The Metal Vocals primer and Q&A

[Extreme Vocals]

Since this is my first post, I’ll do a little introduction. My name is Rodney. I’m a vocal coach, and I run Extreme Vocals studio. I specialize in metal vocals ranging from heavy distortion styles, death growls, screaming, etc, to the more high range styles like classic NWOBHM and Prog metal.

I’ve recently had the pleasure of speaking to, and working with a few people from the forum and thought I would toss in a contribution.

I seem to get the same questions consistently about misconceptions on extreme styles, and see the same bad advice getting handed around the web in videos and forums.

I’ve put together a list of answers to the most common questions and hope it gives some insight for people curious, or getting started with their metal vocals.

I’m open to answering some questions and will do the best I can to follow up, but I’m usually really busy so it may take me a few to get with a reply sometimes.

Hope it helps. Enjoy.

Q: How long will it take me to learn screaming?

A: There’s no way any vocal coach can answer that. It depends on a multitude of variables including- how much do you practice, what bad habits do you need to unlearn, how much former training do you have, do you have any unforeseen health issues that could cause an issue, do you have any mental or emotional issues to solve that can affect your performance (happens more often than you might think).
Often I find this is the question asked by people who shouldn’t be getting into this style of vocal anyway. They view it as a trick, or a trendy thing to do, and as they aren’t really invested in it, they want to know how little time, effort and money they can expend getting it under their belt.

Q: How do I get a scream like_____ from ______?

A: You don’t. You get a scream like you. Extreme styles take much more dexterity, control, and finesse than most people realize. Trying to do a vocal balancing act, and then altering that balance to try and sound like someone else is not only a bad idea, but a recipe for disaster. Prolonged use of your voice trying for a sound that isn’t natural to you will prevent you from developing as quickly, encourage bad technique, and most likely cause damage. Do your own thing and learn to find what you do best.

Q: What youtube video should I watch to learn screaming?

A: NONE OF THEM! I’ve covered this ironically in a video from my youtube channel, and could go on for days about all the reasons this is a bad idea, but here’s the short version. Metal vocals are the extreme sports of singing. High intensity and high risk of injury. You need solid, qualified advice and training to do it well. I seriously doubt that the hordes of kids on youtube that have suddenly become self proclaimed experts in scream training are qualified to know how to effectively teach voice. I fail to understand why anyone would go to these people anyway. Would you get in the ring with an MMA fighter after watching a video on fighting done by a teenager in his bedroom, wrestling with his younger brother? I think you get my point.

Besides which, ANYONE can make a scary noise in front of a webcam for a couple of seconds. What they can’t do is apply it in a live band setting, understand effective practice techniques, or cut it in a studio. For all you know that 15 seconds of internet fame could have destroyed their voice for the 3 days following the video. How people think these guys are qualified is beyond me.

The final and most important point is that they can’t teach you because THEY CAN’T HEAR YOU. There is no way to understand how what you are advising will affect another person unless you can see how they are doing what you told them to. I often have to try multiple approaches and modify my instructions several times to get someone doing a technique just right. It’s just like being at the gym. If your trainer can’t see you, he can’t tell if your form is correct. If I can’t hear you and see your physical reaction to my advice, I can’t know you’re interpreting my instructions correctly.

Q: What should I drink, eat, etc, to make my voice more raspy, or make my growls easier etc?

A: Water. Period. I’ve heard the most ridiculous things from eating acidic food to drinking dairy for death growls. It’s all just bad advice. Dairy creates mucous and it adds weight to your vocal cords. Would you cover yourself in rubber cement before competing in a sprinting meet? Any food or drink designed to hamper or damage you in some way to create rasp is just causing damage. There’s no need if you have the right technique. Damage always equals less ability. No exceptions.

And as far as alcohol, pot, cigarettes, etc. Bad news. It all causes damage and hinders your sound and performance. Vocalists get to party the least sorry to say. It’s time to separate the pros from the party boys. I won’t say don’t ever do it, but make no mistake. There will be a trade off and it can be a painful one if you don’t take your art seriously.

