stefan86's offtopic random retard thread - post away!

Pretty sick seeing this:



Throat camera section starts around 25 min


I heard about this video but never watched it until now. It's weird but this stuff is kind of how I envision my throat when I'm doing different sounds and tones. I always had kind of a vague visual but I couldn't really explain that aspect. I can feel my vocal folds twisting from left and right, compressing and loosening, especially when doing more distorted vocals, but I never really thought too much about it.

Certain vocal tones like Mikko Kotamäki from Swallow the Sun require me to compress and squeeze my voice at one spot, while also opening my throat in another spot to project my voice, which feels like I'm twisting my throat clockwise. I can almost feel it in my ears when I compress my voice like that, like my right inner ear feels tighter than the left. When I try to get a little Peter Tagtgren rasp in my voice it feels like my throat is completely closing up which sometimes gives me a headache :lol:.

Black metal vocals and my more natural vocals are more open and straight forward with a lot of mixing of fry and false chords at the same time. I can feel vibrations in my upper chest, middle throat and upper throat right in the center depending on the pitch I'm going for, and if I project that natural tone a bit harder I get my Johan Hegg voice. Mikael Akerfeldt is somewhere in between but with some extra rasp, which I think causes your folds to hit each other a lot and could be unhealthy... Kind of like adding a whisper to a growl but still being loud. Hence his current growls being kind of weak. At least I think that's what is going on.

I've always had a hard time explaining my technique because it feels like I'm controlling 2, sometimes 3 sections of my throat at once and making combinations to get different sounds. It's really interesting to see the throat in detail. I'm not a fan of Will Ramos because he tries too hard (like many talented but over-eager Deathcore vocalists). I hate it when a vocalist literally can't shut the fuck up for more than 4 seconds and is trying so hard to sound inhuman that they end up sounding really annoying and unintelligible because... brutal? I guess? Still it was interesting to see, although his voice was pretty fucked being sedated and having a tube down his throat.
 
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You should do one too, Caleb :D

And yeah, I agree about vocalists that never know when to let the music speak. I'm seriously impressed by Will's vocals though, even though I'm not a huge fan of the deathcore genre in general.

Haha, I would actually love to do that if I could.

I am obviously not a fan of Deathcore overall, but fucking hell there are some amazing vocalists in the genre. Ben Deurr of Shadow of Intent is basically a top-tier Death Metal vocalist that happens to be in a Blackened Deathcore band. It kind of made me happy when I covered Lorna Shore and Shadow of Intent and people said I was as good or better than the originals, because they were both intimidating to cover. I was pretty good at nailing covers of Death Metal and Black Metal since that's in my wheelhouse, but I was trying something different and wondered if the fans of that genre would accept it.

Most Deathcore is still pretty bad though. Obnoxious vocalists that never shut up, very basic rhythm guitar with less emphasis on leads, and mandatory breakdowns that lose their appeal by track 2. There are some stand outs though, and the good ones tend to evolve into more traditional metal.

This song is pretty decent but not perfect, but listen to that fucking vocal tone and control. They play that live, and pull it off. I tried to follow along, but it is completely beyond my capabilities, and I'm usually pretty good at controlling my voice and breath. Most fast vocalists use either weak projection and thin vocals (see Archspire), or high vocals which is much easier. Fast, quality tone, super-low vocals with full enunciation are VERY hard to pull off.

 
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Haha, chill down on the booze and give us some growls! I did see you mentioning you're not doing anything musically before you removed the krvnk post, so just wanted to pitch in and say that's a loss for methul.

Yeah I definitely need to lay off the booze, because I don't remember removing that post.... Or posting it. Which is kind of fucked up. Deep deep depression man. I almost deleted my youtube channel and facebook accounts out of pure frustration a while back, and I've been either ignoring music or rambling about lost projects ever since.

I'm glad you called out my deleted post though, because I literally have no memory of it, and that has happened a few times now in different parts of my life. I think I'm at rock bottom. After years of trying so hard to be positive, and happily working on anything for free just as long as it reaches someone's ears, I started to become bitter. I just wanted to make songs that like-minded people would be able to connect to. I was always the guy that told my bandmates that we should be in it for the fun and joy of the show, but in recent years I just started to hate the industry and the complete lack of recognition. Music used to be one of the the only things in my life that made me feel good. But over time I started to realize no one gave a shit about my passion, not even my friends.

It goes way beyond music though, I'm just damaged in general. I need to re-examine everything I think, before I lose myself even more than I already have. Obviously music isn't enough of an outlet now. Or maybe I should have been channeling my sadness and anger into more music instead of abandoning it.

I'll try not to delete this post this time. :lol:

I don't know why I decided to post this baggage here. A few small words triggered a lot of unexpressed thoughts. I guess this felt like the least public and comfortable spot to speak out loud.
 
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Yeah I definitely need to lay off the booze, because I don't remember removing that post.... Or posting it. Which is kind of fucked up. Deep deep depression man. I almost deleted my youtube channel and facebook accounts out of pure frustration a while back, and I've been either ignoring music or rambling about lost projects ever since.

I'm glad you called out my deleted post though, because I literally have no memory of it, and that has happened a few times now in different parts of my life. I think I'm at rock bottom. After years of trying so hard to be positive, and happily working on anything for free just as long as it reaches someone's ears, I started to become bitter. I just wanted to make songs that like-minded people would be able to connect to. I was always the guy that told my bandmates that we should be in it for the fun and joy of the show, but in recent years I just started to hate the industry and the complete lack of recognition. Music used to be one of the the only things in my life that made me feel good. But over time I started to realize no one gave a shit about my passion, not even my friends.

