How To Sing Death Metal: 9 Steps (With Pictures)

Death metal performance may sound like a lot of screaming and yelling to you, but in reality singers employ a technique that takes a lot of practice to master. You can learn to play the harsh voice of death metal by warming up your vocal cords properly to avoid hurting them, and by learning to breathe and sing with your diaphragm while adding throaty growls to your voice. Now you can go out and perform your favorite songs with all your heart!

Steps

Method 1 of 2: Warm up your voice

Step 1. Gargle with warm salt water and baking soda to moisten your vocal cords

Mix ½ cup (120 ml) of warm water, 1 teaspoon of salt, and ¼ teaspoon of baking soda. As you prepare to sing, gargle the mixture for 30 seconds to loosen and moisten the back of your throat and vocal cords.

You should gargle with a high-pitched note to loosen and moisten your vocal cords.
Avoid using too hot or boiling water to avoid hurting your throat.

Step 2. Do some voice warm-ups

All singers need to warm up their vocal chords before a performance, but for death metal, you need to warm up before performing grunts and screams to avoid hurting your vocal chords. Imagine the sound a donkey makes when braying and use it as a vocal exercise. Repeat that sound at different pitches and at varying intensities to prime your vocal cords.

You should start out lightly to avoid straining your vocal cords. Then increase the tone and intensity

Step 3. Yell and growl to warm up your voice

Voices for death metal are characterized by deep screams and growls. You should warm up your voice by singing loudly and prepare for deep tones with growls.

Start screaming and growling louder as your vocal cords heat up.
Practice singing some death metal lyrics you know to warm up your voice.

Step 4. Suck on a slippery elm lozenge to protect your vocal cords

Slippery elm contains mucilage, which coats the throat and helps prevent hoarseness. Singing, especially death metal songs, can take a toll on your vocal chords. As you warm up, you should suck on a lozenge containing slippery elm to help lubricate and protect your vocal cords.

You can get these pills in health food stores and online

Tip:

If you can't find slippery elm lozenges, you can use a cough lozenge to keep your vocal cords covered and protected.

Method 2 of 2: Growl While Singing

Step 1. Relax your throat and let your mouth hang open

To achieve the throaty, harsh vocals of death metal, you must let the noise come from deep within your diaphragm. Let your throat and mouth relax so that you only produce sound from the diaphragm and vocal cords.

Altering the shape of your mouth can dramatically change the sound you make. Let your mouth relax and stay open to produce a harsh voice

Step 2. Breathe deeply into your diaphragm

To generate the deep growls of death metal vocals, you need to blow air out from your diaphragm, rather than just your lungs. Start by taking a deep breath and letting your belly swell.

Make sure the area around your stomach fills up when you breathe, as you could be puffing out your chest.
Place your hand on your chest as you breathe. If your hand moves more than your stomach when you inhale, then you are not breathing into the diaphragm.

Step 3. Push the air up from the diaphragm

Use the muscles of the diaphragm to draw the air through your mouth and make it sound like the wind is coming out of your body. Avoid even using your vocal cords to make sure the air is coming from the diaphragm and not from the chest.

Push the air out quickly and forcefully by tensing your diaphragm and abdominal muscles

Step 4. Add grunts from the back of the throat

As you expel your breath, you should add harsh growls from the back of your throat to the sound. You should sound hoarse and almost stammering.

If the sound is making your throat sore or ticklish, you may not have warmed up enough or you are not pushing air out of your diaphragm

Tip:

place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth to make growls sound even deeper.

Step 5. Sing a song while you grunt

Once you've established your growl and chant from the diaphragm, start adding the lyrics of a song to your rough voice. You should start with short verses before moving on to full songs. Practice singing in different pitches until you figure out what sounds best to you.