I know that you advise using the witch's cackle in every kind of distortion. I'm just wondering what part it helps with. I figure it's used for either helping create the distortion or as an outlet so that too much pressure doesn't build up in the neck, or maybe both. Different coaches use different terminology. Is the witch's cackle the same thing as "pharyngeal tone"?

I see the term "grunting" used fairly often in a vocal context, but it's rarely explained on a physiological level. Many techniques require grunting and some even have the word in the name of the technique, but I'm not sure I know exactly what it means. Is it true that when a vocalist grunts, the vocal cords lock and you are forcing a lot of air between cords that are very tight? That's what Jaime Vendera says. He says grunting locks the vocal cords to provide equilibrium when we lift something heavy. He says that to use it for singing with grit, the forcing of air between cords that are so tight will make the vocal cords red, irritated and swollen. For reference, Jaime starts talking about it starting it at just after 2:35 in this video, although in the rest of the video he gives some insight into his approach to grit, so that may be of interest as well. It's a short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCw8ZM9UbfM I haven't heard anyone else actually say what is going on in the throat when vocalists grunt, but since different coaches use terms in different ways, I'd like to know what is happening physiologically in the throat when a vocalist grunts, according to the meaning you ascribe to the term "grunt."

I'm not sure if this is allowed here, to ask a question about a vocal technique another vocal coach is using, but my intent isn't to promote another coach; it's to inquire about a specific technique and this just happens to be a very prominent example of the technique, as this coach uses it for every scream he ever does as well as almost any time he wants to sing with very heavy grit. Since an RSS YouTube short was uploaded today that references creating grit by exploiting the vocal break, it seemed like a good time to ask about this. Perhaps other members of this community are also curious about this subject. At 2:46, this vocal coach starts exploiting his vocal break to create ultra-heavy grit. He continues it for 8 seconds straight, screaming a variety of notes in that time period. Since it does sound so brutal, I'm curious: Is this what you would call "pushing"? Is it what he's doing here safe? Is there any other technique he could have used to bring about this particular sound that your hear between 2:46 and 2:54 in this video or is exploiting the vocal break the only technique that would yield this particular sound? He's good at disguising the actual sound of the break, but it's easy to hear it right on the last note of this song and that vocal break technique is what he used for all the heavy distortion in this performance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI989vd5xFI

In "Vocal Distortion pt 1: Grit & Screams Done Right", you say: "You've got these perfect aligned harmonics when you sing (demonstrates a clean note with good cord closure) and if I add a little bit of this extra thinness to my glottis where some extra air comes through that hampers the clean tone, it throws off the harmonics...all the harmonics are in perfect harmony and perfect synch and then get thrown off because you added this little extra bit of air and now you added a ton more harmonics to the voice; it's called saturation, which we hear as distortion." Well, when we have poor cord closure, a little bit of extra air escapes. Any time I've ever had red, irritated, swollen vocal cords, which make good cord closure impossible, the result has been a little bit of air bleeding through the vocal folds, creating unwanted fry when I speak. I'm seeing a correlation between what happens with poor cord closure and the elements necessary for grit to be created - fry and saturation. Witch's cackle seems like compressed fry. By "compressed", I mean while creating fry, you hold some air back while vocalizing, making the air that does come through kind of like the way water comes through a garden hose if you have your thumb blocking part of the aperture at the end of the hose. The water comes out more intensely. It sprays. Likewise, compression holds some air back and makes the air that does come through do so more intensely than it otherwise would. So, if fry is essential to grit and fry comes about from poor cord closure, it makes me wonder if excellent cord closure makes grit harder or maybe even impossible to create. When there is less than ideal cord closure, some extra air escapes. You've said extra air escaping adds more harmonics or saturation and that's heard as distortion. Singing cleanly demands good cord closure but when trying to add grit is it necessary or at least helpful to compromise the integrity of the cord closure? One of the techniques is even called "bleeding air" (from the glottis). Good cord closure holds air back prevents air bleed. It holds air back, aside from the air necessary to phonate the desired notes. When the cord closure is compromised, it allows air to bleed through.

I've been listening to albums now with the thought: "Is this something that could realistically be recreated where it could be performed that way live, or is the singer doing something that either would not be possible or not sustainable for a 90 minute set"? Here's an example of what I mean: Charisma https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0GdFmTnnLo Charisma is a song about the dangers of highly charismatic world leader in history. The whole thing is fairly intense but it builds and on the last verse, it gets to where he sounds like he's yelling. Here's the verse in question which begins at 2:45 into it: "I'm a fear from a shadow land I seduce you all Here I come new messiah man To bow to me, make me your God I got them all marching to the rhythm Believing me, oh yeah, their new religion I'm a racist with a waving flag Of domination with a fascist plan I'm gonna be the new world leader I got a lot of 9 millimeter baby eaters I'm coming back til you know I'm God Till you believe, till you know my charisma" Notice that at 3:12 into it, at "I gotta lot of 9mmm baby eaters" his voice sounds different than on all the rest. It's my guess that it's because while line sounds double tracked; it's not layered as heavily, as the rest of the verse which sounds like 3 or 4 track layering. Yet I find that one part that is only double tracked to sound not just more defined but also more intense. I think its because he just sang harder on that line for the emotional effect. That's my guess, but I'd love to know for sure. I'm trying to use vocal rest days to "educate my ears" as to what studio techniques I'm hearing as well as what singing techniques I'm hearing. My goal is to be able to distinguish between the various types of techniques so I know exactly how to do what I'm hearing and to discern between what is sustainable live as opposed to what can only be done in a studio (or a one song set). By the way, this sounds like "motorboat grit" to me, but he takes it as high as a G#4 in places. Is that possible with motorboat, or is what he's doing on a phrase like "I got a lot of 9 millimeter baby eaters" is actually hardcore bark? Something is raising the intensity of the sound.