I am looking for advice on how to develop my singing ability/technique, computer programs and equipment I should look into, and any other pearls of wisdom you may have to offer.

I prefer to sing clean because I don't want to damage my vocal cords (I know you can sing harsh without damaging them, I just don't know how).

I have a clear, strong high-pitched scream that I can hold 10 seconds+ (Andi Deris from Helloween complimented me on it!).

My range is good, but I'm not quite sure how to classify it in musical terms (any tips on how to do that would be appreciated greatly).

I took 5 years of piano when I was much younger, so I know how to read music and have some basic knowledge of musical theory.

Ok... I'm not that experienced in being a vocalist, but for technique to clean vocals, I could only recommend basic stuff to work on like posture, use of your abdomen, vibrato (if you want, it sounds cool with clean vocals imo). Stand up straight at all times, slouching will often make you sound flat.

Same thing with singing out of the abdomen, if you sing too much with your throat to relay the sound, it may sound incomplete or flat, and in response to your comment about screaming/growling, the voice can also be hurt if you sing clean from the throat too. Remember to breath, that is important to remember to do (believe it or not lol), because that is essential to singing from the abdomen (and that you don't loose breathe in the middle of singing).

There's something I tried when I was getting trained on vocals that I would use to try to build my voice to reach higher/lower notes. It's very simple, get a scale of notes to work on, sing on key with the notes ascending from the root note and descending the scale back down to where you started. I used a minor scale...

I.E. on bass

------------------------
------------------------
---------5-7-5---------
--5-7-8--------8-7-5--

I would sing the scale and go up a key consecutively until I've found a key that I struggled on singing; sounding flat or my voice break. It might help if you had someone pluck out the keys for you on a piano just to have something to match the notes against, but if not, any other instrument sould suffice.

From what you are stating about your voice, I'd say you are a tenor (since that guy from Helloween compliment you ), here's a link to the different types of tenors that are classifiable: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenor#Leggiero_tenor

As a start to figuring out what type of tenor you are, I would sit down sometime and try to match up the highest note you can sing against another instrument without your voice cracking. From there you can compare it to the different levels in the link provided.

Last but not least, for mixing programs, voice equipment etc... I'd say, get a Sure 58 mic. The best all around mic I'd say... with that perhaps you can find a mixer to channel it in to a speaker or something... maybe a Behringer with a one channel grid so it's not so expensive. Then you can take the line out and patch into your computer or something... but, I'm not the best person to ask when it comes to these technical things.

Hope that helps...

I am wildly jealous that you are going to the Kamelot concert! It sold out in my area.

Quote:
I took 5 years of piano when I was much younger, so I know how to read music and have some basic knowledge of musical theory.

This puts you ahead of many vocalists. My advice for vocal development is to just dive in and take any gig you can get and just get experience from any quarter you can. And by any gig, I mean any gig that gets you in with people with sliver of talent--metal, pop, musicals, choirs, etc. wherever you can.

Hey guys!!
What about the MELISSA CROSS instructional videos... I think its very helpfull.. She helped out so many singers like angela gossow and the Lamb Of God singer... May be you have to make a look..

You can sing a C5 and you want advice???

well, my advice would be to not just expand your high end, but also your lower vocals, just look at Iced Earth's album "Night Of The Stormrider", that guy can do stuff with his voice most people never dream of, shame he never sang on any other album of theirs.

Written by Valentin B on 16.11.2008 at 22:34

You can sing a C5 and you want advice???

well, my advice would be to not just expand your high end, but also your lower vocals, just look at Iced Earth's album "Night Of The Stormrider", that guy can do stuff with his voice most people never dream of, shame he never sang on any other album of theirs.

Well even thought I can hit high notes I'm still not that comfortable at it. I'm really at my most comfortable in the baritone range. I usually practice by singing songs from Kamelot and Matt Barlow era Iced Earth actually lol. I start having problems the closer I get to falsetto.