Rock and metal singing techniques

Claire Abe — Fri, 18 Aug 2023 10:08:15 +0000

Hey there !

Today we’ll talk about a subject that I LOVE and I am PASSIONATE about : SINGING!

We can’t talk about rock and metal music, without talking about the types of singing that accompany them (in general).

So, come with me to the fabulous land of rock and metal singing techniques!

I write this post with my knowledge, but also with a tender thought to the one who taught me these techniques and everything you will discover just below (but not too much. If you want to discover more, I put the links at the bottom of pages).

Attention! This post is not a singing class. I’m just giving you the different possibilities there are in the fields of rock and metal singing.
If you are interested in these, I invite you to go to a specialized singing teacher.

WHAT IS SINGING?

For now, let’s go back to basics. Namely: what does singing mean? And, here… it’s complicated to put a clear and precise definition.

When you search «singing definition» on the internet, you can find dozens of definitions related to forming a sequence of melodious sounds, beautiful notes with the voice.

But several months from now, I was asked what the difference was between talking and singing and the line for me was so blurred that I could not answer that question.

So for this post, we will stay simple and agree with what the different dictionaries can say. Even if it’s worth reflecting! 😄

THE DIFFERENT SINGING TECHNIQUES

Because singing is great (I won’t deny it). But there are so many ways to sing on this earth! May it be:

throat singing (and there are dozens just in this category),
traditional singing (again, there are many),
opera/ lyric,
musical,
soul,
jazz,
pop,
rock,
metal.

All of them have one or more techniques of their own. Although the same technique can be found in several genres.

Here, I will focus only on the types of singing that can be found in rock and metal. That is to say: clear singing, harsh vocals singing, and opera! And, I will even touch a little on the field of musicals.

SINGING TECHNIQUES USED IN ROCK AND METAL MUSIC

Clear singing

Here, I’m not going to go on forever, it’s the sound coming out of your throat, without looking to add anything to it. That’s the type of singing you’re used to hearing. I mean, relatively.

In the clear vocals, I’ll just add the use of the following techniques:

Twang

Twang is a voice that sounds nasal when no. It’s a technique that some Americans naturally have. The sound is also reminiscent of the witch’s laughter or sometimes the cat’s meowing. This technique can be used to facilitate certain sound rendering.

Falsetto

Falsetto, on the other hand, consists of singing with more air than is needed.

Belting

In this category, I will also integrate a technique used a lot: Belting.

Although commonly used today in many other genres, this technique comes directly from musicals.

Again, there are different definitions of what belting is. For some, it’s the equivalent of screaming. For others, it is singing in chest voice with a little head voice above the head /chest voice passage.

The point is that the purpose of belting is to have a powerful voice that projects away.

Opera singing

If you are a newbie, you think: but, what does she tell me?! Opera in rock and metal!

Well YES! More in metal than in rock actually. It even has a genre in which you can hear it relatively often, it is symphonic metal: an alliance of metal and classical music/ opera.

For this technique, which is one of the most complicated to have, we talk about:

Make room for sound resonance. HYPER important for classical singers. In addition, normally, an opera singer does not have a microphone in performance. Everything happens at the level of body resonators (nose-head-throat, etc.)
Use of Bel Canto,
Make beautiful long vowels, with a beautiful vibrato
The LEGATO is very important, linking the lyrics (or notes)
VERY GOOD BREATH MANAGEMENT AND VERY GOOD SUPPORT (I put it in capital letters because this is the basis)
…

It is a non-exhaustive list of the techniques of opera. It is a very complex technique, but so beautiful to listen to! (At least, for me).

Now, I don’t know exactly, if symphonic metal singers go so deeply into learning opera singing. But the quality of the singing is present.

I think I heard that to really be considered an opera singer, it takes at least 10 years of regular practice.

After that, all symphonic metal singers have not trained in classical singing and remain on the clear vocals for their composition as well.

Examples of lyrical singers in metal are Tarja Turunen, Floor Jansen, and Simone Simons.

Simone Simons’

Distorsions and screams

Now we’re getting to the heart of the matter. And, to help you understand the different techniques, I will give of myself. So all the examples you can hear below are made by myself and were not edited afterward. It’s raw! 😜

Rock and metal vocals are full of different distortions and screams that make these genres what they are.

Distorsions

Watch out for stereotypes! Distortions are also used in other genres such as pop, soul, blues, etc. You hear them, without necessarily realizing it when you listen to the radio!

