Rafael Bittencourt (3,914 views)

[Henny Macc]

Rafael de Paula Souza Neto (October 22, 1971 - )
Years active: 1986-present
Country of origin: Brazil
Recorded vocal range: C♯2-F♯5 (D♭2-G♭5) - 3.4 octaves

Band history:

• 1986-1988 - Lixo Atômico (guitar)
• 1991-2012 - Angra (lead guitar, backing vocals, occasional keyboards)
• 2008-present - Bittencourt Project (lead vocals, guitar)
• 2012-present - Angra (lead guitar, vocals, occasional keyboards)

Recorded high notes:
F♯5/G♭5: "Essence"
F5: "Carry On" clinic Lima 2007, "Stand Away" live at Sebastian Bar 2010, "The Voice Commanding You" live São Paulo 2013
E5: "Carry On" clinic Lima 2007, "Metal Icarus" live São Paulo 2014
D♯5/E♭5: "Metal Icarus" live São Paulo 2014, "Stand Away" live at Sebastian Bar 2010, "The Voice Commanding You" live São Paulo 2013, "Torment of Fate" live AudioArena 2017
D5: "Comfortably Numb" live Falcões Motoclube 2019, "Dedicate My Soul" live AudioArena 2017
C♯5/D♭5: "Carry On" lobby rehearsal 2014, "Crushing Room", "Essence", "Gentle Change" acoustic version, "Nova Era" backstage rehearsal 2013, "O Pastor", "Stand Away" acoustic version, "The Dark Side of Love", "Torment of Fate", "Wasted Years" live Expomusic 2013
C5: "Carry On" guitar clinic Lima 2007, "Dedicate My Soul" live AudioArena 2017, "Holding Back the Fire", "Lullaby for Lucifer" acoustic version, "Out of This World", "Reaching Horizons" acoustic version, "Rebirth" acoustic version, "Silent Call", "The Voice Commanding You" live São Paulo 2013, "Violet Sky", "Waiting Silence" live Extrema 2017
B4: "Carry On" lobby rehearsal 2014, "Crazy Train", "Dedicate My Soul", "Essence", "Here I Go Again" live 2014, "Holding Back the Fire" live AudioArena 2017, "Metal Icarus" acoustic version, "Millennium Sun" clinic São Paulo 2019, "Nacib Véio", "Nightfly", "O Pastor", "Out of This World", "Queen of the Night" acoustic version, "The Dark Side of Love", "The Rage of the Waters" guitar clinic Bangu 2011, "Torment of Fate", "Violet Sky", "Waiting Silence" live Extrema 2017, "War Pigs da Porteira" live 2014, "Wasted Years" live at The Orleans 2016
A♯4/B♭4: "Bleeding Heart" acoustic version, "Crushing Room", "Don't Stop Me Now" live at The Orleans 2015, "Holding Back the Fire", "Metal Icarus" acoustic version, "Millennium Sun" clinic São Paulo 2019, "Out of This World", "Perry Mason" live Falcões Motoclube 2019, "Rebirth" acoustic version, "Running Alone" acoustic version, "Stand Away" live at Sebastian Bar 2010, "The Underworld", "Travelers of Time"
A4: "A Monster in Her Eyes" acoustic version, "Always More" demo, "Carry On" lobby rehearsal 2014, "Comfortably Numb" live Falcões Motoclube 2019, "Crazy Train", "Dedicate My Soul" live AudioArena 2017, "Don't Stop Me Now" live at The Orleans 2015, "Essence", "Faded", "Gentle Change" acoustic version, "Lisbon" live Falcões Motoclube 2019, "Lullaby for Lucifer" acoustic version, "Millennium Sun" clinic São Paulo 2019, "Nightfly", "Nova Era" backstage rehearsal 2013, "Perfect Strangers" live Pit Stop Yamaha, "Reaching Horizons" acoustic version, "Rebirth" acoustic version, "Queen of the Night" acoustic version, "Silent Call", "Smoke on the Water" live Expomusic 2013, "Synchronicity II", "The Dark Side of Love", "The Rage of the Waters" guitar clinic Bangu 2011, "The Voice Commanding You" live São Paulo 2013, "Torment of Fate", "War Pigs da Porteira" live 2014
G♯4/A♭4: "A Monster in Her Eyes" acoustic version, "Caça e Caçador" live 2014, "Carry On" lobby rehearsal 2014, "Crushing Room", "Dedicate My Soul", "Essence", "Holding Back the Fire", "Late Redemption" live Auditório Ibirapuera 2014, "Make Believe" acoustic version, "Metal Icarus" acoustic version, "Nightfly", "Nova Era" backstage rehearsal 2013, "Perry Mason" live Falcões Motoclube 2019, "Running Alone" acoustic version, "Santa Teresa", "Storm of Emotions", "The Bottom of My Soul", "The Dark Side of Love"
G4: "Black Widow's Web" live Quebec 2018, "Bleeding Heart" acoustic version, "Comfortably Numb" live Falcões Motoclube 2019, "Dedicate My Soul" live AudioArena 2017, "Faded", "Holding Back the Fire", "Late Redemption" live Auditório Ibirapuera 2014, "Lisbon" live Falcões Motoclube 2019, "Lullaby for Lucifer" acoustic version, "Make Believe" acoustic version, "Nightfly", "Out of This World", "Perry Mason" live Falcões Motoclube 2019, "Queen of the Night" acoustic version, "Rebirth" acoustic version, "Running Alone" acoustic version, "Silent Call", "Stand Away" acoustic version, "Suzie Q" live Falcões Motoclube 2019, "The Underworld", "Vida Seca" live Goiânia 2023, "Violet Sky", "The Voice Commanding You" live São Paulo 2013, "Wasted Years" live at The Orleans 2016

