SET 01

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YOUR
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VOICE
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FREE
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How to Get the 18

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Singing or Speaking Voice 20
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You Want 22
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Expanded Edition 25
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ROGER LOVE 27
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with DONNA FRAZIER 29
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L I T T L E , B R O W N A N D C O M PA N Y
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01
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06 Copyright 1999, 2016 by Roger Love
07 Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of
08 copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce
09 the creative works that enrich our culture.
10 The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a
11 theft of the authors intellectual property. If you would like permission to use
material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact
12
permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the authors rights.
13
Little, Brown and Company
14
Hachette Book Group
15 1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104
16 littlebrown.com
17 First Edition: August 2003
18 Updated edition: December 2016
19 Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. The
20 Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
21 The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are
22 not owned by the publisher.
23 The Hachette Speakers Bureau provides a wide range of authors for speaking
24 events. To find out more, go to hachettespeakersbureau.com or call (866)
25 376-6591.

26 ISBN 9780316-311267
27 [LCCN TK]

28 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
29 lscc
30
Printed in the United States of America
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 SET YOUR VOICE FREE

01
02 Base of Tongue

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Epiglottis
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Vocal Cord
07 (Vocal Fold)
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09 Trachea

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top view of vocal cords
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15 The cords have a unique way of vibrating. Small amounts of air
16 build up behind them, and when the pressure of that air becomes
17 greater than the air pressure above the cords, the cords open to
18 release the air, then close. This process happens an astonishing
19 number of times, creating the cords vibration. For example, when
20 you sing the note A above middle C, the cords open and close 440
21 times a second to produce that frequency.
22 The quality of your voice depends primarily on the way you

23 position the cords and the amount of air you move through them,
24 and great singing or speaking happens when the right amount of air
25 meets the right amount of cord. Remember that phrase because its
26 the basis of just about everything well be doing together.
27 Youll find that Ill be explaining many of the sounds you make,
28 particularly problematic sounds that cause you (and your listeners)
29 discomfort, in terms of whats happening in the crucial relationship
30 between the vocal cords and the air passing through them.
31
32 The Spoken You
33 Whether youre mainly concerned about your speaking or your
34S singing, Id like to look first at the speaking voice, because even if
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 SET YOUR VOICE FREE

01 It will make your growth visible to you, and especially as you start
02 out, it will be the easiest way for you to listen to your own voice and
03 assess it.
04
05 The Overview
06 Please read the preceding passage aloud into your recorder.
07 As you read the paragraph, you may have noticed a number of
08 things happening with your voice, if not at the beginning of your
09 reading, then as you got closer to the end. Get out a pencil, and as
10 you play the recording back, look through the following list and mark
11 the items that you think apply to you. Did you
12
13 Start strong but peter out by the end, feeling strained?
14 Have to clear your throat frequently?
15 Sound too soft?

16 Notice that your voice felt too low, and gravelly, especially at
17 the ends of sentences?
18 Hear your voice breaking in spots?

19 Sound nasal?

20 Sound monotonous?

21 Sound squeaky?

22 Sound breathy?

23
24 Did you hear anything else that sticks out or bothers you?
25 I believe that people generally have a sense of what they dont like
26 about their voices, but they may not be able to put it into technical
27 terms. Dont w orrythis is as technical as it gets. Look over the list
28 and notice how many checks you made. Itll give us a sense of how
29 you hear yourself now and where your problems might be.
30 Now lets take a deeper look by doing some specific tests for the
31 most common vocal flawsqualities in the voice that detract
32 from its power by drawing attention to themselves rather than to
33 whats being said. As you do the tests and exercises, have fun with
34S the interesting sounds that pop up. Some of them may seem a little
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 breathing

