How to Fry Scream

You hear singers in metal scream like this:

_{Varying types of Fry Screams outside of context}

_{Fry Screams in musical context}

_{Raw vocals of the previous audio}

And you wonder: ,,How do they do this? How can I do this?”

Let me show you!

You may have searched the internet, watched every video but still it seems like there is something missing – and there is. In this guide I will show you what is missing. You will learn how to scream like Devin Townsend, Randy Blythe (Lamb of God), Matt Tuck (Bullet For My Valentine), Spencer Sotelo (Periphery) and many many others the proper way. You will learn how to Fry Scream from beginning to end and from first step to last.

Contents

• Introduction
  • What is a Fry Scream?
  • Common Misconceptions
  • How to Use This Guide & VOCAL HEALTH
• How to Fry Scream
  • The Components of a Fry Scream
  • Distortion (Rasp / Buzz)
  • Compression
  • Creaking Explained
  • The Creaking Route
  • The Breathiness Route (optional)
  • Citations & Acknowledgments

Introduction

What is a Fry Scream?

Fry Scream is an umbrella term used to categorize certain types of screaming that established themselves in Metal music. Fry Screams can sound quite diverse, with varying degrees of pitch, voice, and distortion, but they share the same fundamental technique(s) used to create them. This is why Phil Bozeman’s, Dickie Allen’s, Randy Blythe’s and Devin Townsend’s screams are all categorized as Fry Screams, although they sound so different.

Fry Screams are all done exhaling. The in-depth anatomical explanation of Fry Screams will not be discussed, as this would a) make the guide much too long, b) is still debated and evolving, and c) not needed (and often not helpful) in learning how to do it.

Most Fry Screams have a characteristic white-noise-type, wet and smooth sounding distortion. Some Fry Screams can sound goblinish high and gurgly, some can sound rumbly low and monstrous, but usually Fry Screams sound wet and refined and have some degree of voice in them. They are what most people associate with metal screams. High, Mid and Low are terms referring to the pitch of the scream and NOT the style (Fry, False Cord, or Shout). In terms of versatility Fry is the most useful screaming technique with the widest array of expressions from super high to super low, from no audible voice to being able to sing melodies, from unhuman and monstrous screams to emotional singing.

Common Misconceptions

There are lots of misconceptions about Fry Screams. Infamous ones are:

• Fry Screams are not done with your voice and thus you can only go full scream or no scream but there is no in between -> Fry Screams can have varying degrees of voice. The voice gives the scream power and pitch (if wanted).
• Fry Screams are done from vocal fry -> Fry screams can contain vocal fry in the sense of vocal fold creaking (not the vocal fry register). Some people get great sounding screams from vocal fry by combining it with compression and distortion. Many get stuck at quiet creaky noises. Let me show you a better way
• Fry Screams are done from head voice / falsetto -> a very distinct type of fry scream. Most are done with a heady or chesty mixed voice and starting from falsetto leads most people to an unsatisfying scream (often a weak high fry scream)

How To Use This Guide
and
VOCAL HEALTH

For an in-depth guide on how to identify and avoid harmful vocal technique click here.

Screaming is not just an art form and a skill – it is a craft one needs to develop to do right and to do well. Some people are lucky and do all the little parts of a scream right and the scream just ”falls into place”. That is a very hit or miss situation and for a scream to happen lots of things need to be done correctly and simultaneously. These things will be explained step by step for you to build them on top of each other.

The technique of the Fry Scream is seperated into building blocks (components). These components I will show you how to do and how to combine. Take your time with learning the components properly. For most this is not a matter of replicating and doing it right immediately or after a couple tries. Each step may take days or weeks for you to get right. Do not become impatient.

When working with the guide do not practice for more than 15-20 minutes at a time. This is to prevent harm you might do to yourself when doing the exercises wrong. If you feel pain, hoarseness, changes to your VOICE, especially changes to the character of your singing or talking voice: it sounds thin, your range is limited, your head voice does not work anymore, your voice hurts – STOP. You have strained, tensed, been using too much volume, been doing the exercise wrong. Rest until your voice is back to normal and then try again.

Frequency beats volume. Practice OFTEN and not long. If your voice feels good you can practice 2-3 times per day for 10-15 minutes every day. You are not building muscle here -You are learning to execute and automate complex movement patterns. Your brain needs frequency to learn the patterns. Frequency of practice beats length of practice.

