waving-microphone vibrato

Subject: RE: waving-microphone vibrato
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 05 Sep 15 - 02:13 PM

Thanks for the link, Jack. That's interesting.

Subject: RE: waving-microphone vibrato
From: treewind
Date: 05 Sep 15 - 03:48 AM

I think it should be called tremolo rather that vibrato if we're nit-picking, i.e. a volume change rather than pitch change*.
But the change in volume is a characteristic of that style of singing, and until I saw that video I assumed it was all done by the singer.

It's the opposite of conventional pop singer's handheld mic technique, where you hold the mic away when you hit a loud high note to avoid overloading the sound system.

Also compare with the bluegrass tradition of single mic and each musician stepping forward when taking a solo. Very different effect but it's all about making use of the mic for musical purposes.

*before some pedant steps in, yes I know if you move the mic fast enough you'll get a pitch change from Doppler shift, but it would be an inaudibly small change compared with the singer's own pitch changes and the amplitude changes.

Subject: RE: waving-microphone vibrato
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 05 Sep 15 - 12:58 AM

Thanks for posting the link, Jack-wonderful listening! As to the microphone technique, I've been listening to a lot of Persian music lately, and tho they often use the same vibrato, I've never seen the mike waving. I am inclined to think that it is more a visual effect than anything else, particularly because vibrato involves a change of pitch..

Subject: waving-microphone vibrato
From: Jack Campin
Date: 04 Sep 15 - 05:31 AM

I have only seen this technique from Turkish "arabesk" ("country and eastern") singers:

Ibrahim Tatlises

They nearly all do it nearly all the time.

Is it common in any other genre?

(Surprisingly, Ibo doesn't wave the mike when handing the solo to the violinist - maybe because a violinist simply can't do it in normal performance).