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Centered Left Centered Right Centered 08
torso swing 09
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The Torso Swing 12
This exercise, though its not for everyone, because it involves a 13
movement the bodys not used to making in its normal range of 14
motion, is a great last resort for unlocking the stomach muscles. To 15
do it, stand up and put your hands on your waist. Now, as the dia 16
gram on the next page illustrates, move your rib cage from side to 17
side without moving your hips. In other words, isolate your ribs and 18
keep your body still from the waist down. Keep your shoulders level. 19
I suggest that you try the slow leak exercise while doing the torso 20
swing. Youll find that its impossible to swing and clench your breath 21
ing muscles at the same time. And once youve experienced the feel 22
ing of exhaling without tension, you can find your way back to it 23
without the movement. This will be a useful tool later if you find 24
that your stomach tenses up when you do the general exercises. 25
26
One More Useful Breathing Trick 27
Lately, when working with students who are having trouble relax 28
ing into diaphragmatic breathing, Ive been pulling out what has 29
proved to be a powerful prop: a large book. I find one thats several 30
inches thick, and I put it on the floor near a wall, asking students to 31
stand straight with their backs against the wall, with the balls of their 32
feet and toes elevated by the book, heels on the floor. Standing in this 33
position tucks your pelvis into correct alignment, which makes it S34
much easier to breathe correctly. My student Aimee was thrilled with N35

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 SET YOUR VOICE FREE

01 I used the middle voice, and I have never had greater performances,
02 she told me. My voice held up every night and sounded amazing.
03 Thats what middle voice can do.
04
05 Meet the Zipper
06 To understand where the ease comes from when you find middle,
07 you need to know a little about how your voice works. Remember,
08 there are three different parts of the voicechest, middle, and
09 headand each works in a slightly different way, as illustrated in
10 the diagram opposite. When youre in chest voice, the vocal cords
11 are supposed to be vibrating along their full length, like the long,
12 thick strings of a piano. Chest v oiceas you would g uessfeels
13 like it resonates in the top part of your chest. If you put your hand
14 just below the seam where your neck meets the top of your chest
15 and say, I can speak in chest, you should feel a slight vibration in
16 your hand.
17 As you move higher in the range, a kind of zipper effect begins to
18 close off one end of the cords (this is called dampening). When this
19 zipper moves up to the point where only 50 percent of the length
20 of the cords is vibrating, you are in middle voice.
21 In middle voice, you should feel the vibration partially leave the
22 chest area and move closer to the area just behind your nose and
23 eyes. This area has been given many names over the years, but its
24 most commonly called the mask. The air and tone bouncing around
25 the sinus area can feel as gentle as a minor flutter or buzz. Close your
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32 Chest Middle Head
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34S chest, middle, and head
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 SET YOUR VOICE FREE

01 to the high notes in his bands music kept the zipper from closing.
02 The harder he pushed, the more the cords locked up and tried hope
03 lessly to hold the air back. That made him more likely to get hoarse,
04 not higher or stronger. The ease that freed him came from allowing
05 his voice to slide into middle. The same thing happened for Gwen.
06 Going into middle took all the pressure off the cords and kept her
07 voice healthy for those long months of touring.
08
09 Wheres Middle?
10 I teach middle to everyone because I consider myself to be the
11 equivalent of a piano builder. My job is to ensure that the complete
12 instrumentthat is, your entire voice, top to bottomis usable. In
13 case you dont know how much ground your voice should be able to
14 cover, let me get specific for a minute.
15 For the average man: Chest voice starts at low E or F, which is
16 twelve or thirteen white keys below middle C on the piano (see dia
17 gram). It goes up for about two octaves (twenty-three or twenty-four
18 notes), reaching middle voice at around the E or F above middle C.
19 Middle voice runs from that E or F to about Bflat or Bnatural.
20 Above that, from C and beyond, youre in head voice.
21 The practical meaning of all this is that men can do almost all the
22 singing and speaking they want to in chest and middle voice
23
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25 Middle
"C"
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"F" "E"or"F" "B"
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 the miracle of middle voice

