Tag Archive for: David Lee Roth

How do you find your sound?

Find Your Sound Feature 1

It’s different for every artist, at least it should be. There has to be attention paid to what the artist is doing creatively so that the sound is what the artist is really, genuinely trying to do or you end up with a dancing chicken. That’s no fun.

 

There also has to be some thought put into the marketplace. This may sound non artistic but I beg to disagree. With some projects, subtle, intelligent changes can be made to cut through the clutter or expand the audience without stifling the art.

 

A bunch of you reading this article believe that to find your sound is whatever you happen to write about which makes it “organic”, more natural, etc.

 

That is true to a degree, however there has to be intentional curation, there has to be serious thought put into what this project is going to sound like, representation, the message, the image, the artistic “lane’. If there isn’t it comes out sounding haphazard and somewhat schizophrenic.

 

Find Your Sound Adele 21

 

 

Thematically, Adele’s 21 was all about her breakup. If she threw in a killer hit song about anything else, it wouldn’t have fit. That’s what I mean by schizophrenic.

 

 

 

 

Just because it’s a hit song doesn’t mean it’s a hit song for you. Here’s a great example.

 

One of my favorite songs last year was Kenny Chesney’s “American Kids”. GREAT song! (OK it really speaks to me and my upbringing in a faded little map dot called Delavan, Wisconsin. Love that map dot)Find Your Sound Kenny Chesney American Kids

 

This was a HUGE hit for Kenny. What you may not know is that “American Kids” was pitched to Lady Antebellum first and they passed on it; appropriately so.

 

What?

 

Find Your Sound Lady A

 

 

Yes, that song is killer, but it wasn’t for them. It didn’t fit their brand so it wouldn’t work right.

 

 

Here’s my point.

 

Finding your sound starts at “30,000 feet” where you begin to craft your artistic lane with the broad strokes first. You have to put some DEEP thought into this because it will become the blueprint that will give guidance to whichFind Your Sound BluePrint songs to pick if they’re outside cuts, which of your songs you should, record and which of your songs you should either let someone else record OR save for a future project.

 

How much thought?

 

 

Marrying a project that is genuinely consonant with the artist from the inside out with an artistic lane that is ideally empty or hopefully not very crowded is an art form.

 

Case Study #1: Bailey James

Find Your Sound Bailey James

 

When I first heard Bailey I was blown away by her voice. She was simply an astonishing little 11-year old girl with an incredibly mature voice. Her instrument is somewhat reminiscent of the great Patsy Cline in tone and her melodic sensibilities.

 

Right away, that’s exciting because I don’t really hear anyone in the country music marketplace that sounds like her; this makes her voice more “identifiable”.

 

What wouldn’t be distinguishable is if she sounded like or was trying to sound exactly like Carrie Underwood, or Miranda Lambert which is usually the case here with most wannabes in Nashville.

Find Your Sound Carrie and Miranda

 

So that’s a step in the right direction.

 

 

Next what is really unusual, is that (now) 13-year old Bailey James genuinely likes old school country like Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette, Johnny Cash, etc.

 

 

 

I think that when your Bailey’s age you HAVE to love 5 Seconds of Summer and Taylor Swift (check!) but other than these two artists she drives her parents crazy listening to, well, “Crazy”.

Find Your Sound Patsy Cline

 

 

Here is unique value proposition #2. If we made a record that was reminiscent of old school country Patsy Cline the project would be in harmony with Bailey’s artistic soul.

 

I would be real. Which is to say it wouldn’t be contrived.

 

Get it?

 

This information began to get my creative juices flowing.

 

What if we made a record that was retro (ish) sounding? At the time there was nothing like this on the radio, (although very recently Maren Morris seems to be doing REALLY well with her very retro sound, salute! This helps my cause).

Find Your Sound What if

 

What if we made the melodies evocative of Patsy Cline which you don’t hear on country radio right now?

 

What if we supported these melodies with old school country chords and chord progressions which you don’t hear on the radio right now?

