hey chris liepe here panic at the disco viva las vengeance brendan yuri isolated vocals this
whole album is absolutely incredible the vocal performances were reportedly recorded live to tape
the whole project was which makes everything all the more impressive from the arranging
to the execution and the sounds and what a breath of fresh air to dig into an album like this
where it breathes and feels preformed instead of pieced together don't get me wrong
i like lots of different albums and lots of different approaches but this album made me go
really fun to listen to we're going to be going through the isolated vocals of the title track
lots to unpack in terms of brendan's approach if you like the way i approach dissecting
vocals and want to go deeper with your own voice click the link below and join my free
voice course and i can help you work with your voice to do some of the things that brendan does
it's important right off the bat to understand the foundation of brendan's approach because
he has such a fantastic range and this not this part of the song but the other parts of the song
hover around the the c5 the tenor c and then that last note make sure you stick
around for that last note i'll unpack how he does it it's an f5 totally incredible
but if we understand his his posture in the lower notes in his approach
we can get an understanding of how he's doing things and then what he's doing and his his huge
range doesn't seem as unapproachable it actually seems doable for the average singer in some ways
pyramid of ones pyramid of ones if i'm just singing it stupidly that's how i would do it no
he's got this peer pick here pure lower larynx position
pyramid of one's pyramid of ones he carries this approach as he goes higher
i'm exaggerating it a little bit but there's this little bit of
yawn and i'll point this out more as we go but be listening for this
and even though he's up front and aggressive kind of in your face there's a little bit of
laziness that that he's sort of hiding from us someone did me wrong still my favorite song yes it
now listen there yes excalibur yes excalibur
he actually brings his resonance back he's resonating very forward
and then
there's a little bit of that where he's bringing his resonance back resonating more
towards his soft palate feathering out with that vibrato this is key
and you're gonna keep seeing how key it is as he gets higher and more aggressive
this is not live in the dream it's not 80's axel rose approach
if i'm really going to exaggerate this this placement it is this living the dream
and notice as i go higher even over that that blatant e vowel
i'm able to keep that e as e and not dre
not that this is a particular kind of mixed voice that allows you to be upfront
yet mellower less brash and i walk people through this approach in my courses
but you should know that it's based on this posture of a mild yawn dream
there's that c5 now listen here to shut up
it's relatively clean listen to bed bad if i were to arc this phrase shut up is cleaner and lighter
he's not just shouting if he tried to hit these in full chest although he hides it well and it sort
of sounds chesty the whole time that c5 is mix it's just sort of shrouded in other chesty notes
shut up and no it's lighter i'm not reaching for it shut up and go to bed
he really brightens up there that good of bad there's that resonance transfer that helps
him dynamically walk through that phrase not burn out any one part of his voice or approach
and really nail with some good compressed bright resonance there at the end of that phrase
nothing's really real no one really feels nothing
i love the crooner sort of vibe he's got it's it's so wonderfully theatrical and
i realize his influences really play into this but he executes it so well
and puts his own spin and puts a a modern aggressive yet quirky and playful sound
to it it's just just top notch one of the best singers around today
there's another example there he's got these vowels he's not opening them way
up there's not a lot of vowel modification even though he's really high listen again in a city
right it's not in a city he's not shouting at the whole time he's got a very good command
on how to thin his approach approach that clean mix in those higher notes and doesn't have to
you know modify these vowels majorly or strain to hit these notes
there it is again nothing rings true
so much better than what a lot of us try to do when we're hitting these notes
nothing rings true we're not saying true we're singing true then he goes even higher
maintains composure his technique is impeccable but because we understand that this is this is
technique this is practice yeah he's a gifted singer but his approach is what
is allowing him to do this his adherence to proper approach is giving him freedom
i like how that felt a little strange as as much as he is making this sound
easy he also makes it sound like he has to work for it and he is working for it
which engages the listener if it just sounded too easy if there was no like is he going to make it
and and part of that is is the way that this was recorded right it's
so much less produced that you you latch on to each note this note is a perfect example
beautiful vibrato too to beat a masterpiece what am i doing here
another great example of those the regular sort of speech engaged vowels
great writing there great harmonic uh choices and and blending with those
background vocals that half step down thing there nowhere to know where to know to know
that's how i opened up there that's cool
a little bit of rasp to nowhere to know where he brightens it
adds a little bit more compression to living something heavy to nowhere to nowhere
he gets a little bit of grit in there so cool sounding
really let that one resonate a little further back as well towards the soft palate shut up
go to bed beautiful breathiness
again there nice thin well placed well resonating high c but listen here
we have a tendency to equate rasp with a waste of breath or a damaged voice
what he's doing here is actually using breathiness by engaging compression he's actually holding back
a little bit of air shut up no shut up no shut up shut up and go to bed that's nice and raspy
because he's actually holding back air with the area above
his voice box the false cord area of his vocal tract
i love the fall offs there shut
up he actually lets the note grow he starts a little bit clean puts in a little bit of vibrato
this posture is allowing him to do it multiple times in a row
and not burn his voice out he just keeps getting better and better towards the end of the song here
and listen to how these notes are connected to his chest voice again here
she said she said very dark and chesty and crooner and then shut up and go shut up
wait for it i told you to wait till the end notes
he's thinning out even more here he's budgeting for this last note he knows it's
didn't coming to kill the dj as opposed to did it one right that's a little thicker didn't
one he's thinned it out he's brought it back he's using a little bit of a little bit less air there
listen again
we have to analyze this in two different ways we have the trust
to place that note which is back more yawn dropped larynx
and then listen to what happens here he brings it
see i'm bringing it forward resonating a little bit
more in the mask a little bit less uni raising my yeah whining it a bit more twanging it a bit more
and then you can hear right there there's there's more of that twang there's more of that tilt
it gets brighter he changes the placement in order to really deliver the note now is it easier
because he's changing the the placement it's both a little bit easier and sounds cooler try
i have to strain by keeping the same resonant approach and placement
my neck really strained really sort of tensed up there i can feel it right in here but if i let go
and and twang it or cry it a bit more
i can go i can go a little higher and it's it works now what i'm doing is not near as refined
and certainly not as impressive because he's doing this likely in in a longer body or or close to
one take but simultaneously praising brendan for his marvelous voice and beautiful writing
and and performing and and then also realizing that it's a combination of talent hard work and
right approaches and these right approaches even though we may not not get close to what he's doing
it can still inform our own inspiration and our own singing and influence us in ways that
will help us grow as musicians and creatives thanks for watching thanks for digging in
to viva los vengeance isolated vocals edition if you haven't looped this album and just
really gotten a ton out of it there's lots of nods to queen and a lot of my other favorite artists
and some some good you know 80s and 90s guitar sounds too that's just wonderful if you haven't
really dug into this album yet make sure you do again if you want more help
with your own voice click that link below and join my free course see you for more