(Pavarotti sang opera in the range covered by chest and middle). For 01
you, head voice is probably going to be an interesting sidelight, but 02
not much more. Mastering middle is essential. 03
For women: Chest voice starts at the F below middle C and con 04
tinues up for just seventeen notes to the Bflat above middle C (see 05
diagram). Middle voice covers the next six notes or so, and ends 06
around E or F. And the rest is head voice. Youll hit middle sooner in 07
the exercises than men will because physically you have less chest 08
rangeyour vocal cords are thinner and shorter. (You do, of course, 09
make up for it by having more head voice than a man.) If youre a 10
singer, youll want to practice moving smoothly from middle to
Middle 11
head also. "C" 12
Many people are shocked, after hearing me emphasize middle 13
voice so heavily, that middle covers such a small span of notes. As 14
weve seen, its a total of about six half steps altogether. But middle is 15
a pressure valve, a bridge and a proven pathway to strengthening the 16
entire voice. Most people feel as though theyre six feet tall in a room 17
with a six-foot ceiling when they sing or speakEhigher in the range. At 18
ST DD
L AD
the top of chest, it C HE as though theres
feels MI nowhereHE to go but down. 19
Middle "E"orso"F"
"F" raises the ceiling to ten feet, "B"jump up and down
you can 20
whenever you feel like it without crashing into a barrier. 21
You need every part of your voice. Together well shine, polish, 22
repair, and replace any sections of the voice that dont serve you well. 23
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female range 25
Middle 26
"C" 27
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EST LE
DD AD
CH MI HE S34
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 SET YOUR VOICE FREE

01 knowing where its hard. I dont mind your struggling through songs if
02 youre not technically perfect, but I want you to struggle through the
03 same areas that were working on in the exercises. That means I want
04 you to start with songs that go a little way into middle instead of imme
05 diately jumping into songs that go way up into high middle and head.
06 Choose songs that let you sing with chest and a bit of connected mid
07 dle, and then, as you get stronger, work upward.
08 Im not sentencing you to remain stuck in a limited range. In fact, in
09 my studio I dont even allow students to sing simple songs that cover
10 no ground at all. I want you to own the entire range, but as you set out,
11 Id like you to avoid songs that go from the lowest note in chest to the
12 highest note in head voice. I know this sounds obvious, but its easy to
13 fall in love with songs that are technically demanding and try them
14 without really thinking about what theyre asking of your voice.
15
16 Finding Music That Works for You
17 If you look at the sheet music of the song youre interested in, you
18 can easily see how much of it falls into chest, middle, or head.
19 Women should watch for the notes that fall between Bflat and E or
20 F and know that in that range they should move into middle. If youre
21 able to get into middle but its still weak, look for songs that peak
22 around Bnatural to Csharp. Thats a part of middle that can still be
23 very chesty. Check out the singer Tori Kelly, who sings a lot in this
24 territory, and youll see that you can do real songs, with beautiful
25 possibilities, within this range. (Look at the diagram to see what
26 these notes look like on sheet music if youre not sure.)
27 If youre a man, youll see middle on the sheet music in the notes
28 that run between E or F and Bflat or Bnatural. Your first songs
29
30 s t a f f n o t a t i o n f e m a l e
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 songs without fear

should have their highest notes around G and A. In this range youll 01
have a chance to taste middle without having to strain incredibly. 02
(The diagram shows you how these notes look on the page.) 03
Keep in mind that 85 percent or more of popular songs for men 04
and women have no head voice in them at all. That means that any 05
song you love probably requires only chest and middleunless its 06
superhigh gospel, or performed by Mariah Carey or Jennifer Hud 07
son, who love middle and head voice. As you sing along with your 08
favorite recording artists, try to be acutely aware of where your voice 09
wants to leave chest and go into middle. Because youve worked 10
with the exercises, youve learned how to allow air to get above the 11
soft palate and into the nasal area, so when you feel this as you 12
sing, you wont be in the dark. You can allow middle to happen. 13
Dont be surprised if middle just pops out. The exercises have 14
cleared the way. 15
If what you hear as you move beyond chest voice is soft and airy, 16
or if you notice that your voice bounces from chest to a higher voice 17
that is drastically different, youll know youve missed middle. Hav 18
ing that awareness is vital! And once youve got it, you can back up 19
the CD and look for middle in that spot. Try it again. Keep concen 20
trating on finding a place to go with your voice that doesnt strain. 21
22
s t a f f n o t a t i o n m a l e 23
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For convenience in popular sheet music, men actually follow the same treble clef S34
notation as the women, but singing an octave lower.
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 SET YOUR VOICE FREE

