Save up a bit more and get the Shure SM7b. It is one of the best vocal mics ever, and is around $350 new. Might as well spend a bit more and get the best, vs settling for something that will leave you wanting more.

sure is, but it turns out it went away after 3 days, and my extreme vocals aren't the cause. The doctor gave me some medicine, and I shall be fine.
*whew*

Well that's good!

i'm primarily a clean vocalist, but i can do some mid and high level screams (on a good day) but I have a hell of a time with growls. Does anyone have good tips for making/sustaining a growl?

well. . . it's kind of hard to describe, but you have to use the throat to kind of get the tone, like the skinfold in the larynx to rumble in order for you to get the proper tone

This hurts my throat when i do this, what i guess i'm asking is how to avoid this

You're probably constricting your throat too much, then. It's hard to explain, but basically, just try to use less throat and more diaphragm.

yep, whether you're a screamer, shriker or growler you always use your gut, otherwise you'll rape you vocal chords. . . just ask my friend, his band needed a new vocalist after 3 years lol and he now plays bass.
uh yeah speaking of screaming, how exactly do you produce a hardcore/metalcore scream? I can't do those, I can do toilet spew death metal vocals and shagrath shrieks easily but I can't scream worth a shit.

Hardcore/metalcore scream? I think most of that is in the production, haha.

Just pretend that you're talking like an awesome tough guy and the vocals for the genre are easier.

there's a video on youtube by Aransquires that shows how to death growl. (not metalcore growl, the real deathy death growl of death)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFeYs2Fee2Y

Yeah that video helped me start.

well sorry dude , that video is just useful it lacks real helpful tips, the guy is pretty pro but his tips aren't useful.

theyr not supposed to hold your hand through the whole learning process. he explains the basics to get you started and thats it. otherwise if you cant learn, then you need a teacher or tutor

He's just teaching it wrong, he didn't mention the diaphragm breathing, also, he said "Tighten your throat" and seemed like telling "everything comes from throat just push hard on it and the only USEFUL thing that he mentioned was "If it hurts try other way" .
I can do deep growls and vocal fry, and I am trying to learn some more stuff. but this guy is an extremely good vocalist (from his covers) but he's explaining wrong stuff. it's obvious.

I just got a lavalier (Shure SM11), and there's just no volume at all. Turning up the gain in recording helps, but there's also a huge hiss problem that arises from doing this. Also, phantom power has no effect, one way or the other.

Hopefully somebody cruises this thread who knows a thing or two about mics and can help me out.

I tried doing a vocal cover of Celtic Frost's "Dethroned Emperor" recently. Thoughts? Also, disregard any stupid shit I do, like air mic, air guitar, faces, etc. :P

the sound does come from your throat though. if you look around on other directions and instructions, they all place an overwhelming emphasis on using your diaphragm to create the sound when your diaphragm is merely a breathing tool. and yes, you do have to use some muscle's in your throat, but i see what your saying. he wants you to tighten it, which is really kind of unecessary cause a death growl comes out pretty easily, you just need to push the air through once you got the basic concept.

also, something very small but kind of annoying. When I'm doing toilet-spew goregrind/brutal death vocals and try to pronounce an e I produce this squeal-y sound and there seems to be no way for me to stop it. Is there any way it'll go away.

thats an exhaled pig squeal. congrats, i here that a lot of people have a hard time getting that.

My only guess on how to get rid of it is to relax your throat a little bit while pronouncing the long E. otherwise, you might have to change the "EEE" to an "-AY". for example, instead of saying "Bow before meee", try "Bow before m-ay".

Exhaled Pig Squeals aren't that hard really.

took me a while to get them back when i was into grindcore and deathcore, and i also got asked numerous amount of times if i knew how to do it from ppl that could inhale. i guess it depends on the person...

Anyone have any tips for doing vocals while playing an instrument? I play bass and I don't want to get a vocalist because I've always wanted to do vocals but I don't know if I am up for it. I still have to get a stand for my mic but any suggestions such as posture, mic placement, vocal style? I want to do growls but should I do more of a half spoken/growled style in order for it to come out easier so I don't mess up?

Practice, practice, and more practice.

Yeah, just practicing is about the best thing you can do until you can play the song without thinking about it.

For posture, really anything works, you won't be able to headbang or other stuff as much as someone who just plays or just sings, which can be a little bad since singer is usually the frontman, and expected to be the most energetic, still you can do all the energetic stuff while your just playing, (during solos, pauses in the singing).

I would suggest watching live videos for slayer and deicide for mic placement, as they both have a singer that's also the bassist, also watch videos for bands with a singer/guitarist, as it will be pretty much the same thing.

Do the vocal style that you like the most, don't change them because you want to play and sing at the same time. Just work on it until your ready, its worth it.

I would also look up techniques they use with saxophone for breathing, and breath exercises. These are useful for any singer, but especially anything growled or shrieked vocals, will help you get longer growls and phrases.

Anyway, hope this is useful for you, and good luck with your band.

