First Try at Distortion. Choruses of Would? by Alice in Chains

[joshual]

Hi there,

it's my first try at adding distortion to my singing. I thought try another style would be great. As i love alice in chains, i try to song one of my favorite song: Would?

It's just the choruses of the songs, it's just a try. I am very sorry fpr the lyrics, when i recorded it i didn't have internet access. I tried to mimic the words, in french we call that 'faire du yahourt'. So i apologize....

To resume, i didn't thought one second about technique or how to do it. I just let myself fit into the song and sing it the way i was feeling it, trying to capture the feel of the song. So be gentle lol , it's far from perfect and Layne Stanley (RIP) was such a voice...

Now that i've tried, i would like to work more on that kind of technique. Any thoughts about what i am doing right or wrong?

thanxs in advance you crazy distortion/screaming/creaking/raspy/rattle singers!!!!

http://www.box.net/shared/s0jl28rj8c

Josh in a box ;-)

[Snax]

The second one was better than the first from what I could hear. It sounds like you are on the right track but the question is how does it FEEL to you after singing like that? I have been working on grit and distortion also and some days it seems easy and other days my voice just wants to stay clear as a bell! The best advice I have and I have given before is to frost be able to sing all the notes with a strong clean tone. Then begin adding your grit to the point where you can ease off and go clean again if you wanted.

So far it has been working for me but I'm just a singer and not a coach so take my advice with that in mind.

[joshual]

thanxs for the advice Snax.

After that kind of singing my voice is fine, but my body is tired lol. I put so much support... I pay attention to not overblowing my cords with too much air. But i'm sure it could 10X better with less support and proper distortion technique.

Honestly, i never managed to get a real clean tone, since the beginning, it's so hard for me. I wish sometimes i could sing with such clear tones as you got... the thing is my voice feel shot if i try get clean and don't if just let my voice do the job, so really don't know what to think. And a thing that didn't help on clear tone is that 4 years ago i had an gastric (or duodenum don't really remember)ulcer. So i think that the ulcer took my clean tone forever... But i get your point ;-).

Thanxs again for your answer. And man you are so skilled love you voice!

[Snax]

It's great that you know not to blow too much air over your vocal folds. That is something that I did for years and it really caused a lot of problems.

I'm sorry to hear about your acid reflux problem in the past. Building a voice takes time and if you can speak cleanly without any audible problems then you should be able to sing that way also. In theory of course!

I have been doing a vocal trick lately before recording that has really surprised me with its effect. I reach my arms towards the sky and really push my finger tips and my arms as far out as I can while breathing in deeply a few times then relax. I repeat this about 5 times before recording a section of a song and the result is that your support will feel effortless! i'm going to make a point of doing this several times a day to stretch my sides and lung capacity during normal breathing. It really does make a difference! Then you just sing like normal and the sensation is different like you just were lifting weights and then put them down and just lifted your arms.

[akarawd]

Joshual your rasp sounds really good. Since it doesn't hurt you, you must be doing it correctly already.

I read about your ulcer and how that might have affected your tone, there is a member called "Joanna" in this forum

who is a specialist - it might be worth getting her advice.

[ronws]

First, Joshua, I don't know what you are hearing and what mental filter you are going through but you had some rasp that seemed to help this song. On the low end, you do sound like Layne. Higher up, I could hear shades of Chris Cornell, even a little channeling of Eddie Vedder, I swear to God. I like your voice in this style. Per your own words, as I can't tell from this recording, it seems as if you merely need to work on your breath support.

And cool tip, Mike. It's kind of like swimmers and runners shaking it out before a meet. Allow the muscles used to stretch.

[joshual]

@Snax

Just tried your breathing tip, it works ;-).

@Ronws

ho thanxs for the compliments. And you it's funny you talked about chris cornell, because just before recording this song, i was working on you know my name. And i realize that Cornell and Layne tone are really close.

[ronws]

@Snax

Just tried your breathing tip, it works ;-).

@Ronws

ho thanxs for the compliments. And you it's funny you talked about chris cornell, because just before recording this song, i was working on you know my name. And i realize that Cornell and Layne tone are really close.

Rather sernedipitous, I would think.

[analog]

Joshua...that feckin' rocked man! I wanted to hear more. Your voice sits perfectly in that song. Like Akarawd said, if it doesn't hurt, run with it. I've also had the same problem with unintentional distortion(me and Freddie from CVT forum had an ongoing thread over there last year...and he's updated on some posts on this forum.)

Just wanted to say great job!

[jonpall]

I totally agree with analog - that was awesomely awesome!! I really liked the sound of your voice! Great pitch, rasp, sound, attitude, rock 'n' roll, man! :)