Gah, k, I'm a noob, go easy.

Yeah, been using screaming vocals for only a couple of weeks (using a 'sighing' technique) and have practiced almost everyday. And have been able to do some pretty low growls. Except last couple of days I haven't been able to practice, and now when I try to today my scream is very weak and I can't hit any deep growls. And I'm just tiring out. Which is really starting to piss me off. When before I could do it for over an hour without being any bit tired and hit them low. Problem probably lies with being properly warmed up.. but I can't seem to get it going at all. >.< Anyone know any good (or ****ing awesome..) ways to warm up the vox? Or links to exercises? That or could it have something to do with me used to using **** at the back of the throat to push those deep growls out? And now I have a lack of? :p (Going for a Johnny Truant style growl btw.)

Read through the thread, there's plenty of warm-up advice. Also, The Zen Of Screaming has great warm-ups.

Ahh, fixed the problem. Wasn't that I wasn't warming up... just my throat felt really dry when I tried to scream.. guess I musta been dehydrated. So just had lots of water which did the trick as I found out the next day. :D Went through posts anyway, found a lot of pointers. So thanks anyway.

I can't seem to do loud inhales, maybe I'm doing it wrong :(

Also, I'm still having the trouble of finding my head voice... I remember singing a couple of pretty high notes before, migh have been C6 or below, without any strain and the notes were loud. Was that head or falsetto? If I could do it again I would post a recording...

Ah, maybe I shouldn't worry. I will get a response today if it's possible for me to switch to a school where I can focus on music. So there I will probably get some singing lessons. They have one on one lessons there with instrument or/and singing. So I'm kind crossing my fingers right now :)

Hey guys :)

I was wondering if any of you had any good advice or techniques on how to get grittier/more aggressive vocals ala James Hetfield.

Might be a bit vague, i'll elaborate if need be.

thanks :)

hi does anyone know of a good free online singing lessons site? i dont feel like reading through over 1,000 posts. lol

I need some warmups for inhaled screams. I can do them sometimes, then other times I just can't. Would I just do normal warmups?

Hi, I need some help.
I think my voice is fairly decent and I can sing well. I can sing quite low and really high but I can't sustain my high pitches sometimes then my voice starts cracking.
I was trying to sing One Republic - Apologize and found the beginning easy enough but the high chorus was difficult. I mean I can get my pitch that high but the problem is going straight there from the low range before that. I find it hard going straight up to the high notes and sometimes get the note sharp or flat before I hit it. It is similar to my problem when singing James Blunt - Your beautiful. The majority of the song is high and then when he gets to the second verse 'Yes she caught my eye, as I walked on by she could see from my face that I was -high pitch flying high. then from here I don't really know what happens to my voice and it tries to adjust back to the low pitch but doesn't and remains high :(
[url]http://boomp3.com/m/e372861db806[/url] - listen to me here

I am Robots....

I see what you did there.:cool: .
#fortune

I was wondering if anyone had backing tracks to songs without the words so that I could record my voice onto it or anyone who knows how I can get them that would be steller!!!!!!!! :thumb:

I'm looking to extend my range,
But i was corrected so I suppose what I'm actually trying to do is to sing the notes at the edge of my range with a better tone, and make them sound better.

Help?

Bump

Why would you bump a sticky...

besides your question is most likely not gonna get answered, since every new post is a new question and I dont think any of the vocal buffs even look at this thread anymore. If people would just read back through a little bit almost 90% of their questions could be answered, but they're lazy and apparently arent dedicated enough to what they do to want to work to get better. I've read a lot of pages of this thread and I know that the same question has been repeated at least 50 times, and half the time the user will post again a day later and say "Oh I figured it out I need to drink water". So come on people.. try to figure out this **** on your own, and post here when you are REALLY stumped or need critique and have a vocal sample.

/when lurkers attack

Hey, I'm wondering if someone could give me some general advice to improve my singing and/or screaming, particularly on the song Next Stop: Milwuakee
Pretty much any criticism will be taken note of and considered.

[url]http://www.myspace.com/fromthismemory[/url]

Thanks :)

[QUOTE=socialanxiety;15629024]Hey, I'm wondering if someone could give me some general advice to improve my singing and/or screaming, particularly on the song Next Stop: Milwuakee
Pretty much any criticism will be taken note of and considered.