I've got some questions regarding vocals. First of all, I'm completely self ''trained''. I started to sing along to music 2-3 years ago and from then started to take singing more serious. Nowadays I warm my voice a bit up, but still need some help. I can hit notes, but don't really like my tone. I think my voice, (mostly on mid range) sounds quite dry and lacks energy. Anyway, speaking of vocal range:

-On a good day when I'm singing with everything that I have, like if you'd use falsetto (using chest voice?) I can hit the high notes in Fates Warning's ''Silent Cries''. This is probably the highest I can go so far.

-Singing more ''in control'', as if you'd speak to someone and go higher in pitch, (head voice?) I can hit the high note in chorus of Black Sabbath's ''Headless Cross''.

-Lowest notes that I recall are similiar to Nick Holmes. Think of his vocals in ''As Horizons End'' chorus, lowest vocal lines on ''Icon'' album. That ''warm'''sounding low notes.

So my questions, as in a list are:

-How to improve tone?
-What kind of voice do I have? I guess something in the ''middle'' of vocal types.
-How do I take good care of my voice?
-Which things should I never do to keep my voice in good shape?


Thanks in advance and in case you're wondering, I don't smoke.

Colin, to improve your tone you almost certainly need help from a trained vocal instructor. Only a singing prodigy can master his vocal resonance with self-training. If you haven't ever got any basic tips which I doubt considering how frequently you post here about your vocals, here are some.

Nasal resonance. Shouldn't be hard. Learn to sing "from your nose", then adjust the amount of nasal resonance so that the result is not excessively nasal but enough so. Find a balance.

Breath deep when you sing. Not so you pass out from just inhaling, but use your diaphragm. Don't try to sing too loud. Forcing your voice affects your tone (makes it sound quite dumb really) and somewhat damages your vocal chords depending on how much you force it. Youtr voice becomes louder as your technique improves. Trained singers often say they don't use more breath for singing than they use for normal speaking, despite being able to drown out an entire choir of untrained singers with their voice.

That is a very important part of taking care of your voice. Try to sing like Bruce Dickinson and your voice will gradually fade.

Thanks for your quick answer. Yeah, I guess that improving tone isn't the easiest thing to do. I've been thinking about getting singing lessons since I absolutely love to sing along to songs. Right now I've been singing without actually knowing what I was doing, sometimes pushed too far when my voice started to hurt, but this hasn't happend in months. I'm just hoping to get a decent voice with a fine range.

i have the same problem with clean singing.... i despise the tone of my voice (self taught also) because it sounds bland and dry when i'm in midrange notes, especially when i dont hit vibrato. i figured i just need to find a technique that i like (went through the clean majestic style at 18, raspy alternative style at 19, and now im trying a classic sort of ICS Vortex style along with the majestic Mikael Akerfeldt again). haven't found a good style yet for me

I am desperately searching to join a band but here in Albania Metal bands are just a few unfortunately and Metal isn't very popular here.I am not a professional singer but i can sing in high notes,some compare me with Klaus Meine of Scorpions or Midnight of Crimson Glory but i think i need a lot of work and practice cos i often go wrong with the rhythm or forgot the words and i must say i am a bit shy or very emotional when i sing.Lately i participated to "Albanian Got Talent " with a ballad from Scorpions and i went to the second phase and after that i didn't make it.

Thanks for the advice. I am gonna play guitar in a black metal band now so I guess I just have to work on my shrieks and screams more then growls but that might be for the better because when doing growls I tend to look down in order to get a deeper sound.

Anyone have any advice for a singer trying to upload a vocal cover? I don't know much so I used my webcam to record me singing on Rock Band and this is my result http://www.youtube.com/user/ThePrimusSucks?feature=mhum

Can anyone explain in detail how to do the high-pitched shrieking that Seth Putnam from Anal Cunt does? Or the high screams that Corpsegrinder and Blue Jensen from Guttural Secrete do?

Seth Putnam just fucking screams. He doesn't do black metal like screams, its more human its just fucking yelling. His vocal style is so unique its really what defines AC.

Not like that.

Obviously your web cam has a microphone on it. If nothing else, try using that, playing the song from your computer and singing over the top. I don't know much about rock band or anything, but from what I know the mics use a USB input? You may be able to plug a mic directly into your computer and record from there.

Ideally, you'd have a recording of the song itself playing underneath your singing, on a separate track so as to avoid the kind of noises you are getting currently.

Any pointers on how to get a Napalm Death style grindy bark type sound? Like this kind of sound.

Is it just a case of singing low and "punching" with the diaphragm for a more aggression?

So, I have MixCraft 5 and I need a (relatively inexpensive) microphone that's compatible with it....any suggestions??

yes that would be nice to know as i can nether hardcore scream or higher-pitch hardcore scream. I tried to do a Bjorn Strid (Soilwork) scream the other day and the ol' vocal chords didn't respond quite well. Not trying that one again.

Does anyone have any advice on how to come up with vocal patterns for black metal? My vocals are fine,but I find myself always just following the guitar

Do you play any other instruments or anything?

I find having a knowledge about composition in general helps for this..as well as just listening to bands. They all do it...

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EDIT: Sorry, getting rid of no posts bug.