Recorded low notes:
E3: "A Monster in Her Eyes" acoustic version, "Always More" demo, "Dedicate My Soul", "Lisbon" live Falcões Motoclube 2019, "Make Believe" acoustic version, "Nightfly", "Queen of the Night" acoustic version, "Silent Call", "Smoke on the Water" live Expomusic 2013, "Stand Away" acoustic version, "Suzie Q" live Falcões Motoclube 2019, "The Dark Side of Love", "War Pigs da Porteira" live 2014, "Wuthering Heights" acoustic version
D♯3/E♭3: "A Monster in Her Eyes" live acoustic São Paulo 2013, "Carry On" live acoustic at Barra Shopping Sul, "Coroa Imperial" live 2014, "Holding Back the Fire", "Nacib Véio", "Nightfly" live AudioArena 2017, "Santa Teresa", "The Underworld"
D3: "Crushing Room", "Holding Back the Fire" live AudioArena 2017, "Nightfly", "Silent Call", "Stand Away" acoustic version, "Z.I.T.O." acoustic version
C♯3/D♭3: "Dedicate My Soul", "Holding Back the Fire" live AudioArena 2017, "Storm of Emotions", "Torment of Fate", "Z.I.T.O." acoustic version
C3: "Silent Call", "Storm of Emotions", "Torment of Fate" live AudioArena 2017, "Wish You Were Here" live 2011
B2: "Always More" demo, "Comfortably Numb" live Falcões Motoclube 2019, "Gentle Change" acoustic version, "Late Redemption" live Auditório Ibirapuera 2014, "Stand Away" acoustic version, "Violet Sky", "Z.I.T.O." acoustic version
A♯2/B♭2: "Late Redemption" live Estúdio Showlivre 2013
A2: "Comfortably Numb" live Falcões Motoclube 2019, "Late Redemption" live Auditório Ibirapuera 2014, "Silent Call", "Torment of Fate"
G♯2/A♭2: "Carry On" live acoustic at Barra Shopping Sul, "Late Redemption" live Estúdio Showlivre 2013, "Holding Back the Fire"
F♯2/G♭2: "Carry On" live acoustic at Barra Shopping Sul
C♯2/D♭2: "Dedicate My Soul"

SPOILER: Click to show

{Questionable notes}
B2: "Carolina IV"
F♯2/G♭2: "Carolina IV", "O Pastor"
F2: "O Pastor"
E2: "O Pastor"

These are all notes that I cannot confirm as Rafael's voice - the "Carolina IV" notes may be Andre Matos or Kiko Loureiro, and the "O Pastor" notes are likely a programmed choir rather than Rafael's natural voice.

