What do you think about young vocalists in metal?

[Ngoc]

I'm a rather young vocalist (19) in a metal band and once in a while they say when they listen to our music that you can hear that the singer is still young and that they like more older/deeper sounding vocals.

Here are some examples of my singing, do they sound TOO "young" to you? :

http://de-de.facebook.com/pages/Kyonic/147050252018249

And in general, what do you think about pretty young sounding vocals in metal? And I mean SINGING, not growling oder shouting

Are there any bands that have young singers but still sound awesome?


Cheers

 

[StefTD]

Sorry, can't listen to it atm, imho young is ok as long as it doesn't sound childish, old pantera stuff for example
sounds ok to me, young singer, too.
But it's a pretty personal thing, it depends soooooo much on the actual vocalist, went to a concert last saturday,
3 bands with singers between 17-20, most of them mixed clean vocals with screaming. The first band had a pretty
horrible singer, in every style and he even sounded young and immature during his screams...
One of the other guys sounded young, but still pretty good, can't tell you alot about my self, because I only scream
or growl, but I started when I was 13, first time in a band with 14 and noone ever complained.

 

[FIXXXER]

i am not sure if it's a "singing style" but all these singers in modern metal bands sound like they have a damn high voice,
speaking of band like devil wears prada, miss may i, but also more "grown up" bands like as i lay dying, darkest hour etc.

the sample doesn't sound "too young" to me but a bit like BFMV!

i also think that age does not have to be related to the voice colour at all.

cheers
S.

PS:
when i try to sing like that it sounds horrible and i can't get any close to this pitch,
still i wouldn't say that i have a deep voice.

 

[Skinny Viking]

Some of the best vocalists in metal were releasing albums while they were still in their teens

Michael Kiske
Tobias Sammet
Andre Matos

A great singer is a great singer. Only difference with these singers now vs when they started is they've learned to control their voices to a much greater degree which can sometimes make it seem like they've lost a little "energy" in their voice but thats more in presentation

 

[Ngoc]

I started when I was 13, first time in a band with 14 and noone ever complained.

I guess it's because you still LOOKED young, so maybe thats why no one complained Just joking
Are there any records of you at that time that we can listen to? Would be pretty interesting to hear some early stuff

i am not sure if it's a "singing style" but all these singers in modern metal bands sound like they have a damn high voice,
speaking of band like devil wears prada, miss may i, but also more "grown up" bands like as i lay dying, darkest hour etc.

the sample doesn't sound "too young" to me but a bit like BFMV!

i also think that age does not have to be related to the voice colour at all.

Haha, as long as we don't sound like a copy of BFMV, everything's fine Actually, we are more into stuff like Trivium or Metallica (I hope this is not bad).


Yeah you are pretty much right about the voice colour, I am a tenor so maybe that's why I still sound a little bit "young".

PS:
when i try to sing like that it sounds horrible and i can't get any close to this pitch,
still i wouldn't say that i have a deep voice.

Maybe you are more of a baritone type of singer But in the end, it's all about practicing. When I first tried this style of singing, I sucked reaaally hard
You just have to go on and try to control your breathing technique and body tension better while still singing with a lot of force. Of course WITHOUT hurting your vocal chords

 

[Schlumpfkralle]

It doesn't sound TOO young for me. I like it! But as said, matter of personal taste...

 

[Mutant]

Sounds good and absolutely OK for this style.

 

[Sloan]

i always figured this dude was pretty young, but he sounds rad.

 

[Tommy Evans]

Slightly off topic but the first time I heard The Air I Breathe I thought the members were mid twenties-30 years old. They sound so grown up and the song writing is mature as well. Dudes are younger than me and I'm 22. -___-

 

[Ngoc]

Man, Holy Grail kicks MAJOR ASS!! Now I am even more motivated to improve my singing technique. Thanks!

And to me, "The Air I Breathe" isn't really good. Somehow his screams sound pretty weak and the clean singing isn't really convincing. And the song writing is IMO pretty standard for this style. But still, writing standard-style songs while you are still not grown up is already good IMO

 

[Sloan]

I think your vocals sound fine on the recordings you posted, sing whatever FEELS best to you - if your trying to sing in a way your not comfortable, then it will not sound sincere. Have confidence and make the listener believe in every word coming out of your mouth.

Also, yeah that whole Holy Grail album is pretty good.

 

[Extreme Vocals]

Your voice isn't what I would describe as young, just a tonality that seems to be popular in metal right now. Age is no restriction on tonality. You can listen to someone like John Bush from Armored Saint. When the band started he was in his teens and he still had a thick attack to his tone.

