hey chris liepe here with david bowie isolated vocals for starman
and man oh man have i gotten a lot of requests for david bowie lately and i'm pleased to
announce that i've finally made a video on this iconic versatile uh off the wall creative artist
david bowie before we get into this track is a fantastic example of what i talk about a lot
on this channel and that is assuming a character and a persona makes you a better singer way before
good technique good pitch um a great range dialed in compression and uh good support
you know and not straining and so many things that vocalists especially aspiring vocalists
um strive for you know they have this checklist of okay i need to sing better with pitch i need to
stop sounding so nasal i need to do this this and this you know do this exercise and that exercise
but what what a lot of people forget i think what almost
all singers forget is that the singers that you like don't have that mindset the artists that
you like don't have that mindset they're not thinking about what exercises they need to do
they're going after it they're being creative they're getting in character they're expressing
they're being an artist the best singers are musical actors which david bowie definitely is
and they are creative first yeah they record some stuff and it sounds a little strained and nasal
um but it fits the vibe it's okay the only reason that this gets some artists into trouble
is that they put art way ahead of the longevity in their voice and that can be a problem and
we've seen a lot of artists have vocal problems because they don't take time to serve their voice
as the instrument that it is they abuse it to get the creative energy that they want to get
that's not good either that's why i've created my courses particularly discover your voice
my goal as a vocal coach is to help you harness the art and creativity of what you'd love to see
and hear out of your own voice and do it safely discover healthy sensations that lead to great
sound and express yourself in a free and long life-oriented way with your voice you only got one
so if you'd like to join my course you'd like to go deeper with me as your vocal coach
click the link below and request an invitation to my course discover your voice all right here we go
didn't know what time it was the lights were low oh i leaned back on my radio oh oh some cat
was laying down some rock and roll out of soul he said okay so i mean right off this supports
exactly what i was saying this isn't phenomenal pitch this isn't a great performance didn't know
what time it was the lights were low oh but it's very conversational there's not a lot of thought
going into the singing here there's a lot of thought going into the rhythm and almost this
this semi-musical talking that's happening but i would also like to to point out he's using
a decent range here let's swallow lights were low oh he's although not quite as floaty as i
just did it he's going into his head voice there that swallow lights were low oh oh
pay attention to this if you can range filled dynamic speak you can sing way better
then the loud sound did seem to fight okay now i also want to point out that particularly in
bowie's voice you hear his south london i believe accent and a big part of that type of talking
is that we naturally get our face out of the way of course i'm really exaggerating it to sort of
parody it i can't don't i'm not i'm trying to imitate accurately an accent i'm merely
observing we tend to get and you hear this in the beatles music as well
you hear this sort of british kind of thing happening and as a result you you don't have this
there's all sorts of things muscle wise in your face and throat happening
to give you a brighter more forward sound and i think that my theory is that that's part of the
reason that a lot of these singers uh were able to develop mixed voice so naturally uh in their
singing because of the natural way that they talked and it just puts everything in line to
discover that kind of sound you listen to robert plant um certainly david bowie there's definitely
face out of the way a little bit higher larynx natural compression that's happening uh
yeah and a little bit of a sneer that helps expose your teeth so again i'm not trying to be accurate
here i'm merely observing that different um ways of speaking different accents tend to naturally
free up aspects that are good for singing and i think that that's very true with david bowie boys
that one no dj that was hazy cosmic jive i'll listen here i love this one no dj that oh
no dj he's just flat out talking cosmic jive it goes into fry there cosmic jive
cosmic drive cosmic drive it's hard to do and not seem contrived
not seem contrived not seem contrived worth practicing though
now he didn't do this on purpose but if we can this this this fry thing but if we can learn
to sort of lean into that then it might happen more creatively by accident sometimes here's
the chorus there's a star man waiting in the sky now listen to this how thin there's a star
man i like that octave you can hear that ah this isn't star man no this is star
he's perfectly positioned in that wow sort of dying cat thing that i've talked about before
by leaning into guys like david bowie who are not singing incredibly high
but are postured vocally like that that's going to help you unlock your middle and higher range
incredibly there's a stoma and waiting in the sky elton john is another fantastic
example of what i'm talking about listen to bowie listen to elton you hear a star man
star man no this is very key to observe but he thinks he'd blow our minds there's
oh that harmony back there
man waiting in the sky he's told us not to blow it cause he knows it's all with wally tell me
okay now i really want to point out listen to the cracks that are happening in i believe it's
the harmony he's told us not to blow it he's told us not so he's told us not to blow it
he's told us not to blow it he's told he's told us not to blow it he might be straining a little bit