Q: Are there some people who can’t learn screaming?

A: No, unless they have some vocal irregularity or health issue. Are there some people that WON’T learn screaming? Yes. Anyone can do it. It’s a style and technique like any other and can be learned by anyone who can function normally. However, people who are in it because it’s cool, or they just don’t have their heart in it (band pressures them to do it, they think it will get them popular quick, but aren’t really aggressive singers, etc) will usually not get it, or drop off without mastering it.

Screaming takes a relaxed posture and a desire to be heard in an aggressive way. If the sound of it inspires fear, or intimidates the person as it’s not a natural part of their disposition, they will often have allot of trouble letting go enough to get it right.

That’s it for today. I have a list of a few more I’ll post in a couple of days.
Cheers

 

[Extreme Vocals]

Part 2


Q: How does____from_____band do this scream?

A: Healthy use of grit and distortion always comes from the same techniques. Everything from Blues and Gospel to Hard Rock and Death Metal, if it’s being done properly, come from the same place. If you hear a unique scream from a vocalist, its part of the character of their voice. Odds are they haven’t discovered some uber secret technique from a scream manual buried in the Egyptian desert for 5 centuries. They just have a cool natural sound, or blend distortion in an interesting way.

Q: The singer from ______ says he does it this way, and you say it’s wrong. He’s so awesome, why shouldn’t I do it the way he says?

A: I cover this more extensively in a youtube video, but the short version is performers often make lousy coaches. They often don’t know exactly how they do something and can’t describe it well. Also, just because they are a successful musician doesn’t mean they aren’t ruining their voice.

How many vocalists have you seen people even in this forum say have lost their ability, sound like ass live, or can’t sing high notes anymore? Just because your band kicks ass doesn’t mean your chops are ideal. If it were there wouldn’t be so many world renowned singers getting surgery to remove vocal nodes, etc. You also don’t see the legions of people who took his advice and had it ruin them before they even got started.

If following the example of anyone famous worked, then I guess telling aspiring musicians that Keith Richards made a career from chronic alcohol and drug abuse, so you should too would be your advice for them at the start of their career? Doesn’t make much sense does it?

Some people get along for a good while before suffering consequences. I’ll lay pretty good odds that guy isn’t going to be you.

Q: Are there any exercises outside of actual specific vocal work that will help my vocals?

A: Yes, anything and everything cardio. Breathing is THE key to vocals of all kinds, metal vocals especially. Your voice is like outer space. No air = no sound. The better control you have over your breathing (notice I said control, not use of force) the better you will sound. The biggest issue with most vocalists mastering grit is breathing. It’s the most important part and the one most often ignored.

Doing cardio workouts, swimming hiking, etc will always benefit you. Ever notice when people come out of a gym how loud their voice is? I’ve never heard a person whisper into their cell phone on the way to their car after a workout. They are loud because they are using expanded, athletic breathing and their voice is supported giving it clarity and projection.

Q: My guitar player says “you just need to get a ton of air and shove it out. Don’t be a pussy, scream loud as hell” Is he right?

A: Why does it always seem to be guitar players that offer up this little nugget of wisdom? (I play guitar too, but it does seem to be a chronic issue!)Tell your guitar player to stick to an instrument he knows something about.

As I’m sure you can tell, this one really pisses me off. Peer pressure to make someone harm themselves or suffer shame is pretty god damned low. Especially when the guy dishing out the advice 99.99% of the time can’t do it himself.

High velocity air, pushing, shoving, etc ARE ALWAYS WRONG AND CAUSE DAMAGE. Please reread that last sentence until it is burned into your consciousness for all time. Breath control is about support, not force. You have something called a gag reflex that is designed to keep things from impacting your throat. It will shut down trying to protect you when you use too much force. Instant damage. Even if you manage to bypass it, your voice is a small device not designed to get slammed in such an overly aggressive way. Besides power comes from control and a big TONE. No matter how loud it is, a weak, shitty tone done really loud is just a weak, shitty tone everyone can hear really well.

