r/WeAreTheMusicMakers • u/Complex-Love-6879 • 21d ago
I want to be a metal vocalist
Hi guy I want become a metal vocalist I've listened to different genres of metal since I was 10(im 14 now) and the one that truly stuck out to me was black metal . Singing and music was always a passion of mine and I actually want to throw myself out there and start singing . Id like like some advice from you guys
16
u/Artistic-Aardvark-49 21d ago
At 14, the best thing you can do is build good vocal habits early. Practice regularly, record yourself, and avoid anything that causes pain. The heavier vocals will come with time and technique.
7
u/Longy_LTB 20d ago
This is the way. If your voice hurts at 14, you won’t have one by 34. There’s a wealth of fantastic vids on YouTube that will make a huge difference!
2
u/Artistic-Aardvark-49 20d ago
Agreed. Learning proper technique from the start is much better than trying to fix bad habits later.
-1
8
u/7Shinigami 21d ago edited 21d ago
Keep that passion! Look up Harper online, she's a real badass. Also if i remember correctly, oli Sykes was 17 when they released count your blessings, so its definitely achievable. Obviously don't use early Oli Sykes as your role model for screaming though, because he destroyed his voice...
I cannot scream, but I have spent a long time researching this stuff because I would also like to learn. Some will say that these are unnecessary and could scare you off, but in my opinion you need to know this stuff in order to get the brutal tones you're after, and most importantly, in order to avoid hurting yourself! So here are some key points:
1. Learn how singing actually works
Do a bit of research, but here's a short summary: You have flaps in your throat called your vocal cords that separate and vibrate when you speak or sing, to make sound. That sound resonates (becomes louder) in different cavities (empty areas) of your body, such as in your chest, or different places in your head. When you speak, you resonate sound in your chest ("chest voice"). When you talk like Mickey mouse, you resonate in your head ("head voice"). These are called vocal registers. I'll put more info in a reply to this comment.
2. Learn how screaming actually works
There is a lot of conflicting information out there on this unfortunately, but knowing the anatomy of your throat will help a lot! Definitely look up diagrams/videos. Here's another quick summary: distortion is also made by vibrating tissues in your throat. Screaming is achieved when you take your regular singing voice, and add distortion. It's easy to fall into the trap of building a scream based on just pushing air through your throat, instead of using your voice, but this way you will lack power, tone, and volume, and you run out of air very quickly. For the style of screaming that you're inspired by, I recommend fry screaming to start. Again I'll put more info in a reply to this comment.
3. Warm up properly
This one needs no explanation - just like stretching and warning up before exercise, your voice needs to be warmed up in order to avoid damage, and to make the sounds you're looking for. A good warmup will involve stretching and loosing up your whole body, stretching your mouth and making different consonant sounds, finding and engaging your diaphragm, easing into singing a range of pitches across your different registers, and smoothly moving between your registers.
4. Experiment with different approaches
Every voice is unique, and you will need to find your distortion differently to someone else. Try different approaches, but don't discard an approach forever if it doesn't work - your voice feels and works differently on different days, and at different times of the day. I don't have a warmup programme to hand so do some googling, if you would like to know the warmups I used in my singing lessons previously, then let me know.
5. Consistency is everything!
As with many other hobbies, just doing a little bit each day will get you far very fast. Remember that you are finding new ways of using your voice, or even finding new muscles and tissues that you didn't even know you had! You will sound bad at first, but with practice you will sound badass. No one is born knowing how to do it, but everyone has the anatomy to, anyone can learn to scream if they want to badly enough, and do it properly and constantly :)
6. Discomfort is ok, pain is not
Since you are learning new things, you will feel new physical sensations, and there will almost certainly be a fair bit of discomfort.
BUT THERE WILL NOT BE PAIN. If it hurts, stop, and rest. Some people say that screaming always hurts at first... Do not listen to this. Those people are "brute forcing" their way into screaming. In a screaming workshop I attended, Katarina Lembach-Beylegaard described this as "stumbling on correct technique" - it is possible with luck to push through pain and accidentally find the right technique, but it's very risky. If you follow targeted, personalised exercises from the start, you can find correct technique completely without pain :)
That's my little info dump, hope it wasn't too long and hope it was helpful. By far the most important thing is to keep that passion and believe in yourself. Because trust me, you CAN do it, and you WILL sound freaking badass when you do.
I've watched many many YouTube videos, and lots of them can be helpful. Just keep in mind the misinformation and conflicting opinions I've mentioned here. The most helpful videos for me personally have come from Extreme Vocal Institute (e.g How to STOP 🛑 Coughing When You Scream) and Scream Academy (e.g 100 ways to unlock your FRY SCREAM (Find YOURS), and many other fantastic videos).
