Written by Arian Totalis on 09.03.2007 at 03:57

I am also learning how to sing normally, I've needed help with this a while, any tips people?

Train often. Sing triads (both major and minor, with different vocalization etc) in every possible way, it will shape your voice and aural skills.

Like Golden Wing stated, the most important factors are the right breathing and diaphragm. These are a bit hard to learn without a teacher I guess.

Of course, you gotta try! I recommend you to drink crude eggs before singing - this stuff makes voice cleaner.

Written by [user id=8724] on 09.04.2007 at 13:03

Written by Arian Totalis on 09.03.2007 at 03:57

I am also learning how to sing normally, I've needed help with this a while, any tips people?

Train often. Sing triads (both major and minor, with different vocalization etc) in every possible way, it will shape your voice and aural skills.

Like Golden Wing stated, the most important factors are the right breathing and diaphragm. These are a bit hard to learn without a teacher I guess.

I actually don't know anything about vocal theory, so inherently I don't know vocal notation. I couldn't really use triads because I don't know vocal notation.

I also don't know how to use my Diaphram. Do you have a link or something that could help me with all of this?

You don't have to know any notation. First, play the intervals of the triad with a guitar/piano (I find it easier to do with a piano), and try to sing them. Once you get the grip of it, play only the root note and sing the intervals on top of it. (If you're not familiar with basic triads, there's an another thread focusing on those. With people who can explain them better than me with my weak english.)

As for diaphragm, I'm not too good with it myself yet, and there's definitely people here who can help you out better. I'm kinda busy right now, so pardon me for shallow posts. After quick search I found this: http://www.wikihow.com/Sing Some basics there.

I'm not sure if anyone has actually given tips, because there are a lot of long replies and I'm not that attentive, but being an experienced singer, here are some tricks that I've learned:

- I saw someone mention drinking/eating raw eggs. DON'T do that. It doesn't clean your throat, it just adds mucus, and if you want to sing strongly, that's exactly what you don't need.
- Drink lots of water. Don't eat dairy (milk, cheese, etc. also adds mucus)
- Keep your face muscles relaxed. Tension in your face equals tension in your vocal chords.
- Keep your stomach relaxed. Many people (especially those that play woodwind or brass instruments before singing) think this is the right way to sing. Well guess what... you sing with your lungs.
- Keep in mind that more air equals louder. Do everything possible to keep your airways open. The higher you go, the more open you need to be.
- Drop your jaw. Always.
- Over-annunciate.
- Don't wait until you're out of breath to take another one.

jejej interesting WELL to answer your questions YES everyone needs training and secondly No you don't have to limit yourself in range for example , I'm a first soprano but I sure can do Mezzo tone and notes and probably first Alto , uhmm for high notes I think so far the highest I have hit has been a high G so see as you get more professional you expand your range . Look at Yma Sumac she has 5 OCTAVES OMG ! she is wonderful from tenor to high soprano how wonderful that can be , the more you learn and practice and grow the better !

anyone who can tell me how to growl!

Id like to know if anyone could just growl, or is it limited? And if its limited, what does it depend on?

I am the lead vocalist for a band thats on hiatus. myspace.com/theageofdusk. All the vocals on the recordings are me, the growling, screaming, and singing. I would suggest listen to a fuckton of Opeth to get a nice range of skills. And listen to Between the Buried and Me also. Tell me what you think of my style.

Written by Icewings on 30.06.2006 at 06:57

Hey YAY !!! the singing thread , well guys I wanted to show you something that I subcribe and I always got one ..so I'll post the rest later but read this one ....Some stuff maybe I don't agree with it but they have important points ....

Big Lie #1 - People start out singing all wrong, so they must be taught
(or
re-taught) EVERYTHING, in order to sing "properly."

Truth - You MAY be doing SOME things wrong, but if you can speak, you
are NOT
doing everything wrong. When you speak, you are using the very same
tools you
need to sing--no more, no less.

