Blending Strat Range into upper mixed voice

[aldertate]

One of the songs I sing is Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden.. in the beginning there's a section where Bruce screams... I've changed the scream that he does into a strat range note (ala early Halford)... however.. I like to pull the pitch down.. and I hear the transition between the strat range and the upper range...

What can I do to smooth this out..

For those who want to hear what I'm talking about: http://rhzenvironmental.com/c.mp3

thanks in advance..

[Robert Lunte]

Hello, I think I can help you here.

I used to sing this song too. Bruce Dickenson is one of the greatest metal singers of all time. A wonderful twangy belter. For legendary Bruce Dickenson vocals, check out "Number of the Beast", even better, "Piece of Mind". 'Piece of Mind" has the greatest Bruce D. tracks in my opinion.

The verse leading up to the scream sequence should be stabilized. It has a foggy pitch reference. So, you need to configure your larynx to a twang-like posture. This will stabilize the larynx from breaking, induce vocal fold closure for better phonation and prepare you for bridging into the head voice, to the scream.

Before you enter the scream, take a deep and low breath and prep up for it. When you release, I think you are in the proper head placement, more or less and you have a very powerful ability to twang in the head voice. thats good. Cutting to the chase, your hitting the bag way too hard on this scream. overkill. Continue to put great energy into it, but isolate your muscular contractions to the intrinsic muscles that make your voice twang, namely the aryepiglottic sphincter and his buddies.

Lay back a bit more on the scream, get more balance and calibrated. more surgical.

I think you can sing this song and I would be pleased to coach you through it and these kinds of techniques.

Cool that your here at TMV...thanks for being a member.

Here is the original Bruce Dickenson version.

[VideoHere]

Hello, I think I can help you here.

I used to sing this song too. Bruce Dickenson is one of the greatest metal singers of all time. A wonderful twangy belter. For legendary Bruce Dickenson vocals, check out "Number of the Beast", even better, "Piece of Mind". 'Piece of Mind" has the greatest Bruce D. tracks in my opinion.

The verse leading up to the scream sequence should be stabilized. It has a foggy pitch reference. So, you need to configure your larynx to a twang-like posture. This will stabilize the larynx from breaking, induce vocal fold closure for better phonation and prepare you for bridging into the head voice, to the scream.

Before you enter the scream, take a deep and low breath and prep up for it. When you release, I think you are in the proper head placement, more or less and you have a very powerful ability to twang in the head voice. thats good. Cutting to the chase, your hitting the bag way too hard on this scream. overkill. Continue to put great energy into it, but isolate your muscular contractions to the intrinsic muscles that make your voice twang, namely the aryepiglottic sphincter and his buddies.

Lay back a bit more on the scream, get more balance and calibrated. more surgical.

I think you can sing this song and I would be pleased to coach you through it and these kinds of techniques.

Cool that your here at TMV...thanks for being a member.

Here is the original Bruce Dickenson version.

rob, you are awesome in your explanation of that!

[aldertate]

Yeah, that makes sense. I'm overpowering that strat note. During the show I normally do a bunch of those.. they're fun and they tend to energize the crowds... The thing is I'm not trying to be a belter like Dickinson. That's never been my gig.... I prefer a classical approach and have tried to bring as much of that into this style as possible. With varying levels of success haha

These are three different strat notes that came from the same show (yeah, I do them all night long haha). One's from Revelations, one's from Flight of the Icarus, and one's thrown in at the end of Hallowed be thy name. Would one of these be closer to what I should be looking towards doing, or are they also hit too hard? The first one's a power note, the 2nd one's a long hold (slower vibrato on the final note), while the 3rd is a very excited one... to really punch the end of the song (strong, but smooth,vibrato)... I have a lot of latitude within the strat range, and can make modifications if necessary.

http://rhzenvironmental.com/b.mp3

[jonpall]

What ... the ... hell ... is a strat?

[joshual]

it's a guitar lol. No i think strat means here stratospheric. notes above the clouds, real high notes ;-)

[VideoHere]

What ... the ... hell ... is a strat?

jonpall, i read this and laughed my ass off, because it was exactly what i was thinking.

so a "strat" is a super high note?

[jonpall]

It's either a) a Fender Stratocaster, or a very, very high note, or c) a pretty high note.

Seriously, aldertate, could you tell us what it is?

[aldertate]

It's either a) a Fender Stratocaster, or a very, very high note, or c) a pretty high note.

Seriously, aldertate, could you tell us what it is?

in the beginning there's a section where Bruce screams... I've changed the scream that he does into a strat range note (ala early Halford)...

Early Halford era Judas Priest contained such classics as. Victim of Changes, The Ripper, Island of Domination, Genocide, etc.. They're a showcase for Halford's incredible high note delivery.

They're not technically falsetto, cause they're pressed, and so I call them strat notes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWe1geTxsco