For a vocal health check up you SHOULD BE DOING every 5 minutes watch this video of mine:

How to Fry Scream

The Components of a Fry Scream or
Why learning how to Fry Scream is so frustrating

The refined Fry Screams you know and love is a so-called combination effect. It is three vocal effects at once.

1. While you sing a note, the vestibular folds (also kown as false folds) create a sound (rasp or buzz) = distortion (Rasp / Buzz)
2. The larynx is in a compressed shape, your belly is stiff, and the vestibular folds are pressed closely against each other, resulting in a wet distortion sound and easier creaking = compression
3. The vocal folds vibrate irregularly producing = creaking (some call this ”fry” or vocal fry)
   _{or, a more fringe technique alternative: the vocal folds open partially, letting air escape (breathiness)}

This makes learning how to Fry Scream so frustrating: You need to stumble upon these components at once or bit by bit to get the refined scream. On top of this the individual effects are not easy in their own regard. This is why you will learn the three components of the Fry Scream step by step.

Component 1: Distortion (Rasp / Buzz)

The first step of learning the Fry Scream is learning how to use your vestibular folds (which are also known als false folds, false cords, ventricular folds) to create the effect known as distortion: a raspy or buzzy sound originating from the vestibular folds. _{The concept and terminology of distortion are based on Cathrine Sadolin’s Complete Vocal Technique (2024, p. 222-227).}

Depending on whether you sing lower or higher, louder or quieter, placed more forward and brighter or less forward and darker the vestibular folds engaging will create a buzzing noise or a rasp. Both buzz and rasp are the vocal effect distortion. They originate from the vestibular folds, and are involved in Fry Screams. If you have trouble with this component, try learning component 2: compression first.

Step 1. Start by learning how to use Twang to narrow the upper part of the larynx to create a bright and twangy but not metallic singing tone. This will get your vestibular folds closer to each other.

Step 2. Use lots of twang while raising your voice, staying on the same pitch. Crossing a certain threshold in terms of air pressure by going louder will activate a rasp or buzzing noise on top of your sung pitch.

Common mistakes to avoid are:

• not being loud enough
• going higher in pitch instead of louder, chestier
• losing twang while going loud
• pressing back and down with the tongue resulting in epiglottis rumble (blues growl)
• letting your voice break and crack underneath instead of singing a pitch (could be great creaking!)

This is the same rasp used in Rock singing. If you like the sound you can utilize it in your singing.

,,HELP! I TRIED IT OVER AND OVER AND IT DOES NOT WORK!”

If you have eliminated the common mistakes and you still can’t get it, try the following methods. Beware that using these methods is riskier as they are easier to do wrong and thus can wear out your voice fast.

If none of these work for you and you have given it at least two weeks of trying, proceed to component 2: compression and try to activate the rasp from the compressed larynx you learn there. This is less ideal but it also works.

Component 2: Compression

The second step is learning how to compress. Compression in vocal technique refers to creating pressure inside the upper body. Our body has a mechanism for creating high pressure and stability inside our upper body. We use this when creating great core stability for lifting heavy objects, bracing ourselves for an impact, throwing up, holding back air at any cost, or when we defecate. When we stiffen our abdominals and maybe even pull them inwards slightly something special happens inside our larynx. Our vestibular folds close over the vocal folds and as such change how the vocal folds behave and how much the vestibular folds vibrate.

Depending on the amount of effort we use the vestibular folds just approximate (this is used in distorted singing) or they fully cover the vocal folds while the vocal tract itself becomes much narrower (compressed!). The latter is used in compressed and (hyper-) compressed Fry Screams. Hypercompression refers to a very high amount of compression. Hypercompressed Fry Screams have a distinct ”smoothness” to them, whereas less compressed Fry Screams sound more creaky and “voice-breaky”.

Another effect of (some) compression is that the vocal folds react less to changes in timbre and vowel. This makes the voice less prone to break or crack when singing and is especially useful for gritty and distorted singing. Hypercompression makes the voice more prone to creak, which is helpful for Fry Screams.

Compressed vs. Hypercompressed Fry Screams

_{Hypercompressed Fry Scream basic and medium volume}

_{Compressed Fry Scream basic and medium volume}

Hypercompressed sounds controlled, monstrous and smooth.
The less compressed version sounds more human, emotional, creaky and yelly.

