Hey Merkaba, how can a person expand his range? I mean what's the basic concept?

I read somewhere that you start by trying to hit a note that's a semitone higher than your top note? Is that the idea?


Btw, what ever happened to your Metaphysics thread, are you gunna start another one?

Check out the voicehelp hotline. I have a thread in there for range and flexibility,etc.

The whole front page of the politics pit got erased a few weeks ago by a mod, by accident. I'm actually about to start another in a few minutes.

what steps can i take so i don't tighten up my throat while singing in my falsetto range? its like an inadvertant thing i want to get rid of

K thanks merkaba I'll do that.


Azraelscross, are you sure its falsetto? it's supposed to be the most tension-free thing ever lol.

I'm just wondering about my range...

As it stands, on a good day I can hit the second Gb below middle C, and the C# above middle C (Not the one directly up from middle C, but the minor ninth from it) without breaking into falsetto.

This leads me to a bit of confusion as to what to call myself as a singer. I can sing slightly higher than most tenors I know, but about half an octave or so lower than most tenors I know as well. What am I?

Excuse me if I sound like an idiot but I know little (very little) music theory, so what exactly is the C minor ninth above middle C, isn't 'minor ninth' a chord thingy?

There's C4 (middle C), D4, E4, F4, G4, A4, B4 then C5 C#5. That's all I know so if you mean C#5, that'll make you a dramatic tenor with about 2.6 octave range.

[QUOTE]I can sing slightly higher than most tenors I know, but about half an octave or so lower than most tenors I know as well.[/QUOTE]

Makes me think it's not C#5 you're looking for.

Yea I'm not understanding what you mean either Social. "not the one directly up from middle C" ????

Cross, the easiest way is to sing something lighter or with less volume. Trying a quick fix idea on the run, or during your normal singing stress is hard to accomplish. Back off for a while or sing lighter falsetto songs to practice until you get to a better position. either youre tightening the throat up or not. There really isnt a quick technique or fix. You can imagine youre singing straight up out of your temples and top of your head, or at least this is where youre trying to push the note out.

[QUOTE=Merkaba]You can imagine youre singing straight up out of your temples and top of your head, or at least this is where youre trying to push the note out.[/QUOTE]
i think thats the problem

You should sing lighter to practice. You really shouldnt need to tense anything to do light falsetto notes.

Question. I've discovered that I actually have a natural low baritone voice rather than a tenor. Now this is kind of annoying as I don't think many singers use this sort of voice: can anyone recommend me any singers to listen to with that sort of range?

Frank Sinatra?:smoke: He sings up to a Ab4.
John Mayer?
Jack Johnson?
Ray Charles?

I don't exactly know what your highest note is. How many notes can you hit from middle C (C4)?

Um, I think this is the right place to ask. Anyway, My vocals have started to come under criticism lately. I do mostly death metal (harsh vox) but also acoustics (clean vox). Can anybody listen to our demo ( [URL="http://www.myspace.com/forthisibleed"]http://www.myspace.com/forthisibleed[/URL] ) and tell me what exactly they think about the vox on both the acoustic and hardcore vox and how they think it could be improved?

Hello! I'm new here in the forum, and could not create a new thread today so I'ltry to say it here...

I'm vocalist since 1999, and i sing rock/metal, from skidrow to death/black metal. In the extreme (scream, growling, whatever) vocals, I do in 3 or 4 different ways, never hurting my trhoat. But, there's a way, that is the first way I've "mastered", that is inaling, or breathing in instead f breathing out. I want to find another singers who do the same. Till today, I find just one, and even hearing metal bands, I just hear some screams in one splatter band that seemed to be done in that way. Hope some of you can help me. Sorry, my english is poor, and i might posted in the wrong section... but i really tried tocreate a new thread... maybe this is some rule of this forum, but i cant read everything now, since i have internet only in my workplace. Thanx, and sorry again.

ps.: my e-mail and my MSN are here, if anyone wants:
[email]who@brturbo.com.br[/email]
[email]mothertears@hotmail.com[/email]

I finally found my head voice today. It felt my ears ringing and vibrations in that area when I went into it. I even tried to sing the same notes in falsetto and didn't have the same sensation. Also, I only got to D#5 with head voice where I can go alot higher in falsetto, so I'm pretty sure now it actually is head voice.