.......................................................
*Underlines marks notes in backing vocals or otherwise muffled/obscured in the song mix.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Detailed bio}Rafael Bittencourt is well known in the world of Brazilian music as an astonishingly talented guitarist that has served as one of the founding members of Angra. However, over the years, his role as a secondary vocalist in the band has gradually developed as well, and he has revealed that he not only has a very pleasant singing voice (somewhat reminiscent of Hansi Kürsch tonally, in my opinion), but also a surprisingly impressive vocal range and technique. His sweet spots seem to be from the upper second octave into the lower fifth octave, as notes below G♯2 are fairly uncommon for him, and above C♯5 he sometimes can sound a bit awkward and uncontrolled, but between that tessitura he pretty much always sounds golden. He also has a great sense of diversity and emotional range to his singing, from heartfelt, softer singing like in "Silent Call", to an intense, powerful belting voice that can be heard in "Violet Sky" or "Crushing Room".

When Bittencourt founded Angra in 1991 (alongside vocalist Andre Matos and bassist Luís Mariutti), he kept his own role limited to guitar and backing vocals for roughly the first fifteen years of the band's career. Many fans may not have known that he could sing at all during this time, since he did little to demonstrate his vocal abilities overall. It wasn't until 2006 that Bittencourt made his first lead vocal appearance on an Angra album, singing the song "Out of This World", which was released as a bonus track on the band's Aurora Consergens album. It was also around this time that Bittencourt found himself needing to step in to handle some lead vocal duties live, as the band's vocalist at the time Edu Falaschi began to experience noticeable vocal issues from having to perform Andre Matos era songs multiple nights in a row on tour. On some nights, Falaschi's voice was apparently so shot that he had to abstain from singing certain songs, at which point Bittencourt stepped in to handle vocals on his behalf (in addition to his own usual guitar duties).

In 2012, Angra saw the departure of Falaschi, and his subsequent replacement by Fabio Lione as frontman. Perhaps inspired by the amount of vocal duties he had previously had to handle, at this time Bittencourt decided to officially step into the role of co-lead vocalist in the band, and has shared this role with Lione since then. Angra's first album with this lineup, 2014's Secret Garden, featured five songs with Bittencourt contributing to lead vocals, and its followup, 2018's Ømni, featured two. In addition to this, Bittencourt now regularly handles lead vocal duties on certain older songs when Angra performs them live, further expanding his presence in a singing role there.

Bittencourt also started his own side project in 2008, simply entitled Bittencourt Project (which also features current Angra bassist Felipe Andreoli), in which he handles all vocal duties in addition to guitars. So far, this project has only put out one album, 2008's Brainworms I, but it features some very good music and more great vocals by Bittencourt, so hopefully we will hear at least a second studio album at some point down the line. Additionally, The Bittencourt Project has released a live EP entitled AudioArena Originals and the live DVD Brainworms Live in Brazil, some of which feature him playing songs in higher keys and hitting additional high notes. There is also an unofficial album on YouTube of Bittencourt performing solo acoustic versions of older Angra songs from the Andre Matos and Edu Falaschi eras, with himself singing them. Though he modifies the melody/octave of several of these songs to fit his own range better, he still makes them sound great while also spanning a respectable B2-C♯5 on it in total.

I look forward to whatever other singing we may end up hearing from him down the line, and expect that it will continue to be promising!

SPOILER: Click to show

{Album ranges}
Angra:

• Aurora Consergens (2006) - A3-C5
• Angels Cry 20th Anniversary Tour (2013) - G♯2-F5
  
• Secret Garden (2014) - A2-B2-C♯5
• Ømni (2018) - F♯3-A♯4

Bittencourt Project:

• Brainworms I (2008) - C♯2-G♯2-C♯5
• AudioArena Originals (2017) - C3-E♭5

SPOILER: Click to show

{Best displays of range}
"Dedicate My Soul" (C♯2-B4)
"Torment of Fate" (A2-C♯5)
"Silent Call" (A2-C5)
"Gentle Change" acoustic version (B2-C♯5)
"Stand Away" acoustic version (B2-C♯5)
"Holding Back the Fire" (G♯2-A♯4)
"Violet Sky" (B2-C5)

[onemorelight17]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWBkomvwWXA  8-| 8-| 8-|   I didn't expect this. 

