I am not sure if this will be helpful, but I think it's what you're looking for:
The Art of Scream
I been all around the forums and always seem to run into the question... How do I scream. Well here is how:
First things first. There is not "right" or "wrong" way to scream. Despite what your told about your "singing" voice, screaming is a whole other story. Fact: Anyone can scream, and make it sound good with practice.
Now we continue:
There are 3 main types of screaming in music:
High-Pitched Scream
Low-Pitched Scream
Emo-Style Scream
High-Pitched Scream
This scream my be the hardest scream to perfect. It takes a lot from you physically. THIS SCREAM MAY PUT PERMANENT STRAIN ON YOUR VOCAL CORDS! This scream is used by the likes of Avenged Sevenfold & Killswitch Engage. You've heard it before, that high-pitched, hair raising, in your face scream that puts chills down your spine.
Now, how do I do that?
Well you can't do it any higher than hold a note while singing. So it starts with a nice sized breath. You must push the air from your chest/stomach up through your vocal cords with your vocal cords tensed (not too tensed) up to make a high pitched sound. Once the air flows from your stomach/chest up through your vocal cords it's your job to push out a high-pitched, almost squeal from your throat. This strains your vocal cords and could ruin them permanently...So use this scream sparingly.
What bands could I check out to give me a good idea on where to start?
Killswitch Engage
Avenged Sevenfold
Low-Pitched Scream
The low-pitched scream is much eaiser to do. It puts less of a strain on your vocal cords and more strain on your chest. You've all heard a band like Shadows Fall, or Slayer, or Slipknot, or even Hatebreed doing a scream like this. It's almost like their "trademark" sound.
How in the world do I scream so low?
You want to start off with a breath again and push it through your vocal cords (remember, your vocal cords are MUCH looser on this type of scream) and as they pass through you want to lower the pitch of your voice and let the words flow out as low as possible. If you are doing a lot of words with very short pauses you want to make sure you have a huge breath and let the word(s) out and stop the air from all flowing out and hold your breath and let the next word out and repeat. So by doing this your chest compresses and decompresses fairly fast so it puts strain on your chest. Altough this scream is much more relaxing for the vocal cords so it does you good.
What bands do I check out to get a good idea where to start?
Shadows Fall
Hatebreed
(Old) Slipknot
Emo Style Scream
I dubbed this the emo scream because I think it's mostly coming from the heart. In my opinion there is no way to describe it other than you have to feel it. If you don't feel it then it's noticable that your not. The emo scream is fueled by an emotion (usally being anger, despair, pain, sadness, regret). In my honest opinion there is no wrong way to do it. If it comes out odd to one person it's okay because thats how you felt it.
Although I can't say do this do that...here is an example:
Senses Fail - 187
You ripped my heart out, you tore my eyes out, now you're gonna pay
I'll stab you one time, I'll eat your heart out so you feel my pain.
Don't you know that I always see you in all of my dreams?
I wanna kill you, I wanna kill you now, but im insane
Now Buddy (Vocalist of Senses Fail) could have eaisily just "sung" the lyrics because we can already tell it's painful to him/sad. Why did he scream the lyrics? He screamed the lyrics because it made him so hurt and sad he lashed out and thats how he portaits it.
Here is what you do...my advice...that I use:
Think of the subject (usually a girl) that brought you this pain/sadness/anger.
Now imagine its an ex that brought you this pain.
Picture that your ex is in a chair, tied down, mouth taped shut and eyes pinned open. Imagine you and your ex are all alone in a room where no one can hear and just scream what it is you feel and act like all they can do is listen and not leave or not say a word. Imaging the lyrics above and picture your ex listening in a chair taped up and tied down. If she made you feel what Senses Fail's vocalist felt don't you think you could scream a lot easier.
Thats what I do, imagine im screaming to their face and they just have to take it. It's a good way to vent frustration and over come break-up pains.
In conclusion, you don't have to just use one style of screaming in a song. Mix the three of them up. Make music interesting. Make the listener what to know whats next. All in all, let the pain out and be creative.
Goodluck on achieving the scream you desire.
