extending screams
- Thread starter Fragle
- Start date
brianhood
No Care Ever
i dont think i could even wisper scream for 30 seconds hahaha.....
ok i just tried, and now i feel gay
ok i just tried, and now i feel gay
i dont think i could even wisper scream for 30 seconds hahaha.....
ok i just tried, and now i feel gay
Don't worry, you're not the only one...baby
Ignoring the current World Record (which is around 57 seconds, but held by a throat singer), the longest held note is widely regarded as Morten Harket from A-Ha at 20.2 seconds. So good luck on the whole 30-second-scream thing.
The longest scream I can think of is Chester Bennington from Linkin Park in the song "Given Up", and that's around 17 seconds long. Randy Blythe has never done anything close to that that I've heard, though to be honest he screams so quietly he's not moving much air.
Regardless of technique, screaming involves distorting the "normal" shape of the vocal chords. Holding an "ooh" is easy because your chords roll nicely along and the air flow is constant and flowing - when you scream/grunt/whatever your chords don't move as smoothly, and it naturally takes more air to keep it going and consistent. Forcing air out with your diaphragm will always mean shorter notes than big open singing, regardless of volume/good technique or anything else.
Back to the original post: if you know you need a really (unnaturally) long scream the best bet is NOT to do the longest you can, because you'll undoubtedly trail off/change tone towards the end and it will be much harder to crossfade with another take.
The best bet it is to do a reasonable long one where the tone is consistent the whole way through. Then double it, but make the second take deliberately shorter. Keep adding screams on the end until both tracks are as long as you need - the last ones you can make longer and trail out however you want. Crossfade all the bits together, making sure the fades are staggered between the two tracks (like brickwork). That will make them much less obvious. Adding distortion will make it even less noticeable, and if you want to hide the doubling a bit, just bring one of the tracks down until you can barely hear it - it will still sound smoother (if that's the right word) than just having one track with fades on.
Steve
thanks for the input guys!
well, i'm using reaper....great daw, but it is the more heavy handed editing where it falls short imho....mainly reversing or time strechting stuff.
aside from the opeth style *real* endless screams (grand conjuration is really a great example, anyone care to explain what might be going on there?) i'm mainly trying to make an already pretty good singer just a bit...better cannibal corpse's vocalist also has some sick screams going on....mutation of the cadaver had a pretty long scream, they deserve to die did too. but then again he's really good haha.
anyways, i'll try and loop a small part of the scream instead of looping the whole thing and fading in/out!
well, i'm using reaper....great daw, but it is the more heavy handed editing where it falls short imho....mainly reversing or time strechting stuff.
aside from the opeth style *real* endless screams (grand conjuration is really a great example, anyone care to explain what might be going on there?) i'm mainly trying to make an already pretty good singer just a bit...better
cannibal corpse's vocalist also has some sick screams going on....mutation of the cadaver had a pretty long scream, they deserve to die did too. but then again he's really good haha.anyways, i'll try and loop a small part of the scream instead of looping the whole thing and fading in/out!
Line666
Fendurr
- Sep 2, 2006
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If its just pure vocal distortion I've gotten away with just cutting the middle section out and extending it by combining mid sections of different screams and crossfading, its doesnt sound bad because theres no note or pitch to mess things up.
Anyway, here's a thirty seconder:
No way to tell if its computerised or not, but it sounds impressive.
I can do pig squeels for a shade over 20 seconds, but thats just inhales.
Anyway, here's a thirty seconder:
No way to tell if its computerised or not, but it sounds impressive.
I can do pig squeels for a shade over 20 seconds, but thats just inhales.
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I can do an scream for about 30 seconds, I do it live but it is an "inny".
Most singers who exhale can't hold it for longer than about 10 seconds- I know loads of screamers in bands and have rarely heard any of them going over 4-5 seconds in a song to be honest
Most singers who exhale can't hold it for longer than about 10 seconds- I know loads of screamers in bands and have rarely heard any of them going over 4-5 seconds in a song to be honest
ParsonsMatt
Alas, Tyranny
I remember being in high school and having an inhale competition with some guy who thought they were the best damn thing ever. We both proceeded to inhale for the better part of 2 minutes before I couldn't control myself any longer and started laughing.
egan.
daylightdies.com
Hey Fragle, listening to it there's a fair amount of delay and I feel like I'm hearing re-entrances on the "1's." It's also true that Mike has one of the most efficient death techniques around. If he is doing it legit it is completely down in the effects trail 15 seconds in which is still long as hell IME.
vespiz
Mixing!
