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Rock Singing Success

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#1 place for rock and metal singers. Free resources, community, and programs for your rock singing career. 🎤

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367 contributions to Rock Singing Success
Using AI Ethically As A Musician
It's quite unfortunate that even though AI could be restricted to doing things that people either hate to do or that would be dangerous for us to do, often we see AI being used for doing things people love to do, such as the arts! If you can't create art without the help of AI, then perhaps you don't have anything worthwhile to say. If you could create art without AI, but you use it anyway, maybe you don't enjoy the creative process. Perhaps you lacked the discipline or the drive to do the work to develop the necessary skill to be able to go through the process and end up with something you can be proud of. What if you decided that you didn't want anything to do with having artificial help to create art and you relegated AI to the role of something you could use as an information source while developing the requisite skill for creating something you'd truly be happy with? Would that be an ethical use of AI? I hope so! I wouldn't trust AI as my sole source of information on how to develop the skills I need to sing well and it sure can't give me feedback on how well I'm doing, but how about using AI as an adjunct to buying lessons and courses? Would that be reasonable? I think there's an element of the subjective here, but since it would only be used as a supplement, rather than as a replacement for teachers, I think it would be an ethical use of AI. How much help would AI be as a supplement to taking lessons and/or buying courses though? Only one way to find out! I decided to see how much AI knew about what creates vocal distortion. I wanted to see what level of quality it had to offer in the answers it gave me. I was curious to see if it would offer anything more than very surface level information. I asked AI two questions. I'm show you both of my questions and the responses I got. I'll let you be the judge of how well it did in answering my questions. FIRST QUESTION: I asked: "What creates the air restriction in singing with distortion"? AI: "In singing, that feeling of an air "restriction"—often called vocal compression—is the foundational mechanic required to safely create grit, rasp, or heavy distortion.
1 like • 1d
That answer was as expected, a bit generic and pulled from a variety of sources and trying say it in a way that duct tapes them together into a Frankenstein Monster—functional, but a bit off, and could fall apart quickly, causing the whole village to come after it with torches. AI works best in distilling information it's trained on, which means you can create some pretty great troubleshooters and guides when you train in on very specific things, or in this case, specific methodologies and studies. I use it for deep research, feed it workbooks, courses, books, and the like all the time. For instance, Gemini Notebook is an absolute incredible research assistant, and really good at picking apart something on a technical level. The podcast feature is "okay" at teaching you a subject, but even better when you tell it to critique something you wrote on a subject. It will find every single hole it can. But for knowledge, Q&A, advice, and the like, you still have to know enough about the subject to fact check it and error-correct. I can't even count the amount of times I had to call an AI chatbot out on something it was severely wrong about. Most of the time, it corrects itself when you do that. A couple of times, I had to argue with it and present proof that I was right—and that was for legal paperwork that I couldn't afford to get wrong! So, not exactly trustworthy as an expert on anything, even when you train it on very specific things. That said, I'm still working on a troubleshooter chatbot for my courses. My first iteration of it was interesting and mostly right. But even with notes, transcriptions, and very strict instructions on how to answer, it still would make up stuff and interpret my course material in ways I would never suggest something. Sometimes that was helpful, sometimes it wasn't. I at least got it to where it wasn't suggesting things that would hurt anyone.
Is it "normal" to cringe at your previous performances?
I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the correct category. Generally, even if something I sung sounds decent to me at that moment, I get frustrated at it a day or so later. Do you get this feeling too? Like, I can hear sooo many mistakes or missed opportunities lol. In this example, I missed some of the melodic spice, it feels like I'm yelling in some places, mild throat tension, I'm sometimes out of breath, terrible distortion (this was recorded a week ago) and no build up before it, and so on... Can you hear stuff other than these? Evaluation is very welcome but I'm a little sensitive so maybe dial down the harshness? Haha! On the contrary, I feel like I'm developing my ear sensitivity and that's a good thing right??
Is it "normal" to cringe at your previous performances?
0 likes • 1d
Keep going! We are our own worst critics. Listen to compare against older recordings of yourself in order to make sure there's some improvement (to help know if you're doing the right things to improve), and then keep moving forward. Pitch is a hearing skills first. Being far off pitch is often because you need to learn to hear and recreate pitch, like above. Being a little off is most often about placement of your voice (lifted resonance and relaxed larynx, also called cry/sob vocal mode, or "Michael Jackson about to cry" voice). Both take training. If you feel you're way off, then I suggest starting specific pitch exercises, such as watching a pitch meter (like a guitar tuner on your phone) playing a single random note and then trying to sing it from memory, making sure you correct to the same pitch on the pitch meter. When that's easy, play two random notes in sequence and then sing each of those back from memory. When that gets easy, try 3. After that, a full melody, slowly. The best training when using songs is when you isolate the passage, what syllables (onsets and vowels) and pitch changes are difficult for you, and then singing it much slower while trying to keep your vocal resonance lifted and your larynx relaxed. I suppose that's a lot to pick apart, but that's why I like putting those onsets and vowels into a training routine like scales and sliding fifths, where you can focus on those specific onsets and vowels without worrying about lyrics until you're better at placing your voice properly.
What Are The Main Things That Screamers Tend To Do That Damage Their Voices?