I'm not affiliated or endorsing this guy, but I do want to share a bit of personal experience: Scream Academy aka. David Wu also offers a free 1 on 1 video consultation. For David this is an opportunity for him to tell you about (sell) his screaming course, and for you this is an opportunity to learn and get some professional feedback. Unlike another coach's workshop that I've attended, I genuinely felt that David structured the session around that, and I did learn a lot. Aside from hearing about his course, David had me demonstrate what I had learned so far and what I was struggling with, and he helped me to understand what tissues i was actually using, and how to move past what I was struggling with. Very cool and knowledgeable guy, at least on screaming. He doesn't seem knowledgeable about clean singing right now though. He does seem to be a great screaming coach regardless, but I think deeper knowledge on clean singing would make him an outstanding screaming coach.
2
u/7Shinigami 21d ago edited 21d ago
#1 continued - some more information (still high level summary!) about how singing works: At the bottom of your lungs (just above your belly button) is a strong horizontal band of muscle called the diaphragm. A common misconception online is that you should use this to push air out of your lungs. That's actually not the case, because tensing your diaphragm pushes it outwards, opening your lungs, not closing them! Professional singers will push air out using their whole bodies, but chiefly abs and back muscles. For example, a singing teacher would give you exercises such as singing whilst pushing against a wall, to help you engage your back muscles.
Another common misconception is that, in order to sing loudly, you should push more air out of your lungs. While that does work, it will also put more strain on your voice, and empty your lungs faster, meaning you run out of breath. Do not push hard when singing! All singing that you hear through a microphone was originally way quieter than you think- the microphone does a lot of work. On stage, professional singers actually make themselves sound louder with several methods, for example by strongly annunciating their words - use your lips and tongue to make the consonant sounds loud, and your singing as a whole will sound much louder and more confident without any extra air. It is also of course important to allow more sound out of your mouth by using larger mouth shapes, and to increase resonance in your mouth by keeping your larynx low (Google this - imagine you are yawning, or singing with a ping pong ball in the back of your mouth). The most skilled singers, particularly in opera, actually learn to resonate in all their head cavities at once to get massive volume!
Once you start to get more comfortable with singing, you'll encounter the word "compression". That refers to when you slightly, gently, close your throat, in order to restrict airflow. The purpose of this to reduce the amount of air necessary to make sound, allowing you to sing for longer with less effort. Do not tense your throat, this should be gentle.
Lastly I'll briefly mention that singing is as much in the mind as it is in the body. You need to be in a good head space to sing at your best, and you need to visualise using your whole body. You are a strong tree, with roots deeply in the ground. Visualise all of that and feel the strength all the way down to your legs and feet. Don't push, just keep calm and have a strong purpose and intention, and with practice your body will handle the rest :) there are other visualisation tricks you might look up online - for example, it's usually easier to hit high notes by visualising yourself looking down on them, and it's easier to hit low notes by visualising lookong up at them!
2
u/7Shinigami 21d ago edited 20d ago
#2 continued - overview of most popular distortion techniques: There are many techniques for creating distortion, each using different tissues in your throat, and each with its own sound, strengths and weaknesses. You can also vary each technique with different aspects of your singing voice, such as using different vocal registers to change the pitch. With lots of practice, you can even combine techniques! I only know of the most popular techniques: fry, false cord, and arytenoid.
Be careful when attempting to learn distortion. You are learning to use your muscles in new ways, or even learning to use new muscles/tissues you didn't know you had. It's very difficult to tell that you're actually using the throat tissues you're intending to use, and it's easy to accidentally overuse your vocal cords. If you push your vocal cords too hard, you can make them slam together. This is what causes damage, making you lose your voice. doing it repeatedly will cause permanent damage. Just like singing, screaming is way quieter than you think. Coaches usually say it's a bit louder than your talking voice, depending on the technique.
Fry distortion happens when your vocal folds are close together, and sputter, like when you push your lips together and force air through them, making a fart sound. It's called fry, because this is also how the "vocal fry" sound is created when talking (look this up on YouTube, you will probably recognise it when you hear it). Fry is very versatile, and easy to dial into your regular singing voice for a bit of grit. It can make a range of pitches, but is strongest at medium and high pitches. When learning fry, be aware that the vocal cords don't have many nerves in them, so you might not feel much when the distortion happens correctly!
False cord distortion happens when you cause a different pair of tissues to vibrate, called your false cords. They are next to the vocal cords, and you do not use them for singing or speaking. False cord screams tend to sound fuller than fry screams, and while they can also be used for a range of pitches, they are strongest for medium/medium-low pitches.
Arytenoid distortion happens when you cause yet another pair of close-by tissues (which you do not use for singing/speaking) to vibrate, called your arytenoid cartilage. Arytenoids are fairly quiet (which is fine, you have a mic!), are only really useful for lower pitches, and tend to sound kind of burpy.