[url]http://www.myspace.com/fromthismemory[/url]

Thanks :)[/QUOTE]
Merkaba has done such an amazing job in this tread, that most of the important info is here if you look for it..
I will try to help out when I can.. I"ll listen to the song on myspace and give you my thoughts.. But yeah, like the above poster said, I would need to hear samples of your voice to give you any type of personal critique or recommendations

OH, so like clips of me singing accapella?

[QUOTE=socialanxiety;15633905]OH, so like clips of me singing accapella?[/QUOTE]
Sure anything like that, so I can hear you tone and style...

[QUOTE=TheSceneNinja;15531428]I'm looking to extend my range,
But i was corrected so I suppose what I'm actually trying to do is to sing the notes at the edge of my range with a better tone, and make them sound better.

Help?[/QUOTE]


Singing the notes more/gaining more notes will make those notes seem easier, and make it easier for you to get good tone on them. Also if its high, its not a good idea to pull up your chest voice unless you absolutely want that sound.

To find your head voice do a lip roll thing, and start at the bottom of your range and go up really high keeping the tone decently even through the whole thing. You'll notice you can go really high. And your not in falsetto.

Look up Brett Manning on youtube or google. His speech level singing course is all about range. He has a 5 octave range. Helped me gain a half an octave without even following the program intensively.

My first post.....
MMMmmm?
I joined cause I just finished reading alot of Merkabas posts.
Great Stuff, thanks!

Now my question, which I dont think has been talked about?

Im a 35yr old dude with a 2 1/2+ octave range, and can nail any song by Journey/Steve Perry..... Like Steve Perry my voice is pure without much overdrive.
But I of course dont wish to be a Steve Perry clone.
When performing any other artists songs that has anykind of rasp involved.
I end up burning out my throat early, and cant hit my higher register notes performing (what should be easy for me) Journey tunes for the rest of the night.

Ive been trying to narrow down the culprit to my problem.
My breathing technique I believe is good.
But it seems my Larynx is rising way too high when I go for higher register notes.
And Ive been trying all kinds of things to train it to stay in a lower, or more neutral position.

Any new ideas would be greatly appreciated.

FYI, Im currently reading all Merkabas posts on how implement rasp into the voice without damage.......I'll post my progress when i make some.

hey, i want to learn how to do metalcore screaming, but when i try i always get a headache because i tighten my throat too much, but i can't figure out how to get the rasp without clentching my throat, how do i get a good rasp while being relaxed, and not hurting my vocal chords?

[QUOTE=RainOrShiNiner;15700745]My first post.....
MMMmmm?
I joined cause I just finished reading alot of Merkabas posts.
Great Stuff, thanks!

Now my question, which I dont think has been talked about?

Im a 35yr old dude with a 2 1/2+ octave range, and can nail any song by Journey/Steve Perry..... Like Steve Perry my voice is pure without much overdrive.
But I of course dont wish to be a Steve Perry clone.
When performing any other artists songs that has anykind of rasp involved.
I end up burning out my throat early, and cant hit my higher register notes performing (what should be easy for me) Journey tunes for the rest of the night.

Ive been trying to narrow down the culprit to my problem.
My breathing technique I believe is good.
But it seems my Larynx is rising way too high when I go for higher register notes.
And Ive been trying all kinds of things to train it to stay in a lower, or more neutral position.

Any new ideas would be greatly appreciated.

FYI, Im currently reading all Merkabas posts on how implement rasp into the voice without damage.......I'll post my progress when i make some.[/QUOTE]

For me it seems like i'm pushing more air, and my chords are overdriving themselves, it causes no pain. Its not too loud, and it causes no pain. You have to push more air and kind of let go. Its hard to describe, rasp/screaming is something you really have to try to understand. Same with all singing actually too. Guitar you can read it and you understand because its visual.

Try that! Make sure you warm up first, any types of rasp/screaming no matter how perfectly your doing them will still cause more strain on your voice. So drink water and warm up.

[QUOTE=jackyl14;15712339]hey, i want to learn how to do metalcore screaming, but when i try i always get a headache because i tighten my throat too much, but i can't figure out how to get the rasp without clentching my throat, how do i get a good rasp while being relaxed, and not hurting my vocal chords?[/QUOTE]

Get Zen of Screaming 2. you'll see i reccomend this alot. But you could be doing it wrong. If you dont wanna buy it, youtube has alot of things you can base your screams off of.