Some say: "Well, you don't really use your vocal cords when you scream; you use your false cords, so if you're hurting your true cords, you shouldn't even be using them." There's the legendary story of Corey Taylor who had perhaps the most ferocious scream in metal. It's even got it's own name: the Iowa Scream! Iowa was Slipknot's first album and many maintain that Corey's screams were never as brutal after the Iowa album because he had sustained damage to his true folds. Now think about that: Corey Taylor essentially invented his own technique for the Iowa scream and then he screws up on HIS OWN TECHNIQUE TO WHERE HIS VOICE IS NEVER THE SAME AGAIN! You'd think a guy would be a master of his very own technique. You'd LIKE to think so, wouldn't you? Then there's the case of M. Shadows who screwed his voice up terribly and there is some confusion as to whether he actually had surgery for it or not. There's also the case of Matt Heafy, who had a great sounding scream, did it well for quite a ferw years, but then blew out his voice. He went on to record an album of all clean singing because he was recuperating. Finally he came back with his "safe scream",. but Trivium fans maintain that the "safe scream" Matt Heafy used never sounded as good as his original scream which begs the question: Was his original scream fixable? With some minor tweaks, could he have kept doing his "original scream"? After all, it's hard to believe that his "original scream" was so dangerous that it had to be ENTIRELY CHANGED to make is SAFE! So, with that in mind (especially the Corey Taylor incident with his Iowa scream being something he could never truly do as well again) what do you think are the main things that screamers do that end up injuring their voices?
2 likes • 10d
@Sena İşgüzar I heard Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt say that his scream isn't loud at all. Mark Garrett from Kardavox Academy gave an incredible false cord activation workflow away on a podcast I heard recently too. He had the host close their mouth and gently clear their throat, then open their mouth and do it again, and finally try to sustain the sound. It doesn't give you the resonance that amplifies the sound, but it's a great way to feel out the false cords and get the initial scream. The low larynx and low & forward acoustic "hoot" is a great place to try and get resonance for amplifying the scream. However, it takes time to get all that loose tissue to cooperate an get a louder sound. Alex Terrible says it took him 12 years to get loud gutturals. Granted, he's got the loudest and most brutal gutturals in the industry.
1 like • 1d
@Kenny Kendall I think I heard David Benites say this first, and I completely agree. There are over 200 different ways for me to describe how to do the same scream, and it might only be one of those that a particular student understands and then things just click. Everyone has their own interpretation of visualizations, their own ways of feeling and describing different sensations, or even having an awareness of those sensations. The one most common thing you will hear, however, is that the main and most damaging issue screamers have is going too hard.
What Are Your August Plans?
Who are you seeing in concert? What project are you currently working on? What do you want to see happen here? HELP ME LIVE VICARIOUSLY THROUGH YOU! HAHA! I'm just kidding...mostly. While August brings a lot of transitions for me, the main transition I'm excited about is moving from months of court stuff to finally having more time for music and community. I've had so many things I want to do here, but increasingly less time to do them until now. While I it won't all be ready in August, I will be starting the setup of my new course versions, memberships, and a new vocal program, using this community as the hub. With that also comes ramping up content like I've been wanting to do for months. But there's something particular about my ADHD brain that I want to keep in mind. Often, if I tell you all the details, my brain marks it as done already. So, I'm really only going to say that I'm excited about what's coming, and would love to hear more about... What would YOU like to see here? I'm also producing an alt. rock artist while planning out my own music for this Fall. Being in the hard rock genre with a southern gothic soul, I've been thinking about collaborations as I build. I have a connection with Lzzy Hale, but I'm nowhere near where I need to be yet to bring her on. Taylor Momsen and Dorothy Martin also are on my list for the future. But I'm looking smaller, like Jared Benjamin, Lø Spirit, or others on the rise in social media. Is there anyone you would recommend?
What Are Your August Plans?
0 likes • 28d
@Kenny Kendall Great songs. I wish it wasn't AI. A voice like that would be great.
1 like • 10d
@Chris Fox I agree with @Sena İşgüzar . Done right, it gets people wanting more with a "to be continued" vibe.
👋 Introduce yourself right here!
This is the introductions thread. Say hi, tell us where you’re from and what you’re all about! In your introduction, answer these 3 questions: ➡️ What is your current music project and vision? ➡️ What moment made you want to pursue being a rock singer? ➡️ What's the main thing holding you back? We can’t wait to meet you!
👋 Introduce yourself right here!
0 likes • 11d
@Alex Pryor Welcome! Singing and playing at the same time is a challenge for sure. Separately, they're enough of a challenge already! I remember having to overly simplify one of them in order to do both together. That was hard! It doesn't just split your focus 50/50. It's more like they both go down to 25% at first. But it gets easier as each starts to feel more automatic. But man, I only played the first 3 frets of the guitar for a long time, just to be able to sing comfortably while playing. That's not to scare you. I self-learned both. I would have gotten lessons far sooner had I know how much easier it makes things! I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you're avoiding the years of frustration I went through trying to figure it all out on my own. Go through the first 5 videos of the Free Training Vault, and let's get you building your singing voice. Please ask questions anytime. I'm happy to help. Without lifting your voice, like I describe in the first couple of videos, it's easy to get stuck in the throat, essentially trying to speak on pitch. And pitch is also one of the hardest things to learn, because it's mostly about ear-training. Let me know if you need help with that too. Most often, being a little off pitch is a matter of how you place your voice, rather than learning to hear the pitch. Playing guitar will improve your pitch awareness regardless.
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@Sena İşgüzar I'm familiar with him now! But I'll have to check out more of his stuff than just scanning through youtube videos for 15 minutes. Any songs you recommend? Great voice and style. I like the range of vocal dynamics he has (pretty/heady mix, solid mix, great belt, and intense screams) and how he uses them progressively in some songs too. I just turned off the share/post limiting. We had been getting too much spam from new members for a while, but the platform has gotten better at catching that now.
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Draven Grey
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@draven-grey-6980
30+ years as a professional recording/performing musician, music career coach, rock and metal voice coach, producer, and recording engineer.

Active 14h ago
Joined Jan 6, 2024
INFJ
Denver, CO USA
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