Trying to make it better with a ton of force may work. For about 2 minutes. Enjoy your sore throat and when that same guitar player fires you for not being consistent. This is just leftover macho crap that’s better left to the weight lifting jocks who like yelling at each other to push harder while working out.

I fell victim to this kind of thinking from a combination of bad vocal advice, and uninformed commentary from other band members. I used to scream my lungs out. I had sore throats after shows, if I did three consecutive shows I was barely able to keep it together by the end and sounded like shit.

The end result? After doing my fifth show in a row, I did a huge scream that ended the night. It’s a good thing it was last as when I did it, I suddenly felt like my mouth was salivating really heavy like I was sucking a lemon. I spit and it was a huge mouthful of blood. I had torn tissue and blown blood vessels and was hemorrhaging. I covered this a little more in one of my earlier replies, but long story short, the result was doubts I would sing again, months of having speaking issues and years of seeking proper training and rebuilding my voice. So next time you hear that crap, turn the guy’s amp off and tell him it isn’t ballsy enough now, he should just play harder until it sounds “Br00tal”.

Q: Should I watch the Zen of Screaming?

A: It ain’t gonna hurt ya! This will be another long answer but I think there are some perspectives on it that may offer a bit of perspective into what’s on the DVDs.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am friends with Melissa Cross. I have not studied with her directly though. I’m not in business with her and have no relationship outside of friendship. I’m also not an expert on her videos and don’t intend to be a shill for her products. I’m just giving my thoughts on what I’ve seen and what I’ve been asked about.

I haven’t studied both videos in depth, but here are my thoughts on the commentaries I see most often.

A: There’s not allot of screaming exercises in the video.

I thought that this is what the second disc was supposed to cover more in depth. I could be wrong. However, I see allot of people with little patience in practicing anything that doesn’t sound like distortion every second.(I’m not saying this is the case with everyone, who critiques the video, just something I see allot of) Screaming requires a finely tuned vocal instrument and certain steps are needed to prepare for it. If you ignore those steps you won’t get the results. It’s no different than most things that require a high level of proficiently. You don’t just jump to the end immediately. Learning basic chords, how to hold your pick, palm muting, etc are all basic steps needed to play guitar. Ignore them and try to shred immediately, day 1? Zero results.

Essential to screaming is proper voice placement / resonance, BREATHING, learning how to gradually bring grit into your voice in a controlled manner that builds over a course of practice (just like learning to speed pick. The metronome moves up as you get steadier and relax) you also need to get into the practice of daily, regular conditioning and warm ups, cool downs. Vocals are a form of athletics just like fast guitar playing. It takes regular consistent work and treating the muscles appropriately with warm ups and cool downs. My impression is that the first video is designed to give you those things. I think peoples desire to get immediately to the screaming and not see the steps involved in developing it makes them think none of the other material applies. It’s actually crucial and without it you are on a fast path to fail.

B: The amount of interviews, demos by artists.

*this is again, my own thoughts and may not be MC’s intention* I get the feeling this is to tackle something I deal with allot and get fairly frustrated with. There is still a long standing distrust of vocal training in metal. I get allot of emails from people suspicious that their heroes don’t really use the same techniques (usually a result of the aforementioned “just suck it up and yell” advice). They often ask “is this really how Randy Blythe does it” “what about so and so?” “What about this other guy”? If I answered all the emails I get like this it would become a full time job.

Scream training is a very recent development and as such still gets looked at somewhat suspiciously. MC has allot of well known clients. By showing them doing the exercises and endorsing the method she teaches, I get the feeling it’s supposed to give a “see, they really do it this way, and so it will work for you too” type of encouragement. People always want to feel like they are walking in the footsteps of their heroes. That’s why so many businesses use endorsements. If your hero says something got him where he is, you’ll believe in it and buy it / use it too.

If that’s her reasoning, I get it. I’ve had long email exchanges and even lessons eaten up almost completely by someone needing to be convinced these guys actually use teachable techniques. It can be really fatiguing especially when you run into someone with a really shitty attitude or a chip on their shoulder that just has to doubt everything and feels like it would be some kind of victory to prove you wrong. Most learning, especially with vocals, is heavily psychological. I find myself being a psychologist as often as I am an actual voice coach. If you believe it will work for you and can see the results in others, you’ll make it happen.

