How to Overtone Sing Without Sounding Like a Robot

You’ve probably seen those viral videos of Tuvan throat singers or Anna-Maria Hefele producing two notes at the same time. It sounds like a flute hovering over a cello. Honestly, the first time you hear it, it feels like a glitch in the simulation. Most people think you need a special kind of vocal cord or some ancient lineage to do it. You don't. You already have the equipment. It’s just physics.

Basically, every sound your voice makes is a chord. When you speak, you aren't just hitting one frequency. You’re hitting a fundamental—the note you think you’re singing—and a whole stack of higher frequencies called overtones or harmonics. Usually, these are all blended together. To learn how to overtone sing, you just have to learn how to manipulate your mouth like a biological equalizer to boost one of those high notes while keeping the low one steady.

It’s weird. It’s nerdy. It’s also incredibly satisfying once that first "whistle" breaks through the grain of your voice.

The Physics of the Double Note

When you pluck a guitar string, it vibrates. But it doesn't just vibrate as one big loop. It also vibrates in halves, thirds, and quarters. Your vocal folds do the exact same thing. This is the harmonic series. If you sing a low $C_{2}$, there are ghost notes of $C_{3}$, $G_{3}$, $C_{4}$, $E_{4}$, and so on, sitting right on top of it.

We don't hear them as separate notes because our brains are trained to package them into "timbre." It’s how you tell the difference between a trumpet and a piano playing the same note. In overtone singing, specifically the Western style often called Sygyt (in the Tuvan tradition), we use the tongue to create two separate resonance chambers in the mouth. One chamber stays large to support the drone. The other becomes tiny to amplify a specific harmonic.

Getting Your First Whistle: The "L" Method

Forget everything you know about "pretty" singing for a second. To find the sweet spot, you need to get comfortable making some pretty ugly noises.

Start by humming a low, comfortable note. Not your lowest possible note—just a nice, resonant chest voice tone. Now, transition that hum into an "ooo" sound, like you're imitating an owl. Keep it steady.

Here is the trick: Take the tip of your tongue and press it against the roof of your mouth, right where your teeth meet the gums. This is the "L" position. Your tongue should stay there. Now, try to say the word "why" or "you" without moving that tongue tip.

📖 Related: What Does a Stoner Mean? Why the Answer Is Changing in 2026

The Narrow Tunnel

You are trying to create a tiny, microscopic tunnel for the air to pass through over the sides of your tongue. If you move your jaw up and down very slowly—and I mean millimeter by millimeter—you will eventually hear a faint, metallic whistle.

It won’t be loud at first. It’ll sound like a radio signal coming through static.

• Keep your air pressure consistent.
• Don't push too hard; over-breathing kills the resonance.
• Focus on the "vowel bridge." Move slowly from "ooo" to "eee."

Actually, the transition from "U" (as in "moon") to "I" (as in "machine") is where the magic happens. In the middle of those two vowels, there is a sweet spot where the second formant of your voice aligns perfectly with a harmonic. That’s when the whistle pops out.

Why Your Mouth Shape Is a Filter

Think of your mouth as a cave. If you’re at the back of the cave, the sound is deep. If you’re near a small opening, it’s sharp. Expert practitioners like Rollin Rachele emphasize that overtone singing is less about "singing" and more about "filtering."

You aren't creating a new sound. You are deleting the frequencies you don't want.

By pulling the corners of your mouth back into a slight grin (the "eee" shape), you shorten the acoustic path. This raises the frequency of the overtone. If you round your lips into a small "o," you lengthen the path, which lowers the overtone.

Common Pitfalls

1. The Tongue is Too Tense: If your tongue is a brick, you won't get any resonance. It needs to be firm at the tip but flexible in the middle.
2. Nasal Leaks: If air is coming out of your nose, the pressure in your mouth drops. Pinch your nose. If the sound changes, you’re losing power.
3. Changing the Base Note: Beginners often let their main note slide around while chasing the overtone. Keep that drone rock-solid. Use a drone app or a keyboard to stay on pitch.

Deep Khoomei vs. High Sygyt

In Tuvan music, there are different "flavors" of this. Khoomei is the general term, but it often refers to a middle-range style that sounds breathy and warm. Sygyt is that piercing, flute-like sound.

👉 See also: Am I Gay Buzzfeed Quizzes and the Quest for Identity Online

Then there is Kargyraa.

Kargyraa is the "sub-harmonic" style. It sounds like a gravelly growl. To do this, you aren't just using your vocal folds; you’re engaging your vestibular folds—also known as "false vocal cords." These sit just above your true vocal cords. When you relax them enough, they start to vibrate at exactly half the speed of your main folds. This creates a note one octave lower than what you’re actually singing. It’s the closest humans can get to sounding like a subwoofer.

If you want to learn how to overtone sing in the Kargyraa style, start by clearing your throat gently. That "uh-hem" feeling? That’s your false cords engaging. Hold that "grudge" in the sound and try to turn it into a steady tone. It shouldn't hurt. If it scratches or burns, stop immediately. You're doing it wrong. Real Kargyraa feels like a neck massage from the inside out.

Refining the Technique

Once you can get a single whistle, you’ll want to play melodies. This is where it gets addictive.

The scale you get isn't a normal Do-Re-Mi scale. It’s the Lydian Dominant scale, mostly. You get a natural fourth, a sharp fourth, and a flat seventh. It sounds "spacey" or "folk-like."

To move the notes:

• To go higher: Move the back of your tongue toward the soft palate (the "eee" position) and slightly close your jaw.
• To go lower: Move the back of your tongue down and round your lips (the "ooo" position).

It’s a tiny, tiny dance. We are talking about movements so small you can't see them from the outside. You have to feel the resonance vibrating against your hard palate.

✨ Don't miss: Easy recipes dinner for two: Why you are probably overcomplicating date night

Practical Steps to Mastery

Don't expect to sound like a master in ten minutes. It’s a muscle memory game.

First, spend a week just finding the "ring." Don't worry about melodies. Just try to make that one whistle clear and steady. Record yourself on your phone. Often, the microphone picks up the overtones better than your own ears do because the sound is vibrating inside your skull and masking the high frequencies.

Second, practice in the shower. The tiles reflect the high-frequency sounds back to you, making it much easier to hear if you’re hitting the mark.

Third, listen to the greats. Look up Huun-Huur-Tu. Listen to Kongar-ol Ondar. Their control is terrifyingly good. They can hit specific overtones with the same precision a pianist hits a key.

Finally, work on your breath control. Overtone singing requires a very steady, slow stream of air. If you're huffing and puffing, the harmonics will be unstable. Think of it like blowing a steady stream of bubbles through a tiny straw.

Start with the "Vowel Slide."

1. Sing a "U" (as in "true").
2. Slowly, over ten seconds, transition to an "A" (as in "father").
3. Slowly transition to an "I" (as in "see").
4. Listen for the "sliding" whistle that moves up as you change the vowel.

That slide is your roadmap. Every note you want to hit is somewhere on that vowel line. You just have to learn where to stop the slide. Eventually, you won't need the vowels at all; you'll just move your internal resonance to the right "spot" and the note will appear.

It takes patience, but once you find it, you’ll never look at your voice the same way again. You aren't just a singer; you’re a synthesizer.