PRACTICE MANUAL
Turn measurements into vocal sensation
Vocal Lens is a mirror for comparing practice, not a judge that produces a correct score. Values become more useful when note, vowel, distance, and room stay similar.
1. Standardize the environment first
Use a quiet room and keep the microphone about 15–30 cm in front of your mouth. Moving the microphone or changing input gain also changes the spectrum and 2–4 kHz ratio. INPUT CHECK reports browser gain, noise suppression, or echo cancellation when detected.
- After starting the microphone, stay quiet for 1–2 seconds so the noise floor can be estimated.
- Sustain a comfortable vowel and make sure the peak does not reach 0 dBFS.
- For comparisons, keep the microphone, distance, angle, and room as consistent as possible.
Stop practicing instead of adding force to improve a number. This tool does not replace medical diagnosis or voice therapy.
2. Read the pitch trace in four parts
Center error
How far the recent average pitch sits from the target in cents. Look for a repeated bias, not one instant.
Drift
How fast a sustained note moves up or down over time. It can help separate breath loss from rising tension.
Residual wobble
Irregular movement left after removing regular 4–8 Hz vibrato and slow drift, so vibrato alone is not penalized.
Time in target
The percentage of time within ±15 cents of the selected note. Wide vibrato can make this value less representative.
First align the average with center error, then reduce drift, and only then inspect residual wobble. Trying to maximize every number at once can pull attention away from physical sensation.
3. Vibrato regularity matters more than one ideal rate
Detected vibrato is separated into rate, extent, and regularity. Useful shapes differ by style, range, intensity, and person. Instead of chasing one target number, check whether you can reproduce the timing and width intentionally.
Hold a straight tone for about one second before adding vibrato. This makes the onset and periodicity easier to see. If the pitch keeps moving in one direction while oscillating, drift may dominate the result.
4. Formants and harmonics describe different things
Harmonics are integer multiples of the vocal-fold fundamental. Formants are spectral regions emphasized by vocal-tract resonance. At the same pitch, changing the vowel, tongue, or lips moves F1 and F2 and changes which harmonics are reinforced.
FORMANT CONF. is not a score for a good formant. It combines peak prominence, continuity, plausible ordering, and signal-to-noise ratio. At high pitches, wide harmonic spacing makes estimates unstable, so ignore low-confidence values.
5. The 2–4 kHz ratio is not a scorecard
The display compares energy from 2–4 kHz with energy from 0.2–2 kHz in dB. Loudness, vowel, microphone angle, distance, and room reflections all affect it; a higher number is not automatically better.
Create a comfortable baseline on the note you want to compare, then save it. Change vowel or resonance strategy under the same conditions and compare only with your own baseline, not with another person or microphone.
A 15-minute practice example
- 3 min: Set a comfortable range and establish the input environment and noise floor.
- 4 min: Hold one straight note and watch only center error and drift.
- 4 min: Keep the note and vowel stable while making small tongue and lip changes and observing F1–F2.
- 4 min: Repeat once without looking and once with feedback to connect hearing, sensation, and data.