I once had a talk about this with somebody who happens to be a soprano in training. As far as I can remember there's also a lot of psycho stuff involved. When you start singing it makes you feel like a total fucktard because it is a thing that puts you right in the spotlight of everybody's attention. It's not easy letting go and going for gold so to speak.

Furthermore:
if you wanna sing clean, avoid stuff that builds mucus in your throat, yoghurt, milk and stuff like this are absolute nonos.
If you wanna growl it's pretty much vice versa. The more shit is in your throat, the better.
Black Metal vocals are the easiest to pull off. Just keep the back of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth (velar) and screech.

i totally understand when you say that if you want to sing clean you dont want any crap in your throat; makes a huge difference. having kind of discovered the gurgling growl method recently i can see how having some kind of mucus or whatever on your throat can help. is the gurgle method the best way to preserve your throat as it seems to keep it more lubricated than straight growling?

sorry for the late reply

yes, gurgling is a good way not to fuck up your vocal chords when practicing and testing out the range. I really, really have to talk to my opera singer lady for more tips and tricks. (I am curious, too)

Black Metal vocals are the easiest to pull off. Just keep the back of your tongue close to the roof of your mouth (velar) and screech.

Heh, they are also the easiest to screw up your throat with! Be careful!!! If you feel pain, go easy, try to formulate the sounds a slightly different way.... It's not worth dying over your screechiness like Chuck Schuldiner. Poor guy....

how might dev achieve his trademark scream without blowing his voice out? after seeing him live it still seems like its easier for him to achieve than the clean vocals. is he really yelling as much as it seems he is or is it just a really honed technique. i dont really like metalcore vocals per se as i find they kind of lack the variety of say devs or speed strids aggressive vocals but those guys seem to be able to yell for days. how the hell do these guys build these kind of pipes as they seem to operate under different conditions than death-vocals? i d really like to do syl or newer soilwork style vocals but it seems like i d have to push my voice way harder than i d like to and i dont need to damage anything.

I had a death metal band. I was the "singer". It was very difficult. Before I practised loudly I always did this voice: hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. At least 5 minutes. your vocal chords will warm. And you can scream, like an animal! But I have to show the other the more effective technik. But I cant... Sorry

It's really not that hard. You just have to work at it and it will begin to flow. Try to emulate what you feel is the best scream.

It's also not shouting. If you really listen to bands like DTB/SYLS, In Flames, etc. their vocals aren't just some guy yelling. It's a vocal technique that if done correctly can sound great and put almost no strain on your vocal chords (from my experience)

from my expierience agressive singing is easier at high volume, low/restricted volumes (i.e in my flat) tend to strain my throat but when im playing on stage or in rehersal it's much more natural. its important to also try taking the sound from different areas, For example to get a really low growl you have to take the sound from your stomach/diaphragm, it will sound better and will hurt less( less strain on your throat to push lower) To get a scream it comes from your throat.

Dont push things too hard, if it becomes painfull, take a break. At the same time your voice WILL strengthen over time so keep up the practice.

Breathing is also important, something i need to work on more for those prolonged screams/growls!

how exactly does one sing from the gut? is it kind of like pulling in your stomach muscles as you sing( expend air) or is there a kind of feeling or sensation that goes along with this method that might tell me if i m doing it right? if im pulling in my stomach muscles in a controlled manner as i sing that should push against the diaphragm would in turn would help to push the air out of the lungs right?

I find it hard to explain....

take in a deeper breath of air then you almost force the sound more from your chest more than your throat (my stomach muscles are tense as i do this), producing a lower tone(its EXACTLY like trying to SING clearly in a really low tone). You'll know when you've got it because it'll sound increadible with hardly any effort on your vocal chords or from your throat and it wont feel AS raw. when you do this you wont be using the same part of your throat as when your speakng, that produces higher tones like singing and screaming. make sense? probably not, its hard to describe...

Alright, I am no expert, but then again, I honestly don't believe there ARE any experts in this field. You have to feel your way through it.

The majority of Dev's extreme vocals aren't the "growl" type, ala death metal, but more of the open-throated "yelling" type. Being a vocalist myself, I've found it MUCH easier on the throat to utilize death growls over open-throated yelling. For one thing, when using a death growl, you're not aiming for any certain pitch, whereas with open-throated yelling, ala Dev's main style, you generally are. I think the only vocalist I know of who uses the yelling style but without moving around in pitch so it sounds almost completely monotone is Tom Araya. Most vocalists with the yelling style, i.e. James Hetfield, Phil Anselmo, Dev, etc., in my opinion are working their vocal cords harder than those who use strict growling because they have to aim for certain pitchs to follow a certain melody ALONG with bellowing out as much volume as possible.

Also, when growling, it's generally lower in pitch, so the vocal cords are less strained. Black metal rasps/shrieks, ala Dani Filth and Ihsahn, are also harder on the vocal cords because they strain the cords much more than growling.

