Vocal Tips in 10 with Amber Mogg Cathey
Aug 26, 2026 · 10 min · 12 segments
Vocal fry gets a bad reputation — but is it actually damaging your voice? In this episode of Vocal Tips in 10, Amber Mogg Cathey breaks down one of the most misunderstood techniques in singing and…
Amber Mogg CatheyHostToday's episode is all about vocal fry and about how vocal fry is not inherently bad for you.
All I did was share a few different exercises and a few different ways that you can work on getting better, more effective vocal fold closure, vocal cord closure.
I mean, I got responses like, "You should be doing something else," "You should be ashamed of yourself," "You're killing voices," "Vocal fry is horrible." And it's just not.
[laughs] I also want to specify if you happen to be listening to this for the first time, I do not train people in classical singing.
I do not recommend vocal fry as a stylistic tool [laughs] in classical singing.
That does not work, right? Stylistically, it is used in contemporary commercial styles of singing, what I work in, pop, R&B, folk, country, soul, right? Whatever, insert your genre that is non-classical.
Vocal fry is used all the time to add edge, to add grit, to add emotion, and it's not just the songs we think of like Brandi Carlile's Story, uh, comes into my head, where you can hear kind of that growl in it, that extra grit.
You'll be hard-pressed to find an Adele song where she doesn't use a little vocal fry to make it more emotional.
The difference is if she sings, "I need you" with no fry, and now hear it with just a little fry.
"I need you." It just sounds more emotional, right? It makes us think, "Oh, this woman is hurting." So it works great stylistically in contemporary commercial styles.
It's also used with great frequency for better technical function of the vocal folds.
Today's episode is all about vocal fry and about how vocal fry is not inherently bad for you.
All I did was share a few different exercises and a few different ways that you can work on getting better, more effective vocal fold closure, vocal cord closure.
I mean, I got responses like, "You should be doing something else," "You should be ashamed of yourself," "You're killing voices," "Vocal fry is horrible." And it's just not.
[laughs] I also want to specify if you happen to be listening to this for the first time, I do not train people in classical singing.
I do not recommend vocal fry as a stylistic tool [laughs] in classical singing.
That does not work, right? Stylistically, it is used in contemporary commercial styles of singing, what I work in, pop, R&B, folk, country, soul, right? Whatever, insert your genre that is non-classical.
Vocal fry is used all the time to add edge, to add grit, to add emotion, and it's not just the songs we think of like Brandi Carlile's Story, uh, comes into my head, where you can hear kind of that growl in it, that extra grit.
You'll be hard-pressed to find an Adele song where she doesn't use a little vocal fry to make it more emotional.
The difference is if she sings, "I need you" with no fry, and now hear it with just a little fry.
"I need you." It just sounds more emotional, right? It makes us think, "Oh, this woman is hurting." So it works great stylistically in contemporary commercial styles.
It's also used with great frequency for better technical function of the vocal folds.
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