How Fry and False Cord Screams Are the Same

Since this came up again today on YouTube, I updated my answer to be sure it answered the common question in full. So it doesn't get lost in the comments of Vocal Distortion pt.2: How to Grit & Scream, where most people won't see it unless they happen upon it, I want to post it separately here.

Most vocal teachers separate Fry Screams and False Cord Screams as if they are totally different things. Then they start describing all these different types of screams and it seems like all these different teachers are contradicting each other or using totally different terminology. That's confusing to people trying to learn to scream, and rightly so! There doesn't seem to be a consensus amongst those teaching screams online.

I see it differently. They're all talking about the same things in the best terminology and visualization they can in order to keep things short and digestible, but you need a translator to see how they are the same concepts with different language.

When I talk about screams, I think in terms of the harmonic saturation we hear as distortion, the sound colors or tones being created, and the anatomy or structure producing those different sounds, ALL on a spectrum. There is only one position or structure that is pure fry, and one that is pure false-cord. Most screams fall in-between, but are either fry dominant or false-cord dominant, rather than a "fry scream" or "false-cord scream." It's not two different things, but a spectrum! The underlying mechanics are the same, while the acoustic placement is the main thing giving you a different tone and determining whether you hear more fry or more false-cord in the resulting sound. It's all a balance of Compression, Constriction, and Acoustics.

Let me break it down for you:

***𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 90% 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐯𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧):***

1. True Cords (Glottis) = Any defined pitch overtones and extra air through the glottis to assist in saturating the harmonics. Think of it like a really light and airy head voice that has a little bit of vocal fry in it like when you talk or sing too quietly. If more compressed, you push air through, and if more loosely thinned out, it can't help but bleed air. It's the extra air causing the voice to go from a pure tone (aligned harmonics) to chaos (over-saturation of harmonics) in the...

2. False Cords (Vestibular/Ventricular Folds) = Where all the extra chaos or harmonic saturation happens that we perceive as distortion.This especially happens when that area is narrowed or constricted, which is done by the...

3. Arytenoid Cartilage = The two "knots" in the vocal folds that act like lobster pinchers and narrow or constrict the vocal tract, This is where "grunt" happens and is directly influenced by the amount of compression in the true cords under it, often perceived on a spectrum from smooth to harsh distortion.This pull towards the hyoid at the front of the throat acts like your gain knob for extra saturation.

4. Acoustic Placement = This is your resonance, the main determination for your sound color and whether fry or false cord is more dominant in the resulting sound.

Resonance is what you actually amplify to sound louder.
Resonant placement is what gives different tones or sound colors to your screams. Up and too far forward ( extreme /ae/ vowel overtones) will compress everything else to sound more pure fry. Then there's a full spectrum of different sounds as you go from pointed to the teeth and nose (/ae/-ish), going around the head like a big C-shape from the front of the soft palate, to the middle and back of the soft-palate, crown of the head, back of the mouth, back and down, and eventually down and forward. That's until you're so down and forward almost all you hear is a grunt, guttural, growl and burp-like quality in the false cord area rather than a resonant pitch. That down and all the ay forward placement is pure false cord.

Any placement above the top of the throat is more a fry dominant sound. Any placement below the top of the throat is a more false cord dominant sound.
Any placement between up and all the way forward (pure fry) or down and all the way forward (pure false cord) is in head voice and falsetto (airy). Above the throat usually falls in the A4 to D5 range, and below the throat tends to fall in the D4 to F#4 range.
This is all keeping in mind that I separate the harsher, more full-voiced screams as grit since the full-voice under it makes the mechanics more in common with other grit and rasp styles than any other scream—like hardcore bark (which Slipknot and Static X is famous for around the first bridge) or break-apart distortion (which Motionless in White and Alice in Chains is famous for around the second bridge).
Every scream is a combination of harmonics that you can hear as pitches. This is most often the primary pitch, an octave below, and a fourth or fifth in the middle. For instance, the most common fry dominant scream in modern metal is on A4, which also has harmonic spikes at the lower A3 and also D3, D#3, or E4 in the middle. Sometimes the C5 harmonic is also present.
You can be fry dominant and add more false cord undertones, like Will Ramos constricting more to amplify the lower harmonics in the false cord, chest-voice formant area—in contrast to the higher harmonics of the head-voice formant area. E.g. He may be technically singing a falsetto (airy) B4 in his acoustic placement, but the extra constriction or pull in the hyoid area amplifies the chest formant's F#4 and B3 harmonic overtones more.

In the end, you have 3 ingredients: Compression, Constriction, and Acoustics. Compression. Like almost all Tex-Mex food being only tortilla, meat, shredded cheese, there are only three main ingredients to create vocal distortion.

The only other consideration is breath support to support keeping the shape/structure (balance of the 3 ingredients of distortion). Since the majority of screams are over an airy head voice, more push only causes more compression and tension, throwing you out of the needed relaxed head-voice structure. To only other way to control the diaphragm for consistent airflow—without adding throttle to the level of pushing—would be to brace your core belt, what Mary Z calls "planking."

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