Growling Question

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jonobacon

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I am not sure where to ask this question as there is no vocals/singing forum, so please direct me to the correct forum if this is the wrong place.

I am interested in learning to growl properly as a vocalist in a metal band. I have thought about learning it before and never got round to it.

I know there is a technique for doing it so it doesnt hurt your throat - and I am after a low gutteral growl.

Any tips?
 
The Recording Techniques forum is sometimes used as the Vocal forum.
 
Before he died, Roy Orbosn gave private seminars to metal band vocalists across the country. He helped them to perfect that low gutteral vocal utterance that threatens to destroy woofers and eardrums in a single bound.
Roy worked with Barry White to develope the technique as well as the sylabus for teaching it.
What I remember from a training video is that conditioning the larynex is the first key issue. This is acheived by gargling a handful of marbles while uttering various tonal exchanges. For example, one might start with a slow physical gargle at a high frequency and vary the pitch while increasing gargle velocity.
As your larynex becomes toughened and more powerful from this exercsize, you'll gradualy reduce the amount of marbles in your workout.
Eventualy you'll find the harmonic and garglage vibration that works with your own larynex and esophogus size.
When you find you can achieve the same tonal amplitude without the marbles, you have become a Metal God!

Good luck.
 
jonobacon

You mean low gutterul like death metal vokills? Practice. it took me about 2 years to be happy with the differant shades of low vocal sounds that i can spew now. Practice. Use your stomach insted of your throat. Beer usually never helped but milk adds muccass. Try not to cup the mic like many singers do, i allways felt that was the cheezy way out.(proximity effect) Corpse grinder from cannible corpse does not cup at all.
 
I've found that the best sound (for me at least) comes from expending as little effort as humanly possible. If I were not miced, you'd barely hear anything. You just need a clean vocal channel and lots of gain.

It works for me with both the low Frank Rini/Internal Bleeding growls and the high screechy "notes" (like Chris Barnes on his last few records with Cannibal Corpse). If I put vocal oomph behind it, it just sounds like a wannabe trying too hard.

For *lousy* recordings of how this sounds, go to
http://www.mp3.com/Ptarmigan and check out "For the Love of God" and "Evil Things That Go Bump In The Night" (the latter inexplicably hit #2 on their Death Metal chart a few years ago).


detuned6: Sorry I haven't written back yet, I'm a slacking lamer bonehead. Will get on it...
 
Thanks for all your advice folks. I have been practicing for a few days, and I can feel it getting easier. There are certainly ways of doing it so it is easier.

One things though...is there a way of doing it so it doesnt hurt your throat and give you headaches?

I am currently getting headaches, and my throat is a little sore.

I suspect the headaches are from the pressure or something. Any clues?
 
My guess is that you're being too forceful--a perfectly understandable thing.
Have you been recording your practicing? That'll help you get the best combo for you of technique and sound. Getting used to doing it should help with the pains, though they may still happen after long sets, etc.
 
its going to hurt, try some tea. What helped for me is useing the voice in everyday conversation at work. Some people will give you a strange look-but you can say all kinds of shit about them and thier momma and they are clueless.

jonobacon is there a certain vokillist that you are looking to sound like?
Because there is brethe in types also -ala broken hope, devourment

esactin is ptarmigan your old band?
 
The headaches and sore throat will subside when you stop huffing the gasoline, my friend.:D :D

Actually esactun had it right, in my experience. Clean channel, lots of gain, and practice.

Pete
 
Hehe.

So are these headaches normally experienced when someone starts to learn to growl?
 
Sorry I forgot to say - I am after the growl of George Corpsegrinder Fischer / Chris Barnes / Chuck Billy etc. I low growl with some higher screams also.

I am trying to mix singing and growling.

Is all this growling safe or am I going to get some horrendous throat infection?
 
Safe Brutality!

Is growling "safe"? Well, it won't kill ya, but yer voice *will* suffer the consequences after too long doing it too hard. Listen to Jeff Walker of Carcass; his voice deteriorates something fierce from "Symphonies of Sickness" thru "Necroticism:..." to "Heartwork". Sounds great on the first two, sounds a little like a grindcore Grover on Heartwork. Probably takes a lot of years of touring etc. though; I still don't sound like Tom Waits. (A good thing...)

