# Making weak fry screams sound more powerful in the mix.



## Asthenea (Apr 4, 2013)

Hello everyone. First off I'd like to say that I'm not super experienced with mixing or anything so if I say something dumb just let me know. 

Now with that I will ask my question! I'm helping my friend record his band and he uses that kind of quiet, crackly screaming method that I've been told is fry screaming. Now I need some help with mic techniques and EQ/Compression to make it sound more powerful. I've had him do double takes and it still sounds weak. 

Is it because he just sucks? And if so is there any way I can "cheat" power into the vocals with distortion or anything? How do you guys go about recording fry? Should I have him cup the mic or something?

I'm using Cubase 6, and I have an St59 condenser mic with a pop shield and a foam wall thing behind it. Any tips or anything you have done would be much appreciated. Thanks so much.


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## BIG ND SWEATY (Apr 4, 2013)

he needs to project and add more power to his own voice, weak vocals are going to sound weak pretty much no matter what.


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## ChrisLucas (Apr 4, 2013)

80% of a mix is in the original performance. Double tracking can help, but nothing beats someone who can project like a mofo.


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## Asthenea (Apr 4, 2013)

Well my friend just can't yet haha, is there anything I can do to help him? I.e proper mic techniques ect.


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## sage (Apr 4, 2013)

It's really hard to put lipstick on a weak screaming pig. I mean, set that mic pre up so it's dangerously close to clipping so you can capture as much of the whisper as possible, but it's still gonna have very little body. Boost the low mids a bit to add some foundation, but you're basically asking the EQ to do something that's not there. 

I fucking hate kids who can't do the vocals properly and expect it to get worked out in post. Fuck that. Go learn to scream. If you can't do it, stop asking someone to make you sound better. If a guitarist came in asking me to make his guitar playing faster and cleaner, I'd give him a fucking Petrucci DVD and a metronome and tell him to come back in two months. Write the $60 off against "sage's sanity fund." If you're in extreme music, be extreme. Be loud. Be awesome. Otherwise, you're just a poseur with a mic and probably have nothing to say worth screaming anyway. "the darkness of my heart... is a tepid, dank, and vile fart..."

I've heard the "fry scream" done at a volume that's really close to my singing volume. My singing volume was trained to be loud by not owning a PA. So, yah, go sit by the drummer and scream until he can hear it over his snare.


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## Asthenea (Apr 4, 2013)

Okay let me clear this up, I feel like I was a little unclear with my original question haha. His screams are not whisper level, they are right in the middle of talking and singing volume. The issue is that when recorded they seem to loose all of their power. When he does it in person it sounds really good, but when recorded into the mic it sounds weak as shit. So I'm wondering if I should ditch the condenser and just get a dynamic mic so he can get right up to it. Also if there is a way to beef it up a bit with EQ/Compression ect. I'm not trying to make a shitty scream better, it just loses power when recorded for some reason. Thanks for all the responses and sorry for being unclear before!


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## sage (Apr 4, 2013)

OK, well, that's a pretty sweet mic. More expensive than anything I've got laying around.

First thing I would do is try all the options on it. Record a clip of each polar pattern with the high pass filter on and off and with the pad on and off. Sometimes mics sound better with the pad on and the pre-amp close to max, sometimes they sound better with the pad off and the pre-amp super low to avoid clipping. You'll record four clips for each pattern for a total of 12 clips. Then you can see which setting on the mic works best for that vocalist. Then plug in an SM58 and see how that works for him. If he's getting good tone out of his throat, that ST59 should be able to do the trick. 

I've recorded a screamer with large diaphragm condensers and been happy with the result, but there are lots of guys that swear by the SM58 for screamers. I used a Cascade Elroy, high pass off in Figure 8 mode with a really good absorber on the back wall to reduce echoes. I don't remember whether the pad was on or off. Granted, that's a powered tube mic and has all kinds of warmth, but it's also not particularly expensive.


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## Asthenea (Apr 4, 2013)

Yeah I need to experiment will all the switches on the side, I've lost the manual and I can't find what they do online haha. Thanks so much. I feel like I need some help with compression as well, every thread I see about vocals says something like "compress the shit out of it." What do you do/use for compression? And can you recommend any free VSTs?


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## DistractMe (Apr 5, 2013)

I'd recommend using the Shure SM7 dynamic mic for recording screams. It helps bring out the body and the grit to them. The foam filter it comes with works well enough that the vocalist can just hold the mic and scream into it.

As far as post goes, try smashing the hell out of the screams with compression. Set the ratio high and the threshold down, fast attack and moderate release, then bump up the gain until it is nearly clipping. EQ out any annoying frequencies in the vocalists screams as well, and try boosting the low-mid area a little with a wide bandwidth.

I'm sure there are other tricks out there, but all of this stuff can only help to polish up a bad performance.


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## Asthenea (Apr 5, 2013)

That's the perfect answer. Exactly what I was looking for, thanks


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## KingAenarion (Apr 5, 2013)

I treat screams the same I treat all vocals.

Compress and EQ to taste.

Parallel compress to multiple compressors, I use up to 6 or 7 sometimes to get the right balance and tone.


As to the weakness: 

You need to find where it's coming from. Does it sound weak in the room standing next to him? If so, the technique needs to change

Does it sound weak in the DAW on its own? If that's the case is it the preamp or the preamp gain staging?

Does it sound weak with everything else? Then you need to make room in the mix for it.


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## MildlyMoist (Apr 5, 2013)

Double track, octaver, or record low growls to add some bodyl


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## All_¥our_Bass (Apr 25, 2013)

Try using two mics, one he's practically eating and another one ~3 feet away.

And of course compression.


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## Larcher (Apr 25, 2013)

Compression helps alot if his output volume is low when you record. That way you can equalize it to the rest of the song (as King mentioned)


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## XxSilverburstDiezelxX (Apr 25, 2013)

Writers Block VOX RM by R.E.A.C.H on SoundCloud - Hear the world

Here are some of my vocals on my own song. I personally dig the feel and sound. Compression, Doubling, delay and verb is enough to make things really rip. Parallel comping can making things come out of the mix well.


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## sear (Apr 26, 2013)

Compress the shit out of them and add a distortion/grit track doubling it up, maybe use a tape delay and saturator to get that. 99.9% of those high-pitched whiny/screamy vocalists use tons of effects to get that "intense" sound, and the vast majority of the intensity does actually come from processing. They sound very bland, one-dimensional and weak without it.


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