Most singers' difficulties come from getting away from their natural
speaking
technique when they sing.

If you are less than satisfied with your singing, then it is very
likely you're
doing something less effectively than it can be done. But stop and
think a
moment. HOW do you get rid of the difficulty?

There are several possibilities: 1) You are just no good at singing
(many
people suspect this about themselves, but it's totally untrue as you
will learn);
2) You are not trying hard enough (many people assume this too, but
you will
find out that trying "harder" only ADDS to your difficulty); 3)
Singing is a
special skill that you have no useful knowledge about, so you must be
prepared to
spend lots of time and money learning this totally foreign skill.

All these possibilities are common thoughts, but all wrong. Here's the
possibility that you must accept to make satisfactory progress
improving your
singing:

4) You have been using your "singing tools" all your life, but you may
have been
"holding them wrong" while singing. It will be as easy as speaking,
once you
have someone show you how to simply hold the "tools" correctly.

You use the same exact body parts and capabilities to sing as you do
when you
speak! The problem often comes in when someone tries to tell us how to
sing and
they get us twisted up so that we STOP singing like we speak.

It's like you've been using a hammer to flatten bottle caps all your
life. Then
one day you need to drive some nails. You have doubts about trying it.
Then
someone walks up and sees you trying to drive nails. He tells you
"That's really
noisy. Here, hold it like this" and he turns it around so that you're
striking
the nails with the handle instead of the hammer's head.

It doesn't make so much noise now, so you think he may be right. You
keep trying
but you make very little progress.

Then a carpenter comes along and says "hey, buddy, you've got to hold
it by the
handle if you want to drive the nail." You turn it back around and
discover that
you can drive nails pretty fast now.

That's what singing should be like. When you learn how the voice was
designed to
work (and you will learn a lot about it, over these next 9 emails), you
should
make amazing progress and singing should get much easier at the same
time.

Wow this is helpful! Thanks!
The idea that almost anyone can sing as long as they really want it has been in my head for several years now.
And I think you're saying about the same thing here now again.
It's just a manner of finding the singing style that suits you the most.

I guess I'm still looking for my own but the styles I've tried so far I really like, so maybe I'm just a bit of an all-round singer. Although not really that good yet.

I was trained classically starting around 15 years old, and I went to University for Opera. I also spent a considerable amount of time doing Musical Theater.
Here are some tips I found useful-

1. Sing laying down on your back when you practice
When you're laying down you're more likely to breathe correctly and use your diaphragm. When you're standing up and using your diaphragm correctly, you might start to feel light headed and/or dizzy. Don't worry, it means that you're doing it right and will stop happening after you train a bit more.

2. Make Ambulance sounds
Yep, start at the bottom of your vocal range and then fluidly move to the top and back down again over and over so that you sound like an Ambulance. Try to push higher and lower on each end of the range to help you expand. This also helps with training your voice to move better in parts of your range that you're less comfortable with.

3. Drink Room Temperature Water
Someone already said drink water, but be sure it is room temperature- as cold fluids can damage your vocal cords. You can also drink tea as long as it doesn't have citrus (licorice tea is especially good).

4. When you're trying to hit notes that are high for your vocal range, don't think about it.
People tend to tense their vocal cords when they think about singing high notes, when relaxing the vocal cords would be much more effective. Just pretend you're reaching for a low note instead of a high one.


Those should be good for just about any kind of singer. Hopefully they'll help someone out. I don't sing with operatic style on a regular basis, so sometimes I use strident vowels and my chest voice in ranges that my voice coach would have told me not to, but that's a stylistic choice. There are some more tips I can list for people wanting to sing with a more classical based style should they ask.

Brilliant, brilliant post by Kei. My favourite part? "Vocal cords" is spelt correctly for once

Thanks Syk, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm a freelance editor, so I try to spell things correctly when possible (read: closet grammar Nazi).

