how do you grunt scream?

What is that?
If it involves the word grunt then its unhealthy anyways. :p

[QUOTE=Merkaba-1]I wouldnt worry about the flap. You'll know if it is interfering with your health. Its pretty much out of the way of any singing and could only give you some kind of distortion without the stress which would be a good thing. I dont see it doing anything at all. its too small. BUt if youre worried go see a doctor. Hell as far as we know it could be a cancerous lesion. So keep an eye on it.

As far as singing...yea the tnt was ....uh...interesting, in a small gnome kinda way. hehe. Practice learning how to support with the diaphragm and you can get about a 100% better in anything. Check out my samples if you havent........[url]http://www.musicianforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=219911[/url][/QUOTE]

I buzzed through them before, but I never really tried it or anything. A practice session I was able to squeeze in tonight however has convinced me otherwise. I tried full screaming, rasps, (I warmed up and down) using the methods you posted and it was an unbelievable difference. I cant really do the high stuff with the low larnyx, but holy crap can I scream like that. Unfortunately my mic has gone, so I wasn't able to record anything, but I loved the way I sound. Is it normal for your singing voice to be lower then your speaking voice and also, is falsetto sung with a high larnyx?

The only thing I'm having a little bit of problem with is co-ordination of the diaphram and the vocal chords isolation/larnyx dropping, but I s'pose that will come with practice...
I'll post a new recording soon as I get my mic working (man I wish I had a PA set up so I could sing and play at the same time properly) Thanks Merkaba

Edited to add: Yes I sounded like a munchkin in that recording.. 6' tall and I have a highish speaking voice. BAH!

Alright dude...having trouble getting more powerful high notes. What I want to be able to do, is not get into falsetto, but hit the first few notes in my falsetto range with my chest voice. As of now I sound too strained when trying, so any exercises for this would be quite helpful.

[QUOTE=DougJI]I buzzed through them before, but I never really tried it or anything. A practice session I was able to squeeze in tonight however has convinced me otherwise. I tried full screaming, rasps, (I warmed up and down) using the methods you posted and it was an unbelievable difference. I cant really do the high stuff with the low larnyx, but holy crap can I scream like that. Unfortunately my mic has gone, so I wasn't able to record anything, but I loved the way I sound. Is it normal for your singing voice to be lower then your speaking voice and also, is falsetto sung with a high larnyx?

The only thing I'm having a little bit of problem with is co-ordination of the diaphram and the vocal chords isolation/larnyx dropping, but I s'pose that will come with practice...
I'll post a new recording soon as I get my mic working (man I wish I had a PA set up so I could sing and play at the same time properly) Thanks Merkaba

Edited to add: Yes I sounded like a munchkin in that recording.. 6' tall and I have a highish speaking voice. BAH![/QUOTE]

Well the larynx will rise a bit. You just want to make sure it doesnt squeeze up. If you play around with dropping your chin a bit you can keep it a little lower but you will eventually reach a point where it rises a bit. As far as the diaphragmn link that will just take practice. Thats something you can practice all the time without even singing.

[QUOTE=Burningwater]Alright dude...having trouble getting more powerful high notes. What I want to be able to do, is not get into falsetto, but hit the first few notes in my falsetto range with my chest voice. As of now I sound too strained when trying, so any exercises for this would be quite helpful.[/QUOTE]

Well if you havent checked out my voicehelp hotline then check it out. Otherwise what youre trying to do is basically add twenty more pounds to your bench press. practice in mid and upper mid chest. Or should i say workout. practice trying to close up your low falsetto's into chest. They might sound like crap but its what youre trying to do eventually. Of course stay as relaxed as possible and warm up and warm down.

I'm terribly sorry if this question's been asked already before, but how in the WORLD does Randy Blythe of Lamb of God get that strange ethereal sound to his growl/scream? My band's doing a cover of Vigil that I play bass/sing for and I've got a few weeks to get some sort of scream powerful and confident enough to jam with them. As is I can sometimes produce that sort of a scream but it's still really sketchy. I lack the sort of meat that his entails. I just need a massive beefening of tone.

