Mikael's growl...how loud is it?

[Judas Pissed]

Hey, I've noticed recently theres been lotsa talk about how to growl and sing in similar ways to Opeth and a couple of people have said that Mikael growls very quietly. I understand how it's easier to do it quiet as long as you don't have a dry throat but when he does it live it looks like he's growling incredibly loudly and with lots of force. I was just wondering if it really is quiet or not, I was also curious as to if there's a volume difference between his growl and scream...

 

[SFall]

Hmm I don't know, but when I growl it's comes out loud no matter what. Probably because I'm terrible at controlling my air supply so I run out of breath within 5 seconds. Mike probably learnt how to control his air supply, which means growls in the range of 15 seconds long.

That didn't really help.....but oh well.

 

[Metal Marc]

Hey, I've noticed recently theres been lotsa talk about how to growl and sing in similar ways to Opeth and a couple of people have said that Mikael growls very quietly.

Hey, JP. In an interview Mikael himself has said that it's quiet. Also, there's a local metal band here that kicks ass and I've talked to their lead singer, Jacob. Jacob's growl is pretty quiet but he says overexaggerating the words makes you look like you're loud when you're growling.

 

[WyldeBill]

Yea growling and singing like Mikael usually comes out pretty quiet but it sounds bad ass.

 

[Judas Pissed]

Cool, thanks.

One other question...are any effects other than compression and reverb put on his growl? In Bloodbath he sounds 10x heavier than before, just wondering if it had something to do with production effects.

 

[Funeral Portrait]

Yep its true, I can growl like that sometimes. But u gotta have lots of saliva in the back of ur throat to make it kind of gurgle, which is what makes the growl sound so badass. It's easier for me to just growl loud though.

 

[Windom Pearl]

Cool, thanks.

One other question...are any effects other than compression and reverb put on his growl? In Bloodbath he sounds 10x heavier than before, just wondering if it had something to do with production effects.

The sound doesn't need any extras to be like that...but you made a point with Bloodbath. It could be that he just growls in slightly different style, but on the other hand Swanö and his gadgets may have something to do with it.

 

[Super Mahrio]

Yeah i could tell his growl was pretty quiet..load growls kind of catch me off guard..

i for one, am incapable of growling...even for a girl...

 

[Scourge of Malice]

hes got all sorts of effects on his voice on ressurection through carnage

 

[Judas Pissed]

Mmm....I spose the heaviness could also be done by doubling or even tripling the heavy vocals and then panning them.

 

[osse87]

If Opeth don't hire a dude to sit in front of the mixer adjusting the mic volume at performances I can't draw any other conclusion than that his growl can't be much louder than his normal singing...

 

[Still_Water]

I suppose he growls at normal singing level or a little lower, if he did it loud then how could he pull off the 30 second scream in BRI?

 

[Prozactrooper]

you easily set the mikes (hahaha) up for the varying volumes.

 

[opethwundi]

if you look to mike's face when he was growling you can't see anything different...
because for mike clean vocals is harder than brutal vocals...

just i think....