Building a Successful Sound
-by Brett Manning
Three years ago, I signed a distribution deal with Media Products in Barcelona, Spain, for the translating and marketing of the Singing Success Program ,
thanks to a man named Paul Zamek. Paul is responsible for the overseas
licensing of many major American recording artists. (His largest
client, Kenny Rogers, has sold over 100 million albums worldwide!) I
met Paul on a flight to Club Med, and he became intrigued with my
approach to teaching the human voice. He wanted to know how I'd advise
an amateur singer looking to become a commercial success.
First, train the voice as you would train your body. Understand that
you have muscles that can be developed in the same way athletes train
their muscles. Singing is fairly easy, with tiny muscles involved in
coordinating the voice and subtle exercises required to develop their
coordination. I have taught thousands of girls to sing as high as
Mariah Carey and have safely developed a convincing commercial sound
with even the most rigidly trained classical singers. Just remember
that correct technique is necessary before moving toward a record deal,
because you will need consistency and longevity if you really want to
make it.
Second, develop your "style ear" and your vocal coordinations to sing
the rapid licks, trills, and runs consistent with today's pop-singing
styles. You must also develop your unique version of a commercial
sound. A straight purist voice (one dominated by a heady/classical
sound) has little chance of competing with Jewel, Christina, Mariah, or
Celine.
Third, do your own thing after you've learned everyone else's tricks.
You have to get as close as possible to your natural talking voice and
make your singing more like speech on pitch. If you change your tone
quality so that you are talking in one voice and singing in another,
you've lost the very qualities that make your voice distinctive. You'll
also have a harder time sustaining your vocal health.
When I first explained this ideology to Paul, he freaked out, then drew
a big smiley face on a yellow legal pad and said, "Your voice is as
distinctive as your face." How many times do you answer the phone and
hear, "Hey girl," and know exactly who it is without hearing another
word? We are sometimes still amazed at this, because most of us don't
have voices as recognizable as Fran Drescher (The Nanny), Arnold
Schwarzenegger, Jennifer Tilly, James Earl Jones, Bill Clinton, George
W. Bush, or the late sports announcer Howard Cosell. You don't need a
"character" voice like these people to be distinctive; God already took
care of that when he created the equivalent to a thumbprint in your
voice. The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars to develop
technology that can recognize a particular voice. The multiple
frequencies produced by your unique voice are your ticket into the
recording industry, and making the most of them is what I've spent the
last 15 years of my life teaching people to do.
People e-mail me with career questions from all over the world, and
many of them ask the same thing: What do I have to do to get a record
deal?
Here's the answer you usually hear: "Headshot, bio, and demo." And yes,
those items certainly have helped many people get started in the
recording industry. Some have even added a video or showcase to the
requirement, because singers also have to be performers. But other than
preparing all of these self-promotions and throwing yourself into the
brutally competitive music industry, what else can you do to increase
your likelihood of landing that record deal you've dreamed about since
you were barely old enough to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star?"
Here are three other important goals to reach for:
First, increase your vocal range. The greater your range, the more
exciting and confident your singing will be. Find a coach who can teach
you how to mix your chest voice (speaking voice) with your head voice
(your softer, lighter, classical-sounding voice). This "mixed voice" is
much thicker than pure head voice, but has more frequencies than a
belted chest voice (which is also the leading cause of vocal nodules).
The "mixed voice" has the best of both worlds, which is why so many top
Grammy winners sing in this vocal register. You must learn the "mix" if
you want a commercial sound, effortless vocalizing, and a healthy
voice. (The Singing Success Program can help you with this.)
Second, find as many influences as possible. Influences are
inescapable. The real question is, do you have enough of them to keep
you from sounding exactly like your favorite artist? We don't
need another Celine Dion. I have coached dozens of young women
who can now sing almost exactly like Celine; but who wants a
counterfeit when the real thing is already available? If you have
enough diverse vocal influences, you will find a little piece of
yourself in each one of them.
Third, make a decision to find your unique voice and spend the rest of
your life devoted to developing it. Don't quit your day job until your
career takes off, and your office gig can be replaced with a Broadway
contract or record deal. But give every extra buck, hour, and emotion
to this endeavor. You don't want to look back and say, "If only." You
are unique and you have dreams. Dreams are visions wearing work
clothes. The world advances, not through those who give up on their
visions, but through those who stand until their labor and talent takes
form.
So how about you?...
Are you ready to kick-start your musical career?
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