Is it just more air and support that I require?

Yeah, how do you do a death scream like Lamb of God or Opeth?

i just wanted to thank you Merkaba-1.

tonight i started my practice sessions and i could come out with a couple of screams so evil that I scared myself!!!

now the problem is that it doesn't come out all the time. i shall practice more and more and more.

for me the key, was the "grunting as a dog" part.

i can't thank you enough... i thought that my voice couldn't scream, and only the gifted people could do it. but now i see it is only a matter of technique.

for the ones who still can't do it: keep trying. if you practise enough it will come out!!!

Merkaba-1: THANX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:thumb:

Congrats man. Dont forget to not over push, and to still work on your true singing voices. It will help strengthen your screams. Best wishes, keep practcing!

Hey Merkaba


I was wondering how long vocal cords usually take to fully heal from a vocal nodule or any major swelling. I've been singing for just over a year, but for like 6-8 months I was using bad singing technique most of the time, and singing/screaming hard sh[i][u][/i][/u]it like The Used, Tool, Slipknot, Linkin Park which probably made it worse because I was straining to hit some of those notes. Finally I completely lost my falsetto and my upper 1-1.5 octaves so I didn't sing at all for like 2 weeks. I don't know if I just had some major swelling or if I actually had a vocal nodules. But now, I'm afraid I didn't give my cords enough time to completely heal, because it seems like the effects of that are coming back. I'm able to sing in my lower range, about my lower 2 octaves just fine. But after singing in my higher register or screaming for even one song, my upper register starts to get raspy, almost like I am screaming without even trying. My lower register stays fine, though. Certain vowels also seem weaker. uu, ee and y are weaker in my chest/head voice, but they are strong in my falsetto. In my falsetto, ahh and o are weaker.

I have a question about screaming Merkaba, but first answer Rats. I listened to your recording and did some screaming practice. I was practicing some on my cell phone, and it sounded really good, but the thing is, is the scream supposed to sound good from the mic and stuff? Because if i do it normally, it sounds somewhat in lower volume than if I talked or sung. If i do it outloud, it sounds very low and not too good, but into a mic it sounds a lot better. So like for instance Phil Anselmo, his sound like he really screams his arse off.

So my question is, are screams supposed to sound very low and stuff and is it when u scream into the mic, that the MIC is making it sound all distorted and stuff? Cuz into my cell phone, I think the combo of air also hitting it from my mouth made it sound distorted and good.

I thought i had answered this but i think i went to look up otolaryngaligist to make sure i was spelling it correctly and I didnt make i back to the sight. Any ways its a doctor that specializes in the larynx area and usually has those cameras that can see your cords and all that. Anyways you should look up one or try to find one.

When one doesnt use proper technique the cords are blasted and not worked. So overtime they run the risk of getting weaker. Like how many days could you pull a car a hundred yards. You would get bigger and stronger, but soon afterwards you would start to break down ...due to overload. Improper technique overloads. And dont underestimate the power of nutrition. You will have to rebuild your body with what you give it. And if youre a fan of dairy cut it back or eliminate it all together for a few weeks. Cut alcohol, cut sugary foods, and cut caffeine, including tea, pepsi coke, etc. and of course smoking if you smoke.
IN your lower registers your cords are the thickest so you can pretty much do anything there because even with a small node its still fleshed over so to speak with the thickness still keep things closed when they need to be. But You could have a node or possibly some damage to the muslce or a nerve or a few other things that can happen but you can never be sure. until you get a doctor. actually if you have a node there are exercises that you can do that help but it depends on if its placement and size. A node is basically a throat corn..hehe.. a callus. So you can do certain things to speed up its melting away, just like if you massaged your callus and kept it moisturized. I wond get into them because one, i dont know the exactness of them and two you might not need to do them for your case. I would say find the doc to make sure. Is your speaking voice hoarse or rough? If you really cant see the doc i can only suggest doing lots of eee's at a mid pitch with minimal push. and doing some light falsettos that are NOT airy, and slide down to your lowest chest and do that low chest on at least the E vowel for a while. Keep us posted. Be careful. You cant go buy a new set of cords at the local music shop when you go get another guitar pic or something.