Here you can hear me go from clean to more and more compressed and back – on low, medium, and high pitch, first without distortion and then with. Notice how some compression introduces vestibular fold distortion and then how more compression brings in creaking, which creates a full Fry Scream.

_{The effect of compression on low, medium and high pitches}

To sum it up: the compression is what makes the singing with rumble or rasp more distorted and wet sounding. Creaking (component 3) introduces the last bit of screaminess and atonality for a full Fry Scream. Up next you find multiple methods of learning how to compress.

CAUTION:
If you experience pressure building up in your head, you are pushing too hard. Even though it sounds quite heavy it should feel only like talking but with a stiff belly and a lid that is almost closed on top of your voice.

We also don’t want any tension at the neck, wheezing sounds, high whistles or breathy sounds at this step. What CAN happen though is that you also activate a wet sounding distortion. That is either your vestibular folds (rasp) or creaking. Both are okay if they feel okay!

After practicing compression make sure to do some cool down exercises to talk and sing normally without any added compression pressure.

Step 1a. Learn compression by abruptly stopping the airflow and keeping that ”lid is closed on top” feeling while talking normally underneath – carefully, not pressing as hard as we can!

Step 1b. Learn compression by raising intra-abdominal pressure, like the one you need for heavy lifting or pressing out a poop (haha, i know).

Step 1c. Learn compression by imitating a strained voice or old person’s voice.

Step 2. Learn to control compression while staying on the same pitch. This will help you with step 3.

Step 3. Add compression while also using rasp or buzz, without changing pitch. This will make the distortion more wet and fryish. The key is not to be loud. Try to do it with the least volume you can get away with using.

Congratulations! You are almost there. Before we implement the last component of the fry scream it is important that you have very good control over the compression, rasp or buzz, and both at the same time.

What do I mean by good control? This is your checklist:

• There is no ”squeaking” or ”whistling” happening and your voice doesnt crack.
• Your voice does not get worn out or changes after you practiced.
• You use only the necessary volume and not more.
• You do it without tensing up. Shoulders and traps stay low, neck is relaxed, facial expression is neutral and you don’t get headaches or pressure in your head.
• You can add and remove compression at will.
• You can add and remove distortion (the rasp or buzz) independent from compression
• You have found one or two notes where everything feels best and you can pull everything off consistently.

You want to take your singing and screaming to the next level? Let me guide you to your goals in personal one-on-one lessons.

Component 3: Creaking explained

Once you have the vestibular folds activated (rasp or buzz) and your larynx is compressed you need to create more atonality (lose some of the pitch). This is what differentiates a scream from distorted singing. We can create atonality by introducing creaking. Creaking is also often referred to as vocal fry. Technically vocal fry refers to the lowest register to the voice (the bubbly sound lower than speaking or chest voice). But many people also use the term vocal fry to mean creaking in our chest voice, mixed voice or head voice. This is the creaking we need. _{The concept and terminology of creaking are based on Cathrine Sadolin’s Complete Vocal Technique (2024, p. 228-233).}

Creaking is when the voice ”breaks” or ”creaks” with low airflow. This means that any vocal breaks where you suddenly lose more air than normal singing is not creaking (but instead likely grunt = the false cord scream basis). Any breathiness or “added air” is also not creaking. Make sure you have full vocal fold closure and no airiness in your sound to get creaking.

There are different ways to think about what creaking really is. Creaking sounds like a ”tired” voice, a vocal fry (but not in the bottom of your range but in speaking or singing range), a creaky door, a little bit of crackle within a normal singing note, or a bit of raspyness in your voice that is distinct from distortion and rather thin. So creaking is a distortion that the vocal folds themselves produce. In theory when the vocal folds creak they are ”in between” singing registers. Most Fry vocalists use creaking inside their Fry Scream.

How to tell if I have creaking or distortion?

Both effects can create bubbly or frizzy sensations of resonance inside the vocal tract. Although creaking often feels weaker compared to distortion. If you can only do one of the two and you aren’t sure which one, this isn’t helpful. Rather ask yourself: ,,Is the effect and addition to the sound or does it subtract?