01 As you turn your attention to putting your talents out in the world,
02 just remember that Billy Idol aside, youre best poised to succeed in
03 the music business if youve got the goods vocally. Ive seen many
04 singers build great, long-lasting careers on the confidence that comes
05 from hard work and talent. That kind of confidence is resilient
06 enough to keep you going through all the bumps, curves, and fads
07 that the business inevitably throws in your path.
08
09 Stage Movement 101: A Primer
10 All stage movement can be reduced to a simple pattern, and when
11 you know how to use it, you can simply and effectively maneuver in
12 front of any audience anywhere. This basic format can be adapted to
13 the biggest stage in town or the smallest coffee house in the world.
14 Walk through the accompanying diagram with me and youll have a
15 reusable map that will guide you easily through any performance.
16 Point one. The beginning position, near the center of the stage,
17 gives the audience its first chance to see and hear you. The moment
18 you step up to the mike, its important to establish a strong presence
19 and command of the energy in the room. How do you do that? First,
20 stand still. Many performers move around so much at the beginning
21 of a song that the audience feels as though theyre trying to catch a
22
Stage Movement
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24 stage movement
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 01
02
03
appendix 04
05
06
A Glimpse into the Music 07
08
Business 09
10
11

B
12
e cause i know that some of you have dreams of using your 13
vocal skills to make your way into the music business, I asked 14
a couple of industry professionals
a music publisher and a 15
managerto talk a bit about what they do and to offer some basic 16
advice about navigating through their corners of the music world. 17
Whether youre a s inger-songwriter, a parent with a talented band of 18
kids in the garage, or a hip-hop artist with a hot tape, I think youll 19
find that their comments are a great starting point for thinking about 20
how to take your work to a wider audience. 21
22
The Publisher 23
If you create a song, every time its used by someone, youre enti 24
tled to payment. Music publishers, in exchange for a percentage of 25
what your song earns, license your work to others and ensure that 26
your money is collected properly around the world. But as Ben 27
Maddahi, president of U nrestricteda music consulting, publish 28
ing, and management c ompanyexplains, theres a lot more to the 29
music publishing business than that basic relationship. 30
Q: Music publishing is unfamiliar to a lot of people. In 31
your role as a music publisher, what do you do? 32
A: Someone described it in a very helpful way recently. Im like a 33
Match.com for writers, producers, and artists. As a publishing A&R S34
[artists and repertoire person], I represent songwriters (both lyric N35

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 SET YOUR VOICE FREE

01 and melody writers and musicians/composers), and its my job to put

02 the best writers, producers, and artists in the best possible combina
03 tions to yield songs that will be hits, or to create the most appropriate
04 music for the projects Im working on.
05 Q: How has the role of a publisher changed in recent
06 years, with so many changes in the music business in
07 general?
08 A: At the outset of my professional career (early 2006), I mainly
09 saw the major publishers outbidding each other for songwriters who
10 had hits climbing the charts, and trying to resign successful song
11 writers who had come to the end of their publishing deals. The most
12 creative thing I had seen a major publisher do in those days was to
13 make a call to get a great upand-coming songwriter in the room
14 with an artist or send out CDs of their favorite beats. Now, I see
15 more and more A&Rs (both major and indie) taking a creative,
16 handson, calculated approach to publishing. Thats something we
17 spearheaded at my boutique A&R group, APG.
18 Q: There seem to be publishers and managers who work
19 with songwriters, and A&R people at publishing companies.
20 How does that all fit together? What would be the perfect
21 team a young writer or writer/artist would want to assemble,
22 publishing-w ise?
23 A: Thats a tricky question because it really depends on the needs
24 of each particular writer, and no two writers are alike. On the sur
25 face, a manager will be more responsible for handling a writers
26 schedule, and negotiating certain parts of a songwriters business
27 that the publisher doesn't handle (for instance, negotiating whether
28 they get standard or full rate, or, if the writer is a producer, negotiat
29 ing their production advance). Its more common for producer/writ
30 ers to have both managers and publishers, since managing a producer
31 yields more immediate income and is overall more lucrative for the
32 manager. But certain songwriters have both managers and publish
33 ers because they may have different specialties/emphases that allow
34S for every great opportunity to be capitalized upon. Some songwriters
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 a glimpse into the music business

