THE VOICE CONNECTION
SOUND OFF

Welcome to The Voice Connection Sound Off; a forum for users of books like Raise Your Voice, Melody to Madness, The Ultimate Breathing Workout, and Unleash Your Creative Mindset, as well as a place for Vendera Vocal Academy members to interact.

This message board was created so that singers could come together and "sound off" to help support each other during vocal development and the creative process of unleashing the creative spark that occurs when writing and producing music. Currently, myself and vocal coaches Ben Valen, Ray West, and Ryan Wall are here to respond periodicially to your questions, with new vocal coaches coming soon. But, feel free to help each other too:)

This board is here for you to ask questions about my and my fellow coach's books, videos, and MP3 programs, as well as offer others help with our vocal techniques. You may also post videos of yourself and your band to share your music and ask for critiques.

Please refrain from negative comments, profanities, spamming, and inappropriate criticisms of vocal methodologies, vocal coaches, and singers. All negative posts will be deleted and subject to banning without question. I will not respond to negative posts, because, as Mark Twain once said, “Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.” With that said, positive criticism is welcome because that is how you'll grow as a singer during the training process.


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Re: VVA Accountability Partnership

Ok, I'm in too :)

Re: VVA Accountability Partnership

I'm Ryan Wall. I'm looking for someone totally committed to 5 days a week. I'm into writing very lyrical albums and infusing them with a hard metal element--ANYWAYS, I'm looking for someone to help me through the week and share progress. I've been in the group for 2ish years now so I'm looking for someone that can advance me and I could push them in return.

Very into controlled gritty singing. Singing super high notes with/without grit. Throat singing. Recording music.

Who's game!?

Re: VVA Accountability Partnership

Ryan, you speak the language of Taco!

Re: VVA Accountability Partnership

Loved Ryan's reply. This helps other VVA singers to understand what a student is going for. Hope we start making hookups. I will have all the Accountability PDFs and videos added to Week One this week!

Re: VVA Accountability Partnership

Following Ryan's fine example, here it goes:

I'm Tiago Costa, also known as Taco (nickname accidentaly given by a fellow student), I'm 28 and I'm from Portugal. I'm a guitar and bass instructor. Because my mom, my uncles and my grandfather had a band, I've been in the music industry all my life. Although I'm very versatile, my main focus is Metal and some subgenres such as Pagan/Viking/Heavy/Folk/Power Metal and even some Melodic Death Metal. I'm composing and recordong my own music, and mean to grow as a composer, guitarrist and singer at every step. I seek like minded people not only to practice with and keep each other motivated, but also to work with and share some ideas. A fresh prespective is always welcome and helps us grow.
Just to add something, this is what I do. I'm a full time teacher and musician. I devote all my time to teaching, and I want to vent all my long hours of practice towards not only teaching but also "doing".

So, c'mon peeps! Bring it on!

Re: VVA Accountability Partnership

I'm Paul Koenig and am unsure if I can practice at the same time as my partner due to my schedule. But I would love to work with someone to hold each other accountable, share progress, bounce ideas off of, etc.

I am 32 years old and live in the United States, in NH. Eastern Time Zone.

My Schedule:
I work Monday - Friday 9am-6pm for a software company.
I also work weekends, evenings, and mornings for a business startup of mine.
And on contract work I have for a client.


Contact:
I have Skype, Facebook, and would be willing to share my cell if my partner lives in the US (so there aren't any international charges). Usually Facebook messenger is the best way to reach me, I'm on it and tend to multi-task a lot. I'll practice singing at work, I've done meetings for my business via messenger while at the gym, or performing other work.


Background:
I've been singing since mid 2012 and have come a long way and still have a long way to go. I believe in constant practice and learning. I am a strong believer in looking to the positive, critiquing oneself, and constantly looking for ways to self improve. So many people give up on their dreams, and I try to encourage them to go for them. Reach out and take steps toward their dreams, goals, and aspirations.


My band:
I sing in a heavy metal band named Shattered Nitemares. We used to practice 5-6 a week as a band but over the last 6 months have only practiced 1-2 days a week due to recordings and our bassist having a kid. I've learned enough sound production to be dangerous, but understand what a producer and sound engineer is doing and have used Cubase and Digital Performer. I own a copy of DP8 and am more familiar with it than Cubase. I am not a fan of Reaper due to issues linking it with our sound engineer's Digico SD9. (he ended up getting frustrated with it and switching the project to Cubase)


What I sing:
I enjoy learning and practicing various techniques and styles. In my music I try to characterize each song with a different flavor. Some have more grit, are more melodic, use falsetto, or different vocal accents. My goal is to not have the vocals sounds too similar between songs.


My Practice:
I practice 7 days a week and tend to be a bit random with what exercises I do depending on time constraints. Some days I am only able to practice in the car or while doing other work. But I fit it in when I can.

I always start with bubbles/gargles and many times will do bubbles and/or gargles during non-vocal sections of a song (such as during solos). Side story during recordings we had to go back and delete sections of lip bubbles that were picked up by the condenser mic during guitar solo sections. Haha. I practice at home, in the car (using Jaime and Elizabeth Sabine's audio files) and in the car.

Each month I like to pick a few artists to practice to in order to pick up on different techniques, flavors, and styles. These can be from any genre or country. I love listening to artists I haven't heard before.


If you have any questions feel free to ask

Re: VVA Accountability Partnership

Jaime Vendera
Hello VVA members, use this thread to reach out to eachother and pick partners for your Accountability group!



Just to be clear, as I see VVA members are jumping on board, I should make a note that while this message board is for ALL Raise Your Voice users AND VVA Members, please note that this particular Accountability Partnership thread is for Vendera Vocal Academy Members only. You'll need to access Week 01 to watch the video and download the PDFs before becoming an Accountability partner.

Re: VVA Accountability Partnership

Hi guys once again!

As it says, I am Luka Penava, 25 years old, from Croatia.
I play bass in a commercial band (weddings etc) but I love singing even more. It all started with my best friend who sent me a link to Livin On A Prayer and that was it. I was amazed by the last chorus and thought: "I want to do that man!". With years passing by, I tried alot of singing lessons, teachers and so on, but now I think I'm in the right place! :) Really enjoyed the Hangout the other night. (it was night at my place hahah)
I'm mostly into rock, but generally; if someone sings really good, I'm into it! For the parntership; hmmm. Maybe it would be a good idea if we made a "Europe" group?

Re: VVA Accountability Partnership

A Europe group sounds awesome! I'll blast the school tomorrow to spread the word.ctMPVz

Re: VVA Accountability Partnership

My name is Jevgenij "Jev" Kapustin, 26 years old. Born in Russia, raised in Sweden.
I found interest in working with music projects at home (composing and recording) and like to sing in my free time. These two interests meshed well together and I felt that I would like to take my singing ability up to lift up the music more. I once came 2nd in karaoke contest and even sang in a choir with a band performing covers of rock classics.

My wish is to improve my knowledge of taking care of the voice and improving techniques for a better result. Admittedly, my self-discipline is lacking that I don't always adopt some basic warmup techniques (it's awkward, I know!). However, I have some understanding for what it takes to sing better and find that it inspires me better if we practice along with each other as aspiring singers.

Luka> Hey, it wouldn't hurt to give the Europe group a try!

Re: VVA Accountability Partnership

Hey Luka
Sorry for the delay but I'd be up for a European group.
Maybe we can get the ball rolling this week 😃