[url]http://youtube.com/profile?user=austin29803[/url]

That guy is against zen of screaming 2 and that method of screaming. But the little thin screams he shows off the zen of screaming 2 are very exhagerated negatively. You can get a much better sound than what he shows you.

But its good to have mutliple views.

cheers mate, thanks a lot

I'll be launching a site soon that will have a vocal section on it...it will have free lesson articles, as well as a place to buy lessons or download individual exercise mp3 downloads (including screaming exercises). I wrote an article about screaming on it, but basically definitely get Melissa's Zen of Screaming 1 & 2. I just finally saw Zen 2 last night and love it; its really going to help out, even though there are only a couple of exericses in it, she really explains everything your going to need to know.

As far as introducing rasp into your voice, start by directing your air pressure into the soft pallate. This will make a lot more sense when my articles up, but you basically want to rattle your uvula (the dangling thing in the back of your throat). Doing so will teach you where the air needs placed. For small amounts of rasp, you can push the air against that, or for intense stuff the entire soft palate will rattle.

If you get Melissas stuff, she has another technique for doing more intense screaming.

[QUOTE=Screamin_Demon_Auz;15757322]I'll be launching a site soon that will have a vocal section on it...it will have free lesson articles, as well as a place to buy lessons or download individual exercise mp3 downloads (including screaming exercises). I wrote an article about screaming on it, but basically definitely get Melissa's Zen of Screaming 1 & 2. I just finally saw Zen 2 last night and love it; its really going to help out, even though there are only a couple of exericses in it, she really explains everything your going to need to know.

As far as introducing rasp into your voice, start by directing your air pressure into the soft pallate. This will make a lot more sense when my articles up, but you basically want to rattle your uvula (the dangling thing in the back of your throat). Doing so will teach you where the air needs placed. For small amounts of rasp, you can push the air against that, or for intense stuff the entire soft palate will rattle.

If you get Melissas stuff, she has another technique for doing more intense screaming.[/QUOTE]

The only problem I have with her technique is that its hard to get as much UMPH out of it, after practicing it i've gotten way more than what I started with, so i'm assuming it'll only get better.
I'm trying to learn some other ways of screaming besides the Zen of Screaming way, and inhales.

Have any idea on when your article will be up?

its a basic start since its for free
more complex stuff will be available with one on one lessons, and the mp3 downloads that will be up for sale too


Free Stuff - Primal Scream
By Austin Jenkins

For years, people have expressed themselves through singing. The tonality of your voice can be very telling as to how your feeling at that particular time. One of the most extreme techniques in singing used to express pain, excitement, or anger would be screaming.

Screaming can be found in all styles of music, and is used for different purposes. Whether its used to express the pain of losing someone you love, or used just to show off your skills, it seems everyone wants to learn how to do it. The question I get asked more than anything else from the people I work with would be "How can I scream without losing my voice"?

In this online lesson, I will give you tips on how to develop rasp safely, and then how to safely form that into a scream. These are just the basics though; to learn more about these techniques, you should either sign up for some form of training with me, or go to my vocal instruction links page and look at my recommendations for products you can use to better your screaming.

The first step in learning to scream is a solid vocal technique. This means, you need to have the absolute basics of singing (breathing & support) down perfectly.Please read my BREATHING AND SUPPORT lesson before trying any of this. In order to scream a note, you must first be able to sing it in a clear, well balanced tone. When developing your screaming technique, its best to start with notes in your full voice that come easily to you, as well as your falsetto. When I teach screaming technique to someone, I always start by working on falsetto screaming because it is the easiest. Once the singer has the falsetto screams down, the can usually figure out how to apply a screaming sound to the rest of their range.

Now, lets get to work. The first thing I need for you to do is to play a note either on a pitch wheel, keyboard/piano, or guitar. I want you to sing this note in falsetto on the vowel "AH" as in father. Choose any note thats high enough to be in falsetto, but comfortable enough that you can sing and sustain without any tension. If you have to push even a little bit to hit this note, keep searching for one that you can hold without any issues at all.

When you have found what I call the foundational pitch, sustain it for as long as you comfortably can without straining. A good target would be a 30 second sustain time. If you can hold the pitch for 30 seconds and keep it absolutely steady (no wavering, cracking, or other inconsistencies), its time to move on.

For this next step, get a glass of water. Now, take a drink and gargle the water, making that same "AH" vowel as before, and on the same note. Notice how the uvula (the piece of flesh that hangs in the middle back of your throat) vibrates. Its very important to pay attention to this sensation, because you'll need to utilize this later on when creating rasp. Do this several times until you are used to the feeling of the uvula vibrating.