may not need managers, and some great ones crave them because 01
they can help fill the gaps that the publisher leaves behind, or just 02
add more value to the total equation. 03
Q: Have the relationships between publishers and record 04
companies changed in recent years? 05
A: I see employees with dual A&R roles (working for both a label 06
and a publisher) popping up more and more regularly. Its smart 07
because parent companies like Warner/Chappell or Sony/ATV can 08
split the cost of an employee, double down on acts by signing them 09
to both records and publishing, and up the accountability of the per 10
son who signs the act, because they will be responsible to for ensur 11
ing the acts success (from an A&R standpoint). Ive seen great 12
results with my colleagues Ryan Press at Warner/Chappell and Katie 13
Welle at Sony/ATV. 14
Q: How do you find the people you sign? 15
A: Its a combination of blind submissions to my email, my A&R 16
scouts bringing me their best material, meetings with creative part 17
ners I trust, and scouring online data. 18
Q: How elaborate should a demo be? 19
A: It depends on who youre sending it to. If its a producer, the 20
instrumental should be very polished and sonically and musically an 21
8.5 out of 10 or above if Im looking to sign them. There is a world of a 22
difference between an 8 and an 8.5, believe it or not. For a top-line 23
writer, I'm satisfied with a piano or guitar and a vocal, as long as the 24
lyrics and melodies are incredible. We can get the rest there; thats a 25
big part of my job. 26
Q: What makes you pay attention to a song? What are you 27
listening for? Would you only sign a mainstream, radio- 28
friendly writer/artist? What if an artist does music thats 29
really out of the mainstream? 30
A: If Im listening for production, I want unique sounds and an 31
incredible mix with earworm melodies and great drum program 32
ming. If Im listening for a t op-liner, I want clever lyrics and big mel 33
odies. I prefer to sign mainstream/radio-friendly songwriters and S34
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01 artists because I want the music that I work on to reach the biggest
02 audience possible. That doesn't mean that I have anything against
03 more leftofcenter artists. I actually love that stuff too. Its my favor
04 ite thing to see an artist with a cult following or a leftofcenter sound
05 break into the mainstream. It means that theyre moving the needle
06 in popular music and not just trying to cater to what people want to
07 hear. Although I didnt sign Sia, I did work with her on two big hits,
08 and I was happy to see that happen with her.
09 Q: How much focus do you put into sync licenses
10 trying to get your writers songs into films, TV shows, com-
11 mercials, etc.? How important is that for a new writer?
12 A: Were putting more and more effort into sync nowadays because
13 the power of sync has only increased. That means were upping our sync
14 staff and outreach regularly, as well as looking for projects like film and
15 TV soundtracks. We saw some great success with this approach with
16 Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puths smash See You Again, when we were
17 contracted to help create the soundtrack for the movie Furious 7. A sync,
18 if properly placed, can be a day-and-night difference for a song, and ulti
19 mately the writers or artists attached to a song. While we always focused
20 on sync, theres now a bigger effort to place songs in film and TV because
21 the exposure and payoff is just that much bigger.
22 Q: Whats your one best piece of advice for an artist who
23 wants to build a long- term career in the music industry
24 today?
25 A: Write, write, write. Keep writing for yourself and for others
26 and keep yourself sharp. Its all about the music at the end of the day.
27 (Ben Maddahi began his career in the music industry as an intern
28 at Atlantic Records in 2006, and rose to become president of the
29 music publisher Artist Publishing Group (APG). He has played a
30 key role in constructing hits like Wild Ones by Flo Rida featuring
31 Sia, Titanium by David Guetta, See You Again by Wiz Khalifa
32 featuring Charlie Puth, and many others that went on to sell a com
33 bined total of more than 100 million singles worldwide. In late 2015,
34S Maddahi started Unrestricted, an A&R consulting and publishing
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 a glimpse into the music business

