THE VOICE CONNECTION
SOUND OFF

Welcome to The Voice Connection Sound Off; a forum for users of books like Raise Your Voice, Melody to Madness, The Ultimate Breathing Workout, and Unleash Your Creative Mindset, as well as a place for Vendera Vocal Academy members to interact.

This message board was created so that singers could come together and "sound off" to help support each other during vocal development and the creative process of unleashing the creative spark that occurs when writing and producing music. Currently, myself and vocal coaches Ben Valen, Ray West, and Ryan Wall are here to respond periodicially to your questions, with new vocal coaches coming soon. But, feel free to help each other too:)

This board is here for you to ask questions about my and my fellow coach's books, videos, and MP3 programs, as well as offer others help with our vocal techniques. You may also post videos of yourself and your band to share your music and ask for critiques.

Please refrain from negative comments, profanities, spamming, and inappropriate criticisms of vocal methodologies, vocal coaches, and singers. All negative posts will be deleted and subject to banning without question. I will not respond to negative posts, because, as Mark Twain once said, “Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.” With that said, positive criticism is welcome because that is how you'll grow as a singer during the training process.


The Voice Connection - Sound Off
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Re: A question for Jaime about Screaming Lessons

Great questions man. I'm looking forward to the answers as well, especially with your second question.

Re: A question for Jaime about Screaming Lessons

I don't know about the first 3 questions but #4 I want to point out that Stu Block from Iced Earth/Into Eternity does some black metal shrieks and death grunts while hitting very high falsetto notes without a vocal break nor without any change in his tone.

Re: A question for Jaime about Screaming Lessons

Dude, 3rd question is right on! I want to learn to scream the way they do it, that's my mission in life!

Re: A question for Jaime about Screaming Lessons

1) How do I practice everything? I mean, are there any scales or something? It's kinda weird doing it without scales

This is a totally new approach. It's not about scales, it's about experimentation. There are some scales for the warmups which you can use for the screams, but all in all, I wanted to make this all fun and give singers a break from scales.

2) Is there a better explanation beyond "aim for the palate and have good support"? I mean, maybe i'm just trying to make something simple to look harder than it really is, but I still did not really understand how to do most of the screams except for the pterodactyle one which I always kinda knew how to do.

It has to do with slight glottal closure. I believe I said, it's like grunting without grunting. Almost clench the voice like a grunt, but do NOT overexert it or else you'll strain. You MUST feel that grit sensation in the roof of the mouth. That is your guide to know you aren't over clenching in the throat.

3) Which one of the screams does the singers from Linkin Park and Avenged Sevenfold use? The dude who sings along with you on the long CD he's a good screamer, but his screams sounds NOTHING like LP or A7X, and i'm talking about the technique, not the timbre.

That was the company who put those names on there. I've told them to remove LP from Volume I promo. In fact, I believe in the last minute reading cards, several names were added for me to read that should have been saved for the other volumes. We will get to them, I promise. As for A7X, the only thing in this one that Matt does is the multi-tonal demonic sounding thing that he does t the beginning of Bat County.

4) Last question that I currently have: will screaming changeruin the voice? Let's take an extreme example to get a clear answer: let's say that James Labrie would take screaming lessons and learn to scream like the dude from the CD (Kelly?). Will it hurt his abilities to sing those high, clear and powerful notes? Will it change the tone of his voice? Will it make him sound fatigued?

NO, not if you do it right. If it is changing your tone, then you still need to work at it. The show I just did for National Geographic had film of me screamin, adding grit, hitting high notes, etc and there was absolutely no strain. However, they barely even showed ANY of that footage so I am trying now to get them to release some of that footage to me so i can add it to the members section. If not, I may have to film again hiring a doctor and film crew, BUT, it isn't fun to do, haha. Trying singing with something shoved up your nose and down your throat and you'll feel my pain;)

Is it possible to be a high pitched power metal singer and a grindcore screamer at the same time without sacrificing your abilities in each one of the singing styles?