CommanderSalamander

3 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

I tried a few of the more affordable "good" earplugs years ago. Gotta say I'm fine with the cheap foam ones. My old drummer swore by this set that came in a little vial and had color-coded inserts for different levels of noise reduction, but he was kind of a moron and had a tin ear. The only way to find out if something will fall out is to try it, different people's ear canals are shaped differently.

Fair enough and much appreciated. I'll buy the ones that I linked and I'll report back for anyone who may be in my same situation.

I was wondering about which earplugs I should choose considering the fact that I enjoy metal the best when I'm head-banging intensely; if I can't do that then I'd probably just take my chances with hearing loss honestly. I recently researched hearing loss and how easily it can be caused by attending rock and metal shows. Apparently, rock and metal shows typically produce a sound that's between 100-130 decibels, which can easily cause hearing issues, especially if heard often and for prolonged amounts of time. 

There are quite a few appealing bands that are coming to my city in the near future, before the end of the year. I rarely go to concerts as, in general, I usually listen to old school extreme metal and I don't like committing myself to buying tickets, reserving time, and driving to attend a concert in which the genre of the bands aren't those which I listen to often. So, of course, I'll be exposed to a considerable amount of high volume. I'm not particularly concerned about my health in general, although I already have difficulty hearing what people say in normal, day-to-day, conversation, so I wouldn't want to seem like a complete moron due to the exacerbation of the issue that currently affects me. 

Does anyone have any suggestions pertaining to which earplugs I should buy that wouldn't fall out when headbanging, makes it so that I can hear people clearly, and still preserve the sound of the music itself? Preferably based on one's own experience, but not necessarily. These ( https://www.amazon.com/Etymotic-Research-Protection-Earplugs-Standard/dp/B0044DEESS?ie=UTF8&tag=studybass-20&th=1 ) seem to be appropriate, but I don't know if they'd fall out (seems like they wouldn't based on the design).

23 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

You should find an online vocal training course. You might be able to find some free instructional stuff on youtube, but even the paid ones don't cost an arm and a leg. I can't remember the one I tried offhand, but it was very helpful. Practice some breathing, tone, and volume exercises, run some scales, and see how your control develops. You're young, so you can probably get away with some abuse, but it's a lot better to practice at conversational/comfortable volume than to force it by "singing loud" and injuring yourself. Being relaxed is really important. If you find that you're able to hit good low notes only quietly, that means they're a bit out of your range, but you can expand your range with practice.

Keep in mind that a lot of what Pete was singing was actually pretty quiet, and he relied on compression in the studio to make the softer parts more audible. He also had an incredible natural tone, a lot of emotive flexibility, and a lower range than most. The important thing as a developing vocalist is for you to grow into your own voice, and you can definitely hurt yourself trying too hard to sound like other people. Good luck.

Thank you kindly for the very insightful reply. I know that it's impossible to sound just like him precisely, but if I was to choose one vocalist who I'd like to sound somewhat akin to then it would be him but I would want to establish my own style. If I was to discover that I have a talent with singing, then I definitely wouldn't make another (yes.. there are multiple) Type O Negative cover band. I'd like to write my own lyrics and develop my own style, although I'd probably do a few too many Type O covers because I like that band a lot.. that's only on the off chance that I do have talent which I really don't know about right now.

As for my notes, I can do surprisingly well, and, like I said, sound surprisingly.. perhaps even somewhat impressively, like Pete Steele or another doom/goth metal vocalist with a low voice, so hopefully I can achieve that sound but at a better volume with practicing. There's definitely an abrupt transition between me singing in a voice that's just more than a whisper and actually singing loud as you usually would when being recorded or playing at a concert; the transition makes my voice sound awkward and definitely unfavorable. Just something to take note of.

     My girlfriend introduced me to Type O Negative more than several months ago and I've been addicted to listening to them recently. I realized that I had a relatively deep voice, so I thought that I'd attempt to sing a song, so I sang a few and it sounded alright to me although when I listened to the recording using my phone, it seemed to me that I was rather poor at it. Just considering that, I would presume that I wouldn't ever be able to produce the vocals as superb as your successful doom/goth metal singer, but there's something rather peculiar that I noticed. When I sing relatively softly or in a low volume, I can produce vocals that are very similar to those of Pete Steele's when I attempted to sing some of his songs; I would describe it as being more than just a whisper and definitely not a murmur.

     When I attempt to sing with the volume that a singer would need to sing with, something that's very crucial is missing. Additionally, my timing is perceptively quite well done and I have no difficulty with reaching the ranges of depth and height that many a singer reaches in the genres of metal that I'm interested in. Is there a way to train my voice so it sounds more like how it sounds when I have a low volume? I have one more thing to mention, and yes, this is embarrassing. I'm 18 and my voice still cracks a considerable amount (not that often though, but much more than most people my age), so I would presume that that indicates that my voice hasn't finalized changing yet so does that mean that I could potentially sound like when I sing with a lower volume when I sing with a higher volume?