Now I'm not in a band or anything (yet (I want one)), but I have learned what it takes to do these kinds of vocals. I'm not sure how long this will take you, but I'm pretty sure this is how to do it.
First I will adress the question of whether or not you need to ruin your voice to sound good. The answer: No you don't have to, but if you do this the wrong way you very well might. It's not about breaking down you're voice, it's about excercising it, and waking up what you already have.
There are three PRIMARY classes of metal vocals: The death growl, the throat scream, and the throatless scream. I will address each, because I can do all three. Even if you are not going to use all three I think the range is useful, and might even help your main vocals.
You might want to start with the death growl, even if you're not going to use it. This guide is built to be read start to finish. And remember you don't have to take my word on any of it. This is not to be construed as advice, it's simply what worked for me.
I don't care who the fuck you are, you can do this one. It MAY be painful, but don't give up.
Find music, preferably with deep vocals (i.e. Opeth), and words you know, and listen to it.
Go as deep as you can in you're throat, release noise. Try to match the depth of the artist. Repeat this. Once your throat feels warmed up, sing along in that voice. Do not lose the depth. Your throat should feel like it's on fire. That's fine. Keep going. You're not gonna hurt yourself. Once you start tasting phlegm, the fun has started. Keep going. Once your voice starts losing depth, you know you're doing the right thing. Use your good judgement on when to stop. Don't lose your talking voice.
Wait a day or two, and repeat, pushing yourself further each time. Jaw muscle is a factor.
Once you can go on for a long ass time, and basically not hurt your speaking voice, you have your death growl.
There's something called a benchmark. What it means is you'll keep getting better, but slower and slower til you're pretty much the best you can be. I think you hit it quickest with the death growl. I hit mine.
Technique:
Try not to strain your jaw too much. Think loose. Widen your jaw for that raspiness, and center it for a deeper sound. To sound dramatic, start with your jaw normal, then widen it as you finish the lyric, and loosen slowly, holding out the note.
This might be hard. I wouldn't be suprised if it takes you a while to find it.
Don't scream, use you're throat, and let out loud noise.
If you get a raspy, harsh sounding scream (even a crappy one), you've just performed the throat scream. Now take some music you know the words to, and sing along.
Don't push too hard; you simply don't have to. Also, don't take big ass breaths, cus that makes you're body naturally release alot of air at once. When you take breaths, make sure you don't stiffen you're shoulders. Before a long note, it might help to breath through the nose. Refer to the death growl section for advice on how hard to push, when to stop/repeat, etc. This one just keeps getting thicker for me. But the progress has gotten much slower. You'll eventually hit you're benchmark, but it takes a while. I haven't hit it yet.
Technique:
The scream is different for each person. Just play around and you'll figure it out.
This one is just the voice you would use to scream for help with, and definately the hardest, requiring stong vocal muscles. Are you ready to sweat? This is a good way to lose weight. Scream for a while, and finally try to reduce the scream to the lowest volume you can, while still doing the same thing with your vocal cords/mouth. Now hit the music and fucking scream that lowest, jaw-ey-est scream you can, and sing along. You won't make much noise, but make sure you are actually screaming. The reason you're not actually screaming is cus you will ruin your voice. You will eventually awaken the proper muscles. I don't know when. After a while of screaming like that, let loose the full scream. No change? Then keep doing it. You should be sweating buckets at the end of the session. Repeat this after a day or two, keeping the screaming restrained. At the end of the session try the full scream again. You will eventually realize what you have done. This doesn't mean you should scream the highest pitch just cus you can. It sounds better when you use the jaw more. I just recently opened this scream up. It willl keep improving til I hit my benchmark.
Technique:
Don't go the highest pitch just cus you can. Stay in you're range, where it feels right.
Conclusion:
Those artists who scream hour-long sets every night can do it cus they practiced like fuck. Keep practicing, but don't be in a rush to be perfect. You gotta love to scream to do this. I do it cus it feels fucking good. It takes alot of practice to be what you want to be, and if you're not enjoying it, stop. You have to love what you do.
It wouldn't be a bad idea to check with your doctor first, to make sure you don't fuck up your vocal cords. Especially if you smoke.
