Chest voice stretching and belting or mix voice belting

ItsMeJohnny

Hey guys, so ive been singing for almost a year now and there is this singer that ive always admired but never quite understood his technique, Matt Shadows from Avenged Sevenfold, he sings with a huge amount of power not to mention alot of distortion and yet still manages to relax into the notes, getting vibrato, sounding melodic...etc. I was wondering if anyone can explain to me how is voice works and some guiding lines on how to try and get closer to that sound.
This also leads me to my question, is it better to stretch the chest voice register and belt in it on high notes or use a mix voice that resembles a powerful chesty voice and belt that way?

I appreciate the help

Furious_Phil

Well, I have been listening to a few of their tunes, and he doesn't seem to go up all that high (at least so far) so you could probably get away with stretching chest.

From some of the spoken lyrics, I'd venture to say that he is probably a baritone or high-bari. That definitely helps with the lower growl he has to his voice.

Lastly, he seems a more than a little reminiscent of James Hetfield to be honest.

ItsMeJohnny

Hey Phil, thanks for the reply, i guess since he's been singing for a while now i better specify the sound i really like in him, ill post a video here of a performance i really enjoyed to make it clear. His sound has changed alot these last few years, maybe due to improper technique, if you give a listen to the song, do you think you can tell if there are signs of bad technique?
And yeah, Pantera and Metallica are big influences on their band, if you grab Phil Anselmo and Hetfield's voice and put it in a mixer, you're gonna get something like Matt's voice

ItsMeJohnny

https://youtube.com/watch?v=RcgeqDJKY14

Furious_Phil

That is one hell of allot of fry he's doing there!!!

Is it safe? Well it depends on a number of factors... how loud is he actually singing? Where is he placing that fry in his throat? is he compressing properly? etc etc...

But he must be doing something somewhat right, as if he were screaming like that, he wouldn't last 3 songs of a set and his vocals would progressively get worse during a tour..

ItsMeJohnny

Ahh so that stuff is fry? Okay i had some doubts on what to call that kind of distortion.
Alright so the main thing of all of this is that if i want to get a sound closer to that, i should problably get my chest voice nice and strong and then try and strech it in a confortable way, maybe get in a mix to go a bit higher, is that correct?

As for the distortion, i really dont know what to do on this one, ive been doing it in a way that sounds good and doesnt make me hoarse (although it is more tiresome on the voice) but just because it sounds good and doesnt give me any issues now, doesnt mean they cant appear at a later stage, maybe when its far too late

Ill be going to a vocal teacher in September (only half of the month), and once im able, buy this course, but seeing as i dont have my parents support, i gotta get some kind of part time job to get it.

Hopefully one day ill be doing things right

Furious_Phil

Honestly, a vocal coach will cost you more int he long run.

I would seriously advise doing what I did. if you really want this, then make it happen! Success will not come by and visit you on the couch
Get that job, save the money, order at least get the "Course" to get you going. Its what I did. When you put yourself out there like that, and put your money on the line (especially when its not plentiful) you're more apt to really work super hard to get all you can out of it!

** While you're waiting for the total $$ sum to accumulate, glean all that you can from the free videos

Honestly, I didn't have the $$ either, but I scrimped for months to just get the chance to crouch at the starting blocks! A year later, I was so jazzed with the progress, that I scrimped more and got myself extended to the Pro-level! You'd be surprised how quickly you can scrounge the quid for something that you really want.

Make the choice, set the course and paddle like crazy (Important life lesson contained therein )

ItsMeJohnny

You're completly right man, thank you so much for taking the time to answer my silly questions, i spent a long time thinking singing was a skill reserved for a few divine entities that had a special affinity to it, from an early age my dad always repressed any artistic instinct me and my sister had and eventually he got it in my head that music was not a path i should ever take. On the other hand my uncle and aunt gave a violin to my cousin at an early age and she now plays in the finest music school in the world with guaranteed jobs waiting for her.

Bottom line is, no matter what anyone says, if thats what you feel like doing then you gotta take a shot and go for it, dont repress it or you will just blow it out in an unpredictable way

Jlmetal

What he is doing is called false chord engagement and the fry comes from compressing your chest voice and letting it resonate in your head like belting. It's like a sling shot of breath when you release try to relax the muscles while still holding compression, although I had to plain out learn to scream low mids and highs before I could distort actual notes. Having a lower voice does help but not needed, vocal fry is when you scream with you're head voice false chords

ItsMeJohnny

So he's doing fry by compressing the chest voice and letting it resonate in the head? Doesn't that make it head voice then? And all that compressing needs to come from the diaphragm, no funny business in the throat, correct?
You say he's using false chords too, so he's doing both fry and false chords...wow