 

Find Your Sound Country Guitar Chords

 

What if we added a neat artistically harmonious twist? Let’s make the lyrics more like Taylor Swift’s early records.

 

 

There were many reasons for Taylor Swift’s success and one of the big ones is that she and Scott Borchetta created Find Your Sound Taylor Swift Fearlessan artistic lane that was previously non-existent.

 

There were exactly ZERO artists lyrically catering to 9-14 year olds.

 

All country music artists were adult themed lyrically.

 

Here’s the twist. Taylor grew up.

 

Taylor went from:

“She wears short skirts

 I wear T-shirts

She’s cheer captain

       And I’m in the bleachers”

To writing

“I’ve got a long list of ex-lovers,

        They’ll tell you I’m insane

        But I’ve got a blank space baby,

        And I’ll write your name.”

 

Find Your Sound Authenti City

 

 

So who’s speaking for the 9-14 year olds in country music now?

 

 

Keep in mind we haven’t written any songs yet for Bailey’s project.

 

This very thought process led to some serious conversations that I had with Bailey and her parents.

 

Find Your Sound Couple Music CollageIf we make a record like this, we’re going to have to commit to using the internet and touring to build a following as we probably wouldn’t be getting a lot of love from country radio, at least at first. If we wanted love from country radio we’d have to make a record like Kelsea Ballerini, which is fine, but why be derivative just to chase radio?

 

Country radio wouldn’t probably help us because she doesn’t sound like what they’re spinning right now and they don’t want to take chances. They’re losing listeners by the droves every single day.

 

Besides, radio is becoming increasingly less effective in breaking new artists so the money spent on radio promo wouldn’t really be well spent at this particular stage of the game.

Find Your Sound Guitar Music Collage

 

We all agreed that this was the kind of record we wanted to make and we began to get Bailey with the songwriters that were willing to do business our way.

 

I say “our way” because it takes guts and commitment to purposefully write something you know probably isn’t going straight to radio. Writers get paid on the back end, with performance royalties, so why would they want to mess with this?

 

I gathered some writer friends and we went to work. I told the writers that the imagery had to be specific, keep it in the schoolyard. If the lyrics were universal enough that Carrie or Miranda could sell it, they had to go back to the drawing board. I wanted the kids to look at Bailey and say, “She speaks for us. She is our voice.”

 

Melodically we wanted bigger melodies like Patsy Cline. Chord wise we wanted 1960’s country.

 

See what I’m doing here?

Find Your Sound 30,000 feet

 

I have an artist that lives and breathes old school country who is STOKED to make a record in that vein. I also have a vacuum in the market place.

 

Perfect.

 

Moreover, I told Bailey’s parents if we made a record like this Bailey would stick out like a sore thumb from all the Disney bubblegum pop music.

 

We all agreed this was a good thing to “stick out”.

 

Find Your Sound Blueprint Fingerprint

 

This initial understanding of a defined artistic lane was mission critical to picking the songs that made the EP. Bailey and the writers wrote a bunch, we picked 5 Bailey co-writes, 1 outside cut, and they were all melodically and lyrically dialed into the vision.

 

Are you picking up what I’m putting down?

 

 

 

I have some questions for you.

 

Have you defined your artistic lane?Find Your Sound Define

How much competition is there in your artistic lane?

What kind of thought have you given towards your sound?

 

To find your sound you have to build around your strengths as an artist.

 

Bailey’s strengths, artistically lay in her voice, her love for old school country, and her age which gives us an advantage in the marketplace. This all has to do with the making of her sound, at least a sound that has a chance of standing out in the current marketplace and being heard by someone.

 

So Bailey is a great example of a solo artist whose sound was put together a certain way from the very beginning.

 

But what if you’re a band and you’re songs are already written? Let’s take a look at Van Halen and see exactly what producer Ted Templeman did to create their sound.

Find Your Find Your Sound DLR

 

David Lee Roth is arguably one the very best front men ever to walk on stage (and in the interest of complete transparency I’ll tell you that he’s my favorite. AMAZING LIVE SHOW.)