Distortion adds to the sound. The sung note is 100% there and distortion adds an extra 20% on top. Distortion doesn’t take away any of the sung pitch. It can merely mask it but it the clean note is still fully there. 100% Clean voice + a 20% extra layer of distortion = “120%”

Creaking subtracts from the sound. The same sound with creaking is always quieter than without creaking. As soon as the creaking comes in to a sound the tonal aspect of the note suddenly sounds thinner, weaker, less projected or less resonant. When a clean note is 100% and you find creaking on it you get: 80% note and 20% creaking (or an even greater shift towards creaking) = 100% still but creaking “steals” from the voice pitch.

How does creaking sound like?

_{Isolated regular (a buzzy pitch underneath) creaking and irregular (distorted raspy) creaking in low chest voice and head voice}

_{Here you can hear a high level of distortion at the onsets /u/ and /e/). Opening to /a/ without adjusting volume helps me get creaking. You can hear how this makes the sound transition from just distorted to ”fryish”}

_{In this audio you can hear a transition from clean, clean with added distortion, and finally creaking while maintaining distortion, and back. Listen closely to identify when creaking starts (at 0:02 and 0:10).}

Unless you want exactly the sound I demonstrate with the breathiness utilizing screams in the Breathiness section, I advise you to go down the creaking route. This is what most Fry screamers do.

The Creaking Route or How to use creaking

It is quite likely that just by playing around with rasp and compression you have gotten some creaking. Again, creaking makes the wet distorted singing we get from combining rasp and compression even more atonal. Naturally, everything involving creaking will make your voice quieter and make the screams less powerful in the room. Luckily, we are using microphones! Especially if you are used to singing clean it is confusing how creaking needs reduced support and energy compared to normal singing. _{The mechanics of creaking and the didactical approaches are based on Toni Linke (2024).}

How does creaking work? Creaking can happen when

• You underenergize a sound (you give the sound slightly too little volume) WITHOUT changing the placement. Examples:
  • Hold a note and its placement and get 10% quieter
  • Jump to a higher pitch with the same placement but not getting louder
  • Imagine you are a tad too tired to sing this note
  • Sing a mix or chest note higher and into your ”vocal break” or higher than you can normally sing
• You apply a ”wrong” shaping. Examples:
  • You sing a /u/ but have your mouth too close to /a/
  • Sing a /u/ but raise your tongue inside to get an L on top (like a German /ü/)
  • Color a vowel too brightly without changing volume
• You apply more resistance to the airflow
  • Keep volume and pitch the same but increase compression
  • Keep volume and pitch the same but you increase twang

_{(Please note: in the following recordings I still referred to creaking as vocal fry or just ”fry. Don’t let this confuse you. Just think of creaking when I say vocal fry)}

Method 1: Adding Compression to a high note to get it to slip into creaking. Then adding rasp.

Method 2: From Rasp + Compression quieter or higher into your vocal break

Method 3: Rasp + Compression on higher notes, then going quieter

Don’t forget doing regular vocal health check ups (as mentioned in How to Use This Guide) to assess whether what you are doing is not harming you and working as intended!

The most common mistake is to FORCE vocal fry to happen by pushing, constricting, going louder, harder. It is exactly the opposite, go easier! As soon as you get it, just repeat it over and over and as soon as you can do it reliably, practice going in and out: clean voice – vocal fry – clean voice – vocal fry.

Do not neglect practicing your clean voice. Especially your falsetto and high notes. If you consistently enter vocal fry without regularly practicing clean coordinations you unlearn the latter and will have a hard time singing without vocal fry happening.

The Vocal Fry Spectrum

Depending on from what pitch you will go into the vocal fry, how FAR you go into creaking, and whether you use distortion or not, the scream can sound quite different, ranging from creaky and quiet to chesty and literally screamed sounding, but also from atonal to tonal. But the most drastic difference is in from which vocal fold coordination (some refer to them as registers) you go into creaking inside of the scream: falsetto, reinforced falsetto / heady mix, chesty mix or yelling register / full chest. In this audio I will show you how the different ”creakings” sound like. I go into the screams by compressing and under-pressurizing (less support or volume).

You want to take your singing and screaming to the next level? Let me guide you to your goals in personal one-on-one lessons.

The Breathiness Route

I regard this route as optional as most Fry vocalists use creaking. As an alternative to vocal fry you can also add breathiness to the compression and rasp. The advantages are that you can get very atonal Fry Screams that excell in extremely monstrous and unhuman sounds. Further this technique allows us to do full sounding Fry Screams at extremely low pitches, which doesn’t work well with creaking. These super-low Fry Screams that use breathiness can easily be mistaken for False Cord Screams. Although they are much quieter than False Cord Screams, they can be held for much longer durations.

