raspy, gravelling singing

[samsp]

just wondering if there was any other way to get a raspy,gravelly, sounding singing voice like without having to smoke or drink alcohol? I use my stomach in conjuction as well, to get more power but it seems that these two things are the only way to get that sound. i just wanna be abel to do it without comprimising on my health!

[Fab]

Scream a lot until you fuck your vocal chords up, then do it again tomorrow. I dunno, I'm just guessing but I imagine that would do something.

Mark Lanegan has the coolest raspy voice ever and he smokes and drinks like buggery.

[ramblingrose]

Pull the filter off a cigarette and smoke a little bit of it. I know strictly speaking that's smoking, but it works and it's so horrible there's no way you'd get addicted.

[Six Ways]

Originally posted by ramblingrose
and it's so horrible there's no way you'd get addicted.

[samsp]

thanks guys for the tips! so smoking is the only way to go about it. I was hoping there was another way. I mean my cords are bad enough as it is! it's the raspy singing that brian robertson, chris cornell, dave coverdale have that I'm trying to achieve. I know i'll never sound like them, but it would be cool to get my own rasp without any pain !

[ramblingrose]

Smoking doesn't necessarily work either, I've smoked for years and I shout quite a lot, and I wouldn't say I sounded especially gravelly. You either are or you aren't, as it were. I had a friend at school who could make her voice go a bit husky if she impersonated Louis Armstrong for a bit, you could give that a shot. Seriously though, I'd consult some kind of professional if you're that bothered because DIY attempts could render you virtually mute.

[DrHibbert]

I listened to an interview with Tom Waits where they asked him about his gravelly voice, and he said that when he was younger he screamed into a pillow to fuck with his vocal chords. I'm not sure if he was kidding (it wouldn't be the first time he fucked around with an interviewer) or not, but he's got some cool voice. He also smoked a lot, so I don't know.

[Korean Masta part 2]

Canibus has a very cool raspy voice..


www.myspace.com/canibus

[dajxd]

Throat cancer.

[The Tourist]

yeah, get some of that. :O

[Trickster]

Actually, I've managed to start developing that kinda breaking-up voice sound without any smoking or throat cancer. I've been wanting to get that kinda sound for ages, and it's quite difficult. You have to sing very hard, but it's not shouting... it's almost like you move the sound to a different part of your throat... and kinda half close-off the back of your throat and force the sound out. Hard to explain... John Frusciante does it very well. I don't think it was until listening and trying to imitate him that I made any progress - previously it was just either normal singing or pitch-less shouting/screaming. Now I can add that distorted sound to the list.

Yeah, so just practice it whenever you can.

[Six Ways]

That's how I do it whenever I do it...which is not often, because my voice is very loud when it gets loud, and to get it to break up I need to push it quite hard and I'm very very loud. So I don't get much practise.

[`mishimasan`]

Yeah I got a relatively raspy voice by singing full-belt imitating Chris Cornell, and Filter songs for practically months. After a while it just becomes manifested into your voice as your vocal chords become accustomed to the stress you're putting onto them.

It also helps if you don't clear your throat too much aswell. I smoked for a long time when I started doing this but have not smoked for a long time now and what I've realised is that it's not about the smoking at all. It's about how you expose your voice to this kind of intense singing. Don't be stupid and smoke just because you think it will give you a raspy voice because there are other ways - like actually forcing it upon yourself.

If you want a seriously ridiculously raspy voice then try to imitate Anthony Robbins lol.

[consisting]

i definately would not try to make your voice raspy. if you werent born with a raspy voice, let it be. its just the way the vocal folds are, etc. one of my brothers has a very gravelly texture to his voice, and the other is super smooth, but they are both the same pitch. it's just the way it is. if you try to ruin your vocal folds to make them raspy, well , i hope you only intend to record, because you sure as hell wont be able to sing live for very long without having to stop for like 3-6 months to have it heal, and then lose the raspyness, or just have to stop singing altogether because you thoroughly screwed up.

really, you arent tom waits, chris cornell, or anyone else, you are yourself, no one else has your voice, you should be proud of that.

what was that one guy that had to keep going off stage inbetween songs to eat icecream, so he could numb his throat enough to sing? i forget the band..

but i dont think you want to end up like that. i've seen a lot of amateurs ruin themselves because they were damaging their throats, but thought it was cool. well now they arent going to get anywhere. if you only want your career to last a few years, go ahead. if you want to actually do it for the rest of your life, you should instead aim at reducing stress and tension put on your vocal cords.