 

However DLR would never win American Idol.

 

 

 

Ted was smart enough to know that the “live show” attraction of DLR wasn’t going to translate well onto tape. That’s a live thing. Eddie would though.

 

FREE VALUE BOMB: Btw, Templeman who was also a Sr. VP of Warner Brothers Records along with Mo Ostin Find Your Sound Free Value Bombwho was the Chairman, passed twice on Van Halen demos, it didn’t come across on their recordings. They LOVED Eddie and wanted to sign him alone, but didn’t like DLR (Templeman originally wanted to put Sammy Hagar with Eddie!) It wasn’t until they both saw Van Halen live opening for Dokken (whom they were there to see) that they got it and agreed to sign Van Halen.

 

 

Templeman wanted the record to be about the guitar. That’s what was so special. Think about it.

 

COMPARE: Here is a link to one of the earlier Van Halen demos. Let’s just dissect the first song “On Fire”. It’s all there but it’s scattered and a bit out of focus isn’t it? Structurally as well as moment-wise.

  • The harmonic guitar lickFind Your Sound Van_Halen_Demo
  • Occasional badass DLR vocal scream (notice the first high note DLR hits is a real weak sounding falsetto without the signature multi overtone growl that he easily performs later on in the chorus “I’m on FIYAAAAA!”
  • The chorus hook, the vocal arrangement on the pre chorus “I’m hangin’ ten now baby, as I ride your sonic waaaaave” (ascending scream behind wave).
  • The guitar lead

 

Now, listen to VH I album cut of “On Fire” very carefully. The differences can mostly be attributed to Templeman’s input crafting their sound. Finding moments and featuring them.

  • First of all a bunch of fat was cut from the track.
  • The guitar was panned all the way to the left with only the reverb return coming out of the right. (Definitely a Find Your Sound Van Halen Irevved up guitar sound that Templeman credits completely to Eddie)
  • Drums and bass were all the way to the right with DLR straight up the middle. (This abnormal mix strategy FEATURED the guitar.)
  • Bombastic beginning chord progression before the signature riff starts.
  • Notice, from the get go, the recording is loaded with all kinds of guitar licks filling up the vocal holes, featuring Eddie’s guitar prowess.
  • Notice Templeman LOVED the harmonic guitar lick and featured it making it a recurring guitar hook. VH did it on the demo, Templeman did it more.
  • The vocal melody was re-crafted subtly but it’s genius because it’s more powerful and memorable (more question/answer on the melody…do you hear it?)
  • The end of the guitar solo was changed a bit to give Eddie a “lily pad” to land on giving the lead, which was ascending and creating tension, resolution at the end.
  • All the falsetto voices from DLR are badass strong tone with signature growl that was intermittent on the demo. Many are doubled.

 

So to find YOUR sound you need to think like a record executive and create a lane with little or no competition. You also need to think like a producer and bring out the strengths of the act on the recording.

 

Sometimes you just need to write a BUNCH to hone in on your sound. The Beatles wrote at least 50-150 songs before they began to get it.

 

Find Your Sound Microphone

 

Last thing. Both the artists in these case studies are extremely talented. Both of them needed outside help to focus the talent and make it really shine for an audience.

 

 

Who’s helping you?

Stay

In

Tune.

 

If you found this article valuable, please SHARE and COMMENT on it. Thank you!

Signature Strength Pickle Jar Feature Image

I don’t want you to be delusional about your talent.

Signature Strength Rock Climbing

 

Henry David Thoreau wrote, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. Resignation is confirmed desperation.”

 

Wow.

 

I believe that everyone has a genius, and most people are busy working on something that has nothing to do with their genius simply to pay the bills and fall in line with societal norms.

 

There lies the quiet desperation.

 

I also know that many of you are suffering in your artist careers because you are too busy focusing on the wrong thing. You’re forcing something you think you’re good at while ignoring your real genius.