C: I think ZOS shows two things really well. That there is a credible methodology to doing aggressive vocals, and that there is only so much you can do in a video and without the actual direct help of a coach.

I will give Melissa props for one thing especially. Like the video or not, it was the first of its kind. It opened up the discussion about these vocal styles and took them seriously which up until then didn’t happen often. It also called allot of shitty coaches out on their insistence that you can’t do grit and distortion without hurting yourself. She saw allot of misinformation and I think went into it well intentioned trying to help many musicians find help that they may not have even known was available and maybe even save not only their health but their career.

Let’s face it. All these youtube videos by so called scream experts didn’t exist before ZOS. Even when they say they didn’t learn it from there, they are just repeating what they saw on her DVDs…………..Badly.

D: Some people say it didn’t help at all. Some say it made huge improvements.

To me, if something was able to help some people, it must have some value. If it didn’t work for you; you may just need a different approach. I didn’t learn my screaming from it, but have seen people make some progress from it with no other help. I have to think if the two videos didn’t have anything of value in them this would be impossible. I also don’t think that if didn’t work for someone it means they are to blame. Everyone learns differently and again, we’re back at the importance of an actual coach who can unblock things there’s no way Melissa can address in a DVD.

E: At the end of the discussion I think you have to accept the fact that her method must have some merit to it as she has taught a huge amount of the people we are all fans of. It must be working. Her clientele consists of some of the top vocalists in metal (many of which she has taught and they don’t want it advertised, as they still hold on to the moronic “I do it all by myself and I’m so awesome I didn’t need help” bullshit).

Anyway, those are my thoughts. In my final post I’ll deal with some other well known coaches (none of which I will address by name) but that I have far more critical words about.


Q: Are there certain places / conditions that are better or worse for practicing, especially aggressive vocals.

A: Definitely. Something I think many coaches either miss or neglect to talk about is the use of a microphone. Using a microphone when practicing can have an immediate effect on your tendency to push or use too much force. I’ve advised students who practiced only acoustically to use one and had them report a radical difference in one day. Depending on the room you’re in, the noise in the environment, etc it can had a serious effect on the amount of volume and pressure you use. It will do you nothing but good.

Some people will practice in a booth, to shield others from noise, and block out sound. This can be good for cutting out inhibition, however a heavily soundfoamed booth is terrible for practice. You rely on the slapback from the room to hear yourself. Sound moves away from your head, and having your brain and fluids resting on your ear canals creates a serious illusion about how you sound (remember how you thought your voice sounded, and the horrible revelation the first time you heard your own voicemail?)

You rely on the acoustics around you to a big degree. If that’s not there, or the foam is sucking up a ton of sound, you will begin to shove harder in order to hear. The best option is a booth with a practice amp. Nothing special, just take in something you can run a mic into and you’ll have the privacy you want without the bad consequences.

Also, especially in the beginning I would avoid driving while practicing. It would seem like a good idea to take your warm up cd with you and get some good practice time in. However, we forget the amount of road noise we are hearing as we tend to tune it out. So, you play your cd so it can be heard over the road noise. Then to hear yourself you push your voice louder to hear over the cd. Instant bad habits.

On the other hand, a parked car in a quiet area can be pretty good actually. Most cars are designed to be as quiet as possible inside and offer some external damping, and if you have a good one, the interior is usually designed with good listening in mind.

Q: I often get headaches or dizziness when I sing or scream. Is this normal?

A: It’s common, but is a result of bad breathing technique. It’s fixable, but not a sign of something you want to live with.

Q: Is this person using vocal fry, or false chord production?

A: I get this constantly. It is a case of when you can do it, you’ll know, but here are some tips. If it sounds like white noise and has an almost out of phase tone to it, kind of a hollowed out sound, its vocal fry. It can be a high or low pitch, but is distinctive. Fry is most easily noticed on high screams. It can also be described in the upper range as a screeching, hissing cat type of sound. Especially when blended with a bit of high natural note like the example I commented on in an earlier post.