CAUTION: For most people this is much more difficult to execute properly than using creaking. I would advise you to follow the creaking route, unless you explicitly want the exact same sound I am showing with the breathiness utilizing fry screams.

On its own the breathiness, the adduction of the vocal folds, sounds like a breathy voice, like added breathiness. While you use compression, it sounds like the characteristic white-noise type distortion of the Fry Scream.

This part can be very tricky, so you need to pay close attention to how your voice feels and be very cautious with practice. You also need to be aware of how loud you are. Breathiness does not work when you are too loud and it also doesn’t work when you are very quiet.

Step 1. Introducing Breathiness

Step 1.5. Common Mistakes to avoid / Vocal health / doing it wrong

CAUTION: The most common mistake is pressing the vocal folds together and SQUEEZING air through. This sounds either like a very high and weak scream or like a wheezing or whistling sound and feels uncomfortable. If you catch yourself doing this STOP. Pressing the vocal folds together and squeezing air through is very stressful for your vocal folds.

Step 2. Rising in pitch

Step 3. Adding Compression

This last step might lead you into a Fry Scream right away like I showed you. For some people it is easier to add breathiness to the raspy singing, going into a Fry Scream that way and compressing afterwards. Although I do present you the Fry Scream as a progression path (first rasp, then compression, then breathiness), it is not linear but modular. This means that you can assemble the three components in any order. Use this to your advantage. That’s why I will show you how to assemble the Fry Scream from multiple directions.

Combining Vestibular Folds, Compression, and Breathiness into a Fry Scream

One little disclaimer: YOUR Fry Scream may sound a bit different from mine. Lower, higher, darker, brighter, more voice, less voice, rumblier, wetter, or in hard to describe ways. As long as you adhere to the voice care I showed you in How to use this guide at the top, that is OK! Don’t be discouraged if it does not sound the exact way you imagined and continue practicing – safely!

But now on to assembling the Fry Scream with Breathiness. You can assemble the components in any order you like. Some orders may work better for you, some worse. Doing it on some pitches might be better, on some pitches it might be worse.

---

CAUTION: Again, the most common mistake is going wrong at the breathiness step by pressing the vocal folds together and SQUEEZING air through. This sounds either like a very high and weak scream or like a wheezing or whistling sound and feels uncomfortable. If you catch yourself doing this STOP. Pressing the vocal folds together and squeezing air through is very stressful for your vocal folds. You need to use breathiness properly or choose the vocal fry route.

Let me show you how to combine the components and what this sounds like.

Method 1. Rasp – Compression – Breathiness

Method 2. Buzz – Compression – Breathiness

Method 3. Compression – Rasp – Breathiness

---

Method 4. Breathiness – Compression – Rasp

Method 5. Rasp – Breathiness – Compression

As you can guess from here, there are a couple more combinations but these are the major ones that work most often. Use the recordings as a reference point.

Closing Thoughts

Due to the plethora of techniques happening when assembling its impossible to tell in advance where YOU might have problems. Assembling the components is not easy and will probably take you some time. Don’t be frustrated if it does not work the first couple of times.

KEEP IN MIND: You need to have good control over every aspect before you start combining! You may go into a Fry Scream intuitively by combining only two components.

If you cannot get the Fry Scream yet, do not give up! Odds are there is something wrong with how you do one of the components. Listen closey to the audio clips and try again. Check if you missed a paragraph or audio file. Even with my students, there are some where it just takes a while and some who get it in just a couple sessions. Most people who learn how to scream without any proper guidance take anywhere from multiple months to years. This is a skill, not a gift. It takes time to learn it.

Citations & Acknowledgments

• Cathrine Sadolin (2024), Complete Vocal Technique – A key source for the terminology update and the scientific understanding of rattle, creaking and distortion. Sadolin’s extensive research on vocal effects and her CVT methodology have significantly shaped my own teaching approach. I highly recommend her materials for any serious vocal practitioner.
• Toni Linke (2024), Rough Vocal Effects Revisited (YouTube Video) – Provided valuable insights into creaking and hypercompression models. Linke’s work has helped clarify the mechanics of creaking and effective ways to teach it.