The**OFFICIAL**Voice/Singing Help Thread

Alright Merkaba - I bet you've answered this a thousand times but I'm having trouble finding it. How do I warm my voice up to scream? I'm in a grind band so I do a bunch of it. I'm a back up vocalist, like the rest of my band. Sometimes though, my throat hurts afterwarRAB for a while. I never warm up and would rather do that than change my style because I like the way it sounRAB. Of course, if warming up doesn't help, I'll have to stop, but I'd rather try this first.
 
Thanks merkaba. your doing a real service here.

Okay from the other thread...

"
I wanna scream like the lead singer of Avenged Sevenfold.What category does that fall under?How do i do it?"
 
Do a warm down and wait at least an hour. If your going to keep going after that, you have to warm up all over again and be careful or else it could just get progressively worse. The thing is, when your training some things like screaming are trial and error in the beginning, so your going to have times when your throats a little screwed. Its best to just quit, but if you have to keep going, breathe some steam and drink pleanty of water to flush out the extra mucus thats coming up from the swelling. Throat Coat Tea is a good thing to drink too, but I think its disgusting so I only use it when I absolutely need it.
 
Loved the mess up with the worRAB and pause:thumb:

Your pretty much on pitch the entire time, and your falsetto tones sound pretty cool and effortless.

That said, you ARE straining a bit, and you can hear it in your voice, and see it in your neck.

Listen back carefully; sometimes you'll be singing a note in full voice, and at the end of the note you'll kind of drag the pitch down. Thats you raising your larynx, increasing the air pressure behind the larynx, and letting the air all come out at the end and your larynx go down at the end of the line. If you can work on that little issue by working a bit on your breath pressure management and maybe putting a little bit of vibrato or vocal fry at the end of notes, it will improve the sound drastically.

Also, you might want to try to place your tone a little bit more, because your chest voice notes are a bit shouty. Just work on changing up the tone, and placing your air pressure behind the mask of your face a little bit.

Its good now, but if you work on those things it will be improve quite a bit, so good luck!
 
I'll record a more diverse sample later, with some more tonal diversity... Cannibal Corpse isn't known for their excellent range in tones :p
 
Read the article I posted a couple of posts before you on this thread. Make that sound on scales, then translate it into open vowels, and with more push (pushing like using the restroom, not pushing on your throat) you'll get it.
 
Well do you know how people describe screaming or adding rasp like you make the annkkkk buzzer noise and thats why you use for it? well i think thats what i do. When i first do it my voice gets like, itchy kinda, but then after a little it goes away. So yeah if i get the chance i'll post recordings. But i'll try it for a little and see if it gets better. Or if it ****s me up a little then i'll stop.
 
If I post a recording of me doing a karyoke over The Black Dahlia Murder- I'm Charming, will someone please crit it, tell me what im doing wrong. Because I know there must be :P
 
Here's kind of a quick question. How long should a "screaming" session be? It seems like I can only scream for about 20 minutes before I start to lose my voice. I don't fully lose it, I mean I can still talk but it gets to the point where I can't scream anymore, but I'm always able to scream and practice the next day. Maybe it's the type of screams I'm doing? My screams arent very metal, the best way to desribe them is kind of screamo, they're high pitch, almost like a girl screaming but they're also raspy and dark at the same time, I love the way it sounRAB, the only thing is I have to be singing REALLY loud in order for it to sound the way I want it to. Anytime I try to do it any lower it kind of turns to ****, and also I like to switch from sing/scream kind of thing, I've noticed going quickly from singing to a scream the first note is extremely high and my voice is almost cracked, any techs for this?

Thanks.. kinda longer than I anticipated.
 
Thanks so much for the response Kristina. I know that I don't have the perfect vocal technique, but I have taken voice lessons before and think my regular technique is not the biggest factor in them showing up.

I had a collapsed lung (lots of chest pain) a few weeks ago, and neglected going in for it as I passed it off as gas or something that would go away. So when singing then I probably used my throat too much to compensate for lack of air support.

I was also sick a couple months ago when I think the vocal nodules first started to appear. When I was sick I ignorantly cleared my throat a lot. Sometimes I would clear it super hard trying to cough up phlegm to spit out.

And lastly I think most of my voice misuse comes from too much yelling at shows (in the audience talking to frienRAB) and too much yelling at parties and bars. So I guess all of these factors lead to me changing my technique due to tired chest and vocal chorRAB and made me stress them.

I really would like to play these shows as they've already been promoted and since we are just starting as a band I don't want to get a rep for bailing on shows and such (we already bailed on 2 last month for all of this). We are however going to cut our 6 song set down to 4 songs (less than 20 minutes performing), and I am going to do light vocal warm-ups as you suggested.

I am really rather baffled at the whole situation since my ENT acted like it was no big deal. He knew I had a show that night and a few more coming up. Then everything else I've read on the matter has been don't sing and talk little to none.