yea poosh. you know your cell phone is gonna pull the highs way up and all that wind will add a nice edge to it hitting that little pick up. Technically the only thing you should need from the mic is amplification. Thats where you want to get to. You shouldnt need anything but a mic and an amp. Now again, it may take a while to get good strength and everything built up but with careful practice you can get more and more there. And dont get me wrong, you will have to give good energy behind the sound to get a good projection, in other words, it will be pressurized but just not as harsh of a push as most people seem to think. And of course it would be diaphragm based. Keep practicing.

Merkaba, do you have any exercises that could be performed on buses, boring lectures, libary sessions and other situations in which you'd rather be doing something?
I'm not wanting a groundbreaking exercise that will let me sing every note, or turn me into a competition winning vocalist, but just little exercises to do anything that will help my voice really seen as in college I have alot of free time but nowhere I can go to sing full volume.

Also, after screaming I don't get pain or rawness, merely a dry feeling in my throat, It's a tad vague, but is this a bad thing? or simply a case of not lubricating vocal folds sufficiently?

Hey Merkaba! lol i don't know if you remember me, but ive had alot of vocal problems in the past (to help the memory) thanks to the forums i was able to sing without messin up the voice...thanks guys lol...well anyways I got a recording of me singing "A Decade Under the Influence" by Taking Back Sunday (my favorite song) and i wanted to know if i could get some pointers lol...well thanks for the help guys, g2g

Cody

[url]http://www.soundclick.com/util/Streamm3u.m3u?ID=2163571&q=lo[/url]

[QUOTE=KKKKKocaine]Merkaba, do you have any exercises that could be performed on buses, boring lectures, libary sessions and other situations in which you'd rather be doing something?
I'm not wanting a groundbreaking exercise that will let me sing every note, or turn me into a competition winning vocalist, but just little exercises to do anything that will help my voice really seen as in college I have alot of free time but nowhere I can go to sing full volume.

Also, after screaming I don't get pain or rawness, merely a dry feeling in my throat, It's a tad vague, but is this a bad thing? or simply a case of not lubricating vocal folds sufficiently?[/QUOTE]
Cant think of any other than trying to feel your adams(with a finger placed on it) and practicing making silent notes, high and low, and keeping the adams apple from moving up. It takes practice but it can be done without the adams apple moving much at all. Imagine pulling the cords down and back for chest notes and up and back for head notes.

The dry throat could be anything. Could be the air and its affect on your actual throat and not your cords, or it could be your cords being dry or irritated. Keep practing and paying attention to your body and you'll figure it out. If its your cords it will eventually turn into pain or more pronounced symptoms. If its your throat it will probably go away with time if you practice a good deal.

[QUOTE=Merkaba-1]Cant think of any other than trying to feel your adams(with a finger placed on it) and practicing making silent notes, high and low, and keeping the adams apple from moving up. It takes practice but it can be done without the adams apple moving much at all. Imagine pulling the cords down and back for chest notes and up and back for head notes.

The dry throat could be anything. Could be the air and its affect on your actual throat and not your cords, or it could be your cords being dry or irritated. Keep practing and paying attention to your body and you'll figure it out. If its your cords it will eventually turn into pain or more pronounced symptoms. If its your throat it will probably go away with time if you practice a good deal.[/QUOTE]

I haven't had anymore trouble with dry throats so I think it was just not drinking enough water. But with my screaming I've noticed a slight aching in my stomach, similar to if I did a set of russian twists or crunches. Is this a sign of my screaming correctly or a sign of over tensing with my screams?
The aching usually goes away after 10 minutes afterwards the practice.

One more question (I'm getting a vocal teacher now so this will most likely be my last) I read the rock and roll singers survival manual by Mark Baxter, and in the diet section he reccomended against milk and diary products for the reason of mucus build up?
Now, after having seen my dietician, I've been informed that I do need milk and diary products to bring up levels of calcium.

Is mark baxters advice to be taken with a grain of salt and would I be fine having small amounts of milk and cheese in a day? Or would I really need to cut it out completely to avoid mucus build up?

