Hey everyone, this is my first post here.

I'm in a band and we're playing melodic black metal.. with some folk influences *without synths* which has moments comparable to Windir and Dissection. I have a decent clean singing voice and plan on using it every now and then.

Black metal vocals, I never really was able to get down too well... I would always end up in some kind of throat pain. I really don't want to mess up my voice in the process.

I've found that I can hit some high shrieking Black Metal Vocals while doing inhaled vocals... it doesn't really hurt me either.

One of the question I have is, is this a normal method of doing black metal vocals *especially high pitched ones*. I cant hit these kind of notes exhaling.

If I were to want to do these kind of vocals regularly (exhaling) id need to use effects.... and thats lame...but I'm not sure how often inhaled screams are used in BM... I know they are sometimes but I don't know of vocalists that specifically use JUST inhaled screams.

Well can you possibly get a recording up?

Well I tried to put together a little sample...it sucks

Please make note: This is with programmed drums and guitars as we havnt actually recorded the instruments yet so it leads to a weird sound. My mic is going directly into my soundcard and im doing all vocal effects with the software cool edit pro.

This one is of a verse in a song all in inhaled vocals...I have some reverb added to the vocals so it doesnt sound too dry/croaky..but it still kind of is.

this one is of an inhaled scream.... yea I know I crap out in the middle and the timing is off but this is just for a sample of what im talking about.

I don't have all that much experience with vocals, how to hold mic, what effects to use, etc etc etc.

The question is, should I continue doing inhaled vocals, or does it really sound that weird that I should try to do exhaled black metal vocals **and screw up my voice**

I know this sucks but I'm a total noob at BM vocals and need as much useful input as possible in regards to how I should go about doing them, if im on the right track, or completely off.

that doesnt suck, i'd say that's pretty damn good

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um that sounds just about right man. as long as you can do it without feeling lightheaded i would stick with it

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hell yeah nice fucking vocals

Sounds like BM vocals to me. If you can get that inhaled scream down without crapping out it would sounds pretty damn good.

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Not great, but definately worthy of any black metal band i can think of, if its totally efficient and easy and you can do it like that all the time pulling it off live for whole sets and everything, go for broke.

Thanks everyone, I still have a lot of work ahead of me and a lot of practice getting this technique down, from what it looks like they don't sound too far from what I'm trying to achieve...just unpolished at this point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfiSxzf9Ins

this guy uses them ha ha ha!!!

good vox im not a huge fan of bm but i do respect good bm bands, you are definitely on the right track, keep practicing!

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Check this out, I redid it after practicing the technique a bit. Still needs some work, but its better than before

It especially works good for screams *at the end of this clip*
some of my friends have refered to this vocal style as similar to Ihsahn's of Emperor.

I think I'm just gonna go ahead and continue working on this technique, it seems to be working.

nice!!! very good id say

Ehh..

Have fun playing live doing that 100% of the time. You're going to run out of breath really quickly and start gasping into your second song.

It sounds pretty decent, but the lack of "s" sounds or "t" sounds, or "h" sounds, or any normal speech sounds for that matter, makes it sound weird and alien.

Inhaling screams have that annoying way of crapping out on you at bad moments. If you've listened to Cryptopsy's live version of Open Face Surgery you'll know what I mean. It's not very consistent and sounds ultra stupid if not performed properly.

I don't think it's that hard to learn how to sing black metal, and I think it'd be worth your time to learn that instead of sticking with the inhales all the time.

How can a person do this so called "inhaled" vocal style when he's OBVIOUSLY BREATHING OUT while doing the scream.

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Am I the only one that thinks he sounds like Shagrath?
Nice fuckin vocals dude

Nice, scary vocals. I love em. Don't you run out of breath though? Sounds like a tiring way to do it.

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That scream in the 2nd recording where the music intensifys sounds fucking awesome.

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I actually really like your vocals. One word of advice: You need to exhale a couple times during longer segments, since I can hear that the scream is weakening gradually.
I'm a big fan of inhaled vocals and you should, by no means, stop doing them. I think it sets your voice apart from all those other vocalists. And you are blessed with a good throat for doing inhales.
There is a risk though, of being rejected, since not everybody likes it.

i can do inhaled vocals try pushing the scream higher if you practice you can get some amazing shrieks

I can't stand BM for the most part, every aspect of it, bu with vocals like that I'd probably listen to your music. The vocals were real evil sounding.

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It's definately awesome. What kind of positioning of your mouth/tounge do you use when you're doing that?

Why do all the people in the vocal zone have numbers and xxx'x in thier names??

I don't!

Numbers represent awesomeness, and badassness. x's represent emoness.

actually in my case X's represent sad bastard that used to game alot and got a name that stuck

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Wow..I made a post about this earlier and I just found this one..i thought I was one of the only people that could scream like that ^_^

When you get lower does it sound kind of like exhaled gutterals? I'm wondering if we're doing it the same

I think this sounds like Cradle of Filth. The first recording.

I think your post has inspired me to start singing like this lol.

Inhales are waaaaaay beyond me... Too hard

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Well I've been working on this technique a bit more... now I don't inhale as much as before... What I'm doing is shutting my air passages... not breathing and keeping my stomach and chest tight... it comes out in more of a croaky voice since im not really projecting anything from my throat persay. I'm forcing pressure out from my chest...to get higher notes I have to inhale while keeping my chest and stomach tight....its a bit weird to explain.

heres a way to get an idea of what im doing.
...relax your chest/throat... let out a faint "uhh"" like you're croaking at a very low volume *as if you're sick or something*

...now try to do the same thing while keeping your chest and stomach tight but by inhaling... gradually increase volume. You should be feeling this in the back of your throat..if you don't then you're doing it wrong.

I hope this helps.

An update.... now we finished one pre-demo recording with programmed drums... you can hear my vocals on it

http://www.myspace.com/vishapakahr

...some people love it... some hate it

Dude, that is really fucking good. I love the music and the vocals. Clean vocals sound nice and the black metal vocals sound really fucking evil. I like the sound that the inhaling gives to them. Keep up the good work.

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