[Henny Macc]

Ooh, good find! More E5s and an F5 in there, and pretty good ones at that.

Was wondering if he was gonna go for the ending line though, which would've been an A5 in that key

[kuyashii]

Nice to see a thread for him! He's a pretty good vocalist and it's nice to see him taking the spotlight more in recent Angra albums. I can actually hear a bit of Hansi on his voice, but IMO he sounds a lot like Rob Sowden, former vocalist of the UK neoprog band Arena. My only grip with Rafa's vocals is his rather odd accent (which doesn't really sound like the way a brazilian would sing/speak) like way he pronunces the word "soul" on "From the Bottom of my Soul". Otherwise, a great vocalist with a lot of potential and I look forward to hear more from him.

[onemorelight17]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY-BPcSn7XQ

www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1_ftDTIs84


www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOvZ9BGJk9I

[Henny Macc]

C3 in the "Wish You Were Here" cover, and A4s, a B♭4 and B4s in "Millennium Sun" (though some are slightly hard to tell with how intermittently he sings along and lets the vocals from the track drown him out). The version of "Wasted Years" you linked is played a half step down though (meaning it tops at B♭4), and I found a version of it played in standard earlier with G4s and B4s, so I'm going to count that one instead.

Keep the links coming!

[Henny Macc]

RANGE EXPANSION ALERT

Just found a rare guest appearance that Rafael did vocals on back in 2010, with a band called Terra Prima:

Right off the bat at 0:04 we have a sustained C♯5 sliding up to an E5, with a short trill to F♯5! Wish the F♯5 were more pronounced, but people in the Discord seem to agree that it's worth counting. After that there are some gritty G♯4s on the verse at 0:44 and A4s at 0:59, some strong B4s on the chorus at 1:39, and another good C♯5 at 2:10. There are also some E3s in the section at 4:49, but I think those may be the band's main vocalist.

[onemorelight17]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8JF3yiEqQE

[Henny Macc]

Thanks, added the notes from that - A4s on every chorus and a sustained B4 on the last one. Always cool to hear him do his own renditions of more Angra songs.

On a different note, I'm starting to have my doubts about the lows in "O Pastor" being him - Zedd Squared said he thought he heard Rafael's tone on them, but I'm pretty sure the other choir harmonies aren't him, and it seems less likely that he would have gotten other singers to do those parts and then just sang the bass parts himself. There's also the possibility that it was a programmed choir or something, which sounds pretty believable to me.

You can hear them during the intro passage from the very beginning to 0:21, which gets down to F♯2 and F2, then there's a reprise of it at 1:49 that gets down to E2. More opinions would be welcome though.

[onemorelight17]

Mar 6, 2021 17:36:58 GMT Henny Macc said:

Thanks, added the notes from that - A4s on every chorus and a sustained B4 on the last one. Always cool to hear him do his own renditions of more Angra songs.

On a different note, I'm starting to have my doubts about the lows in "O Pastor" being him - Zedd Squared said he thought he heard Rafael's tone on them, but I'm pretty sure the other choir harmonies aren't him, and it seems less likely that he would have gotten other singers to do those parts and then just sang the bass parts himself. There's also the possibility that it was a programmed choir or something, which sounds pretty believable to me.

You can hear them during the intro passage from the very beginning to 0:21, which gets down to F♯2 and F2, then there's a reprise of it at 1:49 that gets down to E2. More opinions would be welcome though.

I don't think it's him either   

[Zedd Squared]

Seems ambiguous enough upon relistening to put in the spoiler for the good ol' ^[2] I'd say.

[Henny Macc]

Added a spoiler for those notes. That unfortunately creates a range gap between F♯2 and C♯2 for him, and admittedly the C♯2 feels a bit more suspicious with no other notes in that range. However, I can't really think of any other reason not to count it (it's a backing vocal note, but he's credited for all the vocals on the album), so I'll keep it and just hope that he does more mid/lower second octave singing in the future

I do remember, however, that Zedd Squared (I think?) was questioning whether that part actually gets down to C♯2, or if it actually bottoms at D2. I'm gonna try to see if I can get it isolated for closer examination, but offhand what do people think?