Thanks.

well good. Dont forget that drinking too much water will dehydrate you.

hehe. You'll piss out too many electrolytes. Technically. The best way is to eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies.

If your stomach is aching then youre probably squeezing your abs too much. You really shouldnt be tensing your stomach. I know it seems to be one and the same with diaphragm but its not. So practice the breathing.

And dairy. I love dairy but i dont eat much of it for vocal reasons but I'm also not....shall we say, set up to digest lactose sugar.
Its designed for an animal with four stomachs. That should be enough to say we dont need it. But it does make your body produce alot of mucus.When you secret mucus its a defense mechanism. The same reason why your nose and eyes run when you eat hot peppers. Green and leafy veggies give a lot of calcium and you can always get foritified juices and breads and vitamins. I dont think its sensible to think that we as humans couldnt survive without cows. So i would look into other options. I mean in todays society we dont eat worth a dam so yea I could see a doctor saying you need dairy because i dont know of any other source of calcium as high as that. If you really feel like you need it then go for it. You can compare how you feel and sing with it verses without it. I wouldnt just worry about it but its very true that milk is not the easiest substance to digest.

Just eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast if you are concerned about not getting enough nutrients.

[QUOTE=Merkaba-1]well good. Dont forget that drinking too much water will dehydrate you.

hehe. You'll piss out too many electrolytes. Technically. The best way is to eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies.

If your stomach is aching then youre probably squeezing your abs too much. You really shouldnt be tensing your stomach. I know it seems to be one and the same with diaphragm but its not. So practice the breathing.

And dairy. I love dairy but i dont eat much of it for vocal reasons but I'm also not....shall we say, set up to digest lactose sugar.
Its designed for an animal with four stomachs. That should be enough to say we dont need it. But it does make your body produce alot of mucus.When you secret mucus its a defense mechanism. The same reason why your nose and eyes run when you eat hot peppers. Green and leafy veggies give a lot of calcium and you can always get foritified juices and breads and vitamins. I dont think its sensible to think that we as humans couldnt survive without cows. So i would look into other options. I mean in todays society we dont eat worth a dam so yea I could see a doctor saying you need dairy because i dont know of any other source of calcium as high as that. If you really feel like you need it then go for it. You can compare how you feel and sing with it verses without it. I wouldnt just worry about it but its very true that milk is not the easiest substance to digest.[/QUOTE]


Thanks :)

Merkaba i've read most of your posts and stuff on here and just have a question that's sort of only relative to me. your "hotline" has been really helpful and i've seen a lot of improvement. but i still have a hell of a lot of room for improvement and i really aspire to be a good vocalist. so, my range goes up to a tenor G# and on the very rare occasion an A. but the highest consistently comfortable note is an E. above that it gets difficult to keep my diaphragm and all that isolated. could you possibly give me a rough outline of what a practice for me should be, what kind of work i can do to build up to that A&B area, and strengthen the F&G? that would be so helpful. thanks alot.

Merkaba,

Just to let you know, the only reason I joined this blogring is because I've really liked what you've done for the people here. But it seems like everything hasn't been able to help me.

Eh, you could say I've been "Screaming" for almost a year now (and I've been reading your articles for a couple months now). But until a few days ago, I thought it was decent. I never knew how much of a difference "screaming" without a mic and "screaming" with a mic there was. Until a few days ago, I was mic-less so I tried to develop a Agony Scene/Zaoesque scream and I believed it to be very decent, maybe even exceptional. Then I go to our first band practice, I hook up the PA system, and my "scream" sounds horrible.

It sounds very whispered and like I'm closing off the air coming up, resulting in abrasion in my throat (I tried "screaming" this morning and my throat is sore, for the first time in a while.). I've been told to coat the throat with several things (milk, peanut butter, honey, etc etc etc) but it seems like that doesn't help at all either. And I've looked for vocal coaches around my area (south of Kansas City, MO) and none of them are in this field. So I'm pretty much screwed for vocal lessons.