company that also specializes in managing producers and songwrit 01

ers. Unrestricted publishing is a joint venture with Songs Music 02
Publishing (Diplo, Lorde, The Weeknd, DJ Mustard, Chromeo). 03
Maddahi is A&R over Songs roster of artists and writers, which 04
includes Diplo, The Weeknd, and Lorde. 05
06
The Manager 07
Managers have traditionally been artists career compass, steering 08
them toward opportunities and helping them map strategies that 09
will keep them in the game for the long run. Benjamin Rolnik, a 10
new-generation manager, says the games there for you to win 11
whether or not youve yet captured a managers attention. 12
Q: In the new social media age, how has the role of an art- 13
ists manager changed? 14
A: The world of social media as we know it is largely less than a 15
decade old, yet social media like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Insta 16
gram, Snapchat, and Vine have revolutionized not only how average 17
people communicate, but how brands market to their consumers 18
and how artists develop relationships with their fans. 19
Today, YouTube reaches more eighteen- to thirty-five-year-olds 20
than any cable network in the world. It has more than one billion 21
unique monthly visitors, with billions of hours of content being 22
watched per month. YouTube is also the number two search engine 23
in the w orldand guess what the most popular search category is: 24
music. Across every social platform, the statistics are staggering. 25
The truth is that most managers are not equipped to deal with the 26
changing tides of the media industry. It is just not enough to break a 27
single today. If a release is not backed up by a strong social media 28
plan that will grow a fan base, the opportunity is lost. 29
Managers used to have to fight just to get earned media (press, 30
TV) and paid media (advertisements) for their artists. Now they 31
have the opportunity to gain owned media by developing direct social 32
media followers and reach, which corresponds to the longest career 33
longevity and return for an artist. S34
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 SET YOUR VOICE FREE

01 A manager in the twenty-first century is akin to the CEO of a lean

02 startup company. Artists today can create their own future as never
03 before, and with that power come tremendous opportunities for
04 innovative business models and new ways of reaching fans.
05 I spend a lot of my time around influencers, social media, and
06 developing artists, so I see the opportunities and the challenges.
07 There has been more innovation in the last 10 years than in the last
08 100 years, so 99 percent of the industry still has not caught up to the
09 radical shifts that have already occurred. Those who understand
10 this stuff today are like the people Peter Thiel, the PayPal founder,
11 describes as able to capitalize on a great secret truth in an industry
12 simply because the majority of people dont realize it is true yet.
13 Q: Now that artists are using the Internet to get their
14 music to the public, how do you think about helping them
15 plan a long-lasting career?
16 A: There is more content in the world today than ever before. One
17 hundred hours of video are being uploaded to YouTube every minute.
18 Its getting increasingly difficult for artists to stand out, and even if
19 they do, its much easier for them to be quickly drowned out and for
20 gotten. Ultimately, lasting success comes down to the music.
21 Silent, an independent rapper in Atlanta, broke through when he
22 released a song that went viral on YouTube in the dance community,
23 and his single Watch Me got to the top of the Billboard charts.
24 Theres no formula for this kind of trajectory, though, which is why
25 there were so many o ne-hit wonders in the past, and so many more
26 today. But if artists can capitalize on any of their current success to
27 build a following, they will maintain a certain level of influence
28 throughout their careersmeaning, before, you could have one hit
29 and fall off the map. Today, you can have one hit and stay on the map
30 forever (even if your brand flatlines).
31 Ed Sheeran recently sold out multiple nights at Madison Square
32 Garden playing with just an acoustic guitar and a loop station. Cat
33 Stevens had the world in the palm of his hand and then retired from
34S music. The only truth is: Releasing amazing music that people love
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 a glimpse into the music business

