Vocal Onsets and Releases for Tone, Intonation and Vocal Health

February 11, 2026

About the Author: Sonya

Sonya is a professionally trained mezzo-soprano and experienced singing teacher. With a background in opera and contemporary performance, she specialises in breath support, vocal technique and sustainable voice development for adult singers.

Take a deep breath, let yourself yawn, and sigh.

Now take another breath and simply exhale.

One more inhale and on your exhale say “mmm”.

When you make this “mm” sound, this sensation is called phonation.

Phonating is the production of speech sounds. We will be talking a lot about this today.

Pay attention to how it feels when you phonate.

Do you feel pressure on your vocal cords ? Does it feel comfortable?

Now say a couple words out loud. Say “Mother” and then say the word “Hand”, how about the word “Attention”.

When you say these words, what does it feel like for you when the first syllable is spoken?

Do you feel tension ? Does it feel easy to speak? Do the vowels glide like butter or do they feel like you are suddenly pressing the gas pedal?

The sensations you are experiencing are what is known as the “Vocal Onset”.

Before singing, we must first create the initial sensation of the vocal chords meeting.

The first note, and how we treat it, sets the path for the rest to follow in line.

In German, it’s called the “Vokale Ansatz” or the “Vocal attack”.

The beginnings of phrases are like waves, waves can crash on the surface, or merely roll in with the tide on the shore.

When we sing we can make the active decision to have our vocal attacks be more severe, or hardly noticeable at all.

Lady in yellow hair and coat singing with microphone

Voiced Consonants and Smooth Vocal Onsets

When you say, for example, the word “Mother”, did you notice that the letter “m” is a voiced consonants?

When you say “mmm” you are making noise with your vocal chords .

Whereas if you were to say “ffff” there is merely air coming out of your mouth.

When you say words that have a consonant, especially voiced consonants like “m” “v” or “r” in the beginning, it is easier to vocalize more smoothly throughout the word.

You are easing your way into phonating.

Whereas when you say a word with a vowel in the beginning, like “attention”, the “ah” right in the beginning might have a slight glottal, or sudden start.

But how about “hand” ?

The first vowel is an “a”, but the vowel is said or sung more clearly because the “h” creates air that helps smooth out the attack.

Say “and” and then “hand”, over and over.

Do you feel the difference ? Do you feel that the “a” in “and” is more sudden than the “a” in “hand”?

The Four Types of Vocal Onsets and Their Stylistic Use

In some songs, singers choose to have more of a severe vocal unset by pushing the vowel. This is a stylistic choice. Just because a song starts with a vowel does not mean that it cannot have a smoother attack. You can choose to soften it by adding a slightly more air.

There are typically four types of Vocal onsets:

Coordinated Onset which involves inhaling, then closing the glottis, (the part of the larynx, or voice box, consisting of the vocal cords and the opening between them) at the same time as exhalation of air. This onset is generally the preferred/common of the four, but also takes the most awareness or concentration.
Glottal Onset, involves inhaling, closing the glottis, and then beginning to sing. Glottal tension is eased just enough to cause the vocal folds to vibrate and produce sound.
Breathy Onset occurs when singers inhale and then start to exhale while leaving the glottis open or partially open.Think back to the feeling of saying “hand” vs saying “and”, of the two, the more breathy Onset would be “hand”. Some singers who has very breathy onsets would be Ariana Grande, Laufey, and Taylor Swift.
Vocal Fry Onset (Growl Onset) – This onset is commonly used in more modern music, not usual for classical or opera singing. It involves relaxed vocal fold closure and high airflow. It is a technique used for growls and similar sounds in rock, gospel, and jazz styles and may resolve into a clearer tone with firmer vocal fold closure. Some singers who take advantage of vocal fry onset (in many songs but not all) would include Lady Gaga, Adele, and Amy Winehouse.

Man-with-headphone singing song by looking paper from his hand

Analysing Vocal Attacks Through Song Phrasing

Let’s try to analyze a song and some vocal attacks.

If you take the song “Attention” by Charlie Puth, for example, and focus on the word “attention” in the phrase, there are two ways it can be sung.

1: “you just want attention” or 2: “you just want attention”.

In version one, there is a slight stop between the words “want” and “attention”, in this case, the vocal onset is more harsh, there is a slight glottal, and it can bring more of a mean spirit to the word.

In version 2, “want” and “attention” are smashed a bit together to create one word, and this makes the vocal onset to the word “attention” very subtle.

One word swoops into the other, making the undertone of what you are singing more nonchalant or chill.

Now let’s look at the first word of that phrase, “you”.

This is a funny word to sing because there are actually a couple different vowels.

Sing the word “you” slowly. “Eee-uuu” Two vowel sounds.

Because the word starts with an “e” the onset can sound harsh, but it is possible to change this and smooth it out.

In singing we change vowels all of the time so that it fits to the vibe or the music better.

Maybe if we just add a bit more air in the beginning of this word, not so much as to hear a clear “h” but just enough for the word to be rounder and softer in the beginning.

Try this out, sing the phrase with more air and less air, see what happens and what feels good for you.

Man singing in studio

Understanding Vocal Offsets and Phrase Endings

The next step is understanding the vocal offset, ending the phrase.

You can have three types of offsets; hard, soft, balanced.

One can sing a note until you run out of air, which would have a “slow fade” type of appeal, which is technically an offset but it is not the most controlled or elegant route.

Generally you can stop singing by closing your glottis, the same way that you can close your glottis and let out air when preparing to sing.

When it is closed again then the vocals stop.

It is as if a door is opened in your voice box so you can phonate, and then it is simply closed.

You can either slam the door, or slowly close it.

Offsets and Onsets are similar in that voiced consonants make them both easier.

Try taking the song “Attention”, again.

In the sentence “You just want attention,” there is one onset, the word “you” and one offset, “attention,” there is not an onset and offset for each word.

So the sentence would flow, and then be comfortable to finish because there is this vocalized “n” in the end.

That would have a pretty smooth ending.

But in the next sentence, where he says “from the start,” the word “start” has a more harsh offset as “t” is not vocalized.

The transition from singing to then offsetting is a bit more abrupt.

Lady singing in studio