For the examples, we’ll use the song Love from strapping young lad.
The intro scream is vocal fry with a bit of his voice blended in.

His singing during the verse is not fry. Hear the difference? His voice takes on a thicker, more grinding tone that sounds less hollow and less like a blast of white noise. It’s far closer to a death growl tone in it’s distortion than it is the blistering distortion of vocal fry.

Q: Will my screaming practice cause my clean vocals to suffer?

A: Only if you do it wrong.

Okay, here’s the big “clean vs. scream vocals” lecture.
Good vocal production and good practice techniques increase your screaming AND clean ability. Why. Because you have one voice. Screaming is a form of singing. Pure and simple. Screaming is just making a tonality choice. If you have ever made fun of someone in a mocking way, imitated a cartoon character, etc, you are making the same choice about using a different tonality as you do when screaming. This is one of the hardest things to get some people to accept in their training. They can make all kinds of ridiculous sounds if they are goofing around, but use the word scream and suddenly it’s a totally different thought process.

Screams have a pitch; they have a tone, and can be modified to take on different characteristics. Just like clean singing, and just like speaking. Eliminate the idea from your concepts about vocals that it is a different thing all together. The stronger your cleans are, the stronger your screaming will be. The support and control you learn to scream with is the same that will benefit your cleans.

Ready? Say it with me- “I have one voice and screaming is singing” Learn it, Know it, Live it!

All right, that’s going to wrap up part two and the Q&A. I hope you got something out of it. I’ll do a part three, but again, it will be more of a general information, opinion and info / advice thing rather than questions.

Now go work on your death growls by getting nose to nose with a Pit Bull and try to back him down. Seriously…………it will end well.

Part 3 now on page 3

 

[Rupturemetal]

Dairy creates mucous and it adds weight to your vocal cords.]


I don't know about this one, My death growls get a lot more "wet" sounding after a glass of milk.

 

[Extreme Vocals]

That's one way to look at it, but try this out-

A crutch is a crutch. Wouldn't you rather be better at your growls without needing milk? It's the same argument as saying "my crutch helps me walk better" I would rather say I walk properly and don't need one. It also doesn't limit my running in it's use. I'm sure you get can just as good without it, and without doing something that will limit your ability in multiple areas.

Not to mention I can't see having to go to my lactose intolerant students and tell them all they'll never be death metal badasses!

Just something to think about. Thanks for adding to the discussion.

 

[Donovan S.]

This is turning out pretty cool.


I don't scream but I have been singing for almost 3 or 4 years. Been smoking green for the last year and a half and my vocals haven't been affected in any negative way, so far. I have improved substantially on my technique in the last year and have improved my range and tone immensely. Not saying that weed helps, it definitely does not, but I don't think it affects everyone's voice in the same way. I have friends that have trouble with screaming vocals after smoking a bowl and others that sound fine after smoking.

Looking forward to the rest of this and will show a few of my friends who do this kinda stuff.

 

[ForHerDeadEyes]

I'm one of those who's having a hard time screaming..
I have songs that need both highpitched screaming and growl..
I can do neither..
I can scream highpitched.. but.. it fucks up my throat.. last time I recorded myself I screamed until it hurt.. unfortunatly, I just can't get the technique..
I've been watching yotube videos......
Even the Zen of Screaming hasn't helped me.. I've had "normal singing" lessons..
The only thing that's almost helped me, is a mp3 of a guy showing an example of him doing screams from "Drowning Pool - Let the bodies hit the floor"

I have built my own vocal booth at home.. so I can practice..
But I have no idea why I can't scream without it hurting me after a while..
So your advice is very welcome..

 

[P-E]

Got a few questions :
I've been screaming for a while, and I've developed an OK death growl and a pretty good high pitched vocal fry (a bit like Protest The Hero's singer, but more powerful). However, I can't manage to lower the pitch of it considerably (the vocal fry), is it actually possible to do?

