♬
Hey Singers!
I’m Justin Stoney, Founder of New York Vocal Coaching
back for Ep. 122 of Voice Lessons To The World.
I’m joined again today by one of the world’s leading distortion
researchers and experts - Nicolás Hormazábal.
Welcome back Nicolás!
Muchas gracias Justin.
Thank you very much.
alô do mundo.
Hi everyone, I'm Nicolás Hormazábal from Chile.
So let’s do it!
Last time Nicolás and I walked you through Growls, yes!
Today we’re talking about what I personally think
is the most important kind of rasp and distortion -
the False Vocal Folds.
Nicolás?
I agree with you because it’s the most versatile distortion.
You can hear it in Bruno Mars.
♪ I was wrong ♪
It’s a really fancy rasp distortion.
But you can also hear rasp in, for example, Sam Carter from Architects.
♪ I’m always gone with the wind ♪
It’s the same distortion, but we are using more or less compression.
Mhm. Very, very cool.
Now a few quick disclaimers about Rasp and Distortion.
Distortions should not hurt.
They are not loud.
The microphone does the work.
They are usually much less aggressive
and much more subtle than we think.
They are not damaging to the voice if done properly.
Distortions take time.
Be patient with yourself and study with an expert if you can.
So, Nicolás - how would you describe false vocal fold distortion?
False Fold Distortion is a melodic distortion.
And it’s really versatile, because we can add more breathiness
or less breathiness.
We can add more compression at the level of the vocal folds,
or even at the level of the false vocal folds, you know, false folds.
So yeah, w e have a lot of things that we can do with rasp
You know…
[demonstrates]
You know. There’s a lot of things.
Awesome!
So let's go ahead and come up with a formal definition.
False Fold Distortion is
“A ‘sandpapery’ or ‘ripping’ quality produced by the
False Vocal Folds vibrating in either periodic (predictable)
or aperiodic (unpredictable) vibrations during sung pitches.”
Now let’s listen to a few singers using False Fold Distortion.
So, how do we learn to do False Fold Distortions?
Let’s look at three strategies.
First - Character Voices.
So there are some characters that we can do.
Yeah, we can use a buzzer sound.
[demonstrates buzzer sound]
We can play as a race car.
[demonstrates race car sound]
We can use a lawn mower.
[demonstrates lawn mower sound]
James Hetfield from Metallica too.
[demonstrates James Hetfield sound]
He uses a lot of distortion, a lot of rasp.
Those are all fantastic characters.
The buzzer, the race car, a lawnmower.
We don’t have any lawns in New York
so we don’t know what that means.
And James Hetfield from Metallica.
Good characters.
Next up, Twang!
Twang is definitely something we’ve talked about
on this show in the past.
Essentially, it is the internal brightening of the voice
created at the top of the larynx.
You can say “Normal Voice”.
“Twangy Voice”.
Nice!
Now, Twang can really help to get those False Folds
to rub together because of that narrowing of the larynx.
You can try a 3 part exercise like this.
Normal,
Yeah, yeah.
Twangy
Yeah, yeah.
Twang plus Distortion.
Yeah, yeah.
We’re listening for that sandpapery, ripping, subtle quality.
That’s normal,
Yeah, yeah.
Twangy
Yeah, yeah.
And then Twang plus Distortion.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah!
Yeah!
And third we have a Compression Control Exercise!
So this exercise, how does it go?
Yeah, this exercise is a compression exercise.
We don’t have a way to bring false cords together
by themself.
Because they don’t have any muscle.
So we can bring the false cords together from above
and from below.
Justin gave us one really good tool
to bring the false cords together from above.
And it's twang.
But what about from below?
We can bring the false cords together by
adding more compression
at the level of the true vocal folds.
The exercise sounds like this,
it’s like taking a pitch and moving from
your head voice to your chest voice.
It sounds like this...
[demonstrates]
Gradually I am adding more and more compression.
We have to know that this exercise is not too loud.
Even if you want to go further and practice
other compressive rasps like,
[demonstrates compressed distortion]
It’s not too loud.
And you are here with me, you can feel it.
Yeah I’m right next to Nicolás and
it’s just like talking.
It’s not loud at all.
And remember that’s one of our disclaimers.
All of these distortions are not loud.
We let the microphone do the work.
But I love that compression exercise.
Really bringing things together from below.
Awesome!
Well, false fold distortion is a vast topic,
but I hope this gave you a nice taste today.
Next time for our next episode
we’re going to be covering…
Death growls.
Death growls!
And if you’re a voice teacher looking to train distortions
or if you’re a singer looking to master distortions,
here’s how you can go much deeper…
If you’d like to sing with Rasp and Distortion
visit newyorkvocalcoaching.com/distortion.
If you’re a voice teacher wanting to teach Rasp and Distortion
safely to your singers, please visit voiceteachertraining.com/distortion
and become a part of our worldwide community.
To get your copy of Justin Stoney's book Sing Like Never Before,
visit singlikeneverbefore.com
If you'd like a vocal course that you can do from home,
check out the Voice Lessons To The World Vocal Course.
Our 12 part program takes you on a journey from beginner
to master level vocal exercises.
Find it at VoiceLessonsToTheWorld.com.
Finally, if you'd like free vocal tips sent to you each day,
sign up at DailyVocalTips.com.
♬