I do sing, but I've had a chronic sinus problem since I was 14 which is really harsh on my vocal chords, so it affects my singing quite badly. My voice usually breaks up when I sing high notes, and my throat hurts when I try to sing harsh vocals. I can't lie on my back, due to the sinus problem, I always have to lie on my side when I sleep, so I would not be able to sing lying on my back. At least not for any longer than a few seconds.

It is frustrating, because I've been told I have a nice voice. But my sinus problems would prevent me ever maximising my vocal potential, which sucks.

I'm a student of classical singing

How it goes together with being in pagan black metal band?

Written by Ellrohir on 29.03.2010 at 21:44

How it goes together with being in pagan black metal band?

Great, because when you lear classical singing you are able to sing almost everything else, and in Stribog I sing classical/folklore/mixed vocals

I always use growls and death metal singing but i find it hard to change to higher pitched singing because of damage to my vocal chords from brutal growls lol so anyways unless you want to be a choirboy in a church don't bother with melodic or screaming unless your rob halford

One of the most helpful threads ever.

I love the sound of my own voice, but I can't sing, in that if someone asked for a 'g', for example, I couldn't give it to them without an instrument handy.

Tend to need a yawn or two when I'm singing high stuff for sustained periods of time - 30s straight will usually do me. This a technical problem, or just not having a fit enough voice, so to speak?

It seems that there have been some established norms made in the metal scene regarding vocalists... (note, the following information reflects the opinions of others in the metal scene and on this site, not this user)

Males have to either be tenors like Bruce Dickinson, Dio or Rob Halford, or be unable to sing at all like Tom Araya, Varg Vikernes or Gaahl. Seriously, there aren't any renown low-register male vocalists (Iced Earth doesn't count because he's too high, and everyone hates Corey Taylor, Ivan Moody and Howard Jones)

Females have to be either screamers like Angela Gossow or early Maria Brink, or operettas like Simone Simons or Tarja Turunen, and clean, non-operatic vocalists are either not recognized (the girls from Girlschool) or considered pop (current Maria Brink, Cristina Scabbia)...

This is not acceptable! Pop music takes a great preference for high-register male-vocalists only, should not metal be different?!

Anyone here knows how to remove vocals from a song with Cubase 5? I have try to eq some songs a bit but I didnt find the frequency that will erase the vocal parts. Has someone any experience of this? Btw Great thread!

Edit: Just put up my latest vocal cover on youtube. This time its a Norther song "Betrayed". There are some mistakes in it but I was not in mood to record it again for now atleast . Rates, comments and criticism would be appreciated. Check it out here:

Me Singing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIScZltpf9k

Pls help about singing?
friends i have a soft voice i am a male and i have done a lot of practise of singing.
there is nothing than singing in my life.but i dont know how to start my singing career?
i am sure than i can become a great singer ur help will surely help. by (love guru)

Written by Zachariah on 20.09.2010 at 09:54

Pls help about singing?
friends i have a soft voice i am a male and i have done a lot of practise of singing.
there is nothing than singing in my life.but i dont know how to start my singing career?
i am sure than i can become a great singer ur help will surely help. by (love guru)

Alright, in order to help, set up a youtube channel much like mine. Then, perform a cover of one of your favorite songs and post it on youtube. Then link it here. We will be able to hear your voice and help you in anyway possible.

I have been practicing singing ever since I was 8 or something. My 'singing' voice was discovered at my previous school by my former Music teacher. I used to sing in the school's vocal band for a few years (mainly Bulgarian folklore) but I also used to sing some Pop songs there, including a children's one I also had a solo part in. Later on, at high-school, the same Music teacher decided I couldn't sing that good any more and didn't want me to participate in some lame school music projects. At first, I got both irritated and hurtð but I didn't care much afterwards because I had already become a metal fan and I was madly into acts such as Nightwish. I am very grateful to that teacher of mine, though, simply because he was the one to discover my singing. The other thing I'm grateful to is, without a doubt, Symphonic metal that has enlarged my musical horizons and made me discover my operatic voice, as well. Unfortunately, it seems like I'm not that good at operatic singing as I used to be, but I haven't quitted singing; it is a significant part of my life.