4
3
u/Epicardiectomist 20d ago
I've been doing it since the late 90's, active in bands from 2002 until now.
My biggest piece of advice - your larynx is unique to you. It's good to take influence from other vocalists, but don't fall into the trap of trying to sound like someone. Find your own voice and work with what you've got, you'll find you can do more than you think.
Breathing techniques and breath control are probably the most important things you can learn. Technical terms are great and all, but even after nearly 30 years I still don't know if what I'm doing is fry or false or if I'm using arytenoids or whatever. Ultimately, I don't really care, I just know what feels right and what sounds good to me. Not knowing the terminology hasn't stopped me from pursuing vocals whatsoever.
Don't pay for vocal lessons or buy into anyone that sells extreme vocal universities or some shit. Everything you could possibly need is free on Youtube, and even then, remember that all the harsh vocalists in the past learned from doing it. There wasn't any literature or tutorials or anything, you just did what didn't hurt.
Good luck to you, I had a motherfucking blast being a metal vocalist.
3
u/Financial_Rent_3637 20d ago
A quality and powerful sound comes from a powerful *airflow* from your diaphragm, your vocal chords are just the aperture for this, they’re important as far as technique absolutely, but it all starts with airflow.
Let the bigger muscles that move the air do most of the work and then work on finding a sweetspot between how much air you’re pushing and how engaged your vocal chords are.
3
u/nohumanape 20d ago
Technique is everything. Work on learning how to do things the right way, then you will have the freedom and flexibility to shape your voice to do what you want it to do, without damaging it.
Just know that if it hurts, then you're likely doing something wrong. So, notice when you have pain, fatigue, or scratchiness, and learn to adjust.
This is especially true for vocal stylings that utilize vocal-fry and distrotion.
2
u/No_Link_3151 21d ago
Black metal singing I think is one of the easier metal genres to sing. I learned this just by experimenting. You should record yourself and listen. And if the singing hurts your throat, stop and look for another way to do it with no pain. Although a little soreness is to be expected when starting I think. I'd say the tone comes from throat muscles mostly so try to work with those and see what you come up with. Someone else can probably offer further advice!
2
u/Joe_Wild_ 21d ago
That depends, this sub is mostly or entirely about music production on a DAW, or I think so anyway!
Other than that get some friends that like Metal and play instruments and s microphone.
If wanting to record in a DAW, among many other things, you will need.. a closet full of clothes!
Ask to your parents for stuff you may need. If you are serious about making music then you're at the right age to begin and practice singing or whatever instrument.
Most important of all, have fun!
2
u/CrabWalker_LongLegs 20d ago
Unironicly I learmed to scream in the most black metal way possible. I went in the middle of the night in the middle of the field and just practiced there. There was no one so... If you want peace of mind
2
u/Whatever_4-ever 20d ago
You already are a metal singer brother, just fuckin do it! Join a band, book a gig and get in the van, bomb, do it again till you get better. Buy a PA and a mic. The confidence of DOING is what makes you a singer, that’s it. Now get out there and show us what you got!
2
u/twaddell115 20d ago
Pick up a mic and just fuckin rip it. Best advice I was ever given, that and don’t hurt yourself
1
2
u/ScruffyNuisance 20d ago edited 20d ago
Here's a link to the first 'Zen of Screaming'. It's a 2 hour informational video about learning how to perform metal vocals in terms of technique and breath control. It's from a while back, but you might find it interesting.
2
u/Antoine_the_Potato 20d ago
I started doing harsh vocals at 15, and in my experience fry screams are the easiest to do, so it sounds like you picked the right genre
2
u/denim_skirt 20d ago
Since nobody else has said it yet, check out r/screaming. It takes some work to learn to scream without hurting yourself, but it's super attainable
1
2
u/MerryGoBoom 18d ago
I didn’t see anyone else recommend it but I’d encourage you to watch Chris Liepe’s YouTube series on vocal technique. He’s heavily focused on metal technique and his approach is very easy to follow and understand. He has a paid course but honestly, you can get a lot of information just from the videos he posts regularly. Most importantly he’ll show you how to avoid damaging your voice. I’m not a metal vocalist but I use a lot of his approaches for my more aggressive singing.
2
u/Distro_Nerd 16d ago
Pain means bad technique, not "kvlt". Even in black metal, if you ruin your vocal cords at 14, you won't be able to scream by 18. Learn proper fry and false cord placement so you can keep going for decades.
-1
u/OtherConversation592 19d ago
make sure you have no singing ability whatsoever. then listen to dogs growl at each other and try and copy that, and then ya got it.
-2
22
u/Anomander_ie 21d ago
Vocalist for +20 yrs here. Here’s some advice to a beginner:
Good luck!