Artist Interview - Von Smith

 

Austin: Who were your biggest influences when you first started singing?
 
Von: This is kind of funny actually. One of my first major influences was the California Raisins. Ya know, the claymation raisins that sang old motown hits? Some people might not know what they were, but there were a couple videos of them I owned as a child that I was obsessed with. I think it was the first time I heard anything soulful. Later on I discovered they were singing songs by The Temptations, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, and all the old motown greats, and that’s what turned me on to a lot of artists that majorly shaped me as a singer.
 
Austin: How exactly did those singers help to shape who you are as a vocalist today?
 
Von: It’s hard to say exactly how when there are so many artists I’ve studied. I know I’m always looking for something new to learn, or a new challenge, so if I run across someone doing something I can’t do, I immediately want to conquer it. I have gone through phases of trying to master the techniques of particular artists, and I will practice until I can get it the way I want it, but then once I’ve worn it out, I move on and try conquering something else, so I’m kind of always evolving as a singer. I’ve gone through Stevie Wonder phases, Lauryn Hill phases, Josh Groban phases, Patti Labelle phases… I want to be a good mix of all my favorite qualities of my favorite singers.
 
Austin: You’re obviously a very talented singer with a lot of control; have you had any vocal training?
 
Von: Thank you so much! Ya know, I’ve never had any training whatsoever, it really just runs in the family. My mom was a jazz/lounge singer and my dad was a rock singer, so I got advice from them here and there, but that was always more about performance in general. They would teach me to connect with the audience and hopefully make them feel something, but not necessarily how to sing. They really let me develop on my own.
 
Austin: Have you always had the wide range that you have today, or is it something you’ve had to work hard to develop?
 
Von: Since I was little I’ve always gone for the high notes. I wasn’t always successful, but I grew from my mistakes as we all do. I remember struggling a lot when I was little, trying to be as big and powerful and high as, let’s say Whitney Houston, and not having the stamina because I didn’t know how. I went through a couple screamy stages throughout puberty when everything was changing and I was paranoid about losing my upper register or the ability to sing female songs, and I was a bit of a shouter. Since I was home schooled for high school I had all the extra time in the world to experiment, so I would sing six hours a day. Eventually I learned how to used mixed voice, just from experimentation and studying other singers, and I worked hard on developing it to make it strong. Eventually I could work half as hard singing, yet have the same or more power as before when I was struggling and straining.
 
Austin: You’re probably most famous for your video of And I Am Telling You posted on YouTube. That song is always hard on females, so it must have been incredibly hard for you to cover so well. How do you approach a song like that differently than you would something a bit easier or written for a male voice as opposed to something like that, written for a female vocal?
 
Von: I don’t think I approach it any differently than I would any other song really, I just make sure I’m warmed up and I try to put as much life into the song as I can.
 
Austin: Can you tell us a little bit about your warm up routine before a performance?
 
Von: I hope I don’t get scolded, but I don’t warm up as much as I should. I suppose it also depends on what kind of sound I may be wanting for a particular performance. Sometimes I want a rougher sound so I will warm up those tones more than others, sometimes I will want a cleaner sound so I start putting my voice in that “gear” so to speak. I have a few vocal intervals I’ll go through just to get it opened up, but most of the time I just rely on the adrenalin of the oncoming performance to get me warm, because for me that’s what truly makes me sing. I can be warmer than a sauna and still perform badly.
 
Austin: How important is breath technique to you? What about support? Do you support by pushing down for more power, or do you use some other technique to maintain a powerful vocal without strain?
 
Von: Breathing is everything. This is something my parents taught me at a young age. It’s really on automatic at this point, so I don’t even know if I’ve developed any weird techniques, but I know that if I start to feel too much tension in my neck or throat I will focus on my breathing and it helps me to relax those areas, and to keep them under control, because if they’re tensing up, I can’t do what I want with my voice.
 
Austin: When your singing up in your higher registers, where do you feel the resonance? Do you have certain sensations you feel that help to tell you if your on the right track vocally when singing live?
 
Von: Sometimes I get a mild headache right between the eyes so I must be focusing the sound that direction a lot. In regards to chest/head/mixed voice, the majority of the time I try to keep it as mixed as possible. I don’t like to be chesting all the time, it’s too exhausting.
 
Austin: Do you have any idea of what your current range is?
 
Von: My lowest note is a bass E2, and on a good day I can get up to an E7, so that’s 5 octaves. I don’t regularly use all of that, so one might say that’s not my true range, but I use the super lows and super highs for effect on occasion. I use my middle three octaves the most, obviously.
 
Austin: Your have an extremely agile voice throughout your entire range, so I want to talk a little bit about riffing. How did you develop the ability to sing runs so quickly, even in the higher range?
 
Von: This is a more interesting part of my vocal development. I always had a feel for soul music, so I could always do simpler riffs and licks, but it wasn’t till puberty that I really started challenging myself with riffing. I did go through a couple years when I was 15 and 16 riffing nonstop. It took me awhile to learn that people want to hear a song, not riffing. That didn’t necessarily stop me, because riffing can be so fun! I learned that I could us my diaphragm to go up the scale, and my jaw to go down. I really studied Brian Mcknight too, because he is a master riffer, if such a term exists. Christina Aguilera does a lot of interesting riffs too.
 
Austin: When you’re singing a run as opposed to sustaining a note with some vibrato, do you change anything about your technique to do so?
 
Von: It depends on the run. If I’m going down 5 notes for example, I used to do what Brian Mcknight does, where I would jerk my jaw down every other note (as though your jaw is going AAAAEEEEHAAAAEEEEHAAAAA really fast). Now I’ve gotten to the point where my jaw will just kind of vibrate the notes out the way I want. It’s kind of strange actually. Vibrato is also something I play with a lot. It’s fun to play with how it’s effected when you go back and forth from controlling it with your diaphragm and your jaw.
 
