Trouble Finding Vocal Distortion? Try This!

[@TimothyPalmerESL]

The way you explain the physiology of the voice and how to access it for singing by connecting it to funny voices, accents, and sounds is one of the most helpful things I have ever heard when learning about singing. As someone who enjoys using accents and making funny voices and noises, I have found your comparisons so helpful in discovering my singing voice (or at least coming near it). Thank you for your excellent teaching style. This is great learning content.

[@JuanMartinez-sz5dn]

Bro i been taking lessons for over 2 years and thanks to you I improve so much ,I finally understand so much about the resonance in my rib cage the subtle of the air flow so exciting god bless you.

[@SterlingRJackson]

That’s awesome man! Glad I could help!

[@jamescravens4109]

I have never laughed so hard and been so informed at the same time

[@Nantucket_sunset]

3:56 😅😅😅😅😅had to rewind 10times.😂

[@76Taz]

I really like your videos. You make a lot of sense and make things relatable. Could you please do a video on Sebastian Bach? His type(s) of distortion, and vibrato? Maybe Wasted Time, Quicksand Jesus, In a Darkened Room, or I Remember You?

[@SterlingRJackson]

I recently started doing lesson videos exclusively for my Patreon subscribers. I may keep doing some vocal analysis videos like you’re requesting but will be doing more of the teaching over there. If you’d consider joining me there I’ll make a video just for you! I’m currently rendering a lessons video someone requested last week on Patreon 😊

[@chicomp]

i'm learning A LOT, but when Arnold comes in, i lose it... Keep doing it!

[@George_C-e4v]

Thanks to Kurt Cobain´s MTV Unplugged I learned that my vocal distortion was wrong for a long time. I could hit the notes in About a Girl, Come as you are and Where Did you Sleep last night with a raspy powerful voice but I COULD NEVER make the little voice crack/yodel at the end of each verse like he did. TLDR, his technique was correct, mine was wrong. I was basically pulling hard my chest voice into high notes territory. I got confortable with it tbh but I had no control with vibrato or slides. By hearing Kurt´s constant cracks I knew I was doing something wrong, until I found that to do that we actually need to sing clean first underneath all of that filtering. I always read that Kurt´s technique was awful but that´s misleading for new singers because he actually had better technique than most ppl think. The little yodels/cracks prove that. Guy could sing easily clean tones on Bb4s if he wanted to. He actually did but always applied some kind of fry/filtering or whatever it is to make it raspy. So he used MIXED Voice clearly underneath all the filters. It was correct. My distortion was incorrect as I could not sing clean Bb4s (where did you sleep last night) but I could sing it distorted/pulled from chest

[@underthehinttree7898]

Hmm interesting thoughts. I had always assumed he could not sing a Bb4 clean, like the chorus of teen spirit he had to blister out. To your point though, I heard a raw audio of kurt, i think from montage of heck, where he seemed to be practicing yodels and cracks.

[@George_C-e4v]

@@underthehinttree7898 We have to keep in mind that dude was doing a lot of heroin and not healthy lifestyle. Bb4s are hard for males and in a bad day it can be a pain to reach if you don´t threat your voice well. However Kurt always tried to sing the notes underneath, contraty to what I was doing. When you pull your chest up on the range it totally disconnects your voice from the head register, so it´s impossible to end with a yodel/crack.

[@underthehinttree7898]

@@George_C-e4v I could see that. His rasp/screams were my favourite as a kid. So I'm sure there was more technique than people give him credit for

[@jorgemartinez42069]

@@George_C-e4v I also think Cobain didn't know about or practice proper technique, though he may have stumbled into it sometimes. He was one of my early heroes, but he unfortunately turned his nose up at doing vocal exercises and learning how to do this healthily. To be fair, though, there weren't very many people like Sterling at the time who taught healthy vocal distortion.

[@TheGoddamnBareBear666]

Some of my favorite, nastiest harsh vocals are from a band called Larcenia Roe. Guy sounds like someone is rhythmically choking him out at certain points of their songs. Beautiful lol

[@SterlingRJackson]

Haha. I tend to like some of this stuff too. I dig things that are different especially in today’s saturated music market.