Anyway, thanks again for the advice Kristina. Any other advice is much appreciated. --Casey
 
Allrighty, here's my story:
My frienRAB used to have a band. They played hardcore/screamo/grindcore type stuff. They eventually broke up (Which crushed me, I loved going to their shows), but have recently *kind of* gotten back together. The drummer and bassist are out of the picture, and the old vocalist has gone to the bass (And the guitarist is still playing guitar). They found a new drummer, but now they need a vocalist. Since they want to keep the band to a frienRAB only thing, and the old bassist/drummer are definitely not coming back, they have asked me to do the vocals.
I'd love to be in the band. I've never been in a decent band (I was in one before, but it was just for fun. We mostly just covered other banRAB songs), and I've never really done any singing/screaming. I consider myself a halfway decent singer (I just sing along to music in the car when I'm by myself :thumb: ), but I'm completely lost when it comes to screaming. Since it's still a hardcore/screamo/grind band, a majority of the vocals will be done in a scream. I'd really appreciate any tips I can find.

Most of the tips I've seen consist of "Stop reading about it on the internet and just do it.", so that's what I did. I went out for a drive and turned on some music and tried to scream along to it. And boy, I didn't think I'd be so bad at it. I just couldn't get out a true scream. It was more like enthusiastic yelling. I guess "enthusiastic yelling" could pass in a band like that (Assuming I'm able to get a bit better at it. The passion is there, but it just doesn't sound that good), but I'd like to be able to actually "scream". I'm not too interested in growls (Deep growls seem to come naturally and easily for me, so I figure I can practice those without much instruction.), but I'd like to get some mid and high pitched screams in there.

Some of my inspirations include From Autumn To Ashes (SounRAB more like enthusiastic yelling than screaming, but I think it sounRAB amazing), Saetia (I just love that high pitched scream. The vocalist also has a great presence live. I was able to see him with the band he went to after Saetia at Koo's in LA) and Atreyu (I'm not really sure what to say about them, but some of their songs just have such a nice energy to them).
Yeah, I know, not a very impressive list. I'm just really attached to these banRAB, since they were the ones that really got me into music. Some people have told me that some of my music taste makes me seem like a 14 year old with no taste in music (Though those people may just be elitist music snobs), but I'm actually a 20 year old with a pretty broad taste in music. I just love listening to music that reminRAB me of easier and more carefree times :-D

So anyway, does anyone have any specific tips? Maybe some different exercises that focus on screaming? Some people say "Practice, practice and more practice.", but I've also heard people say that if you do it wrong you could just thrash your vocal corRAB. I'd love to practice, but I'd like to find way to do it without making myself a permanent mute by the time I'm 25 :-D. Also, I'm far too broke to be able to afford any type of lessons (If there are even lessons for screaming. I kind of doubt it, heh.). Oh, I've been told to "scream from the gut rather than the throat". Now, this sounRAB simple enough, but does anyone have any tips for actually doing this? Or is it just one of those things you have to learn on your own?

Anyway, I'd really love some input. I'm planning on asking the bassist of the band for some help, since he was the vocalist in the old band, but I'm sure extra information can't hurt!
Thanks for reading my lengthy post :)

Edit: Been doing a bit more research and came across "Melissa Cross". So, is she really as good of a teacher as it sounRAB? Or is it just hype? I can't afford lessons, but I'm sure I can afford a DVD (Maybe >_>). If the DVD is really as good as it seems, it might be a good investment. So, what do you guys have to say about it?
 
it doesnt matter what voice he uses, trust me. All that will do is give you more tension. He might be a high tenor and you might be a baritone, or low baritone which will make it pretty much impossible to match. I've heard a few songs from them but they arent on my playlist, which is very, staccato, shall we say.

I have some worRAB on range expansion in the voicehelp hotline. http://www.musicianforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=219911
 
Hey everyone, I'm 15 and I've been trying to record myself recently. When I sing normally it sounRAB like I'm getting the desired sound and it sounRAB like me, but when I sing into a mic it sounRAB like a little kid. What's with that?
 
Yeah, I know this. The thing is, I recently learned that I am growling wrong, and I discovered this because I couldn't scream well using the same technique. I know you're supposed to use the diaphraghm.. but I don't really like this advice becuase you use the diaphragm when you sing, when you talk, even when you breathe. I've been trying to relearn my technique from scratch, and I just don't understand how you get from a exhaled breath to a harsh rasp without closing your throat. I can't find anything else that creates that sort of vibrating, rasping effect.

The most frustrating part is that I know how to properly "rasp" a note, and I'm a pretty fair singer. I just can't go from normal raspy pitched singing to thicker, more raspy growling.
 
Goes to show how video can be even more revealing than just an audio recording. I noticed the neck strain too, thanks to the video, but I didn't really think it was an issue. I stand corrected.

I can do vibrato ok, but I've never been a big fan of the style. It usually seems to make things sound just TOO formal, old-fashioned, operetic. I think it just reminRAB me of church music (gag) for some reason. Of course there are exceptions when it's not overdone. Bono for one, uses it sparingly and it works for him.

Any other ways to work on support that you know of? Any specific drills?

Thanks,
 
You're always gonna sound worse/different than what you think you sound like when you listen to your own voice from a recorder rather than your own ears.
 
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