Austin: Lets talk about your recording experience. Do you have a home studio set up? What does it consist of?
 
Von: I went through five or six karaoke machines growing up, so I would record myself on those for reference, but my first recording session in a real studio wasn’t until I was nine. After that, I would save my money just to go to a recording studio. I love being in the studio. Now I have my laptop and a few small programs on it, so I can record demos and things, but still nothing spectacular. I’ve tinkered a lot with programs like Audacity, where I will import things I’ve recorded to edit them, but I record at home using M Audio Fast Track, which is a little box you plug into your computer, that you can plug a keyboard, guitar, or mic into, and nothing distorts, so you get a clean recording.
 
Austin: When you are tracking vocals, what sort of processing do you utilize? Are you against the use of things like auto tune and harmonizers, or do they play a big part in your songs?
 
Von: I’m 100% against auto tune. I always want my vocals to sound as raw as possible. If I can’t get it out right, I won’t record it.
 
Austin: What method of tracking vocals do you use? Do you do several takes of a song and comp together the best parts, or do you record your vocals line by line?
 
Von: It’s different every time. If I’m doing a more theatrical song, I may want to just do a bunch of takes and comp the best parts, other times if I’m being a perfectionist I will go line by line on hard parts, but if it starts sounding too polished and the feeling is lost, I will go back and redo it in bigger sections to make sure it sounds like a fluid piece. I do also have recordings that are one take from beginning to end. Those are more often the more entertaining recordings because they have a true live feeling.
 
Austin: Lets move on to live performance. How does your approach to singing differ when singing live versus singing in the studio?
 
Von: In the studio I go for thicker tones and sometimes closed tones, whereas live I go for more comfortable and open tones. I may sing all the same notes live that are in a recording, I just may sing them with less force or strain live, to keep my stamina up.
 
Austin: Lets say your voice is hoarse and your missing about half of your range, and your set to take the stage in an hour, with no option of canceling. What do you do to revive your voice for the performance? Do you have certain exercises you use to bring it back, or certain teas/sprays?
 
Von: Chamomile with honey is always great, but most of the time I get by just fine, I’ve never lost my voice or been hoarse, I just may be a little thinner sounding and have phlegm in the way, but I’ve gotten through plenty of performances sick, you just have to be conscious of where to go vocally to be safe, and step up your performance in other ways to make up for any lacking vocals. I will also warm up as thoroughly as possible.
 
Austin: Before we finish, please tell The Voice Connection viewers what all is going on with you. I know you recently signed with Akon’s label, so feel free to discuss your upcoming album and anything else you have coming up.
 
Von: I am in the middle of recording my album with Akon. He is my executive producer, so it’s exciting! My album will be very motown influenced, with big vocals of course. Expect some Temptations/Supremes like dittys, some James Brown screamers, and some Aretha like ballads, but all with a more modern feel. I’m writing a lot of it too, so it’s my vision. It’s definitely going to be something new. I hope to strike everyone’s curiosity with it, so we’ll see where it goes. It’s tentatively scheduled for release January 2009. I also plan on putting up a bunch of new youtube videos, some of which will have some vocals no one has heard me do yet, so look out for them! Also, check me out on myspace! www.myspace.com/vonleesmith

 

VON SMITH:  A Brief Biography

Von Lee Smith was born in Kansas City, Missouri on June 15, 1986 to
Valinda and Doug Smith.  Valinda, a jazz/blues singer/piano teacher, and
Doug, a rock singer (inducted into the Iowa Rock’n Roll Hall Of Fame in
1998), always made sure music was a part of the family. Even after they
split when Von was only 2, music was still a part of everyday life for
the Smiths.

Von started singing at age 5 when his mother let him sing at her
students’ piano recitals, and soon after, he was doing local theatre in
Kansas City.
By age 12 Von began exploring soul music, discovering the likes of Ray
Charles, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Patti Labelle and others.  At
age 13, Von began performing in his new soulful style, and made it all
the way to the finals of Ed Mcmahon’s competition “Next Big Star”, but
lost to an older female country singer.

Shortly after Von’s heartbreaking loss on Ed McMahon’s show, Von’s
mother decided to homeschool Von so that he could focus more on
furthering his singing career.  However, Von’s mother raised Von as
Jehovah’s Witness, and Von often found his true musical passions
conflicting with the teachings of his mother’s religion — so, at age
15, Von took a brave step and left the Jehovah’s Witnesses.  Then, at
age 18, Von left home for Mexico, in search of both musical and
spiritual self-expression, but could only find work as a lounge singer
at various resorts in Cancun and Mexico City.  It was both a musical and
spiritual dead-end.

Burnt out and homesick, Von returned home to start over, exploring and
pursuing his true pop/soul style.  After finding kindred spirits in
local Kansas City jazz musicians, Von was asked to perform several pop
standards at a small reception for a local chamber of commerce.  One of
the songs he was asked to sing was “And I Am Telling You” from the
popular “Dreamgirls” musical and film.  Not thinking it would lead to
anything of significance, Von posted a recording of his performance on
YouTube.

Three months later and nearly 200,000 fans later, Von’s performance had
garnered him national attention (including features on MTV and BET) as
one of the first young singers to emerge from obscurity through the
tremendous YouTube phenomenon. Rosie O’donnell invited him to perform on
The View, and shortly after, he signed a record deal with Akon’s record label, Kon
Live Distribution. He aims to release his first single towards the end of 2008, and
is set to release his first album early 2009, with Akon executive producing.

For more information on Von, please visit Von on on MySpace at
www.myspace.com/vonleesmith