Category: 
When screaming/shouting, it’s incredibly important to never run out of breath. We spent time going over Shiv-r songs and noting points to take breaths so that I don’t run out. It’s not only to keep the vocal power up, but if you are shouting and run out of breath, the muscles in your throat will push against your voice box and do some serious damage and it’s a quick way to get nodules in your throat which have to be surgically removed (not fun).
Food: stay away from dairy the day of the gig. If strapped for time and all you can get is Mickey D’s (which is an unfortunate and unplanned post-soundcheck/pre-gig ritual of mine), it’s okay because the meat and the bread is fine, but try and just eat half of it and take out the dairy. The ideal food - sushi! Very clean, not too heavy and the wasabi is good for clearing the nasal passages.
Alcohol: Absolutely stay away from red wine the day of the gig, as the antioxidants will cause your throat to flare up. White wine is the best thing you can drink (if you have to drink), which is largely inconvenient as I can’t stand white wine (I think it’s a male thing), but I guess it’s time to learn to like it. Stay away from anything carbonated, but if a beer is necessary, go for a blonde or something not too carbonated. Other than that - white spirits are A-OK as long as they’re mixed (thank christ for that), just don’t go crazy.
Warm-up: probably a good idea to do this before soundcheck just so you sound consistent and the engineer knows what to expect. Just go over 5-minutes of the set or do 5 minutes of scales to warm up. This’ll last for 3-4 hours max so a re-warm-up before the set might be necessary if soundcheck is much earlier.
We went over a bunch of shouting tricks and the “vocal fry” technique, but for further learning she recommended the Zen of Screaming DVDs by Melissa Cross. I’ll definitely be checking these out.
Mics: My teacher recommended a Beta58 for my voice, which is what she uses as well because it suits her voice and has better feedback rejection than an SM58. This echoes something an engineer friend of mine told me, which is that apparantly Covenant’s engineer’s choice of live mic for Eskil is a Beta58. Definitely something to consider as I currently use SM58s (and the troublesome 520DX/bullet).
Touring: Make sure you cough up the phlegm out of your throat at the end of the night. Singing always results in phlegm and if you leave it in your throat it’ll breed more. Ideally put a hot towell over your head and chill at the end of the night to clear it out. Also, make sure your voice is in shape by practicing for at least half an hour a day for a month before back-to-back gigs. The voice is comprised of a muscle, which will perform better when exercised. Basically, a night of singing will stretch out the vocal chords, and they will need to resize to their regular form. If they’re in shape, this will happen faster and you can sing again sooner, but if they’re out of shape they can take over a day to get back into their regular form which will mean wavery vocals in back-to-back gigs.
Hydration: Drink 1litre of water for every 20kg you weigh in order to keep your throat sufficiently hydrated. For me this is like 3-4 litres…ouch.
There is a great deal of technique that was imparted as well, such as making an ugly nasal sound while running scales to unlock methods of projection.
In the studio, when I’m not shouting I tend to rely on a very breathy, whispery sound for effect. Unfortunately this really doesn’t translate live because it uses a tonne of air which is highly damaging and not so loud. After these lessons I’ve learned to project these sections naturally which should add a lot more power to future gigs.
Recently:
- Shiv-r remix SAM
- Moogerfooger MF-107/Freqbox
- Moogerfooger MF-101/LPF
- “The End” - Filmclip launched!
- Interview: Cyber Angels
- New remixes by Soman, Reaper & XP8
- Shiv-r remix Freakangel
- Sexy Techno Party Time
- Massive press onslaught: Interviews in Orkus, Sonic Seducer, Negatief and more
- Acess Virus TI Desktop