It goes way beyond music though, I'm just damaged in general. I need to re-examine everything I think, before I lose myself even more than I already have. Obviously music isn't enough of an outlet now. Or maybe I should have been channeling my sadness and anger into more music instead of abandoning it.

I'll try not to delete this post this time. :lol:

I don't know why I decided to post this baggage here. A few small words triggered a lot of unexpressed thoughts. I guess this felt like the least public and comfortable spot to speak out loud.

Damn, sorry to hear that. I was really low last year as well, so I know it's super difficult getting anything done when you're in that spot. I've since then made a lot of changes to my life, and I feel a lot better now, so my suggestion would be to take a hard look at your life and see what's lacking and work toward what you want. Shit job? Get a new one. Don't like where you live? Look for a new place to stay, be it house, city or country. Feel like you're doing absolutely nothing with your life? Stop and think about what you really enjoy doing (and also, what are the negatives you need to get rid of), and do something with that.

The music industry has always been shit, and while a lot has changed for the better, a lot has also changed for the worse in some ways. It super difficult just being a musician these days; you need to do so many more things than just playing music to get heard or appreciated. Just look at my bands; I've been doing stuff with Desolator and Within the Fall for over 10 years, and while things definitely has happened during that time, it's not like we're famous or anything, haha.
Still, I really enjoy doing what I'm doing, even though a lot of it is difficult/hard/annoying/etc, in the end I'm releasing the music that I enjoy, I get to play shows for people who think we're great, and I play with some awesome musicians (and friends!).

Appreciate you opening up about it, and it's good actually talking to people about it instead of just bottling it up, believe me!

Hang in there, Caleb. :kickass:
 
Yeah I definitely need to lay off the booze, because I don't remember removing that post.... Or posting it. Which is kind of fucked up. Deep deep depression man. I almost deleted my youtube channel and facebook accounts out of pure frustration a while back, and I've been either ignoring music or rambling about lost projects ever since.

I'm glad you called out my deleted post though, because I literally have no memory of it, and that has happened a few times now in different parts of my life. I think I'm at rock bottom. After years of trying so hard to be positive, and happily working on anything for free just as long as it reaches someone's ears, I started to become bitter. I just wanted to make songs that like-minded people would be able to connect to. I was always the guy that told my bandmates that we should be in it for the fun and joy of the show, but in recent years I just started to hate the industry and the complete lack of recognition. Music used to be one of the the only things in my life that made me feel good. But over time I started to realize no one gave a shit about my passion, not even my friends.

It goes way beyond music though, I'm just damaged in general. I need to re-examine everything I think, before I lose myself even more than I already have. Obviously music isn't enough of an outlet now. Or maybe I should have been channeling my sadness and anger into more music instead of abandoning it.

I'll try not to delete this post this time. :lol:

I don't know why I decided to post this baggage here. A few small words triggered a lot of unexpressed thoughts. I guess this felt like the least public and comfortable spot to speak out loud.

i quit drinking almost 4 years ago. another big change to my life. alchohol has given me brain damage, i still crave it all these years later. although it is much more manageable.

i still dont know what my problem is, but i realized it was a problem for me. i went through AA and my higher power is that i see myself in every story, even if it didnt happen to me. the leaflet on "things to consider" always made me lol, i had about 8 on the list and the rest just gave me ideas for how to be a better drunk lol. glad i quit, having a family now makes me see the value
 
i quit drinking almost 4 years ago. another big change to my life. alchohol has given me brain damage, i still crave it all these years later. although it is much more manageable.

i still dont know what my problem is, but i realized it was a problem for me. i went through AA and my higher power is that i see myself in every story, even if it didnt happen to me. the leaflet on "things to consider" always made me lol, i had about 8 on the list and the rest just gave me ideas for how to be a better drunk lol. glad i quit, having a family now makes me see the value

I'm pretty much on the verge of quitting alcohol completely myself. I slowed down on all of my vices a lot, mostly because I was falling apart, but then I had a near death experience that I'm still processing. That was a pretty big wake up call. It's easier to commit to changing yourself when you experience the consequences of your lifestyle at its worst. I've been self-destructive in some way or another for a while now, but it comes in waves. I'll feel great for a few years, then get completely sick of my life and fall into depression until I find another way to be happy. It's a pain in the ass mental health thing, that often causes relapses in alcoholism. The shitty economy and housing market and total lack of hope sure don't help though.

Right now things are looking up though. Less booze, slightly more productivity.
 
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congratulations, best change in my life so far.

Thanks man, glad to hear! :)

I'm pretty much on the verge of quitting alcohol completely myself.

..

Right now things are looking up though. Less booze, slightly more productivity.

If it's a negative thing in your life, and I know it's probably not easy, but definitely quit! I've seen so many get stuck in that place, and it's not fun for anyone.

I've never really had issues with alcohol personally, and I drink a lot less frequently these days, especially since my girlfriend doesn't drink right now for obvious reasons. I never really miss it in the periods where I don't drink, although it sure it nice to get buzzed up every now and then.

Glad things are going the right way for you Caleb! I think being productive in life (at a normal level, don't overdo it) gives you something else to focus on than being miserable, which just digs the hole deeper pretty much.