One of the RSS videos estimates that you teach about 30 different ways of creating, distortion. This, along with all the other choices in rock vocals gives someone a wide variety of choices to choose from when building that tone and character of the voice they want. Someone whose biggest influences are Ronnie James Dio and Geoff Tate are likely going to make very different choices in what techniques they choose to excel at then someone whose two major influences are Robert Plant and David Coverdale. Someone whose biggest influences are all nu metal vocalists will make yet different choices. It would seem to me that vocalists tend to learn maybe just 2 or 3 types of distortion and really try to master them, rather than trying to get good at many distortion techniques. Just using Ronnie James Dio as an example because of how highly regarded he was by both his fans and his peers, if you were to identify how many of the different techniques for distortion he used throughout his career in Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Dio, would you expect to find more than two or three techniques he employed? I would guess not, but I'd like to know your opinion. My idea is based on Bruce Lee's philosophy that dictated: "I don't fear the man who has practiced a thousand different kicks. I fear the man who has practiced one kick a thousand times."

I wonder how much difference there is in the way that rock vocals are taught compared to how pop vocals are. Sometimes the line between pop and rock can get blurry. The Eagles had plenty of songs that must have appealed to a pop audience...and a country audience. Life In The Fast Lane is one of their few songs that doesn't sound country or pop; it is definitively rock. Overall, they appealed to fans beyond a strictly rock audience. Look at the album sales they did in the mid-70s. Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) is still the best selling album in the U.S. after all these years. It is certified 38 x Platinum. That mark may never be broken. Towards the end of that same year, they just happened to release Hotel California. Talk about a good year for a rock band! The only reason Hotel California didn't win the Grammy for record of the year is that it was up against Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album. It has sold over 40 million copies by appealing to a very mainstream audience and being a tremendous piece of art. It was one of those few times when an album's critical acclaim and it's commercial success both got as good as it gets. Fleetwood Mac blurred the line between genres just as well as The Eagles did. More recently, on the pop side of things, Miley Cyrus has become known for doing some amazing covers of songs that venture well outside of pop. She's considered a pop star but her raspy voice and audacious stage presence fit rock music extremely well. I happen to think Miley is actually better suited for rock than pop! All this makes me wonder: Is there that much of a difference between taking lessons for rock vocals and taking lessons for pop vocals? For a rock vocalist who has the rock music fundamentals down, would transitioning into pop present vocal challenges their rock background hadn't prepared them for? Just as a hypothetical example, since George Michael is widely considered one of the greatest pop vocalists there has been, what kinds of things would a hard rock or metal vocalist have to prepare for to venture outside of their comfort zone and make the kind of album that George Michael might have made?

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