Vocal Question - Where are harmonics created in the voice?

About a year ago, someone sent a poem to me, and I tailored it into lyrics and sent them back my rendition. It was catchy, sounded nice; and with the release of X2, I suddenly had R-MIX SONAR. At that time I looked at this track and there were 3 very distinct tonals coming from my voice. It struck me as odd, and I assumed the overtones were from my nasal cavity, etc., but could not really analyze this further. Now that I have Melodyne (from X3), I have looked at this same track again. First, I was happy that I sang this acapella and hit F major almost perfectly by simply grabbing a microphone. But now I can see the notes... and in many areas there are 3 distinct notes (root, perfect octave, and 5th above the octave). In other cases, it is the root and the octave (a couple are root and 7th), and others simply the root. But as I look at this track it is highly polyphonic.
 
Does anyone know a good place to read on the "mechanics" of voice? I once had a friend who studied music say, "You can sing a tone, hum the fifth an get an implied 3rd, and hence chord." So I assume I am doing something similarly, but not sure exactly what (or perhaps my nasal cavity creates the octave and my beak is making the 5th above that!). The fifths above the octave are so far out of my vocal range it is not funny, yet if I remove these the voice track sounds "dead."
 
So bottom line... where are the harmonics in the voice generated?
 
Michael
 

mettelus
So bottom line... where are the harmonics in the voice generated?
 

As jb101 pointed out, 1st-Octave-5th is a harmonic series, so I would say 'resonant chamber' which in the case of humans would be the larynx.  The throat, tongue, mouth etc. would apply filtering and envelope control to the set of partials generated in the larynx, creating recognisable sounds (words).
 
That's my best guess anyhow :-) 

mettelus
 
 
So bottom line... where are the harmonics in the voice generated?
 
Michael
 

The harmonics are generated along with the primary tone by the vocal cords/vocal folds. They are modified, resonated, filtered etc. by the volume and shape of the larynx, oropharynx, nasopharynx, laryngopharyx and even the more outward aspects of the oral and nasal cavities.
 
As stated a very complex process. Like having a bunch of plugins that don't just chain, but constantly interact with each other to modify sound.
All we have to do is indulge in the joy of expression. Of course vocal training and precision are great, but we're doing art here, not photography.
If you want to put Dylan through melodyne, fine.
 
But I don't want to hear it.

Can't wait for Dylan's version of Cher's "Believe"!
 

Fascinating topic!

Some of the Mel Bay Guitar Improvisation books have some vocal training in them which is just basic diatonic scale chording. Example:1-3-5 of major scale = major chord so C-E-G  so the voicing is the same with vocals but as you say the timbre is different but the theory is the same.

Thanks all. My own curiosity made me pop open this file to take a second gander at it after getting Melodyne. R-Mix on the straight mic track would show three distinct yellow dots, but was not as helpful as looking at it with Meldodyne. I have always thought of overtones akin to a simple string instrument with "infinite overtones" that have an exponential delay in amplitude. Seeing three distinct tones of significant amplitude made me scratch my head.
 
I guess of all the instruments I play with, I should probably put more research into the instrument I always have with me!
 
Michael

Sidroe
Can't wait for Dylan's version of Cher's "Believe"!
 

Geez. I can hear that and the Tpain sounds in my head.
 
I think I prefer the peyote regurgitation sound.
 
Note to NSA, future employer, etc.  PEYOTE REFERENCE FOR HUMOROUS PURPOSES ONLY!

As stated, the harmonics in the voice are created by the vibration of the folds.  The deeper the vibration, the louder the harmonics.  What is typically referred to as "chest" voice has strong, rich harmonics due to deeper fold vibration (like a brass instrument), whereas falsetto, which is the thinnest fold vibration has much lower harmonics (sounds more like a flute).
 
And as stated before, these harmonics are amplified and filtered by different vocal tract configurations to create vowels.  Each vowel has a set of formants (resonant centers) that amplify the harmonics to create the vowel identity.
 
One thing to note is the "singer's formant" which lies about 2k to 4k.  This frequency band helps the voice cut through a mix.  Opera singers rely on this region to cut through an orchestra and fill a concert hall.  The "singer's formant" is also referred to as "twang" and is amplified by narrowing the epiglottic funnel (think donald duck).  

LOL, yeah... I am sort of ashamed now at all the things I took for granted without knowing :(

mettelus
Okay, I finally got back to looking at this track more closely. I found that because of the overtones in my voice that Melodyne doesn't move the overtones well (i.e. will not "snap to scale" which is the same issue of trying to snap a guitar after distortion is applied), so I went back to the raw file. I finally signed up for SoundCloud, so can share what I am talking about. I threw Concrete Limiter and Breverb 2 onto the track but it is otherwise raw.  https://soundcloud.com/mettelus/maple-tree-vocal-mp3
 
What I *still* find odd is this (analyzed using polyphonic mode in Melodyne)...
 
At the 17s point, the "my" has 5 very distinct notes (F3, C4, F5, A5, and F6). At least these are a chord, so makes sense (sort of).
At the 22s point, the "lost" also had 5 tones (Bb3, Bb4, F5, Bb5, D5)... which is even stranger to me because the root is actually closer to A than Bb.
 
I am baffled by singing F3, and getting and F5, and F6!!
 
Michael
 
 

That's not all that odd. Particularly the octaves as the strongest overtones occur at the octaves. Then (IIRC) then next strongest would be the 5th. The one thing that MAY be a little weird is the flat third overtone in the Bb but that's just texture. No biggie.
 
However, I used to play with a singer who had a physical oddity in his throat/vocal chords that made him have up to three separate "voices". Like the air and vibrations separated into three distinct primary tones all with their own overtones and he had learned to control them all. It was pretty cool/creepy sounding. His metal screams were very unique.