and with better pronunciation. Not only does this make it easier to listen to but it will allow you to achieve clarity of voice and a precision of sound that will set you above other singers.

The way to do this is the sing the vowels in the alphabet. Try singing them without a tune for a while and then try putting it to music. If you make sure your vowels are crisp and well formed you will put your mouth and tongue in the right positions for better singing. If you want to get the tips Visit this site i recommanded how to become a better singer

 

[sanefan_har]

I personally feel that Chester Bennington is a versatile vocalist as well. He's not just been a rage with his band Linkin Park(yeah time to bring the hate on guys), but he's toured with Camp Freddy and has been featured on Motley Crue's re release of Home Sweet Home. He's covered songs such as Highway To Hell, Ace of Spades and Paradise City, as well as featured on other songs. Not to mention he possesses a tenor vocal range spanning A2 to F5 (2.5 Octaves).

Mike Patton is brilliant as a vocalist. But Myles Kennedy and Chester aren't as far behind as many other vocalists.

There's this other guy from Mutiny Within. His name is Chris Clancy (he recently left the band). A critic who reviewed their album couldn't put it any better

"Chris can delve low and growl with the best of them, and then a millisecond later, take his voice high enough to give any soul diva a run for her money. We're not talking 80's metal annoyingly high clean vocals, either. We're talking 'this could destroy any American Idol's career' caliber singing."


I don't deny Mike Patton's skills, he's the God in his own right. But these 2 guys can also kill most of the current vocalists we have today.

Honorable Mentions
1.Matt Bellamy from Muse
2.Tom Keifer from Cinderella
3.Philip Labonte from All that Remains