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Robert Lunte -Alice In Chains Tribute - "Rooster"

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Robert Lunte

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Geran is there a such thing as overdrive-like neutral w/ (some) air w/ false folds distortion? That might be the best way to describe what Rob is doing on Ab4 and above.

There is actually a bit of "wind" in his high stuff, but the distortion and F1/H2 tuning make it sound overall less heady.

Remember guys CVT terms do not encompass all phonations ever. Some just can't be accurately defined by them. This is true with any method's terminology.

Owen and I do a lot of training together,... He knows these sounds pretty well...

If you want to call it "neutral-overdrive"... fine... to me its just an "uh-ish" vowel with respiration bleed/escape balanced against an increase in sub-glottal pressure... Unlike what Rach is suggesting, the Ab4s feel like noise in the vocal track, not at the vibratory level... the lower distortion in the verses, feels more vibratory mechanism.. there are two different kinds of distortion at play here in this performance.

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Rob, I actually didn't like this much the first time but it's growing on me. I get it now. I had to be in the right mood listening to it. There's a lazy, chilled out, sludgy, bluesy vibe you brought to this that's super cool now that I understand it.

I can't wait to hear the Child in Time video. I love your version of that.

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Really Owen? That strikes me as strange... because as non-biased as I can possibly be in regards to my own performance, I think its actually pretty darn good... But ya, it is very much an exercise in F1/H2, bluesy-ish vibes... if thats what you understand it to be now, your "getting it"... add to that, the overlay distortion on the Abs.

"Child in Time" is coming and you will hear the voice tuned a bit differently on this. The nature of the song is not really bluesy or soulful... its more an early heavy metal song... larynx will be a bit higher I think, less character voicings and an overall brighter harmonic tuning.

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Well, I guess the song is also about 20 years old, it pre-dates your generation a bit... The older guys all know this song... Layne Staley a baritone, I don't know. He was a Maestro Kyle student as I was, but you know, these Classical voice classifications are a bit moot on point? Its relevant, but only slightly...

Yes, "Child in Time" and "Rooster" have very different harmonic tunings and vibe... as well as SOS... I did a country tune as well that I will publish soon as well...

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Yes, Staley was a baritone. And I often thought of AIC as blues and hard rock, not "grunge." Just listen to what Jerry Cantrell is doing. That is blues. But they came along when the record companies decided everything was grunge and that fans were buying flannel shirts and doc martens and just eating that all up.

IMHO, AIC was a hard rock / blues band and Layne sang mostly legit, except toward the upper notes, where he would change vowels and use what Lunte would call overlay distortion.

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Ya Ron, I have heard a few people refer to this as "grunge" I guess because of the Seattle association, but I don't think AIC is grunge? They are better then that. Grunge is, god forbid, someone like Nirvana where its just lame and thats why its cool? AIC is actually good. Sorry to bash on Nirvana, but I never really understood the attraction with Nirvana... outside of the fact that Kurt Cobain was a good song writer, but I hate listening to him sing and the texture or noise of that band was just clanky noise to me... I like texture. I also understand that the attraction to Nirvana I think was the sense that they were real genuine and not pretentious? But I never thought that Alice in Chains or Queensryche or any of the bands that preceded them were pretentious... just good bands with good musicians... something that became "not cool" with the grunge scene... I digress...

AIC is metal or hard rock, simply put.

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Ya Ron, I have heard a few people refer to this as "grunge" I guess because of the Seattle association, but I don't think AIC is grunge? They are better then that. Grunge is, god forbid, someone like Nirvana where its just lame and thats why its cool? AIC is actually good. Sorry to bash on Nirvana, but I never really understood the attraction with Nirvana... outside of the fact that Kurt Cobain was a good song writer, but I hate listening to him sing and the texture or noise of that band was just clanky noise to me... I like texture. I also understand that the attraction to Nirvana I think was the sense that they were real genuine and not pretentious? But I never thought that Alice in Chains or Queensryche or any of the bands that preceded them were pretentious... just good bands with good musicians... something that became "not cool" with the grunge scene... I digress...

AIC is metal or hard rock, simply put.

And amen, totally and completely.

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Rob doing a country tune? Holy shit. Hey, I can actually see that working out really well, in my imagination.

What other styles can you do Rob?

