Mahesh

Completely agree with you there! I've always thought she has one of the best voices out there in the industry in the same line as other pop vocal legends like Mariah Carey and Beyoncé. There's a Jimmy Fallon performance of one of her songs backed by The Roots which I always go back to as a great example of her vocal prowess. Thank you for your comment. Time to dig into some of these artists you've listed.

The forum software automatically embeds any Soundcloud link to a track and makes it easier for playing right on Songstuff! You haven't violated any rules Although you will likely get more ears to listen on the Song Critique board as it is set up for giving and receiving healthy feedback! https://forums.songstuff.com/forum/218-song-critique/ The vocals and guitars sound pretty clear and well recorded. Some basic mixing can definitely take it from the open mic sound to a more studio-like sound. Thank you for sharing this btw!

There are all kinds of lists out there about this very question but I was just curious about the kind of answers here on our community. We have the usual suspects like Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin. But what if you were thinking out of the top charts and the mainstream bubble, was there someone you can think of who didn't get their due credit?

Glad to see the progress with your move and studio set up bud. This post is very useful since I just moved this week (as you know) and I should start setting up the studio over the next couple weeks. Although, that's one hell of a set up to set up for you there. damn

I’m on the Ren train atm and the ride doesn’t seem to end. I’m not complaining cuz oh man, this guy is so incredibly talented. His proficiency with each of the things that he does do, is at the extreme! What a pleasure to listen to him, live or otherwise. Having said that, the pipes on that Sam is insane. So smooth. Thanks for sharing bud!

Such good pieces of advice to keep close! As artists, we do indeed tend to think our opinions are more important than others. Such a boon or a bane that could be based on how that interpretation is dealt with by an artist. Thank you for sharing this video!

I've really been digging this artist lately called "Bahamas", a Canadian singer-songwriter whose last album "Sad Hunk" which has been on loop. I found the song writing so very relatable as an indie musician who is fresh into his 30s. This is one of my favourites off that record.

I fell for it. HAHAHA Would you believe I started searching on Google as well?! Ren is SUCH an incredible artist though! One of the best finds of the year.

Oh yeah. There's a lot of people out there who give away unsolicited advice with passion. I've had all kinds of people come up to me after a gig or at some social gathering with things to say. Some are interesting, some useful but a lot of them without context, experience or understanding. There's been times where veteran musicians and record label A&R/ex-ceos suggest things that were just not objectively insightful. Advice without understanding who it's being given to is so limited in its use. Each artist is in their own stage of creative & career development. It wouldn't have any context if it didn't align with the real world practicalities of the artist. It would either be inaccurate information or at the most, an untested anecdote. Its been useful having people like @john around who's seen me evolve as an artist and had the acumen to offer sensible and practical advice. I've also had the pleasure and fortune of working with some incredible musician friends in the past decade who've had great influence on me. "Work with what you have, and make it work" Chasing ideals or hopes aren't useful. Even all you have is nothing, it's a humbling place to start; and to learn how it gets from there to something bigger. There's a healthy dose of curiosity and questioning within this environment as opposed to basing your process on idealistic expectations and lofty goals which bring constant disappointment. "If you are here for the long run, be yourself" Seems so cliché but damn, there's so much to dive into here. Trends come and go, but YOU and your musical messages remain. It's a creative footprint you leave behind however small or big/good or bad to the people who knew you. Like your own personal discography if you'd like to think of it that way. It's your story, your opinions on things in life, your thoughts and contemplations. It's a life-long musical learning process, a commitment you chose out of your own will purely through fascination and curiosity for the art. You cannot or wouldn't want to reduce that into a bunch of numbers and materialistic goals. It just doesn't feel as fulfilling. This advice has been very central to my functioning as an artist. I like to keep it that way even if it means I don't get to release music as often or make as many fans that a marketing formula can get me. Having said that, I do believe marketing and brand development is an extremely useful process TO being yourself. It helps you in understanding how to hone who you want to be and who you want your audiences to be.

I recently had a gig at a local festival that was all kinds of mess. To start off with, it was organized far away from the central town deep inside where internet connectivity was scarce and dusty af. The summer sun and dry heat were unbearable. A lot of people attended it. Like a LOT of people. The event itself had hundreds of artists, influencers, comedians, etc being featured over a whole bunch of stages so it was a huge turnout. Unfortunately, the grand nature of the event combined with some of the other things I mentioned earlier caused a whole lot of trouble. There were many delays and the audience wasn't sure of the updated schedules. This left many disgruntled. Because there were so many stages, the noise levels were high and the smaller stages took a hit from the bass thumping in the bigger ones. There was also a shortage of drinking water which made the situation worse. And to top it off, the journey back home was extremely expensive because of the local cab/rickshaw drivers jacking up their prices beyond insanity; since the people had no other choice in getting outta there. Aw, man. I've seen some pretty bad ones in my day. What about you?