 

Signature_Strength_Holy_Grail

 

The lack of results from this approach creates an abyss of frustration and despair that eventually engulfs an artist like The Gorge of Eternal Peril from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”

 

 

I want to touch on the idea that many of you are leading lives of quiet desperation simply because you are delusional about what Tai Lopez calls your “signature strength”.

Signature Strength Gymnastics

Now, don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying that you’re delusional about your ability to make a living as an artist. I’m saying many of you have to identify, evaluate, and build a career on your signature strength so you CAN make a living as an artist.

 

You must build success on your strengths.

 

You do what you can to strengthen your weaknesses to be well rounded, but you don’t create the empire on something that is artistically dim.

 

Signature Strength American Idol Image

 

The artistic misunderstanding is prevalent in many of the American Idol contestants. They are delusional that their signature strength is vocal prowess, which is what American Idol is ALL ABOUT.

 

Why do they not see that most of the very judges they seek to impress could not win on this show?

 

How did some of these judges become hugely popular as artists if they couldn’t win Idol? I mean, if they weren’t AMAZING singers than how did they break through the public awareness?Signature Strength AI Collage

 

 

They played to their signature strengths, that’s how.

 

 

I’ll give you a couple examples of what I’m talking about.

 

As many of you already know, I was an artist in the late 80’s and through half of the 90’s. I was in a hair band called Kidd Gypsy. I toured for roughly 7 years of my life making a living recording and playing music.

Signature Strength Kidd Gypsy

 

Bliss.

 

Here’s the thing, Kidd Gypsy took TONS of vocal lessons so we could dominate on our harmonies.

 

We liked big harmonies and we DID dominate.

 

 

The vocal lessons were good for me as a front man so I could sing in tune enough to keep the crowd (I always joked that I “clawed my way to middle management in the vocal talent sector). My strength was not in my vocal chops (I really didn’t have any), rather my vocal tone and my ability to perform live and entertain people.Signature_Strength_Kidd_Gypsy

 

I could sell the lyrics on stage.

 

I could sell the sex appeal on stage.

 

Mick Jagger was never going to win any vocalist of the year awards either.

 

Signature Strength Mick Jagger

Get it?

 

Let’s go one step further, I also was aware that because of my weakness in the vocal department, the harmonies would bolster the strength and appeal of our band.

All the songs had big vocal harmonies in the choruses which diverted attention from the fact that while I was (usually) singing in tune, the melodies were much more powerful with harmonies arranged around them than they were if I sung them alone.

 

Harmonies WORKED for us.

 

Johnny singing alone, didn’t.

 

Here’s another real truth to drive this point home.Signature Strength Guitar God Collage

 

The hair band genre was built on guitar Gods; shredders is what they used to call them.

 

I absolutely LOVE the shredders like Eddie Van Halen, George Lynch, Randy Rhoads, etc.

 

I always wanted to be a shredder.

 

I practiced incessantly when I was a kid.

 

I didn’t have the right hand, man.

Alas, I was never going to be a shredder.

 

There was a number of years where I lamented the fact that I couldn’t be a shredder.

 

I was depressed.

Angry.

Frustrated.

Signature Strength Desperatoin Head Between The KneesLiving a life of quiet desperation.

 

See my point?

 

I got good enough to where I added musical value to the band and my style of playing actually complimented Darrell’s (our lead guitar player) panache quite nicely.

 

Once I came to the realization that my signature strength was not going to be shredding on the guitar, the quiet desperation dissipated quickly and gently into the night.

I let it go.Signature Strength Genuine Authentic Self Oprah Quote

 

What are you lamenting?

Have you considered the possibility that you may be frustrated because you’re focusing on a weakness instead of a strength?

 

What have people (including strangers) always complimented you on your entire life?

 

Build on that.

 

I know for a fact many of you are focused on not focusing when it comes to your “sound” or your genre.

Signature Strength Unfocused

 

I hear it all the time, “Dear Johnny, I love Reggae, Rock, Pop, R&B, Rap, and Country. I want to do all these genres and don’t want to ignore any of them.” “Can I make a record where each song is a different genre?”

NO.

At least not if you want anyone to care about it.