The problem: I can't seem to get into my head voice in songs. When I'm doing scales, I eaisly got to A4 (which was surprising, since my highest note was Ab4) then got to about B4 with a mix voice and I used like 90% head voice on C5 and then after that it was pure head voice. But then I tried singing songs with A4 high notes and I couldn't do it. I'm pretty sure I sang the same notes while doing scales, so why can't I use them in songs yet? Do I need more practice?
Another thing is that I'm feeling a slight pressure while I'm in head voice and I'm close to shouting my notes. I'm not splatting my vowels or anything like pulled chest voice, but it's still loud. Does anybody know how to solve this?

thanks..

Its just going to take time. You just discovered it and its a very tricky register to master. You can't do songs on them because when you do songs you have emotion and consonants added to the mix whereas when your just doing scales its on a vowel which is much easier and open. Start doing all your songs on vowels as you learn them and slowly start adding the real words. That helps to keep you from pushing and helps to map out the song. It's time consuming and i'll admit I hardly ever do it but it is worth it; especially if its a difficult song that you really want to master.

What about the mix voice how can one pull it a bit more before turning into pure head?

Well I don't sing worth a **** but I was wondering... can you gargle **** to make your voice deeper? My singer wants me to be backup and scream but it doesn't sound good enough for her...

I don't think you'll be able to scream decently until you can sing okayish...

[QUOTE=Surgicalgod]I finally found my head voice today. It felt my ears ringing and vibrations in that area when I went into it. I even tried to sing the same notes in falsetto and didn't have the same sensation. Also, I only got to D#5 with head voice where I can go alot higher in falsetto, so I'm pretty sure now it actually is head voice.

The problem: I can't seem to get into my head voice in songs. When I'm doing scales, I eaisly got to A4 (which was surprising, since my highest note was Ab4) then got to about B4 with a mix voice and I used like 90% head voice on C5 and then after that it was pure head voice. But then I tried singing songs with A4 high notes and I couldn't do it. I'm pretty sure I sang the same notes while doing scales, so why can't I use them in songs yet? Do I need more practice?
Another thing is that I'm feeling a slight pressure while I'm in head voice and I'm close to shouting my notes. I'm not splatting my vowels or anything like pulled chest voice, but it's still loud. Does anybody know how to solve this?

thanks..[/QUOTE]

Congratulations. Dont worry about it. Just keep practicing getting into head voice. You cant expect it to be mastered this quickly. Going from chest to head will require a good bit of work if youre new to it, to get it into muscle memory. The cords are thicker and thinner and different muscles are involved. If your head voice seems overpressurized or uncomfortable in any way, youre probabaly holding on to too much chest voice position. It will take time. Just try to practice with lower volume so your not trying to get anything "extra". you'll get it down. Just takes time. And what screamin said. I still do sing songs and parts of songs and melodies that I have trouble with by doing just a vowel sound. Forget the words and do the vowels. I mean, you don't have to do thirty minutes of vowel based songs. Just do the parts youre having trouble with....and its important to try to back off a bit when youre reaching, otherwise your larynx will stiffen up. Its just almost a matter of life. So try to relaxe and go limp everywhere when youre reaching for notes, tongue, cheeks, neck, eyes, shoulders...everything. I always do this when I realize I've been forcing things. Mixed or middle voice shouldnt be "held onto". You want it to roll right up into head. Just practice staying "operish" and trying to learn to get resonance in middle notes. You don't have to sing opera style in your work, but in practice it helps because you will have to relax and keep the larynx relatively loose and low, relatively... to achieve good tone and resonance. Then you can choke it off or imbellish it later.

[QUOTE=Khaos]Well I don't sing worth a **** but I was wondering... can you gargle **** to make your voice deeper? My singer wants me to be backup and scream but it doesn't sound good enough for her...[/QUOTE]
Battery acid maybe.

If you wanted your speaker cabinet to sound deeper, would you throw liquid into it, or manipulate the size and position of the cabinet and speaker?

Go to the voicehelp hotline, page one.

Hey Merkaba. I've read most of your pro-scream and growl threads now.
They're very usefull, but here's something I recorded before I started reading your threads:

[url]http://s51.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=192PE1F6XZRKW3U0VJLRDFLDTF[/url]

It does irritate my voice if I over-push it. Thank god I didn't when I recorded this with my Webcam mic on Audacity... I didn't even warm up back then when I recorded this, but I think that it doesn't sound too bad... It's me growling some lyrics from Cannibal Corpse's nothing left to mutilate.
Can you like say how it sounds? Give your opinnion? I'm 15 years old, male (ofcourse :P). I can go lower, ánd higher than this now I'm practising more :).