Another one :
I've been singing for a while now and can usually sing on pitch, but I'm having a really hard time extending my chest voice higher and/or getting a nice mixed register, so my singing can sound really weak. How can I work on that?

 

[Clockwork]

I agree on the no milk thing. For me milk and smoking actually seem to make my screams better, but I'd like to get to the point where my screams are just naturally decent so I find it more beneficial to practice without them. Even if it does sound worse.

Good tips though and I eagerly await part two!

 

[MondoLikeMetal]

Right off the bat, the question I ask of you is....

Do you teach inhaling growls and/or exhaling? Do you recomend either, or do you prefer one over the other.
I think Dying Fetus does inhales and Amon Amarth does exhales, as examples.

I might send you an example of what I'm doing for you to rate, soon

Thanks for the thread, and welcome to UMF

Mondo

 

[Melb_shredder]

Great thread! I'm on my phone so cbf posting some *I hope* useful stuff in this department until I'm home. Mostly about the stamina thing. The YouTube guys etc, I'd like to see how they hold up after 3 nights in a row of gigging without any pain. Because that's where I'm at now, and it was a hard and very controlled process. Anyways, welcome to the forum! I might chuck some scream examples of my own for ya to dissect

 

[ArnaudM]

Hi Rodney !
Welcome aboard ! I'm quite happy to read you here. I practiced your exercices and it helped me a lot to feel better : my voice is really stronger (can sing without getting tired) and, moreover, I have had a lots of fun !

For the sneapsters :
I have had the chance to take one lesson with this guy last week and his advices are awesome. Rodney has got a real teaching talent, using simple but very effective images. And what he doesn't tell is that his advices also work for other singing styles.

 

[Ryuno]

Excellent thread, thank you.

 

[aberration]

Spent 1998-2003 doing high raspy vocals (I like to think I was in Ihsahn's neighborhood in terms of sound, but not power) and fear I really did some damage. Never had any voice training, formal or informal beyond "Ok, that hurt like hell, won't do it that way again" and definitely should have. Now I can't even do Cookie Monster or a pirate when I'm playing with my son and it pisses me off. Hindsight, right?

 

[Jevil]

Screaming seem to be the shortest way to "sing" in a band.

My advice: Learn to sing before scream.

 

[ArnaudM]

To add something about "milk", water or tea : you have to know that, when you drink, the beverage is never in contact with your vocal chords ! So, there's no "magic beverage" helping you to sing or recover !
Water hydrates your body, and, as vocal chords as a consequence are hydrated by the water you drink. That's the only thing to do.
Hot beverage (I mean tea or hot water) hydrate better than cold ones.

 

[Fox Mulder]

Talk about co-incidences!
I've been figuring out how to increase my vocal range, NWOBHM style!

 

[Skinny Viking]

Hot beverage (I mean tea or hot water) hydrate better than cold ones.

true but not too hot. Anything from room temperature to kinda warm is what you want to use, especially with water. Too hot and it can cause you to sweat a little (if you're not already) therefore actually depleting any hydration benefits you were getting

As for tea, only decaf

 

[ArnaudM]

You are indeed right !

Tepid water is good for hydrating and also digestion : the body spends less energy to assimilate it.

 

[MaellaJohn]

Awesome contribution. I scream. Developed it for lack of talent with any other instrument and time to devote to learning one. Screaming is easiest to pick up. It's pretty dumb.

But I have a question! More than anything, I want to be able to sing, but I hate my voice. For the longest time, I've thought that my singing voice just sounded bad, and even if I had extreme control over my pitch and how fluent I could be, my voice would still sound stupid.
I've been practicing singing as long as I have my screaming, and I have improved some, but it's been over a year and the improvement isn't that drastic at all.

If I continue to develop my singing and work on control more, does my tone also develop to become more pleasant-sounding?
If so, I will really enjoy practicing a lot more, anticipating how much better I could sound within a few years.

 

[MondoLikeMetal]

I use a tea called "Throat Coat". Seems to work ok for me.