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Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden singer) vocal question

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Snax

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Hey all,

When Bruce is singing the chorus of "Run to the Hills" what vocal technique is he using? Is it head voice, mixed voice or pulling chest? He's known for being a "belter" whatever that actually means. :rolleyes: lol

I'm able to sing along with him for some reason so I'm curious as to what he does to help me know what I'm doing also! lol

Here's a youtube video of the song live.

Thanks so much for any and all responses.

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Bruce Dickinson, one of my favorite topics. These notes on the chorus of "run to the hills" are probably more heady then chest. There is also some constriction in those notes and the onset is has a strong attack, so they have belty qualities as well. I would recommend anyone take a head tone on the chorus of "run to the hills" and then work on a twang vocal mode in the head voice and with belty onsets. (onset = the beginning of the note).

Bruce Dickinson's best album in my opinion was Piece of Mind... legendary vocals on that album.

I have to tell you, on "run for your life"... I think it could possibly sampled... in other words a live/lipsynch hybrid on those top notes. Those would require bridging and a good "pressed" head tone there.

Here is a video of Bruce singing "Flight of Icarus" from that album.

Classic Bruce Dickinson here folks!

Many people dont know this, but Bruce Dickinson is also a licensed commercial airline pilot for Austrailian Airlines. That is true.

I hope my feedback helps.

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One of my favorite Maiden songs right there, thanks! :D

I love his tone and power on the line "In the name of God my Father I'll fly" That's the same tone he uses on many other great Maiden songs like the high notes in "Where Eagles Dare". I have similar power which likely came from me singing Maiden songs with no P.A. when I first started singing while my drummer was pounding the skins right beside me in his parents basement. Good times! lol

I really miss this style of singing and hope it makes a come back. Long live the days when singers actually had to have vocal ability! ;)

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Houston is screamin'!!! :)

hey Bruce is also a master at fencing, won many awards, I forget the details...but I took fencing in college "partially 'cause Bruce did" and because hey I like weapon arts, (also got a black belt in TKD with my daughter) and i also got my pilots license in high school....heehee :)

now if i could just sing like a female version of "Sir" Bruce....

heehee :) I know Mr. Robert can help me with that...dont give up on me!!! I am closer than ever to starting Jaimes course!! and will never cease to learn!!

oh yea, and my avatar just happens to be a pic of me singing Flight of Icarus. Poor form Peter.

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hey snax,

bruce uses more of a bridging technique than of a belting one i would say, but yes it does have some of that belt quality to it. he is another one of those metal tenors, a bit like dio, that has a thick, full sounding head voice which can give more of the illusion of the chest voice being carried very high. the chorus is in the mix/middle voice and head voice areas.

bruce is using an edge/cry/moan sound that is an excellent training tool and some times applied technique that provides good adduction/compression for the vocal folds in the head voice and also helps with bridging through the registers. you can try this yourself by humming or saying the word MUM then putting a moany, whimpering quality to the MMM.

by the way there are loads of singers that still sing this way, you just have to get into the heavy/power/progressive metal scene of today.

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Thanks everyone! My own voice when I was at my best was a mix of Bruce Dickinson,Rob Halford and Michael Sweet from Stryper. I never really had an easy time getting grit and really strained my throat a lot back then. Nowadays I'm enjoying learning to sing with better technique vs being a pure screamer. This forum will really help me on my journey.

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One of my favourite topics too:) Dickinson is probably my favourite belter out there. I always struggle to get a chesty tone so high up the scale, could never really do it. Here are to great examples of guys, who's got really close to bruce's vocal sound, go check them out!:

http://www.ironmaidencover.com.br/indexportframe.htm

Snax, post a sample of you singing bruce, it would be great to hear it:)

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One of my favourite topics too:) Dickinson is probably my favourite belter out there. I always struggle to get a chesty tone so high up the scale, could never really do it. Here are to great examples of guys, who's got really close to bruce's vocal sound, go check them out!:

http://www.ironmaidencover.com.br/indexportframe.htm

Snax, post a sample of you singing bruce, it would be great to hear it:)

When I move into our new house at the end of the month I'll unpack my mic and gear and record something for ya. Thanks for the link to that Maiden tribute band. Man does that guy sound like Bruce! So close it's hard to tell them apart on some of the songs on their website!

Thanks RycheMaiden for the link to the female Maiden tribute too. Great vocals there too. I'm so thrilled to have found a forum where others appreciate the same singers as I do and can analyze their techniques.

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Can't wait to hear it. I can deliver some really nice instrumental version of maidens song to record vocals to, drop me a message if you're interested. It would be great to hear some other users of this forum trying their best at those tunes too:)

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two bands i can think of that have singers with BD like qualities are

Edguy

Machine Men

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ne2iMIkTWI

the thing is although its interesting to hear and impressive you cant help thinking that maybe some of these guys should get there own "vocal" life so to speak. its certainly something i had to learn :P

i mean take a singer like the guy who was in the power metal band Lost Horizon, you could hear the influences but he also has his own voice and it was/is awesome

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It's interesting you say Tobias Sammet doesn't have a distinctive voice, because I think his voice is quite distinctive :D

When I first heard "Avantasia" I recognised him before I knew it was his side project

no i do think Tobias has his own thing going on as well though you can hear a lot of bruce in there.

i remember when i first heard ralf scheepers from primal fear and thinking, whoa he sounds just like halford. now i dont know how i could have thought that :lol:

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I always thought that Bruce's style was VERY much inspired by Gillan's, especially on Samson recordings. No wonder Gillan found them good sounding:) It's a pitty Dickinson never learned to do Gillanish falsetto screams properly, he always seems to struggle on the very high notes.

I think I'll make a new thread about this kind of screams:)

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  • 2 years later...

It's time to bring this thread back to life:) Here's a short clip of me singing Iron Maiden. I'm doing my best here, still it sounds a bit like a parody haha! Got any hints?

https://www.box.com/s/82440c27595d9dc19837

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Not really. I mean, it doesn't sound like a parody, to me. In fact, you really seem to capture some of his tone and vocal weight.

Actually, I think it would be cool to hear you do "Fear of the Dark."

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Hey Ron. I may try, if I find a good backing track. There are some great original Iron Maiden backing tracks on YT, but no "Fear":/ I'd like to sing the whole "Montsegur" one day, but the chorus is still to difficult for me!

By the way, check out this band - the vocalist sounds familiar, doesn't he? (btw, probably my favourite album of 2011)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSYQgVK17g8

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Sorry DJ, I don't know who you think that singer sounds like. Once in a while, he gets a Bruce tone, if that's what you mean. And in my ears, you sound way closer to Bruce than he does.

And I absolutely dare you to do "Fear of the Dark."

:D

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