Now I'll go and use your tips to improve :)

And I'm able to growl in 2 ways: Growling, and you hear my voice behind it. You know, Voice with állot of heavy rasp. And my voice as a whisper, but still very loud rasp. Thát confuses me though...

I'll record a more diverse sample later, with some more tonal diversity... Cannibal Corpse isn't known for their excellent range in tones :p

I was experimenting with my head voice to see if I can sustain notes like high C and others. I did alright I guess, but I discovered I'm breaking badly on Ab4, A4, Bb4. B4 and C5 are sounding just fine, even easier. I just can't seem to find my mix voice, and I just end up pulling up chest to those notes and it just doesn't work. How can I solve this?

I want to sream like Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy, whenever i do it sounds just that little bit to high and when i try lower it sounds like a growl.

Any suggestions?

Hey this is kinda of topic of how to sing better ibut m kinda trying to find an audio recording program that can change up a voice a little like make it sound smoother and clearer than an original voice because i play acoustic and sing and im not too great of a singer i dont know stuff about notes i kinda cant afford vocal lessons yet(jobless) so im just trying to find something to make it sound better thru software any help?

I've been hearing a lot about Melissa Cross, her techniques and her DVD (The Zen of Screaming). So I checked out her website. I was trying to find what kind of technique she uses, and I stubled across this.

[url]http://www.melissacross.com/voice_lesson_testimonials.php?[/url]

What? Her screaming is some of the worst I've ever heard in my life. It's actually softer than her speaking voice.. which is highly undesirable, I think. Take a look at the first and third videos. They both show her demonstrating a "proper" scream, and it sounds awful. Anyone else think Cross (and her "true" scream) is overrated as a vocal instructor?

Hi everyone,
i tried to follow the instructions Merkaba made in his mp3s on [url]http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=228211[/url]
(After trying around a bit it sounds somehow like the guy from the band "Halfway to gone".)

What I noticed is that singing with the rasp consumes much more breath. i mean 2-3x as much as singing cleanly at speaking volume.

Is there anything I can do against it?
Otherwise I'd have to change my lyrics ;-)

Toaster,

Melissa teaches some of the most successful screamers in the business. However, she doesn't teach most of them to scream, she teaches them to be able to maintain the scream they already have. You may not be a fan of her screaming but are you a fan of any of her clients? Obviously they all sound different. That should tell you your not going to sound like her when you scream. Shes not overrated as a teacher because she does help a ton of people to maintain it. If you cant scream already, don't count on the DVD to teach you how. Shes working on a 2nd one I guess that actually shows you how to; this one was to teach everyone the basics of screaming so they don't blow out.

[QUOTE=Toaster]I've been hearing a lot about Melissa Cross, her techniques and her DVD (The Zen of Screaming). So I checked out her website. I was trying to find what kind of technique she uses, and I stubled across this.

[url]http://www.melissacross.com/voice_lesson_testimonials.php?[/url]

What? Her screaming is some of the worst I've ever heard in my life. It's actually softer than her speaking voice.. which is highly undesirable, I think. Take a look at the first and third videos. They both show her demonstrating a "proper" scream, and it sounds awful. Anyone else think Cross (and her "true" scream) is overrated as a vocal instructor?[/QUOTE]
She is still good. She may not be the best screamer, but she teaches it correctly. So she is a good teacher. She is not a screamer, but a teacher. Don't listen to her scream and decide, listen to the people that she taught to scream... Lamb of God! So in conclusion, she is a teacher not a screamer in my opinion. It is good what she is doing though, because we would be dropping vocalists left and right.

+listen to Arch Enemy, she is a chick and has that kinda high annoying scream. I'm guessing that girl screamers have that.

[QUOTE=Screamin_Demon_Auz]Toaster,

Melissa teaches some of the most successful screamers in the business. However, she doesn't teach most of them to scream, she teaches them to be able to maintain the scream they already have. You may not be a fan of her screaming but are you a fan of any of her clients? Obviously they all sound different. That should tell you your not going to sound like her when you scream. Shes not overrated as a teacher because she does help a ton of people to maintain it. If you cant scream already, don't count on the DVD to teach you how. Shes working on a 2nd one I guess that actually shows you how to; this one was to teach everyone the basics of screaming so they don't blow out.[/QUOTE]
So I can scream, and I want to make sure I'm doing it correctly. Would her DVD be the key?

Oh and after I scream my throat feels like its "open" more. Is this normal?