A question to Kayo Dot members about extreme singing.

[Frostangelstorm]

I always wondered about the answer to this question, but never in my life has a profile extreme singer explained it.

I only actually started understanding music a little less than a year ago when I took up the flute(before that, I had no music knowledge whatsoever, on music lessons at school I slacked off, because at the point it made no sense to me. Of course, now I regret it), and it didn't take me too long to realize that every instrument and vocals too, have an unique diapason, varying from instrument/person. Being a big fan of heavy metal music as well, not just music in general, I started wondering: Do extreme vocals have a certain diapason as well? What is it? Or do growls/screams not border anywhere and just come out by trying to sound like it on purpose?

I couldn't find a better place to ask this, as all the musical teachers I know don't listen to any heavy music, while the others who can even growl well are unable to answer my request because they don't know about diapason and can't read sheet music. I thought that since Kayo Dot is a classically influenced/sounding band, this is the best place to ask this question.

If I am not making much sense(which is likely, since English is my third language), please send me feedback and I will try to rephrase my query.

 

[Frostangelstorm]

Okay, I see whole 46 people viewed this post, so I can deduce that I didn't make much sense.

Is it comprehensible if I ask: what is the 'range' of extreme vocals?

 

[avi]

I dunno the answer to your question, but there are definitely vocal teachers who specialize in more "extreme" vocal styles and ways to do said style without totally destroying your voice.

 

[Frostangelstorm]

Thanks for the response, but it's not exactly what I meant. Even browsing through the UM, I often notice threads asking and also thoroughly explaining how to learn to growl/scream, how to keep your voice avoiding destruction of it, what things to do and not to do for advanced extreme singers, and other cool things.

It just seems that all the vocalists of such styles I come across either are singers and don't possess any music instrument skill and just scream away the way they like, or just play by tabs or by memory. I try to avoid the minimalism of this theory, and seek people who possess explanations to such issues.

For example, the range/diapason of the flute is three and a half octaves from the 'Do' just a little below the staff and all the way up. Extreme singing can also vary from quite high to quite low, so I wanted to hear an answer regarding vocals in an analogic way.

 

[mindspell]

The question he is asking, I think, is: Does extreme vocals have a specific tone or octave range like other singing. You know how some singers have 3-4 octaves well where does the extreme vocals fit in there and what is the general tone they acheive. Is the dude from Mortician one or two octave below the dude from Gorguts?

 

[avi]

Well in that case, of course it's not specific. Note values can most certainly be attached to any vocal line, even if they are screamed.

 

[mindspell]

Avi, you need to kick those buildings out of that avatar... you are in the woods now...

 

[avi]

haha true!

 

[Helm]

A (screamed, growled, sang, whatever) vocal has a prevailing tone, yes, and several other timbral characteristics. It goes up and down octaves like anything with variable pitch. Is this the answer you're looking for?

I guess most people who do extreme vocals do not try to match their notes to anything very rigidly contrapuntal of the music below, or if they do, they do it intuitively (the music goes 'up' there, so I'll go from a low scream to a high one, whatever) and a lot of death metal singers especially in the past are all about monotone, focusing on the rhythmic and percussive qualities of the extreme vocal instead of the harmonal or melodic range.

 

[ImNoHippy]

 

[Steve]

Extreme vocals in general tend to not be limited to a certain diapason. The vocal style is only about 20 years old, and it is frequently expanded.
The overall limit is basically the human vocal range, and since the style hasn't been around enough for someone to set standards of what you can and can not do, people have been changing it to suit their style.
One example would be vocalists trying to achieve a lower tone. Unlike guitarists, who just keep tuning their guitars down to be more "brutal", there is a limit which they are getting close to. A few examples of the lowest range would be:
Will Rahmer (Mortician) - Throughout his career he has kept his vocal tone extremely low, but also almost entirely incoherent, and combined with Mortician's signature recording style, which makes it sound like it was recorded on a Little Tikes "Tuff Stuff®"Tape Recorder.
Glen Benton (Deicide) - His vocal tones varied throughout his career, but on his most recent CD "Scars Of The Crucifix" he brought death metal vocals to an all new low (interpret this any way you would like, personally I like the album). SotC is another example of some of the deepest growls I've heard. Benton also has one of the greatest diapasons of an individual vocalist, ranging from deep growls to fairly high snarls. That all said, he's still an asshole.
Krisiun and Azarath are also fine examples of extremely low growls.
For higher extreme vocals, black metal bands often include vocalists with high ranges. A few examples:
Varg Vikernes (Burzum) - On his black metal work, Varg manages some fairly impressive screeches, fitting into the growl and extreme vocal category.
Hat (Gorgoroth) - One of the most unusual examples of extreme vocals lies on a bootleg "Burzum/Gorgoroth Split", primarily on the first track, "Intro/Sexual Bloodgargling" (Later renamed to "Ritual" and released on Pentagram). The vocals are essentially a combination of growl and high pitched scream/screech (I refer to them as "evil chicken screams")
These two examples show how much the overall sound changes when the same vocals are sung higher. There is somewhat of a loss of the individual tone in some of the previously mentioned lower examples, mainly Mortician. One more example out of the traditional "extreme vocal" category is:
Seth Putnam (Anal Cunt) - Mr. Putnam provides us with a good example of what traditional growls would sound like at a higher pitch without the shrieking and screeching of black metal.

I hope this answers your question, but if it doesn't, try to rephrase it. I'll try to help. And of course, your English is pretty good, much better than my third language (Portugese)