How to Do a Raspy Voice?

Raspy voice is achieved by obstructing airflow from your throat when partially closing your glottis. This causes less air to come out and creates a gritty, raspy voice. Otherwise, you might attain a raspy voice by recording in the morning or irritating your vocal cords with screaming, dehydration or smoking.

Limit the air coming from the glottis

It is possible making your voice raspy by limiting air coming from the mouth. It is something called vocal fry and could be done by narrowing the glottis.

Basically what you are aiming to do is limit air coming from your mouth which creates a gritty sound.

How to close your glottis?

To close your glottis practice creating “Ahhhhhhh” sound using as little air as possible. You ought to achieve a popping effect.

Now try to incorporate the popping sound when speaking and you will be good to go.

It is not recommended to overuse this technique as overdoing it could create mild stress to your vocal cords. Practice it occasionally.

Exercises for a raspy voice

For a raspy voice try creating “Ahhh” and “Yeahhh” sound.

At first, pronounce it with your clean and clear voice and then say the exact phrases with a raspy voice. When using a raspy voice focus on the sound produced with ‘h’ letter.

Going back and forth from clean to raspy voice will help you to master controlling your voice and you will become better at using a raspy voice at will.

Your voice is raspy in the morning

One of the easiest ways of getting a raspy voice is recording in the morning. During the night vocal cords collect mucus which builds up and covers them.

This is due to the fact that we do not use vocal cords while sleeping and mucus collecting on vocal cords is not cleared. This natural lubrication is healthy for your voice and protects it during the night.

Therefore, you can have a raspy voice if you start recording early in the morning. To make full use of a raspy morning voice try not clearing your voice and not speaking much after waking up. It will allow you to maintain a raspy voice longer before recording.

Whispering helps to sound raspy

You can achieve a raspy voice by whispering. When whispering vocal cords bundle together and make your voice sound hushed and raspy.

We naturally add grittiness when speaking in a low voice so if it seems to be complicated achieving a raspy voice with other techniques, just try whispering while recording.

Try whispering as loud as you can to learn speaking in a louder raspy voice.

Scream a lot to get a raspy voice

You can also achieve a naturally raspy voice by screaming a lot. Screaming will hurt your vocal cords and you will start sounding raspy.

It’s not healthy for your vocal cords and you might lose your voice altogether which will prevent you from recording. However, you might try screaming a bit to immediately get a raspier voice.

Use high pitched voice

Similarly to screaming, constantly using a high pitch voice will cause irritation on your vocal cords and damage them.

Don’t overdo this technique if you don’t want to permanently harm your vocal cords. However, for a quick result, you could try using this method. Combining high pitch voice with screaming will make you sound raspy in no time.