Some questions about getting better in screaming and technique...

[Ravaging Dragon]

Hello guys,

I just have a few questions about screaming:

1. Do you get better by just practising or do you have to optimize your technique? Because when I hear the first Children of Bodom Album for Example, the singers voice didn't change much until their newest album. So, shouldn't the sound of his voice be better these days?

2. My mic goes directly into the computer, is the quality much better, when I have a mixer in between?

3. Just a question for the people who can growl well:
How do you shape your mouth when growling exactly and what muscles do you tense? Do you use the "vocal fry" technique or what else?

I'll hope for many answers ^^

 

[Katalepsy]

1. At first it is somewhat difficult to project screams, but just work at it, and you'll get it down pretty good eventually. And about the Bodom thing, that's not necessarily true, Alexi has been a heavy smoker for quite some time, that has A LOT to do with it.

2. The sound quality is DEFINITELY better with a mixer in between, assuming you have a decent vocal mic, like a Shure SM58 or something else of equal quality. The reason behind this is the EQ, on a computer, your EQ can only be so flexible, whereas on a mixer, you get nearly unlimited flexibility with the tone.

3. I have been growling/screaming/whatever the hell you wanna call it for God knows how long, and over the past few years, I have noticed a significant increase in my abilities. To get a good, deep, rhaspy tone, you want to put a lot of strain on your throat and jaw...At first, It might hurt your throat a little bit, but you'll get used to it. From time to time, when I put too much strain on my throat, I kind of gag, so you have to learn to limit yourself. This is really some pretty tough shit to explain, if I could do better, in all honesty, I would.

I'm going to recommend to you, for starters (And I'm sure other people will agree as well), try mimicing your favorite death/thrash/black metal vocalist before you try and come up with your own tone. I've been working on a lot of different sounds, and I find my most powerful screaming tone is Anders of In Flames. Such a sound is somewhat difficult to acheive, but it's my strong point, and everyone has their own strong point as far as vocals go, it just takes awhile to figure it out.

 

[Ravaging Dragon]

1. Okay, than I think I had just not enough pracise. It's not that I couldn't scream. I'm not bad at it and it sounds okay. At least that's what my friends told me. I train since about half a year but changed technique ALOT

2. Okay, I will look for one, eventually...

3. In the beginning i thought my throat will die. Now my throat only hurts a bit after a good while of screaming or when I have a bad technique...

Thanks for your advices ! ^^

 

[AmirH]

Vocal fry is great for certain types of screams but I've been experimenting a lot with what people here have said- room level growling. It's all about practice with that, and learning how to get a gurgle going. Shit easy though, just takes a bit out of you. I imagine it would be tough to tour and constantly have to growl that way, vocal fry is tons easier on my throat but not quite as insane sounding and harder to sustain. The whole thing with a mixer is... you need the preamp. For a lot of things(drums for example) you don't want to eq it all until it's recorded but you'll have a shit tone without a good preamp. The quality of the mixer is important unless you buy a seperate preamp and run it into the mixer. For a natural sound, don't eq it too much- but if you wanna fuck with it then it's handy as well.

 

[Ravaging Dragon]

I also record "dry" as you say. And I want nearly an original tone of my voice. I don't like to change sound. Just sometimes put some reverb in.

My mic IS a Shure SM 58 indeed. So I think I will ask around in the shop about this mixer/preamp stuff.

thanks alot, guys

 

[AmirH]

EQ, meh. You can always do post EQ. EQ's on cheap mixers are usually pretty fucking limited (2- or 3-band with no sweeping abilities) which, while fine for live vocals and such, isn't exactly what you want for recording. If things sound better with the mixer in between, it's likely because you have a shit SoundBlaster or another consumer card like that which has poor mic preamps, and the preamps in the mixer are better. So I say, unless you are going to record or monitor several sources at once (which is what a mixer is for!) get a separate mic pre-amp. You can get really cheap tube ones like the Behringer MIC100 which I think do the job admirably for home recording. Beware though that unless you have a decent mic (in the $100 price range at LEAST) a better preamp will be wasted money. Regarding EQ, it's MUCH BETTER to do EQ in post-processing, using your sequencer software and your choice of VST/DirectX plugins. If you do EQ directly on the signal that goes into the soundcard, you can't change it later. Almost always record as dry a signal as possible.

I agree. I use the mic100 and it does a damn fine job. There are nicer pre-amps in higher end mackies though, but then again the mic100 is exactly "top of the line"(it's like 50 bucks). My suspicion is that the oh so lovely vocal sound I can get is due in large part to my mic(neumann u87) which sounds so natural it's scary. The pre-amp adds some warmth and output control(not to mention phantom power hehe) and presto- tweak it all you want afterwards but don't screw your signal up before it's recorded.

 

[AmirH]

Although, there are some soundcards that come equiped with a hub for your connections. These can generally provide phantom power. Some condensors take batteries as well, but I generally feel safer having the power come from the mixer/preamp.

 

[Ravaging Dragon]

Okay, I have a mic for live vocs, but is the tone much worse as with a condensor mic?
i mean, will this rasp in my voice go away with a condensor mic?

 

[AmirH]

No, the rasp will get picked up even better. A condensor mic is extremely hot, and will pick up much more then an unpowered mic. It's a good thing though

 

[Ravaging Dragon]

hmm, damn. I don't want this rasp when I scream...

 

[Ravaging Dragon]

and here we come back to my original question:

How do I have to change my technique to get the rasp and the blowing/thin (?) tone away...

 

[Nefarious_]

Have you got any recordings of your voice you can put on the net so we can hear what you're talking about?

 

[Ravaging Dragon]

yes, it is in one of my threads here, shouldn't be older than 14 days...

 

[The Grimace]

How do I have to change my technique to get the rasp and the blowing/thin (?) tone away...

Think of different vocals as existing/originating in different parts of the throat. Hardcore vocals at the top-front, like where you talk from, while Chris Barnes-style death gurgles are at the bottom-back, as far down in the throat as you can go.

If you want to get away from a vocal style, move to a different area, or use two areas at once. It can lead to a lot of pain and puss-y throat grimness, but that's what being a sick vocalist is all about.