Distortion question. CVT answers needed!

[Mr.stevenbradley]

Any ideas how these guy's distortions are being produced?

check out 2:05

How about Bono, on this live performance...

At 1:08 on "dead end street" and "back up against the wall"

Thanks!

[analog]

Hmmm. For both of them you need to twang your ass off. I'm not 100% sure how to explain it in non CVT terms, but a good start would be to practice with a voiced fricative like "V."

Pick a line, say the "Dead end street." Find the note, set up your twang, and go V-A V-A V-EE or whatever vowel it is you're trying to sing. Don't try to sing loud or big, just let the V give you some Sub Glottic pressure and bring folds together. Keep it light and twanged and experiment.

Bono tends to get distortion by twanging AND by singing "between modes" in CVT terms. For me, it's really a matter of experimentation. Just make sure you are not over-pressing and keep the sound very light. The twang will give you the cut and thickness you need up there.

I will add my typical disclaimer that I AM NOT a vocal teacher, so if someone much wiser than me wants to chime in or correct me, feel free. These tips are just some things that have helped me.

[Mr.stevenbradley]

Thank you Analog, much obliged.

Could you describe a better way of Creaking?

I'm interested in what Martin H. has to say

about Bono's distortion.

[jonpall]

Mr. analog may have given me the most important tip on distortion on high notes in an email a few weeks ago - reduce the air flow as much as you can. Since then, I've been trying to really "feel" the air stream in the back of my throat and trying to reduce it (pretty much by "thinking" less air). That way, it takes MUCH less effort to distort the note and I don't have to do it by the brute force of just increasing the volume (and therefore usually pull chest too high) until the note distorts. Telling me to twang hard wasn't nearly as helpful to me as that tip.

I'm still experimenting with this but I feel I've finally solved my puzzle on why I had a hard time distorting high notes without getting a sore throat afterwards. I've even been doing arpeggios with distortion for the last few days and it doesn't hurt my throat because I'm always concious of the air flow and not to increase the volume when I want to add grit to a clean tone.

The foundation behind the distorted tone, i.e. the clean tone, has to be solid - with very little air, and stay that way. In my case, that foundation is probably the centre of curbing, using CVT terms (and it's probably called "mix" in SLS terms, for my notes between E4 and E5). And note that that centre can't have TOO little volume (because reducing air actually increases the volume a bit - and makes you sound much better). It's still fairly loud, but no way I'm I just blowing my brains off with exessive shouting. My 5 cents.

But the actual technique as to how I add grit, both with high and low notes, is always the same (it's pretty much the way the CVT book teaches distortion, put into words by me): It has two components. First is some sort of closing of a passageway back in my throat. I don't have enough knowledge to know exactly what that place is called. Secondly, I increase the air pressure right into my soft palate. Aaaand, like I said above, I try to feel a very little "wind" (air) flowing through my throat and try not to increase the volume.

[jonpall]

Anyone else want to chime in?

[joshual]

When i want do to distortion ( i have to say that i've never work on it, so could be very wrong), on notes starting on A above middle C, i try to really open the back of the mouth, and make a joker face. And it just work for me. Doing this, i can see that my tongue is low on the front teeth and high in the back of the mouth.

But i also have to say that it seems that i have a natural ability to do that kind of things, i've always been able to distort ( for fun) high head voice notes. But the lower hte notes are, the more difficult it is for me...

[jonpall]

Yeah, the funny thing is that you kind of both need to open the back of your throat and then close it somehow, to add grit :)

[VideoHere]

folks, you'll probably all laugh at me, but i get mine by visualizing the sound i want in my mind, and then i kind of act it, act out the sound as it pertains to my particular vocal timbre. in most cases the sounds are produced ironically softly and close to the mic.

although a favor a pure sounding tone here's one of my favorites at 3:47!!

what do you think?

[jonpall]

VIDEOHERE, thanks for that great clip. I'm getting to be a bigger fan of Lou Gramm every day now.

I actually SOMETIMES do distortion the way you describe it, i.e. just think of the sound I want, which is recommended by Mark Baxter, btw., but sometimes I think a bit more about the details of how I'm doing it and then it's more like Jamie Vendera and CVT describe it, I think.

[VideoHere]

VIDEOHERE, thanks for that great clip. I'm getting to be a bigger fan of Lou Gramm every day now.

I actually SOMETIMES do distortion the way you describe it, i.e. just think of the sound I want, which is recommended by Mark Baxter, btw., but sometimes I think a bit more about the details of how I'm doing it and then it's more like Jamie Vendera and CVT describe it, I think.

jon, i read this book by roger cain and he said it's a lot of acting and not holding back with the screams. if you hold back you'll likely hurt yourself...but the key is to take the brunt of it with your stomach and constipate the notes. easier said than done.