All ye metal vocalists, bring yer wisdom forth!

[MyThroatIsSore]

Hi there! Im new to these parts. What I basically wanted to ask, is some direction in the vocal techniques of death / black metal music. Ive sung "normally" for some years now, and me and my mates are getting together to play some of Opeths music, like Demon of the Fall. I know the growling in that song is dubbed several times, but I want to achieve such an effect, if you understand. What I want to know is how to do this without straining or hurting your voice. I cant believe how incredibly deep and rich Mikaels voice is live. I wonder how he does that? Is there any word from him how he does it, technically? Id love to know.

I know the basics, sing from the abomen, etc. so I really know that. If someone could tell me how to do this, Id really appriciate it.

(Sorry for bad spelling and bad username, I hope you can get over it!)

Cheers!
Hope to get some feedback!

 

[Godhead's Lament]

There was a topic about this a long while ago and I managed to save a tutorial that one of the members posted because I found it very useful and it helped me a lot. Here it is:

Umdebaba's Unofficial Guide to Growling

The 'magic technique' you hear being thrown around in the talks of growling actually refers to a technique in actual singing called the diaphragm push. It is also referred to as "growling for your gut" or "growling from your stomach". What you want to do is first develop your lungs. Let me give an example of an exercise that will help you develop your lungs. NEVER BREATHE IN THROUGH YOUR NOSE.
Ex. 1 -
Open your mouth into the shape of an O. Keep your throat open and relaxed. You should not feel tension in your throat during this exercise. Place your hand in front of the opening of your mouth. Position your parallel to your face as if you were about to judo chop your nose with the index finger side of your hand. Bring your hand closer to your face and make sure there is contact between your face and hand. Breathe in slowly but taking in air as much air as you can at a steady rate. NEVER BREATHE IN THROUGH YOUR NOSE. Your chest should not come out. When you are taking in air your stomach area should come out and your shoulders should not rise. If you feel pain you are doing it wrong. Now extend your arm away from you with your palm facing you and your palm should be in a straight line and same level from your mouth. Blow out all your air. If you do not feel the air hitting your palm you are not blowing out hard enough. After you get this slow proceed to doing it faster. It would help to do this in counts. In for 4 counts then out for 4 counts, Then 3/4, 2/4, 1/4. 3/3, 2/3, 1/3, 2/2, 1/2, 1/1.

Doing that exercise will increase your lung capcity and help greatly in your vocal work. Now how do you apply that to growling? Well try to growl first. Notice what your face is doing, and what your throat and body is doing. You want to keep the O shape in your mouth. Make sure your throat is relaxed and not tensed or you will not get a low sound. Make sure your body is not tense. When growling make sure your shoulders do not rise not does your chest come out. You stomach is what should push out. Now onto the diaphragm push.

Diaphragm push -
The diaphragm push is basically the combining of all these techniques. When you are growling make sure you push your stomach out and you and not using your throat to generate the sound. You should hardly feel any pain if any at all. You might feel light headed at first getting used to pushing that much air. The key is to push much as much air as you can. The more air, the bigger and fuller the sound. This is why you need to do lung exercises. Keeping your mouth in the O shape and making your throat relaxed is the key to getting a dark, rich sound. Another thing you might want to try is dropping your jaw. The closer you keep your jaw together, the more pinched and bright sound you will have. So you want to try to seperate your teeth when growling. Adjust the distance to fit how you want to sound.

When you growl make sure you growl at a volume where other people could hear it. If you can hardly hear your growls then that means you are not pushing air and need to reconsider your technique. Air blowing does not mean volume though. The more air you blow and relaxed and open your mouth is, the better sound you will attain at a good volume.

Cheers!
Umdebaba


PS: Most people including me growl at speech level. You shouldn't try to push for volume because you will try to force it and tighten up and hurt yourself even if you think you won't. Learn good technique and produce a quality sound at speech level before attempting to growl loudly, which you shouldn't do anyway.

 

[FRUGiHOYi]

Yeah, first of all you probably don't want to try to be too loud. Some growlers are really loud, but a lot of us use a low volume (ex: Karl Sanders, Mikael Akerfeldt). It can be a lot easier and you don't really have to worry about hurting your vocal chords. Get a good microphone that will amplify your voice well. With practice, you may find that you actually get somewhat louder, that's what happened to me.

Also, you want to keep your throat moist and phlegm helps too. Water is good, but there are things that work better. White Russians works well for me (vodka, milk, and Kahlua -- I guess vodka is not necessary though). However, I don't like to rely on anything other than water. I just finished recording a song and all I used was water, but there was one really low pitched and long growl that I had to do at the end and I ended up using some Kahlua. It helped a lot, but I wouldn't rely on it in live situations.

Start out with your mouth open normally and make an "Ahhh" sound, but make it so your voice is all crackly. The less air you push through, the more crackly it will be. Then close your mouth some. Try making different shapes with your mouth to change the sound. You can also move your tongue around in your mouth to change the sound. I find that for really low growls, it helps me to move my tongue so it's touching the roof of my mouth. I don't do it when I'm trying to actually say words though, because it fucks up my pronunciation.