AiC is actually not that far before my generation i don't think. I am on the later side of that generation that still thinks the 90's were ten years ago. My older siblings started getting me into alternative rock music around late 90's/early 2000's.

So I am familiar with the "yarl" singers, that pulled back the tongue for stylistic effect, like you are doing here at times. Not really my thing anymore. It's no longer a contemporary sound, and nothing I've been listening to recently employs that type of singing. But it is a nice throwback. The interesting part about your approach with it is that you do it in a way that tunes the formants to a specific ring and doesn't just sound like you are neglecting your technique.

Nothing wrong with bashing Nirvana. Either love 'em or hate 'em artistically but hopefully everybody realizes they really weren't great musicians on a technical level.

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Kurt Cobain, good songwriter, quivering coward, otherwise.

He left his kids with Courtney. Courtney, people ....

coward, I have no respect for him and I spit on his "legend" status. Because he left his kids to face Courtney. Even when a person is having personal problems, he should always consider his children, first.

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Jens, I understand about mental illness, as well. And I remember, if someone has the drive to put a shotgun in his mouth, he should have the drive and determination to seek help, if nothing other than to fulfill his responsibilities to his kids.

Having kids is an option. Taking care of those kids is not optional. And a species that cannot take care of its young goes extinct.

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Ya Ron, I have heard a few people refer to this as "grunge" I guess because of the Seattle association, but I don't think AIC is grunge? They are better then that. Grunge is, god forbid, someone like Nirvana where its just lame and thats why its cool? AIC is actually good. Sorry to bash on Nirvana, but I never really understood the attraction with Nirvana... outside of the fact that Kurt Cobain was a good song writer, but I hate listening to him sing and the texture or noise of that band was just clanky noise to me... I like texture. I also understand that the attraction to Nirvana I think was the sense that they were real genuine and not pretentious? But I never thought that Alice in Chains or Queensryche or any of the bands that preceded them were pretentious... just good bands with good musicians... something that became "not cool" with the grunge scene... I digress...

AIC is metal or hard rock, simply put.

I have been saying the same thing since AIC hit the radio. They always sounded mainstream rock and Layne Staley is by no means, a grunge vocalist, not with the control, emotion and vibrato he put into it. And Jerry Cantrell is a rock guitarist, not grunge...

I always thought of Kurt as the new Neil Young. Can't play guitar worth crap, can't sing worth crap, but people like their music for some reason. As far as I am concerned, Nirvana killed metal, at least as a mainstream genre, sending it back underground from whence it came. I don't consider alot of the stuff we hear on the radio as metal, as I am not into the gutteral, screamo crap. For me, that's just for people who can't sing.

If anyone was offended by my comments, I apologize. These are my personal opinions and are not meant to disrespect anyone who likes them.

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I agree, Scott. And I think metal and hard rock took a hit but come back stronger than ever. I have been reading the bio of Bobby Blotzer and he sees grunge as a fad that was short lived. And many bands got unfairly grouped in that category because they came up around the same time or same area.

And the bands have their roots in hard rock. Jerry Cantrell is personal friends with Nancy Wilson, for example. In fact, he was crashing at her place when she went to see her adoptive daughter being born. And the Wilson sisters have been supportive of the wave of rock that came out of Seattle at that time. And many of them, including AIC, listed Heart as a major influence.

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Rob doing a country tune? Holy shit. Hey, I can actually see that working out really well, in my imagination.

What other styles can you do Rob?

AiC is actually not that far before my generation i don't think. I am on the later side of that generation that still thinks the 90's were ten years ago. My older siblings started getting me into alternative rock music around late 90's/early 2000's.

So I am familiar with the "yarl" singers, that pulled back the tongue for stylistic effect, like you are doing here at times. Not really my thing anymore. It's no longer a contemporary sound, and nothing I've been listening to recently employs that type of singing. But it is a nice throwback. The interesting part about your approach with it is that you do it in a way that tunes the formants to a specific ring and doesn't just sound like you are neglecting your technique.

Nothing wrong with bashing Nirvana. Either love 'em or hate 'em artistically but hopefully everybody realizes they really weren't great musicians on a technical level.

The "yarl" sound? That is funny, but I know what your talking about. I never heard it labeled like that... ya, this was my "Yarl" demonstration... LOL. The Child In Time and Country song will demonstrate other things...

