Zen of Screaming 2

Here's the deal as far as "Zen of Screaming 2" goes:
If you don't have the first Zen of Screaming DVD or you aren't participating in the exercises found on the first DVD despite owning it, this DVD is not going to be useful to you.
However, if you do own the first DVD and you practice along with the vocal, breathing, and various mouth/speaking exercises, then this DVD WILL be useful to you if you want to develop the element of aggressive vocals to your singing.

I enjoyed this DVD and the lessons found on it. After watching this DVD since doing the exercises from the first DVD on a routine basis, it really helped me further my development in singing with aggression. I have more confidence than I did before watching the DVD and it felt good to have some reassurance as to how to start singing louder vocals properly. Case in point, today was the first day I recorded vocals since watching the DVD and after three hours, I was exhausted... but I nailed the takes to tape while having a nice feeling voice and throat afterwards. In case you're curious, we're best described as independent metal.

Yet while I gave the first DVD a near perfect score in it's review, this one had a few more things going on with it that I felt could have used more development. For starters, there were certain areas that could have used a little bit more depth, such as the section where they covered the three styles of aggressive vocals. Unlike the first DVD, there's a lack of structured exercises to help with the development of those styles. Hence, there's no companion CD, and that was HUGE in getting me into the exercises on the first DVD. I'll have to keep watching the second one for reference anyway, so it's still going to be around. But the difference between this DVD and the first was that while this DVD provided me a satisfactory amount of information, the first one was overwhelmingly influential to not just the development of my vocals, but the vocals of my fellow bandmembers as well.

If you haven't watched the first one and think you can skip to this because it "focuses on screaming", it's not gonna work. Get the first one. If you can get through those exercises comfortably enough, get this if you want to get pointed in the right direction to start singing with aggression.

If you have watched the first one and follow the system in there, get this one if you want to use your knowledge to figure out how to sing with more aggression. It's unfortunate that there's not as much structured guidance as there was on the first DVD. Yet if you understand everything that was taught on the first one, you should have the cognizance to figure out how to do aggressive singing right from applying what you'll learn from this disc in tandem from the knowledge acquired from the first DVD. It's an excellent companion to the first and in the end, it helps you figure out how to sing with aggression and have fun doing so.

If there's anything else I can help with, please leave a comment. Thanks.

First and foremost, if you have not watched the first "Zen of Screaming," then you should do so before watching this one. There is a lot of information that is necessary to be familiar with before moving on to the next video in the series.

Aside from the several minutes of testimonials, this sequel goes into more depth about specific vocal techniques. This is the best part about the video and viewers will learn the most from these specific subjects. It covers three main styles of metal vocals and Melissa uses her students to demonstrate how to stay in pitch. No longer will metal vocalists be classified as mindless screamers. With the proper technique and practice, metal vocalists can be a part of a more elite group of singers in the world of music.

It is worth the buy, considering a one hour session with Melissa is nine times the amount of the DVD. And that doesn't even include how much it will be to go to New York City to participate! Either way, Melissa Cross is a pioneer and is helping metal vocalists achieve greatness without compromising their health.

The 2nd DVD from Melissa Cross, deals almost exclusively with Screaming. The 1st DVD touches on the basic techniques and mechanics of proper voice production with a few references here and there to screaming, but volume 2 gets down to the nitty gritty. Excellent. Make sure you have the first one though, since some of the scream techniques taught might be hard to follow without learning the basics from the 1st DVD

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