Ok, aside from making a singer scream longer... I've used a delay into a (long) reverb and then just fiddling with the amount, automation and such.
It seems that a stereo delay with, say, quarter delay on the left and eight on the right works. Anyone else?
It seems that a stereo delay with, say, quarter delay on the left and eight on the right works. Anyone else?
egan.
daylightdies.com
Uh huh. Man I don't know why in your career of douchey posts this is the one that pisses me off but here goes.
We've now descended from "30 second scream should be nothing" to "My longest recorded is 28 seconds but...doesn't really sound too good."
Even if you can do it it certainly isn't easy and I have about a decade of professional and friendly relationships with amazing pro vocalists behind that opinion.
Besides the fact that the OP question was about a production technique and not about some 18-year-old-zero-real-experience "expert" opinion on what constitutes a good vocalist.
Even if you are as gifted as you claim, your personal ability as exercised at your mum's house has little bearing on the greater world realities and certainly no relevance to the question.
ahjteam
Anssi Tenhunen
grywolf627
Member
GarethSE
New Metal Member
- Jul 5, 2008
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douchey posts = fair play
i originally meant 30 seconds as a stupid ballpark figure for "lol long screamz"
and fuck it man, whats wrong with expecting your vocalist to be able to genuinely nail shit on a recording?
give him a day to go away and practice his air control, have him come back the next day and give it another crack
and that 28 second scream was done after a summer of no vocals with ep recording starting up with no practice to scrape away the rust like
i genuinely didnt mean it to become such a pissing contest, well at least not this time for once.
i originally meant 30 seconds as a stupid ballpark figure for "lol long screamz"
and fuck it man, whats wrong with expecting your vocalist to be able to genuinely nail shit on a recording?
give him a day to go away and practice his air control, have him come back the next day and give it another crack
and that 28 second scream was done after a summer of no vocals with ep recording starting up with no practice to scrape away the rust like
i genuinely didnt mean it to become such a pissing contest, well at least not this time for once.
Line666
Fendurr
- Sep 2, 2006
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I think you're being a bit harsh here.
Especially with the zero-real-experience bit, I mean, what constitutes real experience here? Gareth is pretty much as pro level as its going to get with making funny demon noises, having heard his shit and even the twenty five second scream he pulls on one of his older songs what he is claiming is definitely within his grasp and ability, as far as I can discern professional means "signed band" here, and well, I've heard plenty of signed vocalists use some pretty shitty technique and blow their voices to hell.
You're right in that it isn't as easy to do as he claims, vocal techniques are pretty hard to comprehend to anyone that isn't doing them, but I think his placing of emphasis on technique of the vocalist to achieve the feat instead of fannying about on a computer to achieve the effect is the right way to go about things. Any vocalist should be able to deliver a good approximation of whats on the record live and if you've got a megathon sixty second computer made scream on record and your vocalist only pulls off ten seconds live its going to be more than a little disappointing.
egan.
daylightdies.com
This is the OP.
If Dodo had said, "there is really no substitute for practicing breathing technique. Here is a link to a video demonstrating exercises" instead of "get a better vocalist...get a better technique" followed by a bunch of arrogant posturing I wouldn't have responded.
I showed him exactly the level of respect he showed in the thread and I stand by my assessment of the situation.
Douchey=/=fairplay. Douchey=rude, unhelpful posts.
If Dodo had said, "there is really no substitute for practicing breathing technique. Here is a link to a video demonstrating exercises" instead of "get a better vocalist...get a better technique" followed by a bunch of arrogant posturing I wouldn't have responded.
I showed him exactly the level of respect he showed in the thread and I stand by my assessment of the situation.
Douchey=/=fairplay. Douchey=rude, unhelpful posts.
