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Best technique for high pitch screaming?


nAmzrTakin

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This is a copy and paste of what I added to someone asking about screaming-

 

It's all about breath/diaphragm technique.

 

Surprisingly, the amount of grit you're adding from your throat is very little. It's the amount of air being pushed through it that creates all the balls.

When I started out, I'd go for that Phil Anselmo type tone and ended up sounding more like a 16 year old pissed off kid.....from squeezing my throat too much.

 

Essentially, think of the same type of vocal grit that James Hetfield of Sully from Godsmack sing with. You won't need much more than that. It's very important to warm up before doing this....this is aggressive on the throat, but if warmed up properly and not squeezing off the throat too much, you'll be good to go.

 

Take a good breath in, imagine focusing a note in the pit of your gut. Really low, in the pits...now with the pitch really low, add that bit of vocal grit and a TON OF AIR. You'll be pushing A LOT more with your stomach than your throat. If you feel it's happened the other way, stop and evaluate how you're going about it.

 

At first, you'll probably only get some very short bursts out, that's ok....ya gotta get your breath control working for ya. Just try pushing out one letter, (one of my warm-ups is to scream the alphabet....very good for annunciation as well...).

 

Now, to change the pitch...you'll be doing the same thing you do when you're singing with a clean voice....this is where ya gotta be really careful about closing your throat off. Once ya go high, you want to squeeze it shut...it's got more to do with the way you shape your mouth/tongue/throat.

 

Yes, this will have an effect on your clean voice. Over time, with practice, it won't. It's taken me a few years of this stuff to get to the point where my voice won't shit out on me.

 

If ya want to hear some examples of the screaming I'm going for, check out my myspace page, ( www.myspace.com/sexpoddrew ) (In the music player, if you start with the 3rd song first, that one is pretty much all screaming, all the others mix it up.)

 

Good luck!

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This is a copy and paste of what I added to someone asking about screaming-


It's all about breath/diaphragm technique.


Surprisingly, the amount of grit you're adding from your throat is very little. It's the amount of air being pushed through it that creates all the balls.

When I started out, I'd go for that Phil Anselmo type tone and ended up sounding more like a 16 year old pissed off kid.....from squeezing my throat too much.


Essentially, think of the same type of vocal grit that James Hetfield of Sully from Godsmack sing with. You won't need much more than that. It's very important to warm up before doing this....this is aggressive on the throat, but if warmed up properly and not squeezing off the throat too much, you'll be good to go.


Take a good breath in, imagine focusing a note in the pit of your gut. Really low, in the pits...now with the pitch really low, add that bit of vocal grit and a TON OF AIR. You'll be pushing A LOT more with your stomach than your throat. If you feel it's happened the other way, stop and evaluate how you're going about it.


At first, you'll probably only get some very short bursts out, that's ok....ya gotta get your breath control working for ya. Just try pushing out one letter, (one of my warm-ups is to scream the alphabet....very good for annunciation as well...).


Now, to change the pitch...you'll be doing the same thing you do when you're singing with a clean voice....this is where ya gotta be really careful about closing your throat off. Once ya go high, you want to squeeze it shut...it's got more to do with the way you shape your mouth/tongue/throat.


Yes, this will have an effect on your clean voice. Over time, with practice, it won't. It's taken me a few years of this stuff to get to the point where my voice won't shit out on me.


If ya want to hear some examples of the screaming I'm going for, check out my myspace page, (
www.myspace.com/sexpoddrew
) (In the music player, if you start with the 3rd song first, that one is pretty much all screaming, all the others mix it up.)


Good luck!

 

 

Where did you ever learn to push a ton of air?

Pushing a ton of air is a good way to injure your vocal chords. Just ask anyone who has had any serious voice training - this is NOT how it's done. You should sing and scream with the most minimal amount of airflow. Pushing air actually windburns the edges of your vocal cords.

 

Now, if you want a permanent rasp to your voice and never plan on singing or speaking with a clean voice and you want all sorts of vocal problems, then by all means, go right ahead and keep pushing all of that air. You won't be singing too long - generally guys who do this also are trying to scream with a raised larynx as well.

 

 

Ask Al K (our Moderator) about it, he produced one of the top screamers in the world - Midnight from Crimson Glory.

 

If you don't know who Midnight is?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx_zok_Gc-8

 

Listen to the intro scream he does between 0:47 and 0:55.

Training the voice is the key to be able to do these things without damaging your instrument. I sang for years doing what you are talking about, and it took me a long time to "unlearn" some bad habits that I had picked up along the way. I was a belter, pushing tons of air, and was simply lucky that I didn't do any serious damage to my vocal cords. You don't use your diaphragm to push the air out, you simply hold it down so that it doesn't force air out, and you use the minimum amount of air for singing.

The best way to train for this is what is called a slow leak - you slowly hiss an sss sound trying to use the least amount of air as possible.

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Lamb of God is where screaming's at

 

 

I find it funny that you claim that "no one likes power metal vocal"s, when all of the highly acclaimed vocalists SING, which takes talent, unlike that LoG crap. LoG is the new Kiss, the only people that listen to that crap are 13 year old boys with sexual-identity problems.:rolleyes:

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And that's great that you've got the balls to make fun of the 13 year olds on an internet forum.

 

Thanks for your input, but I'm pretty sure the OP was looking for a different version of a high-pitched metal scream.