As for the advice given here, I'd really like to thank both ladies who have shared their experience with us! I personally do some of the things mentioned in your replies but I didn't know about some others, so your suggestions will definitely be helpful to me and I'll surely put them into use really soon.

In my opinion, so-called-'Ambulance singing' is obligatory if you want to better and become a good singer. It is like an essential part of singing which makes the whole process much easier. If it comes to coaching and stuff, I'm pretty sure it's always useful, considering me taking lessons at a friend of mine (who's an incredible operatic singer and pianist, too) once in a while. However, I don't support the common saying that the only way to become a good performer is throughout singing lessons. After all, singing is something natural to me and to everyone else who's been doing this for years, so I guess that some material in books and on the Internet, as well as tons of hard practice AND a few singing lessons from time to time, could always be helpful enough. (Unless you wanna go pro.)

One of my biggest difficulties if it comes to singing is my breathing technique. I've been having problems with it since 2-3 years or something. The thing is I became asthmatic around that time and therefore, it is pretty hard for me to breathe correctly while performing. (I didn't use to have that problem before...)

I'd be glad to hear some recorded material of all of you who post on this thread! I'll let you know when my first recordings are ready.

Every healthy woman has a range of min. 3 oct. (with practice), and every healthy male has a min. range of 2 oct. + 1 in falceto (with practice).
Everybody can learn how to sing, only difference is that some have more richer voice for several reasons, and that some feel the music more than the others.

I used tu have some good clean voice when I was some 11-13 years old...Now I can sing well in low oct.In rest of the spectrum I had quite "distorted" voice.Now I just growl and do high shreacks ....

Wow I created this thread quite some time ago. I'm a bass when it comes to voice range I'm currently studying to improve my vocals, my singing teacher told me to pick a song I want to learn and I picked Beth from Kiss as I figured it would be easy. I found I was able to sing it, but when I sang it for him it apparently I was doing it one octave lower damn you and your shrill angelic voice Peter Criss!

I'm currently trying to do it in the same key as on CD, but it's kinda difficult as the highest note is E4 which is right at the top of my vocal range. But I want to extend it upwards (at the moment my range is E2-E4) so I'm just gonna have to practice some more.

Written by Valentin B on 08.01.2013 at 18:47

Wow I created this thread quite some time ago. I'm a bass when it comes to voice range I'm currently studying to improve my vocals, my singing teacher told me to pick a song I want to learn and I picked Beth from Kiss as I figured it would be easy. I found I was able to sing it, but when I sang it for him it apparently I was doing it one octave lower damn you and your shrill angelic voice Peter Criss!

I'm currently trying to do it in the same key as on CD, but it's kinda difficult as the highest note is E4 which is right at the top of my vocal range. But I want to extend it upwards (at the moment my range is E2-E4) so I'm just gonna have to practice some more.

Haha, I'm an alto, my voice is pretty limited as I'm new to singing, but I work on it a lot. I just play songs in my room and try my best to sing a long. Sabbath, Dio, anddragonforce are all fun. I'm getting tothe point where I canhit notes consitantly, whereas before I was very hit and miss. Never taken lessons, but I figure I should do so soon.

Any help for someone trying to hit lower notes?

Written by Boxcar Willy on 10.01.2013 at 01:40

Any help for someone trying to hit lower notes?

All I can say right now is, just like me with the higher notes, you need to practice. I can hit some very low notes, so it's all natural and normal to me.

The problem for me is that most metal has a very high register and aside from a few vocalists like the guy from Type O Negative or The 69 Eyes almost everything is made for the tenor voice. Does anyone know some other bands who have deep clean vocals?