[@jefflarsen1164]

⁠​​⁠Can you tell me what type of distortion Chris Stapleton employs most often? I assume he uses a mix of techniques that end up sounding like seamless transitions through his ranges. But when he’s not going for crazy-high screams, it’s probably not a lot of false chord? Maybe all nasal?? Maybe mostly fry? I can’t tell what type of distortion he employs most.

[@MishiaEatingUnicorn]

Great video! I always have issues with compresion/throat clearing and it's placement. I feel it at the bottom of my throat, which feels super scratchy and hurts after a minute. How do I move it up?

[@SterlingRJackson]

Similar to how I mentioned the “three tiers” you can try using different vowel sounds to engage and disengage different muscle groups. For example, the more nasal you sing, the more you’re moving your resonance up and out of the throat. 😊

[@MMCHAD]

Thank you so much for your efforts i appreciate that we all do.

[@SterlingRJackson]

😊😊

[@BahriScaleart]

I will try n back if this work 😄 thanks btw

[@TinyRacketStudios]

this guy knows his shit

[@themusketeer9458]

There are two concepts I struggle with: holding the breath, creating compression, and I feel there are two ways to sing from that. You could release the IDC, glottal attack? But still hold back the air, creating a very compressed sound, and you can ease up on that for as much as is necessary, and it feels a lot like singing. Is this what we want? Or the second way for me is to keep the glottal attack but let air through all the same. I have no idea how I am doing it, but I am sort of just pushing through the glottal, and it immediately creates tones that do not sound overly compressed. They sound pretty normal, but I can make them sound very compressed if I want. If you understand what I mean here. They feel WILDLY different, and I can't seem to understand which of the two is necessary here.😂😅

[@SterlingRJackson]

Ha it’s a little hard to tell without hearing an example. From what I’m reading it sorta sounds to me like one version is closed with total cord closure and the other maybe leaking a bit of air. We tend to want to go in the direction of cord closure all the time as perpetuating any kind of open cord method is worse for the voice and enters into other not so good habits but again… I’d have to hear what you’re doing. One cultivates a lot of pressure and power as you get it right. Other methods may be more stretched from good or not good areas and harder to make louder or “powerful”.

[@paulst101]

very curious about this nasal quality. I spent years working nasality out of my sound. It's not a desirable thing is it?

[@SterlingRJackson]

May singers including myself use nasality. It’s especial to sing higher but it doesn’t have to sound flat or “bright”. Chris Cornell was nasal all the time but his voice sounded warm and round.

[@paulst101]

@@SterlingRJackson very interesting. I experimented with it on my regular Sunday gig and had some degrees of success. Thank you for the information. I've popped you in my top 5 :)

[@musicandmania]

Hi 👋 🤘 this is sort of a long rambling thats not even that relevant to this video, but I wasn't sure where else to ramble, lol 1. Where would you suggest to start if you were a new subscriber to your channel, is there any suggested "order" to start deep diving into your content? A recommended "course outline/approach" of sorts? I'm really interested in the patreon you offer, but would really love to start digging into what you have generously posted here. I was just wondering where you would recommend to start, especially if utilizing your lessons content basically from the ground/basics and up 2. Gerard Way (from My Chemical Romance) main example being their 2nd and 3rd album 3 Cheers and Black Parade (03-2007 or so). Had/has an incredibly unique sound and voice, dynamic as all get out but has a very specific way of screaming/crying that is not as common as it would seem. I've heard it described as "hacking" but i dont know if there really is a technical term. I find it FASCINATING. I think his voice and technique deserves recognition, and even more fascinating that he didnt have any kind of training or anything before or during that time. I think the sauce of it is really his gift of immersion in emotions and the sound is a product of that, but would love to see how it actually manifests physically and what is happening there. I'm currently studying* that type of effect. KZbin "reactions" and "vocal coach reacts!" Are the only content i can really find, but even when I do, its the more "popular" or well known works that don't display it in its glory or they don't analyze at all. You're literally the channel ive spent so much time looking for and I would love to see what you would think of some of My Chemical Romance I just found your channel in the last few days. I've been a singer by personal pursuit for a long time but just started taking it really seriously the last few years as a means of survival really. I don't have any real plans or goal for why but its like a passion project of sorts i suppose. Although a band would be cool, karaoke is actually where I've been "established" for a long while now and I have quite a reputation within that community locally so I'm constantly setting the bar for myself, makes for good motivation during your midlife crisis.. I watch a lot of "coaches" and your videos are BY A MILE, the best I've ever come across. In different seasons of my life I give myself "projects" or "assignments", I spent the summer really working at extending my range and in my "curriculum" I studied Taylor Swift (worth it, tbh). Prior to that was working on depth and studied the likes of Luke Combs and Eric Church; now I've apparently entered a complete different territory and my curriculum is learning about screams and cries , dynamic and showmanship, more like My Chemical Romance. Cant wait to watch and actually LEARN stuff 🤘🙏