Is there anything you can recommend? My band is keeping me on the impression that I will become better, and I really don't want to let them down. I can do a recording, if that helps, but I think that you can get the idea, hopefully. Maybe I'm doing the whole "diaphragm" breathing wrong???

Once again, you've done an awesome job helping these people but it seems like it hasn't been able to help me; that's the only reason I'm posting this.

Thanks a lot, even if you can't get back to me.

David

If it helps any, I'm a 16 year old (next week) guy, 130, 5'6, just to give proportion ideas...I've been told that can help...ha...

[QUOTE=i_play_dead]Merkaba,

Just to let you know, the only reason I joined this blogring is because I've really liked what you've done for the people here. But it seems like everything hasn't been able to help me.

Eh, you could say I've been "Screaming" for almost a year now (and I've been reading your articles for a couple months now). But until a few days ago, I thought it was decent. I never knew how much of a difference "screaming" without a mic and "screaming" with a mic there was. Until a few days ago, I was mic-less so I tried to develop a Agony Scene/Zaoesque scream and I believed it to be very decent, maybe even exceptional. Then I go to our first band practice, I hook up the PA system, and my "scream" sounds horrible.

It sounds very whispered and like I'm closing off the air coming up, resulting in abrasion in my throat (I tried "screaming" this morning and my throat is sore, for the first time in a while.). I've been told to coat the throat with several things (milk, peanut butter, honey, etc etc etc) but it seems like that doesn't help at all either. And I've looked for vocal coaches around my area (south of Kansas City, MO) and none of them are in this field. So I'm pretty much screwed for vocal lessons.

Is there anything you can recommend? My band is keeping me on the impression that I will become better, and I really don't want to let them down. I can do a recording, if that helps, but I think that you can get the idea, hopefully. Maybe I'm doing the whole "diaphragm" breathing wrong???

Once again, you've done an awesome job helping these people but it seems like it hasn't been able to help me; that's the only reason I'm posting this.

Thanks a lot, even if you can't get back to me.

David

If it helps any, I'm a 16 year old (next week) guy, 130, 5'6, just to give proportion ideas...I've been told that can help...ha...[/QUOTE]

Blogring should've been forum. I just got done updating my Xanga... :confused: [SIZE=3]stupid[/SIZE] [SIZE=2]stupid[/SIZE] [SIZE=1]stupid[/SIZE]...

Coating the throat with food wont affect the cords...if it did you would choke! You know this. The only thing you can do is learn to relax...and keep the larynx low and work on isolating the cords from the larynx...I'm in a rush to work..so I'll be around later.

[QUOTE=Merkaba-1]Coating the throat with food wont affect the cords...if it did you would choke! You know this. The only thing you can do is learn to relax...and keep the larynx low and work on isolating the cords from the larynx...I'm in a rush to work..so I'll be around later.[/QUOTE]

Don't worry about it. And I'll slap my friend for telling me that [coating].

Thanks.

[url]http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/pendingdemise.htm[/url]

Here. This might sound better. At the very beginning it was more of a head voice rasp, then I went into a falsetto scream. I've read everything there is in these forums on screaming (at least everything written by Merkaba-1) and I'm pretty sure I'm doing it right. I warm up, practice screaming, warm down, and do it almost everyday. Doesn't hurt at all.

[QUOTE=CDoasis][url]http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/pendingdemise.htm[/url]

Here. This might sound better. At the very beginning it was more of a head voice rasp, then I went into a falsetto scream. I've read everything there is in these forums on screaming (at least everything written by Merkaba-1) and I'm pretty sure I'm doing it right. I warm up, practice screaming, warm down, and do it almost everyday. Doesn't hurt at all.[/QUOTE]
Yes that sounds way better. Technique wise it sounds good. Keep working

Thanks! :D
A week ago I decided I would exercise, run, and practice vocals everyday, as well as guitar which I play everyday anyways.... so I'll definitely keep it up. :)

[QUOTE=CDoasis]Thanks! :D
A week ago I decided I would exercise, run, and practice vocals everyday, as well as guitar which I play everyday anyways.... so I'll definitely keep it up. :)[/QUOTE]


Yeah man... exercising really does help your voice. I've gone to the gym 4 times a week for the past month or so and I'm singing a LOT better.