 

Here’s why.

You really want to attend to your core competency, your signature strength, your real genius, etc.

This approach will ensure you are the most genuine artist you can be by accenting your strength instead of forcing a weakness that you happen to be delusional about.Signature Strength 5 Percent Rule

 

Abide by the 5% rule.

 

You want to concentrate on whatever talent you have that would put you in the 95th to 100th percentile in a global competition.

 

Maybe you are in the top 5% in a globally competitive market when it comes to singing rock but you are not in country, reggae, R&B, etc.

 

You can’t be THAT good at writing, singing, and performing everything.

 

Signature Strength Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan, who is maybe the greatest basketball player of all time, thought his supreme athletic ability would translate well into baseball, because he actually loved baseball MORE than basketball (if you can believe that).

He sucked. Forget about the major leagues, he sucked in the minors.

 

In basketball he is considered a GOD among men.

 

In baseball, utterly forgettable.

 

Signature Strength David Lee Roth

 

 

David Lee Roth is one of my favorite rock star front men. He KNEW where his bread was buttered; a whiskey vocal tone, HUGE personality, and sex appeal. He’s never tried to pretend he could sing super rangy love ballads, so he was never artistically unfulfilled by pushing himself to do something he didn’t excel at.

 

Instead, he focused on this strengths. He dominated a live performance, and he kept his vocal licks to a limited blues range (on recordings) and did it with a stylistic flair that was different and cool, man. (The DLR vocal “Howls”, doubled on tape, were like a sex call to all women, SO FREAKIN’ COOL!!). He was, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest front men of all time, definitely in the top 5%.

 

 

 

Tom Petty isn’t going to blow you away with a 6 octave vocal range either. Listen to ANY Tom Petty song, he emphasizes simple, addictive melodies. Nothing too complicated or rhythmically busy (I won’t…baaack…down). He knows his strengths, and crafts his art to accentuate the positive.Signature Strength Tom Petty

 

What I’m saying is that you have to be honest with yourself and what your real talent is.

 

 

If you’re not getting the kind of traction you want, maybe you’re a little delusional.

 

Are you an artist that should be writing simple Petty-like melodies and you’re trying to be more complicated?

 

Signature Strength Be Honest MEME

 

Are you trying to over sing ever line when note choice and delivery are going to make you more important?

 

Sometimes a simple change is all it takes to generate serious momentum.

 

 

In my first pro band, Idols of American Youth, I was a decent guitar player pretending to be a shredder. We were motivated, we were good, and we toured for a year with a front-man that had amazing vocal talent and ZERO personality.

 

We did ok, but we were forgettable.Signature Strength Gun Show

 

Once I took over as the front man, catering to my strengths (I was a far better entertainer and songwriter), despite my lack of vocal ability, the world began to take notice.

We got a producer.

We were moved to Florida to be developed

We got management.

We got a booking agent.

We got radio spins.

We got press.

We got label attention.

Not for nothing, all this began happening really quickly once the lineup change was made and I began focusing on what I was REALLY good at.

Signature Strength IMPACT

 

Musicians could argue my band downgraded the vocal aptitude of the band when I began singing.

 

They would be right.

 

 

However, we upgraded our IMPACT and that changed our lives forever.

 

I want you to win.

Don’t live a life of quiet desperation.Signature Strength Desperation Cracked Image

 

Don’t resign yourself to being a second rate artist.

 

I want y’all to do some real deep thinking with this post.

 

The new music industry belongs to the genuinely talented.

 

This means you better know where you excel.

 

I want you to email me, Tweet me, Facebook me and let me know what is your signature strength?

 

 

StayMistake Twitter

In

Tune

 

PS: If you haven’t already downloaded my free Music Marketing On Twitter book, please enjoy it on me. Go to GiftFromJohnny.com put  in your name and tell us where to send it. It’ll teach you how to get 1,000 new targeted followers every month for just 15 minutes per day.

 

 

If you like this post, please SHARE it and/or LEAVE A COMMENT thank you!

[ois skin=”Bottom Post”]