back there or maybe it's part of the effect it really adds to the energy this isn't he's told
us not to blow it it's lighter and it's desperate sounding because of those cracks he's told us not
to blow it cause he knows it's all with while he told me he told me tell me not told me told me
yes oh dear yes if i could be this character as i'm singing this david bowie song
i will have a much easier time singing with in my low end hi in a bright expressive and free way
let the children lose it let the children use it he's a character let the children let the children
and it's actually really good to exaggerate these characters as you're putting things in his voice
remember david bowie is the quintessential musical character right he's had a bunch of characters
this if we can get this from his voice and you hear it you hear it in the way he phrases he's
not accurate he's not um a you know technically phenomenal vocalist he's got a good voice
but it's the character it's the energy that he exudes that makes his artistry so good
i had to phone someone so i picked on you so i picked on you even here he's it's not so i picked
on you so i picked on there's a little bit of that compression and the open out of the way lips
so you heard him too switch on the tv we may pick him up on channel two i like this sort of short
weepy thing that happens once in a while fun channel two channel two this isn't channel two
he's he's good at knowing when to hold out and when to not hold out
he's got a really good sense of that when to speak sing when to sing when to lean in
when to back off part of the character came up on channel two came up on channel two
look out your window i can see his light if we this is something that we need to take note of
in terms of melody construction and and singing in general a three-syllable one-syllable word
where else could you do that where you insert a an onset into a word
practice this stuff and create some really interesting hooks
cohen tonight don't tell your papa or he'll get us locked up in fright fright
intentional hard tea there this is
i need a cane and i'm going to march around the room this guy he'd like to come and meet us
but he thinks he'd blow our minds listen to the desperation here on the like to come and meet
us he'd like to comment he likes to come and meet us you can hear a lot of uh bowie
in more contemporary singers like gerard way i've done a lot with gerard way on the channel um
absolutely and this this kind of sound here this guy he'd like to come and meet us he'd like to
come and meet us it's not that very accurate but there's little cracks and marks of desperation
things he'd blow our minds there's a star
man waiting in the sky storm and waiting in so cool how they slide up together right there
it doesn't slide actually
sky he's told us not to blame he is told he's child town hear that nice crack back there it's
always while he told me i like how unison's there too it's always while he told me while he told me
not told me told me so open let the children lose it let the children use it
let all the children boogie stomping waiting in the sky there's so many cracks
and it's so good voice cracking is something that is
shied away from all the time and it shouldn't be it should be embraced it should be leaned into
sure there are some scenarios where you really don't want your voice to crack but i think it's
over avoided i think if we can embrace the the voice cracking and the vocal break
that's one of the other things i talk about on the channel all the time lean into your vocal break
don't try to smooth it out not you shouldn't it's not that you should never try to smooth it out
but if you're not afraid of your break and you learn how to use it for good distortion screaming
transferring artistically between different resonances there's so much you can learn from
your vocal break so much expression you can harness from leaning into your vocal
break and he's demonstrating that here because he just doesn't care
some man waiting in the sky he'd like to come and meet us but he thinks he'd blow our minds there's
a star man waiting in the sky he's told us not to blow it cause he knows it's all with wally tommy
let the children lose head let the children let the each hold me yes
listen to how loose those doubles are not precise at all like you maybe that he didn't
even sing them together the you know the engineer muted the other one and let him
kind of express and emote over and kind of just vibe without the knowledge that the
other one was happening or he was just so into it the point is accuracy is not the goal here
la
then we fade out again the main takeaways from studying david bowie particularly in this context
are expression character and freedom of tonal expression is way more important
than being accurate and the best singers david bowie is considered one of the best
rock artists and i mean even vocalist of our generation or multiple generations
and it's not because he did a bunch of stuff followed some book it's because he constantly
sought expression and art and over the top kinds of scenarios with his voice
with his persona uh with his with his acting both musical and not so keep that in mind and
then the other one the other huge takeaway is that certain accents certain ways of speaking tend to
naturally encourage certain ways of singing and so if we can pull from that and imitate on a speech
level some at some different accents we will unlock some different things in our own voices
you have to take it to extremes you have to be willing to be stupid you have to be willing to
kind of insult yourself in order to discover some of these things and even if you mess up
creating situations for yourself to explore ways of speaking that you wouldn't normally speak
is going to help you learn how to sing in ways that you wouldn't normally sing
for you up to do a lot more again if you'd like to take this kind of approach
way deeper click the link below and request an invitation to my course discover your voice
thank you for watching my channel thank you for requesting videos like this we'll see you for more