The inhalation styles strike me as being even more brutal to the ol' pipes. It also gives you that pterodactyl-being-murdered sort of yelpy screechy sound, and causes pain (in both yer throat and your buddy's ears!) nearly immediately. If that's your style, you won't need much gain at all :D

I think Chuck Billy does the full-force thing I can't do; at least it sounds that way to me. Probably worse on his throat than his old school 80s metal "opera" notes! He gets a nice tone out of it, though (like the grunt before "Envy Life" on "Practice...").

detuned6: Ptarmigan is my silly solo side project, originally conceived to teach myself how to record on my PC (and to keep the punk and rock projects I had at the time from getting all blasty). It's way more popular among some folks in the DIY underground than it deserves. It's on a Brazilian CD comp and soon to be on a Russian CD comp. When I wrote at ya before about current project/band (Metric Cheese Head), the situation is similar--I'm currently it, though I may have a guitarist and a drummer going on (iffy on the drummer), as I got emailed by some concert promoters on the basis of lousy recordings (http://www.mp3.com/metriccheesehead)... MCH is not truly death metal or truly anything but heavy axe with strangeness, speed, attitude, and not-quite-normal song arrangement. From punk rock to grindcore to cheez 80s arena to doom and groove. So as far "where do we practice" goes, it depends on who ends up actually being in the band. If I can't get MCH to be a live outfit, then I'll try something else from scratch. I can play a decent metal guitar (only decent at that on guitar, LOL) and play bass (a funky pointy metal-god thingy). The Ptarmigan tracks are all me, even drums where live (yikes!), but one or two MCH tracks have my bud Mark doing bvox. A listen will show why I did not post these to the mix clinic.... :D
 
Not infection, but it could be potentially harmful to your singing ability or lack thereof:D :D

Practice makes permanent, but perfect practice makes perfect. So practice perfectly permanently placating a prolific posture, while trying not to perforate you pallate. I have to p...I mean pee.

Pete

No really, it's Pete. Not like where I was playing...er, joking above. Oh, just forget I said a thing

Pete
 
One more thing....

jonobacon said:
Sorry I forgot to say - I am after the growl of George Corpsegrinder Fischer / Chris Barnes / Chuck Billy etc. I low growl with some higher screams also.
Click to expand...

I once got a silly Chris Barnes effect by recording to a mic in the bottom of a 5-gallon plastic bucket! It's so flangy and super-gurgly that it's only good for Autopsy-like fun.
 
while on the topic of c.c.

anyboby hear the new cannible ? i was going to buy it then i saw soffocation "breeding the spawn" cd and bought that insted.
 
true, very

When i listen to Cryptopsy's None so vile cd i tend to drive faster- that fucken album crushes.
 
Cryptopsy, Suffocation-- both are insanely heavy and fast. I remember when I first heard Suffocation's "Effigy of the Forgotten (?)", the '92 album.... the first song is still among the heaviest things ever captured on tape. A good combo of technicality and spasticity coupled with bludgeoning, slower, simpler riffs. And the grunting, cripes, it's evil! I use to scare people with that track. And with bad imitations of the intro to the demo version of Morbid Angel's "Chapel of Ghouls" (the '86 version)-- "Open the gates!!!!!"


PS: hey! I've just officially become a junior member! :)
 
Ahhh thanks for your help folks. I have heard some horrible stories of you getting throat cancer if you don't sing correctly and damaging your throat.

If it is safe, I will kep practicing. :)

The problem I get at the moment is that I get the horrible screetchy sound instead of the gutteral grunt. I don't get the whole singing from the stomach thing.

As for Ptarmigan - I downloaded a track from Napster a few years back and loved it - the vocals are incredibly low.
 
Growwwwwl

Gargle with DRAINO. No please.....I'm kidding.
I've smoked for the past 37 years. I'm not recommending you take it up, but unless there's a natural feel to it in your voice, I'd have to recommend some type of vocalizer/harmonizer, in conjunction with some mild distortion.
The other day I needed a certain effect, and I love to experiment.
Ran my Beta 57 by way of an xlr to 1/4" adaptor, through my Digitech RP200, and used the preset "talk" effect, after making a few adjustments to the parameters. The result was a cross between Frampton's talking guitar and Joe Cockers scream in "Little Help from my friends". Worked for me.
Just my thots...:rolleyes:
 
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