Hey, I was just wondering how the singer from Isis can scream so loudly and for so long, wouldn't doing that mess up your throat in someway?

Thanks if you know what I'm on about :)

[QUOTE=deadinlove]Hey, I was just wondering how the singer from Isis can scream so loudly and for so long, wouldn't doing that mess up your throat in someway?

Thanks if you know what I'm on about :)[/QUOTE]

practice???????? it's the same with any instrument.
and no, it won't mess up your throat if you do it right.

What's the correct way?

[url]http://www.musicianforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83073[/url]
[url]http://www.musicianforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=166901[/url]

I have a question regarding where middle, and head voice are for me..

My range, as of now, is D2 to E4 (E above middle C). I can gliss/legato into the E, but it is not very comfortable or clean for me to sing in yet. Also, I am using a considerable amount of power, and have much tension (which I am working on eliminating) when I am going from A3 to E2. I am curious as to where middle voice, and head voice would be for someone in my range...

also I am curious as to what sensation I should be feeling as I transition into middle, and head voice. I am trying to maintain a strong chest, and mouth resonance when I go up in my range, but doesn't this sensation transfer over somewhere as I hit middle?

Thanks!

[QUOTE=deadinlove]Hey, I was just wondering how the singer from Isis can scream so loudly and for so long, wouldn't doing that mess up your throat in someway?

Thanks if you know what I'm on about :)[/QUOTE]
The thing about working out is that it increases blood flow to your cords becuase it increases blood flow to every part of your body. My coach always recommended warming up with jumping jacks, pushups and sit ups and stuff like that before warming up vocally. I'm a personal trainer and i go to the gym about 5 or more times a week.

You know me...I always stress nutrition and fitness....Take a whole body approach to this stuff if youre serious about it.

It was brought to my attention that maybe its the pa system that is making my scream sound bad...I had done some screaming via phone and it sounded very well to several people, but then over the pa system, it sounds whispered, like I said before. Could it be the PA system (Hollinger PA-120 four channel) or maybe I'm too close to the mic? Or should I still concentrate more on diaphragm breathing?

Sorry if I'm a bother.

x/x David x/x

a phone pick up will make anyone sound good. Its just the mic. I have no clue when it comes to pa's but i will say that you just very well might not have a proper scream. you should post a sample here. Too close to the mic or the pa system...I'm 99 percent sure its neither one of those. If youre screaming properly nothing will really mess it up or alter it that much unless its some freaked out effect or eq. You should always be sure youre coming form the diaphgragm..but feel like youre singing the scream like any other note.

[QUOTE=Merkaba-1]a phone pick up will make anyone sound good. Its just the mic. I have no clue when it comes to pa's but i will say that you just very well might not have a proper scream. you should post a sample here. Too close to the mic or the pa system...I'm 99 percent sure its neither one of those. If youre screaming properly nothing will really mess it up or alter it that much unless its some freaked out effect or eq. You should always be sure youre coming form the diaphgragm..but feel like youre singing the scream like any other note.[/QUOTE]

I don't have a good enough Mic to record anything like that on here...

I'm pretty sure its the fact that my scream isn't good enough. Just talking to someone else who helps with this kind of stuff made me realize that. So I think I'm going to take some lessons, if I can find the rides...

Man, this sucks. lol. Before all this, I thought it sounded good. How loud should it be without amplification to sound even decent?

I recorded mine with a computer mic, just keep a distance from the mic or don't blow air straight into it... then you can hear the "real" scream. It might sound that great but it worked okay for me.

[QUOTE=Merkaba-1]WIth a little practice you learn how much you need for your singing and style. But its the feeling youre looking for. If you check out my samples i have a rasp lesson where i start off a rasped up falsetto scream and i remember doing the begining pressure a few times so that you can hear what it feels like, so to speak.[/QUOTE]

Hi. Noticed in this reply you mentioned you had some samples, do you have the link handy, Merkaba? Thanks