@VoiceEx - so much respect to you for bringing that up. Because, f**k yeah! You're right. lol This interview that John and I did was for a podcast that one of my local musician friends did and found our story to be wacky! Haha But we totally should be doing more of these with more members on here. In a sense, I think it'd elevate the forum experience as well by connecting our community more personally and spark some insightful conversations, along with their work. Though there's been conversations of this before, it'd be soooo good to get some this stuff going. I hope John doesn't mind me slipping this slyly here - we really need to put a call out for some interns soon, at least if to get an extra hand around here with moderation.😅 With just the three of us on staff, we've been quite bogged down by the admin work, moderation and the actual Songstuff business plans and its upcoming products. We've been seeing so much enthusiasm with the community lately and it's been buzzin'. It's such a great learning space. Although, I've been feeling a lil FOMO myself having been soo caught up with life & work (including the one I just mentioned) that I've not been active around here lately. Heck, it's been a while since I sat alone to write some music or just practice. Sigh I digress but I hope to (and for us as staff to) have more time so that we can focus on some interesting stuff like podcasts, music interview, Songstuff Open Mic live streams, etc which we've been excited about doing. Will bring this up further with @john over one of the next Staff meetings.

Welcome aboard CCB... What an interesting back story! Good luck with that and do share it with us when you get to it!

Thanks for the introduction @Alex Lukehart! Ah, I miss the AM/FM days. You didn't get to choose what music you listen to and you would anyways. And you'd get so excited when you discover a really good track! Welcome to Songstuff

It's insane how much a few simple gentle exercises can do to help keep that voice accessible and agile. One of my favourites is making a siren sound starting from your low range at medium soft volume and going up higher without pushing or making the higher notes any louder than the lower ones. So, sirens that are relaxed and natural in the low range and going to a light hooty high range. Simply doing this a few times in the morning does a GREAT deal in opening my voice up. It also reminds my body not to push while singing higher notes later in the day. The thing about exercises are that you need repetition for it to have maximum effect. That's the key - to keep it as a regular part of your life regardless of what that exercise is. As long as you know you're doing it right and not introducing any bad habits which is easy to detect since the body makes it obvious by introducing some tension/resistance/rigidity into the experience. Research says that the "memory"/effectiveness of your vocal practice lasts up to just 3 days before quickly fading unless reminded again with more mindful practice. So it can be useful to build a small, simple but regular warm-up routine than a long, complex irregular one.

This is soo good. Very powerful and expressive. I felt that. What a beautiful voice and what a great concept for the video. Very moody! Thanks for sharing this, John!

Hey guys, I've moved cities and it's been a strange but interesting time here settling in. Been getting some time to practice and sit with the guitar and it got me wondering.. what is your favourite song to perform and why? Maybe it's a song that reminds you of a special time in your life or one that showcases your vocal abilities, or it's a new tune you're hooked on, or simply one that makes you feel good. Feel free to share! I really love singing along with Yebba on her Tiny Desk performance simply because it's hella fun try to catch her runs and harmonise with her as if you're one of the back up singers. That really puts me in a good frikkin mood to sing! If there are originals, it'd be much harder to make such a decision since they all are related to me in different ways. But as for covers, I had "10,000 Motherf*****rs" by Jason Mraz on my live set for many years. Most of the time, that was the only cover I'd have on the setlist. They would know the artist but would have not heard the song since it's not on any albums. That'd perfectly keep their curiosity intact for being introduced to a very heartfelt and powerful song. It happens to be my mother's favourite songs as well.

