Female vocals


What is it about female vocals that so many audiophiles adore? Many, many speaker reviews talk about female vocals at some point as if that was the zenith of recorded music. It's the same at audio shows. Just about every room is playing some version of the same, bland music. Just once I'd like to be drawn to a room because they were playing Tool or Opeth, but nooooo, it's jazz or Norah Jones.

roadcykler

I think at some point, someone said that a female vocal was a good source in “testing” the fidelity of an audio system, and it stuck.  
There seems to be now some weird subculture with audio nerds where vocals by a female are weirdly fetishized. 
There are so many damn threads about “female vocals.”  
I don’t get it.  
I think the frequencies the typical female voice produces may cause one to feel they can more easily dial-in the finer points of their home audio.  
Or something. I don’t know.  
Maybe because the typical male voice produces lower frequencies, it makes analysis of an audio system’s fidelity…messier(?)…than if it was done with a female vocal?  
Kind of just guessing at this point. 
I like the human voice.  
Gender got nuttin’ ta do widdit.

After I heard Margo Timmins/Cowboy Junkies covering "Sweet Jane" on Natural Born Killers, I was hooked.

I've not seen Vanessa Fernandez mentioned. This SACD sounds wonderful on a really good system:

https://youtu.be/3Omy_xI40Bo

And for classic rockers, also in SACD:

https://youtu.be/J-Rl8-tXCf0

BTW, if you want a sampling of the various female artists, this gives quite a variety (double CD) and they are really cheap on the bay.

 

I heard a brand-new song on the radio yesterday (KCRW.com) from a female singer that I had not heard before. I think this song is fantastic. It is available on TIDAL,

Mia Doi Todd - Island in the Storm