[@SterlingRJackson]

Not knowing about your voice personally or hearing it, I can’t really comment on where to begin. It’s similar to most instruments in that this stuff takes a lot of time and dedication so… if you’re excited about certain aspects of singing… chase those and experiment. If you keep being drawn to singing and practicing, then at some point you’re going to have to learn fundamentals and breathing again… just like guitar and things like that I think. But, get excited about stuff and just take in the information. If ya need guidance, seek it out. I wish I did but I didn’t know or find people that could do the things I was excited about or that I could afford.

[@GabiBrooks]

Hey Sterling! Quick question: have you heard Linkin Park's new vocalist? And if so, do you think that her distortion and overall technique are healthy?

[@bayouscbl7935]

Gabi, I love this question. I’d love to see what Sterling thinks. What is your opinion on it?

[@GabiBrooks]

@@bayouscbl7935 oh boy...long story short, I relate to her. I used to make myself sound "beefier" too- or so I thought, in order to closely reassemble the male singers I wanted to emulate (Phil Anselmo, Joe Duplantier etc). I got tired rather quickly live cause it's always different from rehearsal settings and sometimes my voice would kinda squeak or just break like she experienced with LP live. My SO is a sound engineer and when we first met he noticed what I was trying to do and he explained how it's not ok to try and sound more male because I was cutting out my own natural frequencies and resonance with that exaggerated throat openness and mouth shape- you can observe Emily do that quite a lot in the live. Now, I wanted to understand more about her when she's singing her own songs, so I watched some lives with her own band and I noticed that she was also struggling with those here and there. My opinion is that she pushes chest or has an underdeveloped mix voice- just like me. She is awesome, nothing against her, but she tires herself to the point she can't do lows and then loses the compression engagement which also affects her ability to sustain the long screams sometimes. Man, it sounds shitty to say it but I am honestly not disliking her, just trying to understand. I suspect she squeezed that fry engagement in the LP live precisely because of trying to shape her mouth to be more in Chester's area of resonance? Observe how in the songs they tuned up she sounds better but it still sounds kinda squeezed and the cleans are breathless. I'm not that good at accurately explaining so apologies in advance for the headache. That is why I wanted Sterling's opinion. I heard another coach's opinion today and I felt like he was trying to find amazingness even in her mistakes live, like they were all purposeful and I was a bit disappointed, that's all. I feel like we should point out whenever someone makes tiny mistakes in order to understand what to do and what not to do, especially in a live setting.

[@bayouscbl7935]

I agree with you! I’m definitely not an expert. I did notice she sounded very tense in moments and in others she sounded so relaxed and “healthy”. And you may be correct with her mixed voice not being dialed in. Also I’m sure her nerves were through the roof! I believe we watched the same analysis where the r coach praised pretty much everything lol. I hope sterling gives his feed back! Thanks Gabi!

[@GabiBrooks]

@@bayouscbl7935 no problem! Yeah, nerves can definitely mess up with voice big time too. That's to be expected.

[@nevermindthebull0cks]

I thought she sounded ok, then rough, then she got on some lower stuff and took off. Her placement is low, like baritone range, most people in rock place tenor. That's what that low overtone she has is, more of a roar, than a scream.

[@svenrechburg4364]

Vocal distortion for studio easy. But live without feedback is hard too find.

[@SterlingRJackson]

Things in rehearsal and live are most certainly different and more difficult. Not many people get to get out and experience those issues. Takes a lot of repetition and practice but the information is ultimately the same.

[@svenrechburg4364]

@@SterlingRJackson I used to get that Ministry or Atari Teenage Riot vocal distortion. I had a feedback destroyer, limiter but live with a lot of volume I didn't get a hard distortion without feedbacks.

[@SterlingRJackson]

@@svenrechburg4364hmmm, I’m not using distortion pedals for these effects.