and connect with is really the only secret to building a lasting career 01
with lasting relevance. 02
Q: What is the single most important piece of advice you 03
could give a new artist who wants to succeed in the music 04
business today? 05
A: Fight to be seen. Dont wait to be discovered. Record labels 06
today function more like institutional investors who place safe bets 07
on products (artists) who have already proven their worth in the 08
market. This means: Forget the old days of artist development, writ 09
ing a song and thinking that its precious. There are only about forty 10
number one songs per year (think: fifty-two weeks/year, and many 11
songs stay number one for a few weeks). There are only about four 12
hundred proven hit songwriters and producers in the world. And 13
there are probably tens of thousands of wannabe artists, producers, 14
and songwriters who are competing with you trying to break into the 15
game. 16
My biggest piece of advice is: Stop waiting. Put your song out. See 17
what happens. If its that good and that much of a hit, then you 18
should see the market reacting to it. Is anyone sharing it on Face 19
book, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram? Are any blogs picking it up? No? 20
Then write another songand release it. 21
Keep trying. Keep building. We work our entire lives to become 22
overnight successes. The biggest mistake I see new artists making is 23
having a catalog of unreleased music. Thats like trying to swim in a 24
hurricane with your hands tied behind your back. Hozier released 25
Take Me to Church independently with a very low-budget music 26
video. It took them months to be signed by Sony. Then it took Sony 27
almost a year to break the song. Imagine if they had thought: This is 28
a great song, we better not release it! 29
Or take OMI. He released Cheerleader in 2012. Nothing hap 30
pened. Fast-forward to 2015: Felix Jaehn finds the song, remixes it, 31
and it goes on to be the number one hit of the summer. Its not possi 32
ble to have a sleeper hit or even to be noticed if youre not out there 33
with a foot in the game. With services like TuneCore, you can start S34
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 SET YOUR VOICE FREE

01 distributing music almost instantly to every meaningful place music

02 is listened to or purchased in the twenty-first century.
03 Then you can independently promote your own material with
04 social media. Your destiny is in your own hands. Stop acting like it
05 isnt.
06 If people arent reacting to your music, make a decision: Are you
07 making music for yourself, or are you making music that millions of
08 people will want to listen to? If you choose the former, keep doing
09 what youre doing. If the latter, you have the freedom and flexibility
10 to get instant and honest feedback about whether youre in the
11 pocket or not. A musician today (especially without a good man
12 ager) has to think like a first-time entrepreneur: Focus and build on
13 whats working until your product is a hit. And if youre afraid about
14 releasing something and how people are going to judge you, just
15 think: The best-case scenario here is that other people even hear
16 your music.
17 Getting even three hundred views on a video for a new artist is a
18 hurdle. If you start getting a thousand views, then ten thousand,
19 then a hundred thousand, then a million, you know youre really onto
20 something. And if all else fails, remember the good old Oscar Wilde
21 adage: The only thing worse than people talking negatively about
22 you is not being talked about at all.
23 (Benjamin Rolnik grew up on tour, traveling the world with super
24 stars like the Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, and Aerosmith. As an
25 entrepreneur partnered at a major talent management firm, he spe
26 cializes in management, touring, high-tech innovation/development,
27 marketing, social media, and media production in both the new
28 media and traditional media industries.)
29
30
31
32
33
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 01
02
03

Acknowledgments
04
05
06
07

I
08
would like to acknowledge a few of the people who have been 09
of great help to me during the writing of this book. 10
Donna Frazier. Thank you for your encouragement, your profes 11
sionalism, and your uncompromising pursuit of semantic perfection. 12
B. J. Robbins. Thank you for continuing to guide me through the 13
ever-changing tides of the literary business. 14
Terry Adams. Thank you for giving me a second chance to tell 15
more of my story. 16
My LA family: Eiko, Jacques, Jim, Tina, and Alexa, I love you all. 17
Scott Alberts. Thank you for being such a loving friend and busi 18
ness partner. 19
Wendy Estrada 20
The Loves in Oregon 21
And a special thank-you to my brother, Philip. 22
I will sing for you now that your voice is silent. 23
24
25
26
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 01
02
03