A good way to find motivation is to change the mental narrative you approach it with. I understand that's easier said than done but hear me out... First : Try to remove the idea of practicing and singing as geared towards an end result of any kind - good singing, better pitch, expressive singing etc That may seem odd but what then are you left with? YOU, the instrument. Learning to singing is all about understanding yourself, your inner voice and outer. It is a clear activity of self exploration with good singing being just one outcome. Even if you have no practical outcome from it, you can take solace in knowing that it is time well spent in trying to understand yourself a lil more deeply. It's an essential learning activity to fail and learn from it in some way but that becomes hardly possible when you put success and idealism on a pedestal. Second and practically, start simple. Guitarists start playing the chromatic scale or a few finger exercises to stretch their fingers on the fretboard. We (singers) may have to go further simpler. Single notes - how many notes can you sing comfortably, on pitch while being able to sustain for 3 seconds? Note it down in a journal with a date. Call it your fixed points in range. Multiple notes - Spend time moving around between notes in this range slowly and without tightening the body. As for the range beyond this, you'll need a lil assistance from vocal technique specific to your issue. It takes a lil more time but it's worth it. When curiosity leads the game rather than consequence, the learning process becomes easier. And funnily enough, all the desired results surely then appear as a side effect.

Hiya @GregB I hope all is well with you brother! Thank you for asking. I know it's been a long time coming, but I'm finally opening up students outside India to the Rewire Vocal Approach in the next couple weeks via Songstuff Vocal Coaching Academy! (Probably sooner than that). Dealing with the recent change in rules and policies within payment platforms, figuring Rewire as a business locally & internationally and some other aspects, it has taken a while to get here. It's the first BIG step to many more things though. The intention of starting with these limited slots of 1-1 Rewire sessions with singers here at Songstuff and thru our grass roots marketing efforts across the inter-webs is deliberate. This way, I get to introduce this approach of mine to singers to see for themselves hands-on what it could do for them. There is a lot of different "vocal techniques" out there. Many have strong opinions about it too. I'd like to be able to show singers with each session how Rewire is more of a singing lifestyle than a technique. It is to know your voice in the moment in its abilities & disabilities; & to be able to sculpt/control the sound based on muscle memory, ear-training & mindfulness. It's more than a bunch of exercises; but a multi-fold skill with many wide applications across languages, accents & genres. I've been doing Rewire for 3 years now, here in India. Working with professional singers, upcoming singer-songwriters & interestingly enough as a vocal supervisor on a few film projects. I'm also moving to Mumbai for the next couple months to teach voice conditioning in a theatre/film environment. Hopefully, these lessons that are soon going to be opened up would serve as a way for me to share that experience while introducing the brands Rewire the Voice and Songstuff Vocal Coaching Academy on good confidence, faith and trust within the singing community! Sorry for the long answer! lol @john, I think we switched places again.

Welcome back @HoboSage! Hope all has been well! Haha. Change can take some time to get used to! Maybe there's a badge for that too haha

I apologize for commenting on this topic in bits since there's so much of interesting discussions having already occurred and I have a lot to catch up on. (BTW, loved the ideas you've put forward @VoiceEx. It would be great to have bigger visibility of the strategies and approaches that the artists on here are using, however small or big and regardless of experience level! I think there's something to learn from every bit. ) Responding to John's original topic, There's a lot of things going on in my music & professional life atm and I'm kinda struggling to keep a leash on it to keep it steady. 1. Rewire the Voice : Besides the vocal supervision and coaching I do every now and then within a studio environment, I currently am working with 15 singers in building their voice for their musical goals. This has been a huge undertaking and has kept me on a bottleneck in terms of time & energy. I'm constantly drained to do much else. So, I am working on opening up group lessons in a bid to save some hours in my usual workday. Thanks to @john & Songstuff, I will also be opening up limited slots for international students who maybe interested to work with me. We've also been working on a singing course and a whole bunch of Rewire products as part of Songstuff Vocal Coaching Academy. Additionally, I'm moving to Mumbai in December for a couple months (from Bangalore, India) to be a guest faculty at a Film/Drama school. I've been a vocal coach / music teacher in schools before, but this is definitely going to be a new experience for me teaching non-musicians about music & the voice. 2. My Music The move to Mumbai has come at an interesting time in my musical career. I am currently working on the upcoming record "Change". It's a big one for us at RC7 Records (Team Songstuff's indie label) since it involves a huge team of musicians, many collaborations & an artist grant backing it courtesy of The Bombay Jazz Club. During my aforementioned stay in Mumbai, I hope to spend a lot of time in the studio producing & recording. The record will come out next year so we are currently working on the release plan and marketing strategies for the same. Out of the 5 main songs on the record, I've made 3 pre-production demos with minimal instrumentation. 2 more to go. I've used Reaper and a whole bunch of free VSTi's for this pursuit and they've served me greatly. These demos will act as a starting point within the studio environment and to the musicians as we record the EP/album. 3. Songstuff It's quite unbelievable the number of things we've been working away on in the background. From forum upgrades and features to new products and services - I am not going to be able to list them all here. John has talked about some of these upcoming plans on here but it goes without saying and I speak for myself when I say - it is a LOT of work. Like a mind-numbingly huge f*cking amount of work. There's a lot that we can do with the power of community. But without an infrastructure and an ecosystem that can help the community nourish itself, things can die quickly. And so, we've been spending many hours and a lot of energy and resources putting all of it together. Atm, it's only myself, Peggy and John taking care of everything that exists on Songstuff and everything that will in the future. It can be a handful. We're just as indie & comes with it the same old working class struggles and challenges. So, it may take a lil bit of time, but I'm excited for all that is in store for Songstuff!