I would recommend using the slow and steady process of working with extreme vocals. When I first tried, my voice would get hashed within three songs. After time, I slowly was able to extend my vocal cords' stamina. Previous people here have mentioned nodes, and this is a significant concern, so as soon as you start to feel a bit raspy, stop immediately and give your voice a rest for a day or two. Proper breathing is also very important. And the statement about "speaking into the mic", although a bit vague, is also important. Basically, you want your throat and cords to be as open and relaxed as possible, not strained and taut. Of course, when trying to be as extreme as possible with your vocals, this sounds completely backwards, but it's definitely how you want to be. Making your throat and cords as tight and strained as possible with greatly decrease your stamina and may very well get you injured.

So, proper breathing, open and relaxed throat, keep a bottle of water handy, and practice but be careful and know your limits. There is always the chance of injury when pushing your vocal cords to extremes. I hope this helps.

By the way, I've also heard Devin's warmup technique would probably injure an unpracticed vocalist, so I'm guessing he's worked at it for a VERY long time.

I once had a talk about this with somebody who happens to be a soprano in training. As far as I can remember there's also a lot of psycho stuff involved. When you start singing it makes you feel like a total fucktard because it is a thing that puts you right in the spotlight of everybody's attention. It's not easy letting go and going for gold so to speak.

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This is also extremely important to remember. Being anxious and nervous will cause you to strain your cords without realizing it because adrenaline is pumping through your system, causing you to exert more muscle force than you realize. Try to remain calm and don't think about the audience. Remember, they WANT you to do well, so they're on your side. Relax, take long, deep breaths, and have a good time. The more relaxed you are, the better you'll sound. Also, by being relaxed to begin with, you'll be able to harness the energy of the band and the audience as you go on, allowing you to build off of that and really hit your peak. Calm and confident. That's what you need to be.

The most important thing in developing your scream with the least risk of developing nodes is to ALWAYS warm up and cool down. Even if you have five minutes, do some warm up excercises. Start with just some soft humming, roam over your vocal range. Then start pushing some more volume and widen your range a little. 15-20 minutes is optimal, but, as I said 2-3 minutes or even 1 minute is far supperior to none. I'm bad for this, as I am shy in singing scales in front of too many others, so when I get to band practice I only warm up for maybe 2 minutes. This is important no matter what kind of singing you plan to do. And cool downs are basically the opposite, sing some scales (work you full range) and slowly work back to lightly humming.

Personally, I found sugars and sticky liquids damaged my ability to scream/growl as well as do clean vocals. But it may be different for others.

Everyone seems to scream in a different way, which is great, so it's hard to offer tips other than a warming up one but I will try and give a couple more on the actual singing.

When they say you sing from the diaphram, that is the way it should feel. Of course you use your vocal chords, throat, tongue and mouth to form the sound, but the air should be pushed out with your entire torso. When you make sure you breath from your diaphram, you are actually opening up your entire lungs rather than the top half. Most people aren't used to this and as such, it feels as if they are working their diapham more than their chest, but in reality they're finally using all their muscles.

As for the talking into the mic, some singers do that, but I'm all for the power vocals \m/ My favorite singers are Phil, Dev, Tarja (Nightwish) and the like, so I power my vocals out and after a practice my stomach muscles are excerted. So whether it be death metal/power metal/black metal/thrash metal I scream for all I'm worth. Without a regular jamming schedule though, my vocals aren't up to what they were, but I was able to scream my balls to the wall for nearly 2 hours without feeling too stressed from it.

One other thing my vocal instructer had told me is that you should only work on expanding one range a day, so one day do high, the next low. Your body can't develop the chords both way at the same time, so it's best to push one way and then the other.

I don't know techniques per say for screaming styles besides scream as hard as you can, and if you can, do it musically, lol. But for death metal (which I do musically as well...as in hitting notes) I end up relaxing my vocals a little more and pulling back a touch on the air. It's a vocal style I have just found in the past year, never dreamed I would be able to do it before, but doing it quite well now. However, I have found the more I practice, the less I have to pull the air back, so I'm hoping that I will find some interesting style through this.

Hope some of this helps and that this wasn't a complete waste of your time.

have you tried gargling with moose semen? it's fantastic (but hard to come by...just imagine!)! take my word for it!

hope this helps!

ps - also, try worshiping satan; can't go wrong there!

excelsior!!

When I get time alone, I scream as loud as I can, I rip myself up, and it hurts, but later it doesn't? I really think my vocals are something different, although it scares anyone that happens to hear me, pure anger = pure angry sound? Just screaming loud as I can seems to show me my limits, and that my limits themselves seem to be so easy to push harder now. I sing much more than I scream, and I think more than anything its just finding where you can push your own voice, finding that sound that is yours, and let it take you... Did that make sense?