A Note about the Author

04
05
06
07
08
Roger Love is recognized as one of the worlds leading authorities on 09
voice. No other vocal coach has been more commercially successful 10
in both the speaking and the singing fields. He has written three 11
top-selling books, created original online and video programs, and 12
appeared as a regular on four major network TV shows. 13
Roger was the voice coach for the megahit TV show Glee. He 14
vocal-
coached Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix for the 15
Oscar-winning film Walk the Line, Jeff Bridges and Colin Farrell for 16
the hit movie Crazy Heart, Keira Knightley for the film Begin Again, 17
and Quvenzhan Wallis for Annie. 18
Roger coaches singers such as John Mayer, Gwen Stefani, Selena 19
Gomez, Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas, Maroon 5, Krewella, and 20
Grouplove. 21
His acting clients are celebrities such as Angelina Jolie, Will Fer 22
rell, and Rooney Mara. He coaches supermodels like Tyra Banks, as 23
well as professional speakers such as Tony Robbins, John Gray, Bren 24
don Burchard, and Suze Orman. Rogers work in corporate America 25
has him coaching many executives of Fortune 100 companies. 26
Roger Love is the president of Voiceplace Inc., an interactive 27
media company that specializes in the development, design, and ful 28
fillment of vocal-related content for both educational and entertain 29
ment purposes. 30
31
You can find more information at www.rogerlove.com. 32
33
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 a note about the author

Tracks on the companion website to Set Your Voice Free by Roger 01

Love, www.setyourvoicefreebook.com. 02
1. Welcome 03
04
Chapter Two: 05
2. Nasal Sound (1) 06
3. Nose-Pinch Test 07
4. Nasal Sound (2) 08
5. The Sound of Gravel 09
6. The Breathy Voice 10
7. Attaaaaaack of the Brassy Voice 11
8. Low-Larynx Sounds 12
9. The Husky Voice 13
10. Optimal Pitch Range 14
11. Diagnostic Ah Test (Male) 15
12. Diagnostic Ah Test (Female) 16
17
Chapter Three: 18
13. The Slow Leak 19
20
Chapter Four: 21
14. Chest-Middle-Head 22
15. The One-Octave Exercise (Male) 23
16. The One-Octave Exercise (Female) 24
17. The Cry (Male) 25
18. The Cry (Female) 26
19. More Low-Larynx Sounds 27
20. The Octave-andaHalf Set (Male) 28
21. The Octave-andaHalf Set (Female) 29
22. The Octave Jump (Male) 30
23. The Octave Jump (Female) 31
32
Chapter Six: 33
24. Too Much Chest S34
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 a note about the author

01 Chapter Seven:
02 26. More Flip-Flopping
03 27. Soft but Connected
04 28. Speak-Singing
05
06 Chapter Eight:
07 29. Rhythm Nation
08
09 Chapter 10:
10 30. Vibrato (1)
11 31. Vibrato (2)
12 32. Vibrato (3)
13
14
Chapter 12:
15
33. Airy to Edgy
16
17
Chapter 14:
18
19 34. Slow-Talking
20 35. Monotone/Variety
21 36. Happy Birthday
22
23 Chapter 15:
24 37. Happy
25 38. Grateful
26 39. Passionate
27 40. Confident
28 41. Overlapping Frequencies
29
30 Chapter 16:
31 42. Low and Soft at Pauses
32 43. Raising Pitch at Pauses
33 44. Scaling Down Happy
34S 45. Stair-Step Melody
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 a note about the author

Chapter 17: 01
46. Small Bursts of Air 02
47. Connected Words for Stuttering 03
04
Warm-ups: 05
48. Daily Warm up (female singing) 06
49. Daily Warm up (male-singing) 07
50. Daily Warm up (female-speaking) 08
51. Daily Warm up (male-speaking) 09
52. Goodbye 10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
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