Now, lets move on. We are going to make that same sound as you made while gargling,but without the water. The easiest way to do this is by imitating a pigeon. This is a trick I learned from one of my vocal coaches, Jaime Vendera. For this, we will change the vowel to an "OO" as in shoe. While making the "OO" vowel, direct your air up towards your soft palate (the soft tissue on the roof of your mouth). Focus on sending the breath pressure right at the top middle part ofyour mouth. This will cause your uvula to vibrate, and will produce that pigeon type sound. Make sure your doing this on your foundational pitch. Sustain this for 30 seconds as well. You want the vibrating sound to be as even as possible. If its uneven at all, your breath pressure isn't consistent. Inconsistent breath pressure will cause many problems down the road, so fix it now.

Your probably wondering why i'm having you make this noise. There are 2 reasons for it. First off, this is a way to guarantee that you are placing your tone in the soft palate, which is essential to singing and screaming. Now, don't be confused; placing the tone in the soft palate does NOT mean singing with this vibrating sound. We are only creating the vibrating sound as a part of this exercise. However, the fact that you are getting that sound guarantees the tone is being placed up out of your throat and into the palate.

The other purpose of this exercise is because this is actually a form of screaming. To prove it, sing your foundational note on "AH" again. By this point, the note should come out consistently and easily, and the vibrating sound should be consistent as well. Sing your "AH" vowel as loud as you comfortably can. Now, direct a little bit of extra air up to your soft palate and activate the uvula. You can send up as much air to the palate as you want as long as your not straining, and the result will be a distorted note.You can manipulate your tongue, throat, and breathing to create different sounds with this technique. This is the type of screaming you'll find a lot of singers using when they want to add some edge, but don't want to go for a fully distorted note.

Once you get good with this, you'll be able to create other raspy tones safely without activating the uvula. As long as you keep it in the palate, your safe. If you start to get hoarse, quit immediately. You've lost your placement and now your just grinding the cords together and blasting too much air through them. After a break, go back to the pigeon sound to establish your placement and try again.

Ohh can't wait for your website screaming demon auz :P your post was helpful, helped explain to me a few more things about what actually happens when you rasp or scream.

If it's not too much, do you think you could put up an audio lesson? Or if that's too much of a hassle, just some clips of you doing the "pigeon" sound and transforming that into a rasp/scream. The problem is heh, I can already scream, but I don't think I use this method. I use vocal fry and this other one which i discovered by myself but can safely use. With either of these methods I can make a pigeon sound, so trying your method to make a simliar sound confuses me just a bit because it's very new to me, but I'm really interested in it. Thanks again for your helpful contribution.

Working on setting everything up for recording right now, but within a couple of weeks i'll have it all ready to put up for sure, theres just a lot going on right now to get everything ready and starting on actually giving in person lessons.

You don't HAVE to use this method though; its just a better approach for screaming, but you cant really get the brutal death metal vocals with it, thats where Melissa Cross comes in.

For now until I get audio examples up, just gargle like I said and pay attention to the feeling in your throat, then recreate that feeling without any water. When you get good at the "pigeon" sound like you probably already are, you can start with the falsetto notes. Make them as nasally as possible, like Axl Rose. Scrunch up your nose, hit the note, and direct extra air up to the roof of your mouth. You can manipulate the palate in order to raise and lower it for different tones...the higher it is, the more nasal the sound will be.

After you get good at it, your gonna have the option of keeping that vibrating sound going, or you can just overdrive the note for your rasp. Your still going to manipulate your palate like I said before, but that extra air will be what makes the rasping, not so much the vibration of the uvula which can sound stupid and not raspy enough unless your placement is dead on.

Sending up too much air can be very damaging to your voice because of the swelling the extra air on your cords causes. So, to keep safe, the extra air pressure needs to be directed to the palate at all times instead of locking it behind the cords.

Thanks! I'm gonna try that soon as the mother leaves for work haha.

ok so i have a question for all the 'METUHL DOODS' so im trying to scream in my band. and i can scream inhailing, but i can do it exhailing. ive found out where the rasp come from, like when i sigh really hard i get a rasp and i think that where its coming from, but i can get any power behind it. can someone help me.all anyone ever says is like "just do a hard sigh and work from that" but no one tells you exactly how to work from that.