Most vocalists don't realize that the sound coming out of your first attempts isn't what you are stuck with. You have a fundamental character, but you can make your voice thicker, thinner, more nasal, etc, just by making subtle adjustments in your placement, etc.

Getting your voice to add more low overtones may be what you’re asking about. The reason so many young vocalists have that thinner voice isn't just age. When they start they are usually yelling over inexpensive gear and have lower confidence as they are less experienced and are trying to make an impression. After they become touring veterans, they stop squeezing so hard and don’t need to push as much, so the relaxed flow allows a richer tone and takes some of the shriek / thinness out of their sound.

I actually trained James from White Wizzard and Holy Grail before that cd was recorded and a little after. He's definitely a great vocalist, and not as young as you probably think. He made a conscious choice about his sound and focused on that razor treble high range he has. We would go over songs from old Scorpions and Trouble to fine tune him in that tonality. He worked really hard for it. It didn't come native to him as his speaking voice is far more subtle and centered lower. Its proof positive that you can train to get the sound you want and that he deserves allot of credit for planning a goal and working hard to reach it.

No reason you couldn't either if you decided you wanted to change some things about your tone.

 

[Damian B]

Your voice reminds me of the dude from Rise Against in a weird way. You would sound even better with a more professional vocal production, but you definitely can sing. Keep at it.

 

[Ngoc]

Your voice isn't what I would describe as young, just a tonality that seems to be popular in metal right now. Age is no restriction on tonality. You can listen to someone like John Bush from Armored Saint. When the band started he was in his teens and he still had a thick attack to his tone.


Getting your voice to add more low overtones may be what you’re asking about. The reason so many young vocalists have that thinner voice isn't just age. When they start they are usually yelling over inexpensive gear and have lower confidence as they are less experienced and are trying to make an impression. After they become touring veterans, they stop squeezing so hard and don’t need to push as much, so the relaxed flow allows a richer tone and takes some of the shriek / thinness out of their sound.

I actually trained James from White Wizzard and Holy Grail before that cd was recorded and a little after. He's definitely a great vocalist, and not as young as you probably think. He made a conscious choice about his sound and focused on that razor treble high range he has. We would go over songs from old Scorpions and Trouble to fine tune him in that tonality. He worked really hard for it. It didn't come native to him as his speaking voice is far more subtle and centered lower. Its proof positive that you can train to get the sound you want and that he deserves allot of credit for planning a goal and working hard to reach it.

No reason you couldn't either if you decided you wanted to change some things about your tone.

Hmm, yeah maybe I'm after lower overtones, I don't know surely I had vocal lessons for some years (classical opera singing) and I learned some really basic things to make my voice sound more richer and to sing more stable and higher than before, haha I guess all singing styles are somewhat based on the basics, and from there you define.

But still that must mean that when I sing alone at home where I am really relaxed my voice should sound less shriekier/thinner and richer on overtones. But when I record my voice I can't get the feelings and the sound like when I heard myself in the room on tape
I guess it's the same with guitar amps. When you mic it you only get a part of the whole sound

Your voice reminds me of the dude from Rise Against in a weird way. You would sound even better with a more professional vocal production, but you definitely can sing. Keep at it.

Yeah, I guess so too This EP was selfmade (like a lot of EPs on this forum) and I did all the recording myself. When I listen to the songs now I can hear it too that it somehow still not sounds spectacular. And that there is a lot of feeling and expression missing.

Next time when we do an EP,even if we still do it ourselves, we will get a vocal producer at least

 

[StefTD]

+1 on everything Extreme vocals said, no way I could articulate myself so well.

I guess it's because you still LOOKED young, so maybe thats why no one complained Just joking

Not sure, didn't look that much different from now, started growing a beard pretty early, and I already
was like 1,80m with 13 and never had problems getting booze

Need to ask a friend, we tried to record a death metal song back then, but I sucked really, really hard at
guitar, even more than now, but my growling voice didn't change that much, I am just able to get way
deeper now and scream longer.
I think I just got the breathing right from the beginning (took vocal lessons as a child) so that helped
alot and due to being a big guy, I always had load of room to resonance in my body...that sounds strange.

 

[Ngoc]

I think I just got the breathing right from the beginning (took vocal lessons as a child) so that helped
alot and due to being a big guy, I always had load of room to resonance in my body...that sounds strange.

At first I never wanted to sing because I were really shy when I was 13/14
It all started with my first band, because nobody wanted to sing, haha

Hm, but still the guy from Defiler (hehe) doesn't look that big but still he has a pretty voluminous sound.

I recently read that the singer/shouter of Attack Attack! is 19 years old! But his voice sounds pretty mature

Actually I HATE this band but this song isn't THAT bad.