Growled vocals

[HunSkalle]

I thought I make this thread because I'm curious about others opinion of this. So my question is: Have you ever tried growling vocals?
I've tried several times, and many people who listened to it said it was good (those people who like growling vocals of course ), but the problem is that my throat dries out very quickly, and usually after I growl through a whole concert I lose my voice for at least on day. How do guys like in Kalmah or Dark Tranquillity do it for such a long time like hours and don't get sore throats?

 

[Rodhos]

A microphone with distortion effect may be...

 

[DeathsRebuke]

well they train their voice like any other singer, either operatic or death metal - to handle the constant abuse of singing. and for death growls it comes mostly from the diaphragm and not the actual throat

 

[Sheckles14]

Practice, practice, practice. Try singing first, to get your diaphragm worked out.

 

[Scotty86]

Hell, I get a lot of side practice in just growling along to Kalmah on the way back and forth to work! The more you do it, the less it hurts! But if it's hurting to the point that feels like it's wounding you, you may want to work on technique and try to move the growl down out of your throat. Remember that everybody's growl is pretty individual... We're can't all have the Pekka swamp snarl, haha. See which type of growl you can do the most effectively and nurture it!

 

[jervi]

Get a car and a job at least half an hour drive away from your home,
and you'll master it in no time

Sing along to different styles, with a relaxed throat and temper.
I believe it is best to start working on a low deep growl, as it requires you to work with your diaphragm (which is essential training here).

Work with channeling an airflow, just like a deep and powerfull sigh (like when you're frustrated with something), and then play with slight adjustments of your mouth, jaw, throat, etc. See what sounds you can produce without tensing up too much.

Train as long as reasonable every day if possible. But stop when it hurts.
When I started it would hurt after minutes, but now I can growl for more than an hour without any remarkable pains, although I'm not able to sustain the ideal "sound" that long..

I'm not the one to teach tho, just my 2 cents...
edit: also.. water.. lots of it!

 

[Sock puppet]

I've tried, haha...

 

[HunSkalle]

Thanks for the tips guys. I think jervis technique might just work, for I tried sometimes adjusting my throat and the result was louder, the only problem could be that I didn't do the adjusting long enough.

And what do you think of growling vocals and the throat tumor? Because I've heard that Finntrolls first vocalist, Katla has had one and it made him unable to sing. So does it have to do something with growling?

 

[Corialote]

it may.. its just the case of singing/growling properly. one of my friend has just recently had an operation on her vocal folds.. try finding some warm up exercises on youtube and do it for like 10-15 minutes every time before you start growling. practice diaphram (you can easily feel the muscle putting a hand on you belly and producing 'r') and never 'close your throat' while growling/singing - thats the thing that damages voice most. so everytime you start singing 'sigh' and feel that your throat is 'open'.

i started taking lessons on operatic singing 3 weeks ago and i found out that those things are most important while singing.. it feels like letting your voice out - even on a very high register it doesnt hurt then

 

[DHG]

If it hurts, even if it's just a bit, you're not doing it right.

 

[BadBrad`]

www.melissacross.com

go there...

buy her DVD..


it has everything on it that you need to know.

 

[DeathsRebuke]

warm water, cold water shocks the vocal chords.

edit: to clarify you will want room temperature water, like a bit warm but definatly not hot

 

[HunSkalle]

edit: to clarify you will want room temperature water, like a bit warm but definatly not hot

yeah, hot water is only good if I want diarrhoea

by the way, you're right; I once went to a gig, a hungarian death metal band, Agregator played (sorry for the advertisement, but I just can't stand not mentioning it , (unfortunately I've never made it to a foreign bands gig except Hammerfall )). So the point is, that the toilet was close from where I was banging my head so I could get some between two songs, and it kept me from drying out and losing my voice after 3 hours of growling (I'm still sad thou I'd rather stood next to the storage where they kept the beer )

 

[amon666]

dude first of all if u want to growl, u growl from inside out, not from ur thort, im a vocalest, so i know what m talkin about, keep ur throut wet, like water, beer or a spoon of hunny, and try to get the voice from ur lungs, if u get it from ur throut, it means ur singing wrong, and a lot of bands vocals sung wrong, end up with some deisease or cancers so becarefull

 

[cholo11]

Guess I'll try this too. I have never felt pain while growling not even since long time, the problem is i can only do it at high volumes, I just can't make the deep sound with a low or mid voice volume.

 

[HunSkalle]

well, I tried death vocals in the past days very often, but after a time my throat began to hurt , maybe I was using a techniques wrong again. But then again I tried with the black metal vocals too and it was just fine and didn't hurt. Maybe I should change my priority
...
...
nahh, I'll just hang onto death metal, it's far more better