Good luck,
First I will adress the question of whether or not you need to ruin your voice to sound good. The answer: No you don't have to, but if you do this the wrong way you very well might. It's not about breaking down you're voice, it's about excercising it, and waking up what you already have.
There are three PRIMARY classes of metal vocals: The death growl, the throat scream, and the throatless scream. I will address each, because I can do all three. Even if you are not going to use all three I think the range is useful, and might even help your main vocals.
You might want to start with the death growl, even if you're not going to use it. This guide is built to be read start to finish. And remember you don't have to take my word on any of it. This is not to be construed as advice, it's simply what worked for me.
The Death Growl
I don't care who the fuck you are, you can do this one. It MAY be painful, but don't give up.
Find music, preferably with deep vocals (i.e. Opeth), and words you know, and listen to it.
Go as deep as you can in you're throat, release noise. Try to match the depth of the artist. Repeat this. Once your throat feels warmed up, sing along in that voice. Do not lose the depth. Your throat should feel like it's on fire. That's fine. Keep going. You're not gonna hurt yourself. Once you start tasting phlegm, the fun has started. Keep going. Once your voice starts losing depth, you know you're doing the right thing. Use your good judgement on when to stop. Don't lose your talking voice.
Wait a day or two, and repeat, pushing yourself further each time. Jaw muscle is a factor.
Once you can go on for a long ass time, and basically not hurt your speaking voice, you have your death growl.
There's something called a benchmark. What it means is you'll keep getting better, but slower and slower til you're pretty much the best you can be. I think you hit it quickest with the death growl. I hit mine.
Technique:
Try not to strain your jaw too much. Think loose. Widen your jaw for that raspiness, and center it for a deeper sound. To sound dramatic, start with your jaw normal, then widen it as you finish the lyric, and loosen slowly, holding out the note.
The Throat Scream
This might be hard. I wouldn't be suprised if it takes you a while to find it.
Don't scream, use you're throat, and let out loud noise.
If you get a raspy, harsh sounding scream (even a crappy one), you've just performed the throat scream. Now take some music you know the words to, and sing along.
Don't push too hard; you simply don't have to. Also, don't take big ass breaths, cus that makes you're body naturally release alot of air at once. When you take breaths, make sure you don't stiffen you're shoulders. Before a long note, it might help to breath through the nose. Refer to the death growl section for advice on how hard to push, when to stop/repeat, etc. This one just keeps getting thicker for me. But the progress has gotten much slower. You'll eventually hit you're benchmark, but it takes a while. I haven't hit it yet.
Technique:
The scream is different for each person. Just play around and you'll figure it out.
The Throatless Scream
This one is just the voice you would use to scream for help with, and definately the hardest, requiring stong vocal muscles. Are you ready to sweat? This is a good way to lose weight. Scream for a while, and finally try to reduce the scream to the lowest volume you can, while still doing the same thing with your vocal cords/mouth. Now hit the music and fucking scream that lowest, jaw-ey-est scream you can, and sing along. You won't make much noise, but make sure you are actually screaming. The reason you're not actually screaming is cus you will ruin your voice. You will eventually awaken the proper muscles. I don't know when. After a while of screaming like that, let loose the full scream. No change? Then keep doing it. You should be sweating buckets at the end of the session. Repeat this after a day or two, keeping the screaming restrained. At the end of the session try the full scream again. You will eventually realize what you have done. This doesn't mean you should scream the highest pitch just cus you can. It sounds better when you use the jaw more. I just recently opened this scream up. It willl keep improving til I hit my benchmark.
Technique:
Don't go the highest pitch just cus you can. Stay in you're range, where it feels right.
Conclusion:
Those artists who scream hour-long sets every night can do it cus they practiced like fuck. Keep practicing, but don't be in a rush to be perfect. You gotta love to scream to do this. I do it cus it feels fucking good. It takes alot of practice to be what you want to be, and if you're not enjoying it, stop. You have to love what you do.
It wouldn't be a bad idea to check with your doctor first, to make sure you don't fuck up your vocal cords. Especially if you smoke.
Good luck,