Distortions used are:

Fry

If I had to describe what fry is, I’d say it’s a fried sound equal in pitch to your speaking voice. Fry is produced when your two vocal cords are joined together. To give you an idea, the most famous person who often uses fry is… Britney Spears! And, for those who are already used to the world of rock and metal, we can mention Maria Brink or Marilyn Manson.

This technique is often used at the beginning or end of a sentence attack. But, it can be used for complete sentences.

Example :

Epiglottic distortion and arytenoid distortion

I group these two distortions together, because they are close to each other both anatomically and phonetically speaking.

They produce a rolled sound in the throat, a bit like a bird. The “only” difference is that the sound is darker and lower with the epiglottis than with the arytenoids.

In artists who use these distortions, we can mention Christina Aguilera, Louis Armstrong…. In rock/metal, there is Lzzy Hale!

Epiglottic distortion example

Arytenoid distortion example

False cords (ventricular folds)

Ventricular folds, or commonly called false cords, is a noise that is made not with the vocal cords, but with two membranes just above them, namely the ventricular folds.

The resulting noise sounds like a grunt. They are widely used in rock and metal.

False cords example

Screams

In fact, a scream is the mixture of a distortion (either fry or false cords) and a technique called breath distortion. The latter is to make your throat turn into a giant straw to let more or less air flow according to your need.

After that, there are very few ways to scream, it’s just that there are many names to call the same scream.

The difference is that some vocalists also use several distortions at the same time to make a scream. I think in particular of Will Ramos (vocalist of Lorna Shore) who also uses a throat singing base to make his crazy screams!

Also, I remind you, if you want to learn these techniques, there are specialized teachers who are there to prevent you from ruining your voice 😊

I’ll just talk about the three main techniques, which are:

Fry scream

Update on 11.21.25:

Here, there are two types of fry screams:

The simple fry scream
The complex fry scream

Simple Fry scream

For this one, we use creaking (or vocal fry) and we “amplify” it with twang. We only use the vocal cords to emit the sound. The intensity of the sound is comparable to the spoken voice.
I just suggest you listen to the example below.

Artists who used this technique are: Maria Brink, Chester Bennington, or Dani Filth.

Complexe Fry scream

In this case, we use creaking AND the false strings. The layering of the two makes the sound a little louder than in the simple fry scream.
I am currently learning this technique, so I can’t offer you an audio example. However, if you want to have an idea of the sound, you can listen to Emily Armstrong, among others.

False cords scream

The same principle as before, we mix false chords and breath distortion to have this really dirty and really raw effect. In metal, we also call this technique growl!

With false cords screaming, we can measure the amount of air we want to have a cleaner or more «dirty» scream.

This is the type of scream the most used in metal.

FC scream example :

Inhale

It’s a debate technique!

The goal is that instead of producing your sound as you exhale, you produce it while inhaling (hence the name inhale). Only, for some, it is a dangerous technique, because much more chance of getting hurt considering that the vocal cords are quickly dried, etc. But, others use it regularly, (some for several years), and everything is fine.

So if you are interested in this style, you really have to be careful and find a teacher who specializes in this technique to be sure not to hurt you.

Now you can very well make the noises you make with the inhale technique with another one seen above.

Inhale is usually used to make fry scream, as it is easier to find the effect that must be produced with this technique than directly with fry scream.

Because, yes, these are particular and difficult techniques that require practice and experience to achieve them. You don’t get them with a snap of your fingers!

I’m not specialized in inhale screaming, but here’s what it sounds like :

Comments

Now you have rock and metal singers mixing distortions and screams.

Also, it is often that screamers head towards a kind of scream (usually the one they master best). But you can find screamers that use multiple screams.

I want to point out that you can be a screamer and know how to sing super well in clear singing. Although this is obvious to me, it may not be for everyone. Some famous harsh vocalists have a very beautiful clean voice. I’m thinking of Will Ramos (Lorna Shore), Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy), or Corey Taylor.

And conversely, singers/ singers who use clear singing techniques have very good growls. In this case, I’m thinking of Vessel, the singer of Sleep Token and Floor Jansen who can sing anything you want because she’s so talented. Do I fan girl? A bit. But I’m not the only one who thinks that.

Update on the 11.21.25:

If you’re interested to dive deep into this subject and you either can read french or you got the translation thing on, check https://singandscream.fr/ as it’s info provided by professionals!

Here’s the end of this post on rock and metal singing! I hope you learned something new.

Feel free to share the article if you enjoyed it!

Also, you can find all the caricatures here!

And if you’re interested in listening to me singing, you can do so by visiting my YouTube channel 🙂

See you soon!

Uncategorized