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The "yarl" sound? That is funny, but I know what your talking about. I never heard it labeled like that... ya, this was my "Yarl" demonstration... LOL. The Child In Time and Country song will demonstrate other things...

If I remember correctly I think Ron first mentioned that term, he heard it from a video?

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Robert,

Actually, your mentioning of "tissue grinding" is also an indication that it is produced at the vocal folds. There are very little somatosensory information from the vocal folds (you can't really feel them). However it's different from the false folds which are situated millimeters above the vocal folds. So "tissue grinding" is more an indicator of false folds adduction.

Does that mean that the tickling sensation that I feel when singing high is really the false folds adducting?

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Yes, it was me. A documentary series called "metal evolution" put together by a college-educated anthropologist and devotee of all things heavy metal. This term came from metal musicians he interviewed to describe the "grunge lite" singers that came after Nirvana. Singers like Eddie Vedder, and more especially, Scott Stapp. And a host of lesser names.

They also called them "underbite singers." I spewed my beverage at both terms.

And wished I had thought of that nomenclature.

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Good stuff, and thank you for not doing "Man in the Box". As often as it's covered, you would think it was the only song they ever released.

Nirvana killed metal, at least as a mainstream genre, sending it back underground from whence it came.

I've never credited them for putting an end to anything. The 80's rock/metal scene was already on its last legs. It had reached the point of being a parody of itself. Nirvana was simply pushed at the right time. Can you imagine if the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video had existed in 1987 when Ratt, Dokken, Crue, and Whitesnake were reigning supreme? We probably would have never seen it on MTV outside of their once a week alternative show, "120 Minutes".

As for Alice in Chains, I've never thought of them as a "grunge" band, either. Their "We Die Young" single received a fair amount of radio play on rock/metal stations before Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video and the rest of the grunge scene took off.

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Validar, you also have a good point and maybe the "grunge" phase was a purification, of sorts. A humbling of experience, for sure. A getting back to the roots sort of thing. As I mentioned, many a band labeled as grunge cite hard rock bands from the 70's as their inspiration. Again, as I have said, Jerry Cantrell is friends with Nancy Wilson, in her own words, in the memoirs I have read of the Wilson sisters.

And both Slash and Myles Kennedy are coming back with hard rock, strong as ever. "Liar" gets a lot of radio play on Mad Rock, the local station in Grayson County were I live. I mean, we both admire the work of Saliva and "Click, Click, Boom" is Led Zeppelin talking about a boy becoming a man, all over again. It even has that Jimmy Page "wall of guitars" sound, if you think about it.

To quote the Bible, "there is no new thing under the sun."

And grunge is really just a wide spot in the road of "rock."

I would like to write a hard rock song. But I end up writing sappy love ballads, ala the 70's. That's what I need to do. Write the obligatory ballad all rock bands have to do to have a record contract.

Cha-ching! :lol:

It's a deal with the devil and I am on the highway to Hell ....

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"underbite singers" , that is funny. I think its funny because I didn't realize that other people actually were contentious of that sound? But to realize that its actually something that people have identified is humorous to me... yes, Stapp does the same thing... as does Stone Temple Pilots guy... Anyways, its just some trickery with the tongue and larynx... F1/H2 can accentuate that sound I think as well... if you craft it just right... but that isnt "my sound"... maybe its a bit of my "bluesy" sound... but what I really default to is probably more like the forth coming "child in time" video or the SOS...

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Robert, I really dug that clip. Very cool singing and for the record, I think you're a better singer now than you were a few years ago, even though you could always sing. In addition, I really liked your tone throughout. Very pleasing sound. Cheers :)

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Thanks JonPall... Yes, I don't know If Im a better singer, but more of a stronger singer... which I guess makes me better. Nothing more then just a lot of singing, practice, training the specialized onsets from "Pillars". Glad you liked it, more to come.

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Robert I think it would be great if you gave some other kinds of genre a shot just to show your students it can be done. It doesn't have to be anything super popular but I definitely hear that bluesy undertone that is in a boatload of popular music. Also in my opinion it seems like you held back on the twang for artistic purposes it would be great to hear the maestro make full use of twang artistically at a future time :)

Great rendition.

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