 

And it's not that I don't agree with your input, as back when I was a sexually confused 13 year old, trying to sing Queensrÿche and Dream Theater stuff, I had to teach myself how NOT to push.

 

The first sign of an ignorant person is when they start bashing other's tastes in music, especially when delivering low blows about sexuality.

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This is a copy and paste of what I added to someone asking about screaming-


It's all about breath/diaphragm technique.


Surprisingly, the amount of grit you're adding from your throat is very little. It's the amount of air being pushed through it that creates all the balls.

When I started out, I'd go for that Phil Anselmo type tone and ended up sounding more like a 16 year old pissed off kid.....from squeezing my throat too much.


Essentially, think of the same type of vocal grit that James Hetfield of Sully from Godsmack sing with. You won't need much more than that. It's very important to warm up before doing this....this is aggressive on the throat, but if warmed up properly and not squeezing off the throat too much, you'll be good to go.


Take a good breath in, imagine focusing a note in the pit of your gut. Really low, in the pits...now with the pitch really low, add that bit of vocal grit and a TON OF AIR. You'll be pushing A LOT more with your stomach than your throat. If you feel it's happened the other way, stop and evaluate how you're going about it.


At first, you'll probably only get some very short bursts out, that's ok....ya gotta get your breath control working for ya. Just try pushing out one letter, (one of my warm-ups is to scream the alphabet....very good for annunciation as well...).


Now, to change the pitch...you'll be doing the same thing you do when you're singing with a clean voice....this is where ya gotta be really careful about closing your throat off. Once ya go high, you want to squeeze it shut...it's got more to do with the way you shape your mouth/tongue/throat.


Yes, this will have an effect on your clean voice. Over time, with practice, it won't. It's taken me a few years of this stuff to get to the point where my voice won't shit out on me.


If ya want to hear some examples of the screaming I'm going for, check out my myspace page, (
www.myspace.com/sexpoddrew
) (In the music player, if you start with the 3rd song first, that one is pretty much all screaming, all the others mix it up.)


Good luck!

 

The good thing about not having the mentality of a teenager is to stay away from such advice; this WILL prolapse your larynx onto your chin eventually, and has nothing to do with singing. If you really have to blow that much air to scream, then save it for that proverbial million dollar recording, before you turn your chords to shred.

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Ok, well, if any of you care to give an example of how to sing something like this :



We're not looking for power metal, falsetto, Geoff Tate, King Diamond "screaming" (which I consider singing, rather than screaming).

 

The technique you're looking for is called vocal fry, and it's pretty quiet in volume, although seemingly loud in timbre. That's why this works only through a well balanced mix mic.

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That vocal fry is crap....the fake raspy "screaming".

 

One of my old vocalist did that and his voice was shot within 4-5 songs. Essentially, it's whisper screaming.....that {censored} hurts my throat more than belting it out.

 

Something tells me, if you asked someone like Phil Anselmo or Randy from Lamb Of God what they thought of vocal fry, you'd get laughed at.

 

I'm not saying that what I wrote above is *THE* only way to go about screaming, however for several years, I've done it nonstop and the only time I ever blow my throat out is when I'm doing multiple shows in a row and drinking a lot of booze while getting no rest.

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I find it funny that you claim that "no one likes power metal vocal"s, when all of the highly acclaimed vocalists SING, which takes talent, unlike that LoG crap. LoG is the new Kiss, the only people that listen to that crap are 13 year old boys with sexual-identity problems.
:rolleyes:

 

well you obviously didnt catch the sarcasm in my post

HOWEVER, i find your post quite ignorant

what are you...some 50 year old who cant appreciate anything but the classics? someone who thinks anyone can scream?

ill have you know that it takes WAY more talent than you think

most people who try to make fun of it wind up coughing and gagging with tears in their eyes

 

and ill also have you know that lamb of god are FAR from being kiss

they actually care about the music, not the money

randy blythe will tell you himself to steal the album or download it illegally as long as you're listening to it

 

kiss sucked

 

 

and apart from that, lamb of god have an EXTREMELY diverse fanbase

 

 

no, i dont like power metal vocals

does it take talent? yeah, but it doesnt change the fact that i personally dont like them

 

 

so shut up before you talk shit about other peoples tastes in music

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That vocal fry is crap....the fake raspy "screaming".


One of my old vocalist did that and his voice was shot within 4-5 songs. Essentially, it's whisper screaming.....that {censored} hurts my throat more than belting it out.


Something tells me, if you asked someone like Phil Anselmo or Randy from Lamb Of God what they thought of vocal fry, you'd get laughed at.


I'm not saying that what I wrote above is *THE* only way to go about screaming, however for several years, I've done it nonstop and the only time I ever blow my throat out is when I'm doing multiple shows in a row and drinking a lot of booze while getting no rest.

 

Phil used to actually be a good singer before he decided it was time to drug&booze it up while shredding up his throat. There were a lot more bad than good gigs during that period. The reason why they couldn't record anymore was originally because his throat was cashed out.

Randy is not that loud; these guys play around with various amounts of board gain and tube saturation that do overdrive and enhance the volume perception of the sound your looking for.

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The drugs and booze had more to do with Phil's abilities and lack there of than anything...

 

And there's definitely some gain enhancing mixed with a {censored}LOAD of compression going on to get the screaming to a point where it's understandable....but still, good annunciation is key.

 

This was recorded just lastnight....SM58 with some compression/verb/delay...

 

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]

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