That's about all I can think of. Just remember, you don't have to be loud unless you find a way to do it well and you like doing it that way. Keep your throat moist and practice growling along to your favorite death metal.

 

[SethCohen]

if you close your mouth it goes lower and ifyouopen it it goes higher, but it doesnt really matter be cause youll never make it in the hard knock world of rock and roll music

 

[Godhead's Lament]

Yeah, first of all you probably don't want to try to be too loud. Some growlers are really loud, but a lot of us use a low volume (ex: Karl Sanders, Mikael Akerfeldt). It can be a lot easier and you don't really have to worry about hurting your vocal chords. Get a good microphone that will amplify your voice well. With practice, you may find that you actually get somewhat louder, that's what happened to me.

Also, you want to keep your throat moist and phlegm helps too. Water is good, but there are things that work better. White Russians works well for me (vodka, milk, and Kahlua -- I guess vodka is not necessary though). However, I don't like to rely on anything other than water. I just finished recording a song and all I used was water, but there was one really low pitched and long growl that I had to do at the end and I ended up using some Kahlua. It helped a lot, but I wouldn't rely on it in live situations.

Start out with your mouth open normally and make an "Ahhh" sound, but make it so your voice is all crackly. The less air you push through, the more crackly it will be. Then close your mouth some. Try making different shapes with your mouth to change the sound. You can also move your tongue around in your mouth to change the sound. I find that for really low growls, it helps me to move my tongue so it's touching the roof of my mouth. I don't do it when I'm trying to actually say words though, because it fucks up my pronunciation.

That's about all I can think of. Just remember, you don't have to be loud unless you find a way to do it well and you like doing it that way. Keep your throat moist and practice growling along to your favorite death metal.

Indeed.

I recommend practicing to Bloodbath. Both albums are good for practice, but personally, I recommend Nightmares Made Flesh if you're looking for a more brutal sound. That's what I usally practice to along with other bands like Necrophagist, Novembers Doom, and ofcourse Opeth.

Each band uses a different way of growling, so it's good to practice on various bands.

 

[MyThroatIsSore]

Wow, I must say I'm impressed! Everything you guys said seem useful. Only problem is I can't seem to find the right spot to start growling without it hurting. What is it supposed to sound like? When I dont use any air I sometimes sound like a cookie monster. Lol. How long will it take till I can approach the band with this? I really appreciate the input guys!

 

[NFU]

the world has enough growlers and screamers. take some singing lessons. make a difference.

 

[all_sins_undone]

the world has enough growlers and screamers. take some singing lessons. make a difference.

0h 0k

 

[Godhead's Lament]

Wow, I must say I'm impressed! Everything you guys said seem useful. Only problem is I can't seem to find the right spot to start growling without it hurting. What is it supposed to sound like? When I dont use any air I sometimes sound like a cookie monster. Lol. How long will it take till I can approach the band with this? I really appreciate the input guys!

Well, there is no real "right" spot to start. It all comes with practice. Your throat will be sore after you do it for a while. After a certain period of time, it'll take longer for it to actually get sore. You can't prevent it from getting sore.

If I had a decent microphone, I'd record some samples of how I do it, but unfortunately I don't. When I first started practicing growling, I couldn't do any other way than the cookie monster voice, I didn't use air, like you, but with time, it got better. All I can say, really, is keep practicing, try manipulating your voice to see what different things sound like, but don't go overboard. If you screw your throat up, growling will only get worse and harder. If your throat hurts, let it rest for the day.

 

[Anza]

the world has enough growlers and screamers. take some singing lessons. make a difference.

Like there is more growlers then singers?

And cool feedback, I wanna learn to growl so I can be like Mike

 

[MyThroatIsSore]

the world has enough growlers and screamers. take some singing lessons. make a difference.

Funny you should mention that. I´ve taken singing lessons for about a year. I want to have diversity in my singing, which is why I want to learn this.

The thing is this - I can get a pretty cool sound just breathing out air and forming sentances from several Opeth songs - but theres no growl. Just air, but if the growl was added it would sound like I want it to. Do I just practice getting the growl in there without straining or damaging my voice? Is that what you guys were talking about?

Edit- All right. I have tried it a little, and had to stop because I seem to hurt my voice. I got good sound, but is it because I am doing it wrong it hurts, or because my voice is not used to it?

 

[Effigen]

corn syrup with coca cola gives the throat a good coating which may help and it may prevent horseness.

 

[biggsy]

Whatever you do, don't use dairy products to try and lubricate your throat. I used milk once and growling hurt my throat more than ever. Water is all you need.

 

[FRUGiHOYi]

corn syrup with coca cola gives the throat a good coating which may help and it may prevent horseness.

It works for me.

 

[soundave]

Check this out: http://www.zenofscreaming.com/

There's a better way to scream and a worse way. Best to try a way that keeps you from developing nodules on your vocal cords, especially if you actually sing. Or better yet, if you're training classically, don't scream.