i'm new to growling (less than a month) and obviously i'm not going to be able to do it properly for a while. i'm good at clean vocals and have been singing clean for several years in a variety of different styles and now i want to try growls.

i went to melissacross.com and have well rehearsed breathing from the diaphraghm and rib reverse breathing and i know when i'm using my cords and false cords, but i was wondering if anyone could give me advice about how to
*prevent damaging my voice while building a growl
*strengthening my growl
* sustaining it etc

having laryngitis definately doesn't help at the moment, but i'm working round it.

also i seem to have a problem keeping my throat open, it tends to tighten up, but i havn't hurt it yet, so i must be on the right track.

my inspiration is Angela Gossow and that is the sound i'm aiming for.

any advice you can give my is much appreciated

It's all about the DUMP. That's the basis of growling.

maybe you should read through the other threads and mellisa cross doesnt teach grolws really she does screams well "screams".

Whats the meaning of "the DUMP?"

thought id help unlike some.

dude...its easy. you just gotta break your low voice in. try it over and over again and make it as loud and gutterlike as you possibly can until your throat hurts, even if it sounds like shit.

wait for throat to heal...do it again.....


RINSE.REPEAT


scar tissue will build over the tearing areas in your throat and then it wont hurt when you do it in the future...they wont fade....AND you will be able to do much better lows.


www.myspace.com/infatalmemories <---there are my vocals when i was 18. listen to YOUR HAPPILY EVER AFTER, and like 40 seconds thru you can hear a little bit. not that great recordings though. just check it out.

for lows I just sort of leave my throat as wide open as possible and push air out with my diaphragm, adjusting pitch with the size of the mouth opening, the tongue, and sometimes pushing the air more towards a side of the throat.


for highs I generally get rid of most of my phlegm (i seem to create a gallon of it per second) and pinch whats left of it in the throat, then I leave my throat pretty much open and tighten the throat slightly and use my diaphragm to push air out, this time closer to the actual vocal chords, increasing the pitch, I'm sure if you did'nt have as much phlegm as me and you tried this it would come out more of a "Scream"

dont know too much about the "high" part you are talking about. i just yell really fucking loud until my throat would bleed and hurt.....then stop for a few days..do it again and again and again. and then its just a natrual scream that comes out like a normal parent would yell at their kids. hahaha.


as for lows, dont open your throat and mouth all the way and whatnot. that just lets excess air out. no need for that airy bullshit. its hard to explain but its kinda like i said above....just yell really loud but make it really low. im sure you know how to control pitch.

but then again I aim for my highs to sound more evil, rather then just angry high yelling.

im new to growling also. i want to have a more powerful growl. im aiming at something like Visions of the Darkside by Morbid Angel, something along those lines. I try but i end up having a deep sound that dies out fast. Does anyone have advice on how to keep up the voice and if anything to make it sound slightly higher? like a high deep end, and not completely growl deep like later Deicide stuff. Pretty much im aiming at Altars of Madness style and the part of Dead By Dawn by Deicide 1:10-1:30 [not the background monster zombie growling ]

__________________

A good way to build endurance is to take a really deep breath without moving your shoulders and really slowly over 30 sec or so blow the air out.
Do that like 10 times a day for as long as you can hold it.

__________________

in other words start smoking ciggarettes.


hahaha