Hey @Rene Asologuitar, Always loved this tune. Great performance! Loved your voice and the vibe. Thank you for sharing!

Thank you, Greg! I do have (like many other artists) a love hate relationship with social media. It's something I don't like having any kind of spotlight on during my days. At the same time, it is something that I understand to be a valuable asset in building an audience base. So it was quite a shock when I first received a message by Youtube that my channel had been permanently banned and my email ID blacklisted. Only after further inspection, I realized that I was hacked and whatever they did led to the ban. You said it bud. I performed at a house concert last weekend. It felt good! Much thanks for your kind words and thoughts. Mahesh

Among the million other things I was trying to keep hold of with life (ironically, while away from social media), my YouTube account got hacked a couple months ago by some Bitcoin weirdos. It took a bit of initial panic and a bit of work to get things back up. If anybody's interested, you may find the details of the case here: Youtube Account was hacked & then permanently deleted(all in a day??)! HELP. - YouTube Community (google.com) Anyways, I'm glad things are finally back up but it should take a few more months for the activity to get back up like before it was hacked. If you have some time, do give the channel a look and lemme know if you find something odd. If you are checking out the music for the first time, would love to hear your thoughts! https://youtube.com/maheshmusicindia

I have heard of this plugin so much. The versatility & flexibility of Shaperbox with its interface is what, I've heard, sets it apart from the others out there. Will check out the demo version to get the feel of it!

Back in 2016, when I was working on "The Union" album with Blushing Satellite, I was given a diverse set of sounds to emulate with the lead voice. My friend Rama who's the band leader (& also played guitars on my own EP "Accept") envisioned my voice being used in ways I wasn't experienced with before. For example, there were times when he asked me to emulate a violin for a certain part, & a flute for some other. It took a while for me to even understand what he was really asking me to do. And when I did understand it, it didn't really help with the execution bit. This brought me to a haunting thought- "I'm good at singing what I already am used to singing. But that's not the same as being good at Singing, the art/skill. My existing knowledge doesn't necessarily help me in understanding what I CAN be capable of in the future". All I relied on until then to gauge my progress were a bunch of vocal exercises and my own personal judgement of good singing. I knew it helped in some way because I did sound better over time with practice; but I wasn't exactly sure how. I just had to keep at it & sorta wait and see until the exercise does its own thing. This hit and miss approach without enough context became the prime issue in my vocal development. My ego bubble burst & my voice didn't feel as reliable anymore. I went back to the drawing board. I wanted to use my voice knowing exactly what I can and cannot produce. I wanted to know how I can think of a sound in my head and reproduce that very sound with accuracy, confidence and comfort. If I couldn't do it, I wanted to know exactly what it would take for me to get there. I wanted to know HOW any of these exercises that I do affect the voice in real time as I make them. I wanted to use my voice as if I'm sitting inside a car with a bunch of controls in front of me knowing exactly what they are used for. Thus began my journey to Rewire. Rewire is a vocal method which sets itself apart from other techniques in a fundamental manner. We learn to use the voice just like any other musical instrument, within the present moment. Before we focus on muscle memory building and repetition of vocal exercises, Rewire teaches you a mix of vocal technique, ear-training & mindfulness to sculpt your sound based on volume, pitch, tonality & expression. This offers a singer of any experience level to start using their voice in an efficient & healthy manner, while safely allowing you to expand those abilities, from the get-go. As they say, practicing perfectly makes you perfect. This is why Rewire puts focus on virtues such as intention/deliberation, control, consistency, comfort & presence of mind while you're singing. Over the next few days and weeks, I will expand on some of the core ideas that make up the Rewire Vocal Method but also, there's a lot more on the way. Thanks to Songstuff Vocal Coaching Academy, I will be involved in delivering vocal coaching sessions, video courses, products etc and I'm super excited to share some of the things I know and use myself. As far as this blog is concerned, I'll try to keep things a mix of Rewire and my own personal singing journey.