Scream and Not Lose Your Voice?

dewhitt

dewhitt

Dave DeWhitt
Hi All,

This is probably a long shot, and I can't wait to see the replies I get :), but I'm just curious... Are there any secrets or tips/tricks for being able to scream a vocal line, ala Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters, and not lose your voice in the process? I'm thinking along the lines of his performance in 'The Pretender': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBjQ9tuuTJQ&feature=channel

I'm thinking it's just a genetic thing, some people's voices, throats, lungs, whatever, are just better designed to cope with that kind of abuse, but maybe it's semething that can be learned or trained? My voice is decent, but certainly not strong enough to scream like that without feeling pain for days. How does a guy like Dave Grohl pull that off for a whole song, let alone a whole concert? Maybe that's why he gets paid the big bucks...? :D

Best Regards,

Dave DeWhitt
http://www.soundclick.com/davedewhitt
 
dewhitt,

First of all, we don't know how many folks in those groups have had vocal surgery on their vocal cords and if the damage is still there. I've heard that some scream nasally and/or from the stomach.

I can't imagine those who scream via the throat often would not have sustained vocal cord damage.

Best wishes,

Lloyd
 
LMF - what I'm curious about is guys like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk6Q4FpW-sY

hopefully that link works - it should bring you to a studio recording of Opeth's "Ghost of Perdition." It opens with about two minutes of death metal growling, and then there's a breakdown, and the vocals come back in sung conventionally, and the vocal is absolutely pristine.

It's the same singer, they've been playing together like 10-15 years now, and clearly his non-growling voice is holding up just fine, so I'm guessing it has to be proper technique. How the hell do you do that without killing your voice? :confused:

EDIT - or, here - this is an acoustic track of the album immediately before:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1044044

Guy's got a killer clean voice. I don't get it, this could almost be a more melancholy Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young tune.
 
DrewPeterson7 said:
LMF - what I'm curious about is guys like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk6Q4FpW-sY

hopefully that link works - it should bring you to a studio recording of Opeth's "Ghost of Perdition." It opens with about two minutes of death metal growling, and then there's a breakdown, and the vocals come back in sung conventionally, and the vocal is absolutely pristine.

It's the same singer, they've been playing together like 10-15 years now, and clearly his non-growling voice is holding up just fine, so I'm guessing it has to be proper technique. How the hell do you do that without killing your voice? :confused:

EDIT - or, here - this is an acoustic track of the album immediately before:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1044044

Guy's got a killer clean voice. I don't get it, this could almost be a more melancholy Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young tune.
Click to expand...

Look up a couple of techniques. Death chord and vocal fry. These are ways of getting pretty extreme vocal sounds without injuring your vocal chords.
 
Hey Yonce N Mild and Vessel2020!

Thanks! That's actually just about exactly what I was looking for. I'll have to take a look and see if the techniques described actually work for me, but thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

Best Regards,

Dave DeWhitt
http://www.soundclick.com/davedewhitt
 
dewhitt said:
Hi All,

This is probably a long shot, and I can't wait to see the replies I get :), but I'm just curious... Are there any secrets or tips/tricks for being able to scream a vocal line, ala Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters, and not lose your voice in the process? I'm thinking along the lines of his performance in 'The Pretender': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBjQ9tuuTJQ&feature=channel

I'm thinking it's just a genetic thing, some people's voices, throats, lungs, whatever, are just better designed to cope with that kind of abuse, but maybe it's semething that can be learned or trained? My voice is decent, but certainly not strong enough to scream like that without feeling pain for days. How does a guy like Dave Grohl pull that off for a whole song, let alone a whole concert? Maybe that's why he gets paid the big bucks...? :D

Best Regards,

Dave DeWhitt
http://www.soundclick.com/davedewhitt
Click to expand...

You are tightening up too much. Stay relaxed. When you tighten your vocal chords to strain and scream you hurt them. Also don't hold back let it out full volume if you don't fully commit it ends up hurting.

There are lots of youtube videos about screaming techniques.

The type of vocals you are talking about is simply singing with extra pressure from the diaphragm.

Try this: Sing a note something easy for you. Hold that note out and gradually add pressure from your diaphragm. Keep your throat loose and relaxed. Eventually as you add pressure the note will turn into a scream. The pressure has to come from your gut not your throat.


Hope that makes sense.
 
dewhitt said:
Hi All,

This is probably a long shot, and I can't wait to see the replies I get :), but I'm just curious... Are there any secrets or tips/tricks for being able to scream a vocal line, ala Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters, and not lose your voice in the process? I'm thinking along the lines of his performance in 'The Pretender': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBjQ9tuuTJQ&feature=channel
Click to expand...

He isn't really screaming until the end of the song. His voice is high enough that he can sing normally but with an angry attitude which gives the impression of screaming. That along with the vocal overdubs and his fierce over acting in the video creates the screaming illusion.
 
Hey ocnor, yeah, I agree, and I should have been a little more specific. It's really just the last couple of lines in the song where he's really all out screaming. That's the technique I'm after...not so much death metal or what my daughter calls 'screamo', but rather just a judicious use of that technique to really drive a vocal line home. Still though...even if I just did the two lines like he did there, my voice would be out of commission for at least a day or two :)

It sounds like the Xen of Screaming and other suggestions above are what I'm after, so I'm going to take a look at those and maybe give them a shot. If it works for me, you guys might hear me screaming soon on an .mp3 clinic track :D

Best Regards,

Dave DeWhitt
http://www.soundclick.com/davedewhitt
 
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