Last week I was reflecting on what my vocal instructor had told me. Which was that I was hitting notes well and with power but it was very rough sounding. At the time I was listening to Queensryche - The Whisper, I said to myself I can hit all those note can't I do it dynamically? So I mimicked Geoff Tate for a bit and BAM! I realized that I was pushing to hard and my placement was off. Then last night my vocal instructor was blown away at how much I improved . Then this morning I was listening to the new audio files and flipping through RYVII wondering how is the death growl done. With many failed attempts I was ready to call bulls*** then i thought what makes this so different then what I learned how to do last week. So basically i just focused on singing and it just came to me. I have been death growling for the last 2 hours and I still have my range . Though i have messed up here and there and went "ouch that hurt!", but all in all I couldn't be more excited.... Sorry for the lengthy post lol

Awesome. Hang on to that feeling man. Just remember, it does NOT take a lot of volume for deth metal growling. I actually teach that style as well if you ever want to do a lesson;)

Oh yeah definitely the difference in volume is like 50%

Cool. Jaime, or someone who knows --> question about zipping: Do the chords zip from front to back or back to front? meaning form neck to the back of the neck or the opposite?

the cords don't zip at all, they just stretch. they are fatter on the low notes and thinner on the high notes

The chords Dampen when you reach the point when they cannot stretch anymore... Thats often describes as Zipping and it has been filmed with a scope down the troath :P

The cords zip from back to front once they begin to dampen.

Once your comfortable with zipping the cords, you can actually feel them coming together. I think it's neat.

i have seen no anatomical evidence that says the vocal cords "zip" up in any way. They are always closed when you are making any sound, its just a matter of how long or short they are, but i just dont agree that they zip up and the opening gets smaller when you get higher. I'm no expert and i could be wrong and would love to see some kind of proof of the anatomy that this is so because as far as i know the anatomy doesn't work like that. Brett Manning also believes this to be so and talks about this zipping but i disagree.

haha whoops i typed my subject in my name spot...is there a way to edit after posting???

Thats is srange, ' cause when I get higher, I feel like my chords are zipping from front to back!?
It doesn't matter that much but it's strange, cause i've
always felt that way, propably due to a wrong mental image of the system.

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.usm.maine.edu/bio/courses/bio205/human_vocal_cords.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.usm.maine.edu/bio/courses/bio205/bio205_19_vocal.html&h=1039&w=777&sz=988&tbnid=j_wEDN3VeW0uSM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=112&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dvocal%2Bcords%26um%3D1&start=2&sa=X&oi=images&ct=image&cd=2
in the third picture it shows them coming together or zipping if you will.

Sorry Nik, but your opinion is wrong. Yes I believed once like you too. The first video I saw was a clip that vocal coach Thomas Appel showed me. After that and practicing his exercises, I gained about 7 notes in a month, then it kept going up and up. Was I gonna say, "Well Thomas, the voice doesn't work that way therefore I don't believe you". After a gain of 7 notes in a month, do you really think I cared??? NO, I was gaining the range I always wanted.So the bottom line is; does it truly REALLY matter> No, just do the work and improve (But YES they do zip.) Why are we on here??? Do you want to sing your best or would everyone rather just sit here and debate what they believe to be true??? I feel like this board is becoming a negative debate thing rather than a place to help your fellow singer get through the rough times. Not picking on you Nik, you response was actually a good one from a new person on here, I am just looking at the overall responses from the last few months. Just do the exercises in the book and use the visualizations, write down your daily progress and wacth your potential soar

The Man has spoken

i'm not trying to be negative in any way or try to undermine your knowledge of the subject, theres no doubt you know much more than I do. And i wouldn't mind being proven wrong as long as I figure out the right answer. But there seems to be two different schools of thought on the vocal cords and how they work. And even in that link it shows them closed the whole way and stretching. yes it appears that when they do close they close from the back to the front for a milisecond, but once that has happened they are closed and either short or long. So are you saying that when you actually sing in the low part of the voice the cords are only partially zipped up and the other half is still opened?? Cuz that just doesn't make sense to me or possible. But if it is true i would love to be proven wrong.

so after thinking about it and looking in the book some more I'm starting to realize i think i had the wrong perception of the zipping process. I was thinking you were saying right off the bat when making noise your vocal cords would start zipping and the more they zipped the higher the sound. But after reading into it more it seems that the zipping doesn't happen until higher in the voice and the cords can't stretch anymore so they make the "hole" smaller. Am i getting it???

Yes, that is the idea.

sweet, thanks for the help..and patients! i understand now:)