I've done some web searches to legitimate sites for info and instruction
on doing vocal warmups and exercises with a straw
(aka: straw phonation)
and have found useful stuff. Basically, at the moment, I'm just
doing virtually all the warmups and exercises I've been doing for
a while, but with a straw.
My usual routine is a few things:
an ascending then descending scale, that starts in a low
key then goes through a series of repeats, each in a key one
step higher than the preceding
a descending scale that starts in a high key then goes
through a series of repeats, each in a key one step lower than
the preceding
vocal sirens
that again start in a low key then go through a series of
repeats, each in a key one step higher than the preceding
I usually finish the session off by oohing or awing* two
songs, both in a series of keys from low to high:
‐‐ *in the case of the straw work, I have just
been oohing
I also usually do some scales while singing the alphabet, that to
loosen my lips and tongue to get me in shape to enunciate words better.
Obviously this is not one to do with the straw. I might add that
I do all these vocal warmups whether I would be on stage
singing or on stage acting. Either way the performer needs a
warmed-up voice. The trick now is to do them daily regardless of
if I would be on stage, rehearsing, or recording. And as you five(?)
regulars know, this ought to be the same principle for my bass and
keyboard work....
It's only been a few days since I've started the straw phonation
work. Usually I have done it while driving, such as to and from work,
or when I've been heading to and from the
The Guild. I can
say that there's been some slight improvement in the upper
range of my chest voice, likewise in my falsetto. There is an issue
at the cusp of my chest voice and my falsetto. I'm having a difficult
time keeping my voice stable and on pitch. And the vibrato is unsteady.
I've also notice unsteady vibrato toward the top of my falsetto, too,
at least when using the straw. It's probably harder with the straw,
which means that mastering it with the straw will translate
to much better control without it.
So, I don't think I'm ready to tackle that vocal for the
Album 2.0 Project's
R&B song, yet. Still, however, I'll probably give it a try this
weekend.
Directed by Kim Warrick
Produced by Rhea Smith & Heather Atkinson
This musical from the mid-2000's is a twist on Jane Austen's
Pride and Prejudice. A young, uptight greeting card
writer's life is changed when he meets a flighty photographer.
Along with their eccentric friends and siblings, they learn
to love each other, not despite their faults, but because
of them.
The Cast of I Love You Because
CHARACTER
ACTOR
Austin
Jacob Nichols
Jeff
Drew Roby
Marcy
Adee McFarland
Diana
Sephyrah Martin
NY Woman, et al
Emma Alexander
NY Man, et al
Matthew Clifton
Presented through arrangement with Theatrical Rights Worldwide
DON'T LOOK NOW, BUT WE MAY HAVE A LEAD VOCAL IN THE BAG:
After accumulating some sessions of
straw phonation
vocal warmup voice therapy, and feeling like I'd achieve good
results, yesterday I gave the lead vocal for the R&B song another
go ‐‐ the preferred
Sting-like
version; and, again, I call it that, but I really can't do a
"Sting-like" vocal.
Well, K.L., how did it go? you ask. I'll tell you: I may
finally have a good take on that friggin' vocal, maybe. I gotta
remember, though, that I thought that about the last attempt until
after I'd gotten all the way to a
masteredmix.
Listening to that, I decided the vocal was crap. We'll see if I end
up rejecting this one sometime between migrating to my
laptop
and listening to a new mastered mix. I wasn't able to migrate from
the 24-Track recorder
to the laptop last night because the laptop was engaged in another
task until the wee hours of this morning *(see next entry).
This time, it was five tries to get a good take. Within those takes,
I tried three different vocal styles, settling on a new approach
that I used in takes 4 & 5. Still, there's one line in the chorus
that escapes me. I'm not sure about the notes for that specific
moment in the melody. I've taken what I have for the time being,
but if I decide to go back, this issue just might be what takes me
there. I'm looking for a certain effect, and I don't think I've
achieved it yet. But, I may change my mind. I'm sure to get the
vocal over into
Logic Pro X
and get a mixed master of the song later today; then I can see if
I'm willing to take what I have.
SPACE & TIME:
I had loaded all the footage from the first two
staged readings
of Michael London's
play, Varian, and all other related material onto a two
terrabyte external harddrive. With both shoots being
three-camera,
that amounts to more than ten hours of footage, not including the
talkback
footage from both performances. When you add the external audio files
and other graphics and documents, along with the
Final Cut Pro X
project, there's only a little more than a GB of open space left on
the HD. And I'm only a little more than 60% finished editing together
the movie for the first performance that took place at the
Dayton Jewish Community Center.
In fact, while editing yesterday, FCPX gave me a message that there
was not enough open memory to execute the last edit command I tried,
that I needed to free up space. So I looked in my tech closet for
another HD that I could use to load off some footage. What I found
was an 8 TB external drive I had forgotten about, and it was empty,
save for a FCPX library file, that was also empty.
I took a forced break from DV movie editing to copy all the
Varian material and the FCPX project from the 2 TB to the 8
TB. The FCPX project transfer took from late afternoon yesterday to
sometime early this morning. But now I have 6.33 TB of open space,
which should be enough for everything, including the three
final cuts.
Michael also procured a new wireless mic system with two handheld
and two Lavalier mics.
I've tested this new setup and we should be good to go.
It's the editing after the fact, that's the rub. Editing the first
performance has been far more time consuming than I anticipated.
It's the task of syncing the external audio with the video that is
the heavy factor. There's a slight speed variant between the DV
footage and the audio, so I need to be vigilent about staying on top
of needed adjustments or else the movie will start looking like a
poorly lip-synced foreign film. I don't necessarily mind the work,
itself; the time commitment, on the other hand, is another issue.
But, such is life, right?
Showing weekends
May 22-Jun 7, 2026
Tickets on sale...
