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NekaMorgondagen
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Sat Sep 15, 2018 5:12 am
Posts: 15
Location: Sweden
PostPosted: Mon Oct 08, 2018 9:05 am 
 

Hello

I know i have a crappy voice and i cant sing still i wanna be a lead singer in a metal band. But people always seem to care about that the vocals must sound good. Why is that? In pop and modern music i think its more important that the vocals sound good. But in metal? Do you have to sing to be a vocalist in a band?

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arnvidr
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 5:51 pm
Posts: 113
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2018 12:19 pm 
 

The vocals are super important, they can swing someone's opinion of a band.

What people considers "good" though is entirely subjective, so no reason to think you won't be awesome as a lead singer.

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hakarl
Metel fraek

Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2007 1:41 pm
Posts: 8816
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2018 8:00 am 
 

If you want to be a lead singer in a metal band, how about you work hard to become a good vocalist? Instead of trying to argue that bad is good enough and people are shallow for not accepting that?

I don't know what you want to achieve by being a metal vocalist who doesn't sound good but hopes that people will be content with, but I can assure you that respect and admiration will be difficult to come by.
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Rocka_Rollas
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Feb 07, 2011 5:08 am
Posts: 1260
PostPosted: Sat Oct 20, 2018 4:45 am 
 

Would Iron Maiden be as big as they are if they had this guy on vocals?



Answer: GOOD SINGER = IMPORTANT

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arnvidr
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 5:51 pm
Posts: 113
PostPosted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 12:26 pm 
 

But again, what people think is "good" varies wildly.

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Grimbeard
Metal newbie

Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2012 10:09 pm
Posts: 179
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2018 10:54 pm 
 

Dude, fuck no. Vocals are first and foremost about delivery! Think about all the great vocals that you like and all of the terrible vocals... that you like. They are both able to sell it because they actually feel what they are doing and what they are singing. Period.

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Rocka_Rollas
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Feb 07, 2011 5:08 am
Posts: 1260
PostPosted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 3:20 am 
 

Well, a "bad singer" can still make convincing delivery in the right setting:

Dave Mustaine is pretty bad, but his snarling fits Megadeth well or some reason
Kai Hansen isn't necessarly the best either, but he fits in Gamma Ray/old Helloween
And what about UDO :D
Lemmy also fits the bill
Grave Digger wouldn't be the same without Chris Boltendahl but he's actually not really bad, just have a very "unpleasant" voice for most people, but I LOVE it

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EzraBlumenfeld
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2017 12:50 pm
Posts: 450
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 4:29 pm 
 

Dude, you've basically made eight threads of the same basic question. Stop.
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Twisted_Psychology
Metal freak

Joined: Sat May 16, 2009 8:22 pm
Posts: 6260
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 4:11 pm 
 

Rocka_Rollas wrote:
Well, a "bad singer" can still make convincing delivery in the right setting:

Dave Mustaine is pretty bad, but his snarling fits Megadeth well or some reason
Kai Hansen isn't necessarly the best either, but he fits in Gamma Ray/old Helloween
And what about UDO :D
Lemmy also fits the bill
Grave Digger wouldn't be the same without Chris Boltendahl but he's actually not really bad, just have a very "unpleasant" voice for most people, but I LOVE it


Seconding this. Talent is incredibly important but context is even more so. It's one thing to be a good or bad singer, but it's a completely different thing to be a fitting singer. I guess you can work around your crappy voice with the right sounding material, but it's best to push yourself and figure out what approach works best for your inherent abilities.
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Sweetie
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2014 1:19 am
Posts: 1091
Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed Nov 07, 2018 12:24 pm 
 

As someone who is a die-hard thrash fan, no. ;)
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HeavenDuff
Metal freak

Joined: Sun Mar 07, 2010 10:35 pm
Posts: 5158
Location: Montréal
PostPosted: Sat Nov 17, 2018 6:56 pm 
 

Grimbeard wrote:
Dude, fuck no. Vocals are first and foremost about delivery! Think about all the great vocals that you like and all of the terrible vocals... that you like. They are both able to sell it because they actually feel what they are doing and what they are singing. Period.


