Hello,

Is this the right way to do that vocal rasp/grit? Some examples of people who do what I'm attempting would be Josh Todd of Buckcherry, Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots, and Austin Winkler of Hinder.

I've experimented with different methods of doing the rasp (most of them hurt), but this one seems likely to be the correct technique. To do it, I have to relax my throat pretty thoroughly, and then just "aim" my voice at slightly different angle, and it starts vibrating with that grit. It feels like it's coming from slightly above my vocal cords, but I can't tell if it's my false cords or soft palate that is vibrating. I have to keep my throat relaxed or it doesn't come. Because of this, I'm having difficulty doing it with more volume and at higher pitches, but I can tell it can be done.

There's another, different, technique that is definitely the false cords, but in order to do it, you pretty much have to yell, and even though it doesn't hurt, it vibrates rather intensely and if I don't release it properly, it becomes purely throaty and tears up the cords (then it hurts), so I'm trying to learn alternate methods.


I couldn't get putfile to work, so I had to use another media host, but here are two examples of the relaxed throat rasp:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/zmzzzy0myqz/rasp.wma

http://www.mediafire.com/file/nnbtoyozmzn/rasp2.wma

Those are both samples of the first type of rasp you explained right?

I'm basically in the same situation as you: always wanted to have a cool rasp and these are the two ways I found.

I think you can also do some rasp with vocal fry but I never managed to do that technique.

Very interested in what others have to say!

Yep, they're both examples of the first kind I explained.

I'll put up an example or two of the second type I mentioned a little later.

Alright, here are two examples of the second type of rasp/grit I mentioned. In this one, I actually raise the larynx a little and tighten the throat somewhat, and have to use a decent volume to have it come out. The louder the volume, the better for some reason. If I don't do it loud enough/with enough air coming at it, it ends up slamming the vocal cords together and that is where it ends up hurting. It really doesn't hurt; it's mostly starting and releasing it that causes problems, but it does knock out my falsetto abilities for awhile sometimes.

This is the one I was doing for some time, but quit doing it a few months ago, because I figured there had to be a better way.

In these examples, I didn't do it as well as I could because I didn't want to get too loud here at night, but I believe they suffice.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/zhdzj1t5ngy/rasp yell.wma

http://www.mediafire.com/file/mdrmijjwogz/rasp yell 2.wma

To me your second one is just like the first one.

And btw the second type, when I do it as you describe, sounds a little like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBDAeO7_XTc

But I have to get "LOUD" basically as loud as I can without being noteless.

Anybody can chime in? :)

Ye in that youtube link I posted, the rasps are at the beginning of the chorus: "MEEE... YEEAAH.. all the things I hate revolve around me" (me and yeah being the rasped words)

Also, I get a nice little rasp when I'm singing high for an hour or so. With my poor technique I wear off my vocal folds and they prolly get some tiny bits of mucuous all over - nice! :P But since I'm gonna be singing technically in a few thousand years I still need the correct way. Chad Kroeger from Nickelback does it nice.

I was listening to the clips I posted and yeah, they do sound like the first method, but trust me, they're done differently. I think they sounded similar because I didn't use enough air/volume, as I usually do. The first method is pretty much impossible to do(for me at least) with the amount of air pressure I'm using for the yell method. Maybe I'll post another example.

I was listening to some songs on the radio earlier, and the song "Fire Woman" by The Cult came on. I noticed he does the yell type - the second method. That's nearly exactly what I sound like when I'm doing it with enough air pressure. Notice how the singer is not able to do the rasp, except when he is yelling. It's the same thing with me.

After a little while, the song "Rockstar" by Nickelback came on. Chad Kroeger is able to do the raspy voice even when his voice is calmer and not yelling. Austin Winkler of Hinder can do this too. It sounds differant than the yell type that the singer from The Cult uses. Another singer who uses the yell type a lot (and he really is yelling) is Rod Jackson from Slash's Snakepit. He also seems unable to do the rasp unless he's using a lot of air pressure/yelling.

Here is the Fire Woman by The Cult song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0coJxNgASs

Here is Been There Lately by Slash's Snakepit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI5yA-TTDzg

I listened to the Bullet For My Valentine song you posted, and he does seem to be doing the yelling method, although I can't get that exact tone. The vibrations in the rasp are less obvious in the way he's making it sound, as compared to Rod Jackson.

To second Giorgi's comment, does anyone have any thoughts on the topic?

Anyone want to weigh in?

I guess not.

I think that Chad's (Nickelback) voice is partially due to smoking/drinking and damage that it does. [Atleast that's what I read]

Some other artists have also a reputation of not being light on alcohol and 'stuff'. But that's not the healthy way of doing it, so we gotta learn the techniques :)

Have you ever tried vocal fry?

And check Devin Townsend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE8OUiASYSM He's the guy who made me wanna scream :D

Yeah, I was doing the smoking/drinking a while back for the tone, myself. All it really did was congest my sinuses, making it harder to sing, and limit my range. The alcohol dried out my throat, making it more annoying, so I stopped doing that. Never worked for me. This was before I knew what I know now, obviously.

I read that Josh Todd would gargle with diluted bleach for that raspy tone. Now there's an extreme, hehe. Definitely not going to do that.

By vocal fry, you're referring to the screams? Or using vocal fry to make the grit/rasp?

Strange video, but Townsend has some good vocals. I noticed that on some parts it seemed/sounded a little pinched, but on other parts he seemed like it was happening more relaxed.

Vocal Fry is usually used for screams but some bands do use it for rasp too, like Three Days Grace:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cernW4E0STY

Nope, haven't gotten that down then. I'm able to do the basic fry noise, but when I add pressure/volume/pitch I lose it. Then again, I haven't practiced that exact method much.

I think I will mess with it a little now though.