Not Again: Growling Vocals.

Nitronium Blood

Nitronium Blood

UM BOARDS' JESTER
Dec 28, 2001
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Marchin' up and down the scqaiya.
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Most have you have seen threads like this pop up all the time.

I have seen this question been asked many times on many music forums by quite a few people: How can I perform growling/death metal vocals and how do I do so without damaging my voice box?

The answer usually comes in three forms:
1) Comedic. "Just swallow a pocket dog! LOL!"

2) Non-informative 'rite of passage' style answer. "I dunno man, it is hard to describe it lol, one day I was watching TV with my friends and I was gargling and I could feel a scratchy sensation and I tried itching it by gargling and then I realised I could like make this sound I dunno how to describe it lol"

3) People who simply tell you to practice. Zero detail. "Just practice growling man for like 2 weeks you will get it."

I'm currently listening to "Masters Apprentices" by Opeth. I envy Mikael. I know I am no Mikael, but I wish to learn how to achieve that level of excellence and ease in growling.

So in all seriousness and with a desire to learn I ask you with full sincerity once again:

How can one learn to perform growling vocals and how does one do so without damaging one's voice box? Do you know of any resources/publications that explain the methods and principles behind this vocal styling?

Thank you. :)
 
- Warm up seriously before doing it
- Drink a lot while doing it
- If it hurts, stop, you're doing it wrong
- Keep your throat really relaxed, do not tighten it
- Learn how to breathe
- Your support muscles in the abdomen are working, push a lot with your diaphragm

Hope this helps.
 
Mike from Opeth growls almost at regular speaking volume. He also uses his stomach rather than his throat.

It might be worth sending a PM to "windom pearl". That's Marko, the singer from Farmakon. He's very heavily into his technique and can do a number of DM styles effortlessly without the throat problems. I'm sure he'll help.
 
I've always wondered how singers do that growly voice everynight on tour without losing their voice!
A singer told me that it was all down to technique, and that growling is not about shouting as loudly as you can. Do it so that you find a comfortable place in your voicebox (not shouting) and to practice with a microphone if you can.

Hope it's some help :)
 
Lee_B said:
Mike from Opeth growls almost at regular speaking volume. He also uses his stomach rather than his throat.

It might be worth sending a PM to "windom pearl". That's Marko, the singer from Farmakon. He's very heavily into his technique and can do a number of DM styles effortlessly without the throat problems. I'm sure he'll help.
Click to expand...
My impression is that it is about using the right breathing technique,and you breathe with your lungs not your stomach,their might be some techniques where you use your stomach, but i would say that it all comes down to your lungs and vocalcords.
 
metalizer said:
My impression is that it is about using the right breathing technique,and you breathe with your lungs not your stomach,their might be some techniques where you use your stomach, but i would say that it all comes down to your lungs and vocalcords.
Click to expand...

Lungs are not a muscle, they are more like a sponge, it's your diaphragm that creates the breathing by stretching your lungs down and creating an aspiration. When singing death metal, you breathe just like when you sing clean parts, but tighten the abdomen a bit more and loosen the throat when throwing the air out.
 
unsilpauly said:
www.melissacross.com
check her out. she is the vocal coach to metals elite singers(and screamers). she has a vocal instruction dvd available through her site. im sure this will help alot of singers.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting that. I saw her in Revolver with Randy Blythe (some pretty hilarious photos) but hadn't checked out her site yet. I've been wanting to really zone in on my growling more so that I don't damage my clean vocals by doing it.
 
There are some different schools of thought on this matter:

1- the Phil Anselmo hardcore school, for it you have to have a really loud and powerful voice 'per se', and then working on destroying it driving it into 'natural overdrive' mode, just pushing it hard with diaphragm and tightening the vocal cords. Usually it improves with time, since the vocal cords tend to swell and becoming bigger. The downside of it is that you lose a lot of top end and register in the high notes. See Corey Taylor for this school too.

2- the Mikael Akerfeld and Dave Vincent school of death: a lot of controlled breathing, a monotonous tone. Not really expressive, but the easiest way to growl.

3- the black metal school, same as the 2 but with an higher pitched tone and somewhere in between the 1 and 2.

To me the first school is the best. All the best growling vocalist use it: Anselmo, Taylor, Speed Strid, Burton Bell, etc..

Obviously there's a lot more to it but to me it's all about building strenght on the vocal cords. It doesn't happen overnight. Count two to three years of building it. You end up losing the voice sometimes but it's part of the game. Every time it comes back the vocal cords are thicker and therefore more resistant to the pushing hard.

It's a degenerative style, mind it!!! NO ONE of the best growlers will be able to yell and growl with the same intensity and expressiveness for all their life!!! A lot of them already have lost a lot. The best years are the twenties, some of them can go on even in their thirties but not all of them.

It's up to the style and the rage inside of every one of us. In some periods of my life I personally find easier to scream with a lot of good rage than others. Sometimes it doesn't happen at all.

Hope this helps you, Nitro!
 
Warm up for about 40 minuttes. Learn this from a vocal coach. Also remember to warm down when you're finnished.

Never do anything that hurts...

Drink a lot while growling, warm water...

Your throath and chest sould be 100% relaxed. All air is pulled in using your stomache.

The moore you relaxe in your body, the moore intense will it sound..

Record yourself, listen, and try and improve what you're doing.
 
Brett - K A L I S I A, thank you for your tips. :)

Lee_B, thank you for your advice. I shall PM 'windom pearl', aka Marko. Much thanks for this.

Hammer Bart, thanks for the links mate. Damn good place to start.

blackcom, thank you for your tips.

Fabbio, I know your heart was in the right place dude :D.

But most of all, thank you to unsilpauly for pointing out 'The Zen Of Screaming'. Thank you very much!
 
After a whole day of recording session (shouting for 8 hours or so - and I mean litteraly shouting, not grownling at speaking volume), I usually have the abdomen muscles aching and a big headache... After that what I can notice on my voice is that I speak much lower (not in volume but in pitch), and at the end of the day, or the day after, my voice is even better (it's just that I can't push anymore with my abdomen) - so after 3 days or recording I re-record the first days again, lol.
And to clear my throat I drink... beer ! I don't know if it's the bitterness of it or what, but it helps cleaning it. How metal is that ??? \m/ But most of all I drink water when singing to keep the chords moisturized (sometimes like 7l of water a day).
Oh and obviously, I pee a lot !!! :)
 
I defnitely need to check out the Melissa Cross method. Thanks for the link, unsilpauly!

But I'll probably have to end up changing my coffee, whiskey, and cigarettes technique. Damn.

I do mostly singing and screaming and, unfortunately for me, I subscribe to the "natural overdrive" school that Fabbio listed. I'm good pitch-wise, but I don't have an inherently striking vocal tone so pretty much the only way for me to get any kind of expressive quality is to just blast it and get the ol' throat to rattle a bit.

Brett, you do eight hour vocal sessions? Damn. Some people are just born to rock, I guess! Haha. I use good breathing, diaphragm support, drink a shitload of room-temperature water, and I get two hours of actual vocals (not counting playback breaks) tops.


Anyway, has anyone out there tried this stuff or anything like it? Some people swear by it, but I've never gone out of my way to look for it.

http://www.good-earth.com/traditional-medicinals-throat-coat-tea.html
 
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