how do i know if i screwed my vocals?

[The.Jester.Race]

well im 16 and yesterday i guess i growled too much and in the evening i started feeling a strange pain i never felt before in the left side of my throat every time i growled so i stopped. now i woke up and i feel like my throat is wounded (when i swallow and even when i burp, not in that left spot) and when i growl it hurts a bit and even the growl itself sounds different (dont think its my imagination t.t)
wtf is this ;<

 

[sumairetsu]

You're probably straining muscles that you're not used to using.

Keep your mouth shut until the pain goes away.

 

[King Richard]

Yeah that shit happened to me when I first started. Felt like I had strept throat for a couple does. Just let them heal over, keep it well lubbed with warm water etc. After you feel no pain give it a couple days, then tear that shit up again!

 

[King Richard]

Also sounds like you are using your throat too much.

 

[The.Jester.Race]

=P
thats encouraging

 

[The.Jester.Race]

oh and i never really understood that thing about not singing from the throat.. the voice comes out of the throat even if u use ur diaphragm when u sing isnt it? o.0

 

[sumairetsu]

Your projection should be coming from your diaphragm.

Pick up Melissa Cross' The Zen of Screaming on DVD.

http://www.melissacross.com/vocal_training_products.php

There some good explanations and breathing exercises on there to help you out.

 

[Black Core]

Kind of expensive, no?

 

[Billenzimmer]

I agree that it hurts 'cos you haven't done much growling before (i assume). It gets easier the more you do it. My advice is drink plenty during practice as the throat dries out anytime you're talking but especially when growling (I choose beer myself but i suppose water would work as well). Drinking tea with plenty of honey in it is very soothing for the throat and is good anytime, but especially if your throat is fucked up from practice. Gargling with soluble aspirin helps numb a sore throat as well. Finally, if your throat feels fucked after a practice, leave it for a while- pushing it only results in you losing your voice and it taking longer to recover. Hope this helps.

 

[The.Jester.Race]

I agree that it hurts 'cos you haven't done much growling before (i assume). It gets easier the more you do it. My advice is drink plenty during practice as the throat dries out anytime you're talking but especially when growling (I choose beer myself but i suppose water would work as well). Drinking tea with plenty of honey in it is very soothing for the throat and is good anytime, but especially if your throat is fucked up from practice. Gargling with soluble aspirin helps numb a sore throat as well. Finally, if your throat feels fucked after a practice, leave it for a while- pushing it only results in you losing your voice and it taking longer to recover. Hope this helps.

;o
I've been growling for like a week, maybe 1 hour/day but in the day i fucked my voice i think i growled at least 3 hours (not all in a row).
about the tea with honey, im drinking it almost as water these days i think^^, and i was drinking it as i read your messege as well ;>
It's almost 2 days passed since i posted this thread and my throat still hurts.. i really hope its not anything really serious as u guys say ;x

 

[Bryant]

well im 16 and yesterday i guess i growled too much and in the evening i started feeling a strange pain i never felt before in the left side of my throat every time i growled so i stopped. now i woke up and i feel like my throat is wounded (when i swallow and even when i burp, not in that left spot) and when i growl it hurts a bit and even the growl itself sounds different (dont think its my imagination t.t)
wtf is this ;<

I am a guitarist, not a lead vocalist so I don't pretend to be an expert on singing, but I do and have sang harmony for about 15 years. You can strain your voice and it's not so hard to do.
I am sure you have heard of The Scorpions. Their vocalist, Klaus Meine simply blew his vocal chords out from singing too hard/too much and had to have surgery on them to keep his career alive. The human body (especially a young one) is pretty resilient and your problem will probably heal itself, but don't sing/growl/scream etc. until the soreness is gone. The soreness is telling you that all is not well in that throat. If you push it, you could kill your voice forever. If it doesn't clear up within a week or so, go see a doctor.


Bryant

 

[Hexer]

drinking a lot during practice, gigs, whatever is important! I usually stick to water here.
that tea with honey thing (or anything similar) is good to relax your throat after screaming/growling/singing, but I dont do it before as I tend to think like "if I cant do it without covering my throat in honey or something similar, then it cant be all that good to "artificially push my limits"". so I tend to stick to plain water (maybe try warm tea) before and during practice, gigs, whatever and only use the honey stuff after that if my throat feels sore.
I dont have much problems with being sore anymore, but it depends on how long and how hard you do it of course.
I had more problems when I first started to do that kind of thing, but I've been doing extreme vocals for some 4 or 5 years now.

 

[Teh Grimace]

The soreness is telling you that all is not well in that throat. If you push it, you could kill your voice forever.

or you could end up being teh badass vokillist...

-

In my humble opinionation, learning to growl/scream is basically just a trial and error process of learning how not to have your throat hurt afterwards. It's gonna hurt like shit at some point guaranteed. If it hurts, you're doing it wrong. So do something different. If that still hurts, keep tweaking it. When it does't hurt anymore, you know you've got control over it. Then you can start learning to actually be good.

My advice is to pratice at a lower volume, instead of just trying to shout as loud and hard as you can. At this stage, technique is more important than projection, so work on your range of growl more than the harshness of the growl itself. First, for 10 or so seconds try screaming as high and tight as you possibly can (like Ihsahn), then for 10 seconds go as low and loose as you can (like Chris Barnes), then pratice hitting every "note" in between that you can. The variation will also help you to learn breath control.

That's how I did it, and that's still how I warm up to this day.

 

[The.Jester.Race]

hm
the crappy thing is that my throat wasnt sore or anything
ive been growling for some really long time and then suddenly i felt that strange pain and stopped.
its more than 3 days passed since then and my voice is STILL screwed.
so i cant know.. maybe i wasnt doing it wrong and those muscles in the throat just werent set for it yet or something ;;

 

[Silver Incubus]

start quietly and work your volume up as soon as you have a sound that is more from the diaphram augmented my the tightness of your through muscles. Its pretty hard to explain but I can do a whole range from low growling, more from the center of your ribs and then black metal style which are more raspy and potentially more damaging if you don't know propper breathing techniques,