Stop Straining on your Lower Notes
Are you straining on your lower notes? Here’s why and what you can do about it.
Read MoreJohnny Cash Mash-Up with Carisa Brown
THIS BLOG HAS BEEN MOVED TO OUR NEW WEBSITE. GO READ IT HERE.
/ˈmaSHˌəp/
nounINFORMAL
noun: mashup
a mixture or fusion of disparate elements.
a recording created by digitally combining and synchronizing instrumental tracks with vocal tracks from two or more different songs.
Mashups have become increasingly popular in music since the 90’s.
You've been on the dance floor when the DJ combined two familiar songs in a way that surprisingly worked!
YouTube artists and music makers are now sharing their masterful creations, marrying songs in ways never imagined by the original songwriters. The result is a new species of music where the best elements of original songs we already love multiply into works of art.
My client Carisa Brown loves creating song mash-ups, though she came to me having never before made one. With an open mind and a willingness to try, it didn’t take long for Carisa’s vision of a mashup with two Johnny Cash songs to take form.
“Hurt”, was originally written and recorded by the rock band Nine Inch Nails and recorded by Johnny Cash in 2003. The other song, "God's Gonna Cut You Down" is a traditional American folk song recorded by Cash in 2006.
Where did the idea come from? What was the process? Here are Carisa’s thoughts in her own words.
What was the inspiration for this mash-up?
The mashup started because I wanted to combine two Johnny Cash songs. I love his voice! It's so deep and powerful, I always think I want to sing like that. After trying to learn "Never Enough" originally sung by Loren Aldrich, I thought okay, now let's see how low I can go.
What was the creative process like?
I started playing around with the story first. How can you combine these two songs together to form a logical storyline, and we'll deal with the musicality of it later (sorry Annie). I had a rough outline and presented it to Annie, and then we moved some pieces around to make it fit the piano arrangement.
It came from story first, musicality second, and deciding how to sing it third.
Playing over the Hurt chords, you could just feel the emotion, so deciding how to make it my own and unique was the easy part. We knew the story and let the piano lead the rest.
Annie, on Creating the Piano Arrangement
I did some research by listening to mashups, so that I could get a feel for how they made them work.
Carisa led the way vocally, while I played around on the piano. We tried a few different iterations and eventually came up with an arrangement we liked. After that, I called composer and arranger Lynn Hutchinson, to take my piano idea and make it even better. Lynn did just that. Sending me sheet music with a dynamic piano part, which still left room for Carisa’s voice to soar.
We spent an afternoon at my home with videographer Stephanie James and created the video you’re about to see.
My husband Marcus Ashley, shared his expertise mixing and mastering the final track. Annette Betting-Fuentes did our video editing.
Check out the full video here!
Carisa, what are you working on now?
I am currently recording some mashups and covers my friend and I made in his living room in Echo Park. It's not professional by any means, but it's by far the best part of my week. I think we have five mashups at this point and we're finally starting to record them.
It's mostly duets of the songs that got us in our feels in middle school: Neyo, Usher, Omarion ect. We just covered a Billie Ellish and Khalid song that is incredibly beautiful and chilling. It's been stuck in my head for months.
Learning how to sing with another person, knowing when to let them shine, when to harmonize, when to breakout and do your own thing has been a really fun challenge.
Songwriting and a One Woman Show
I do have to say the reason that you didn't know that I was a singer-songwriter when we were in class together is because I wasn't a singer-songwriter when we were in class together. This was something that happened after I left class.
As a creative you pick up things along the way. I was always singing in my shower, but I had not really picked up a guitar and then I started hanging around friends that were in a circle passing a guitar around and then all of a sudden I really… I mean I did kind of want one but it was just never the thing.
Then I was with a group of people where that was the thing. So then I started strumming and one thing led to another and then “hey I can write songs who knew?!”
And you can write good songs. I really, really like what I've heard and I feel like you were able to find your voice.
Read MoreActress, Musician, Voice Coach Annie Little on The Actor's Vow Podcast
THIS BLOG HAS BEEN MOVED TO OUR NEW WEBSITE. GO READ IT HERE.
"It was my own vocal challenges that really got me interested in the voice and singing. Because I was just so determined to want to figure it out for myself. Because I didn't want to feel limited anymore. As an actor, as a singer or a songwriter it's such a horrible feeling when you feel like you have something inside you that is stuck or limited by your instrument. My body was getting in the way." -Annie Little
I was recently a guest on an episode of @theactorsvow podcast.
In the episode Denise Borraz Trepat and I talk about how I got my supporting role in Argo, the teaching methodology I use, how anybody can learn to speak/sing, how to find your ideal speaking pitch and some cool exercises you can do at home to warm up your voice.🎙 Available now on iTunes.
For an even more in-depth look at my experience auditioning and shooting my role in Argo (including how I made it bigger), visit my blog post HERE.
What is Mix?
THIS BLOG HAS BEEN MOVED TO OUR NEW WEBSITE. GO READ IT HERE.
This is the last of a three part series exploring chest voice, head voice, and mix (or mixed) voice.
With so many terms to learn about the voice it can get a little confusing. These three are the foundation of the voice and a great place to get started. Let’s jump into mix voice, and why it is so important to find yours!
What is Mix Voice?
This is where we are able to blend the chest voice with the head voice, so that we can sing from the bottom to the top of our range without a sudden change in quality, and without strain, breaks, or cracks.
If we take just the head voice, we can go really high without too much effort, but there isn’t much power or intensity.
Then we have the chest voice which has intensity, but on its own, it can’t go up that high without causing a lot of strain and tension.
So we need to be in the middle of them and use a mix of both, so that we have the strength and intensity of the yell (or chest voice) and the flexibility of the whoop (or head voice).
We need the CT (head voice) muscles to thin out the chest voice, so we can sing higher without straining or breaking. When the chest voice and the head voice muscles can coordinate and work together, we can sing through our whole range without it sounding like two different voices!
We get that great “mix” sound where we sound like ourselves, no matter where we are in our range.
Book a lesson with me to explore your chest, head, and mix voice!