Death Metal Type of voice

C

CarcPazu

New member

Hi all, that's my first post over here.

I'm basicaly a newbie, I've been messing around recording my ideas lately and I'd like to know if anyone could give me some advices/tricks/techniques to record a death metal type of voice. Meaning the kind of low growl in such bands as Opeth, Cannibal Corpse, Broken Hope, Dying Fetus...

Right now my gear is pretty limited but I'd like to do with that for now :
Soft: Sony Vegas 5
Soundcard: Audigy 2 Platinum
Mic: Shure SM58
Mixer: Behringer Eurorack UB1201 4inputs
I could have access to a Blue Ball Microphone

Any comments, laughters or suggestions would be appreciated!
;-)

 
Not my cup of tea, but...

CarcPazu said:

Hi all, that's my first post over here.

I'm basicaly a newbie, I've been messing around recording my ideas lately and I'd like to know if anyone could give me some advices/tricks/techniques to record a death metal type of voice. Meaning the kind of low growl in such bands as Opeth, Cannibal Corpse, Broken Hope, Dying Fetus...

Right now my gear is pretty limited but I'd like to do with that for now :
Soft: Sony Vegas 5
Soundcard: Audigy 2 Platinum
Mic: Shure SM58
Mixer: Behringer Eurorack UB1201 4inputs
I could have access to a Blue Ball Microphone

Any comments, laughters or suggestions would be appreciated!
;-)
Click to expand...


What I would try is playing with longish delays 100ms ish plus generous reverb to get the sound thicker. Using a "doubling effect", which many choruses have - or just double tracking the vocal might help too. It seems that this is a pretty thick sound - the things that I suggest tend to add thickness. Dude - try not to develop any polyps on your vocal folds doin' that stuff.

Rock on,

JD
 
Death Metal Type of Voice

guttapercha said:
try not to develop any polyps on your vocal folds doin' that stuff.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by that?


Thanks a lot for the delay/chorus ideas.
 
CarcPazu said:
What do you mean by that?


Thanks a lot for the delay/chorus ideas.
Click to expand...

Low growls, screams and yells can severely strain the vocal cords and cause polyps or even tearing. Have you tried a vocal coach? If you could find one who knew about your style of singing they may be able to help you avoid possible injury.
My wife developed a varicose vein on her cords. The doctor said that if it ever burst it could make her lose her voice. Sometimes while recording I can hear that vein vibrating and have to remind her to relax. It's hard to break old habits once ingrained...especially with something as natural as a voice.
 
75% - 90% of that sound comes from what you put in, meaning how you sing/scream/growl/whatever. And yes, make sure you've got the proper technique so you don't hurt yourself. The key is not tightening up your throat, though that is the natural reaction most people have. The two techniques I've seen work best are:

1) The Ass Scream.

Next time you have to take a crap, squeeze and scream. You want to feel as though the sound is going in a line from the pit of your stomach to your mouth, not starting in your throat.

2) The "but MOOOOOOOM!" Scream

The sound you make when you're fed up with somebody - that kind of groaning sigh when your gym teacher just told you to do suicides for the next 30 minutes. Now add more air and use your mouth to shape the sound. This is probably more of what you're going for. Remember, the guy from Opeth's scream (un-mic'd), from what I've heard, isn't much louder than his talking voice, so don't overdo it. That's a good way to fuck up your vocal chords.

Hope this helps some.
 
gumplunger said:
Next time you have to take a crap, squeeze and scream. You want to feel as though the sound is going in a line from the pit of your stomach to your mouth, not starting in your throat.
Click to expand...

You might not want to practice this one in public until you've nailed it.

Seriously, though...thanx for both of those techniques...great advice gumplunger.
 
id say 58, a foam windscreen cover, compress and verb. you can use an outboard distortion to add a bit of grit to help you out. following the advice of others id say that the fair amount of times ive done metal/hardcore the best gutteral scream takes were best achived not by yelling volume but by the amazing control that the singer had. the best one ive worked on the guy sang really damn quiet actually, was a funny sight.
 
Death Voice

Thanks to everyone for the advices about being carefull with my voice.
I admit I was trying to force my voice too much.
I tryed doing it almost at normal speech strenght and it worked way better and give a better result.

I realize that this type of singing is a lot harder to do than I expected.
 
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