How do people scream without harming their vocal organs?

[Iommic Pope]

i Really Love the REFUSED shape of punk to come album.

Because it is fucking awesome.

Nuthin wrong with singing or warming up in the car. I used to do it before gigs so I was good to go and didn't have to look like some freako rapist in the backstage area.....breath control exercises and mayo-mayonaise don't work so well with the opposite gender.....also, ain't nothing doom about em.

[terminator]

I like to eat super greasy cheeseburgers before I play a show.
We have one song where my left arm goes numb when I scream in the chorus.

[WeHuntKings]

I have no fucking clue what it means to sing with your stomach. I sing lead in my band and kinda fake my way through it i guess?

I should take lessons.

[DarkAxel]

Well it has been bestowed upon me that I'll do backing and screamy vox in one of my new bands. So... yeah

my dream - shooting for that hardcory vibe. sort of somewhere between Alexisonfire and ETID. I would say Neurosis, but let's be realistic and also... we're too fast for that

wish me luck

[odontophobia]

My voice got really heavy sounding when I started smoking. Now I don't smoke much/significantly less. I'm way out of shape and practice.

The last time my old band gigged I screamed for two days in a row, basically playing about 5 sets in that time. It was weird though because I was also playing guitar, which I hadn't normally done.

The thing about being a dedicated vocalists is that sometimes you bend over and contort your body in ways that make screaming from your diaphragm and gut a helluva lot easier. When you're playing an instrument you have to consciously think about doing this.

That's why we see vocalists in this position so frequently.

[terminator]

Don't forget to grab plenty of air

[christianatl]

Fuck if I know.

[odontophobia]

Fuck if I know.

yeah, this is also pretty fucking true.

i bought the zen of screaming dvd a few years back but couldn't get into it....

[BoatRich]

Zen of Screaming helped a lot for more "technical" vocals (growls, grunts, inhales, etc...), but honestly for all of the hardcore stuff and punk singing, I just found a comfortable range and started yelling as loud as I could without hurting myself

[PanicProne]

I've been screaming for a good few years now. Like everything else, the boring answer is practice. It's gonna sound horrible when starting out, and you will probably get a sore throat and hurt yourself sometimes. The golden rule to me is (what I think Melissa Cross said) if it hurts, you're doing it wrong.

I got the Zen of Screaming when it came out, watched it, liked it, but never followed it completely, I just used it for inspiration and applied the parts I enjoyed from it to my own screaming. Instructional videos are great and contain lots of knowledge, but in the end it's all about finding out what works for you.

Also, it's definitely a question of "match fitness". Whenever I've haven't screamed for a while I will be lacking "stamina", and it will take a few rehearsals to rebuild it. I do warmups before most rehearsals and shows, but use a warm up I was taught for "normal" singing, which basically is just about ehrm, getting warm and loosening up a bit. As for air, too much of it will just be a problem. The key to screaming, for me, is control and staying relaxed. Once you tense up or let your emotions take over too much you risk cracking your voice and hurting yourself.

[DarkAxel]

Tried to scream while playing bass at the last rehearsal. I'm not really good at doing many things at the same time, can't even talk and play at the same time and I'm always very focused on my playing. So I wasn't able to control the technique and shit and I did the extremely dangerous um... what is it called when you scream but it's sort of a sing-screaming? When you scream but it clearly has pitch

Whatever - i wasn't able to control my technique and it hurt. So i tried singing instead and it was much easier and surprisingly not that bad... so i might be a pussy and just sing. I definitely have trouble with too much air damaging the vocal cords

[gunslinger_burrito]

I seem to recall an interview (or a few) somewhere with Greg Puciato from Dillinger, and he claims that he just screams like he means it, basically. He can get pretty shriek-y live, though. I guess there are two camps, the "scream with technique" camp, which makes you sound more like a metal band (I guess?) and the "scream because you fucking mean it" camp, which I think is pretty self-explanatory (and also significantly more punk-rock...). I have an interest in this topic, but I don't have a place to practice other than my car......

[AxAxSxS]

Imagine the way you would address someone who just kicked your dog/wife/child/mother/balls. Do that, but musically.

[rustywire]

Damage will be done if you go loud/long enough. Some styles and octaves will get you hoarse (or worse) sooner...
Singing...and screaming within your comfortable range is sagely advice. Same goes for vox from the throat=bad, vox from the gut=good.
Mic technique and proper gain-staging (and power) can also do a lot of the work for you, and make it appear like you're exerting yourself a lot more than you are.
Practice vocal exercises/warmup before practice & shows...drink hot (not scalding) tea and eat at least 1 teaspoon of straight honey...swallowing a little bit at a time.
Also using reverb helps fill in the gaps to buy extra time for breathing and ramping up your amplitude...and also makes (even shitty) vox sound better in general
A little bit goes a long way.

[PanicProne]

I seem to recall an interview (or a few) somewhere with Greg Puciato from Dillinger, and he claims that he just screams like he means it, basically. He can get pretty shriek-y live, though. I guess there are two camps, the "scream with technique" camp, which makes you sound more like a metal band (I guess?) and the "scream because you fucking mean it" camp, which I think is pretty self-explanatory (and also significantly more punk-rock...). I have an interest in this topic, but I don't have a place to practice other than my car......

Whoa! Hold on now. So what your saying is that singers in metal don't actually mean what they scream, just cause it's metal and not punk based, haha? :P

I think the whole idea of "two camps" is just ridiculous. Greg, like most other singers or screamers (just ask them) definitely put a lot of emotion into it ( that's what music is, isn't it? channeling emotions. at least to me it is). But he definitely has shitload of techinique that he has mastered. If you want to sound good consistantly over long periods of time you will have to use some kind of technique. How much of this "technical" singing is done consciously or not, and whether you like to or are able to put it into words is something else. If you go out there and "just scream", you will ruin your voice pretty fast. As far as the two camps, there's always a blend of them going on. Getting it sound "like you fucking mean it" every time requires a fair share of technique.