I find this kind of answer to be both counter-intuitive and counter-productive. It’s just not true that you can make your way as a vocalist without any kind of effort, work on your vocals or practice, and by saying that it’s all about delivery, which is not a hundred percent wrong, you are both encouraging an aspiring vocalist not to make any kind of effort on his craft, but you’re also suggesting that as long as you have personality in your vocals, you are going to be fine. And that’s not true.

There are a few examples of successful metal vocalists who standout without having much technique in their vocal approach. But these are the exceptions, not the rule. Although personality is crucial, having a good delivery requires a good technique or at least real efforts and practice. Metal vocalists, especially when it comes to genres that are rawer and more focused on the feeling, like some stoner metal or black metal, for instance, can get away with making mistakes as these genres favor more genuine and honest artistic expression over technicality, but I’m pretty sure that most of your “bad” vocalists example are at least able to sing in key, keep a count and follow the pace of the music. Another user earlier in the thread shared a video of a guy trying to sing some Maiden, and all the obvious stuff you’d expect a good vocalist to do are completely absent here. Of course doing Dickinson type vocals requires a lot of skills, but I can assure you that if Electric Wizard’s vocalist was completely missing the counts and timings you’d notice it real fast.

I don’t think that working on your vocals and practicing can ever harm your art. We shouldn’t be encouraging a fellow musician not to practice because the feeling is more important than the technique.

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Iron1
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Nov 24, 2012 8:04 am
Posts: 236
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2018 6:49 am 
 

The feeling and technique are two sides of the same coin. You HAVE TO feel the music and put out vocals that match the music or it won't sit well in the mix and no one will want to listen to it but you and your mom, and you HAVE TO understand how to sing/vocalize or else your vocal career will end quickly with torn vocal chords, choking on your own blood every time you get on stage, throat cancer or worse.

You don't have to be Geoff Tate or Rob Halford, you can be Barney or Cronos, you just have to take your honed skill and power it with feeling or you're going to lose.
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ChernobylStudios
Metal newbie

Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2018 5:32 am
Posts: 41
Location: Poland
PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2018 7:24 am 
 

Yes, great vocals are important, even in death metal. If a vocalist is weak, no amount of compression and saturation will hide that fact. You'll have to do a lot of work, layering, and editing to get a decent sounding performance on the record.

Conversely, a great vocalist who has the technique, power, range, and ability to actually belt it out will sound great already going into the microphone. Some compression, saturation, and filtering will generally do the trick in that case.

The thing you're forgetting, though, is that as well as being a good vocalist, they need to be a great frontman. They are the face of the band, the crowd control, and the person with the microphone. So it's quite important to have a good vocalist, yes.
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BazDude
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2018 3:05 pm
Posts: 4
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2018 8:36 am 
 

I mean, just look at Primus...

You don't really need to be a "good" singer, but you do need to put passion into your music, and do what you enjoy. If people don't like it, that doesn't really matter if you enjoyed writing, and performing it. Which shouldn't really come to be a surprise, but I feel like it needs stating.

(if you see this post ill be happy.)

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ChernobylStudios
Metal newbie

Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2018 5:32 am
Posts: 41
Location: Poland
PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2018 11:21 am 
 

BazDude wrote:
I mean, just look at Primus...

You don't really need to be a "good" singer, but you do need to put passion into your music, and do what you enjoy. If people don't like it, that doesn't really matter if you enjoyed writing, and performing it. Which shouldn't really come to be a surprise, but I feel like it needs stating.

(if you see this post ill be happy.)


Primus can get away with it because the guy is a ridiculous bass player. Whether or not that means the music is good is an argument for a different time. Haha.
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HeavenDuff
Metal freak

Joined: Sun Mar 07, 2010 10:35 pm
Posts: 5158
Location: Montréal
PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2018 7:02 pm 
 

BazDude wrote:
I mean, just look at Primus...

You don't really need to be a "good" singer, but you do need to put passion into your music, and do what you enjoy. If people don't like it, that doesn't really matter if you enjoyed writing, and performing it. Which shouldn't really come to be a surprise, but I feel like it needs stating.

(if you see this post ill be happy.)


The guy is actually a pretty decent vocalist, not to mention one of the best bassists EVER. That gives him a freepass ;)

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