Customer Reviews

Raise Your Voice

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I have always been able to sing pretty much whatever I wanted. Now, I'm not saying my tone was great, lol, but range has never been an issue for what my band plays which is a lot of 80's rock. We've been getting into higher and higher stuff and I just felt like I was working so hard for those notes that I would benefit from some training. I'd be hoarse after practice, and while I've got a pretty wicked scream, one too many and there's no singing the next day.

I stumbled across the author's site via Google and tried some of the free lessons. I was quite impressed. I ordered Raise Your Voice that day (ebook) and said, "Tomorrow I'll start trainging my voice." That day was yesterday. I'd also like to mention that I picked up his accompanying publication, "The Ultimate Breathing Workout" and it is fantastic too.

I spent all day yesterday working on breathing and realizng I didn't know how to breathe correctly at ALL. I even take voice lessons each week. I was doing pretty much every single thing Jamie says, incorrectly. I realized that I couldn't keep constant pressure coming out of my mouth. I worked on the exercises all day and really tried to get the visualization part of it. I will admit that it's a bit tough to do, but the author provides so many ways to "get it," you're sure to find the light. What's amazing to me is that I pay $40 per half hour for a lady who's standing in front of me, and Jamie's book taught me how to breathe.

Anyhow, I went to band practice last night. I told myself there's no way I could apply all the techniques I read up on, so I'd just focus on my breathing. I did my usual warm up, then we started. I sang "Poundcake" by Van Halen as the second song and just destroyed it. I could NOT believe how easy it was to hit the high notes. I sang the rest of the night like it was nothing. Now I won't blow smoke up your butt and say "I hit every single note perfectly, had huge vibrato, and etc" but I can tell you for me it was a night and day difference. Please understand this is after ONE DAY of practicing.

Got home last, and there was an email from the guitar player saying, "You sounded much fuller tonight, with a much more pleasing tone/sound on the high notes; what are you doing?" I kid you not!

I'm always concerned about technique changing my sound, but Jamie's book I believe is going to help deliver the singer in me. Hell, if ONE DAY was that good; imagine what three months practice will do?

Hats off to Jamie for his customer service too. I had a weird issue with Paypal, called him, and he fixed it asap. He's quite attentive to your concerns and I would reccomend this book time and time again.

I heard of Jamie Vendera by reading his many reviews of vocal books on this very site. I decided to check out some of the reviews for this book and was impressed with everything I read, and knew I needed to have it. The book came and I read through it and was impressed by how complete it was. This book really has everything you need to know about singing and how to extend you range and add a lot of power (I mean come on... The guy can shatter glass WITHOUT amplification). For anyone who has tried other programs: this is not speech level singing, I believe these exercises give you a lot more power then you'll get from simple SLS. I honestly recommend this book to any one who's serious about singing, and not just for rock but really for any style. A really great thing about the book is the access you get to the members only section of Jaime's site which includes videos and audio of the exercises and extra exercises. This book is so complete that the only thing really missing is a yodelling guide.

"Raise Your Voice" simply is an amazing book. To be frank, I'm not doing my workout every day; but anyways I'm able now to hit high notes much more comfortably than before. While I have a naturally strong voice, I've corrected my breathing by better focusing on my belly. Now my control of my airflow has improved dramatically -- thus my singing feels much "safer". And the best thing: I'm having these amazing results even if it is very hard to me struggling my laziness -- I practice just a couple of lessons from time to time, and that's it. So, from warming up to strengthening your vocal chords, this is worth every single penny, believe me. I sincerely thank Vendera for sharing this valuable information with us. His book contains very useful material and is very explanatory about the mechanics of the voice -- very interesting! I've learned a lot by reading it and I strongly recommend it to anyone wanting to improve his/her singing -- it is guaranteed that you'll learn something from it, really. And if you work through it (not even as hard as he says ;-)), you'll be amazed about hearing at yourself after few weeks. In few words, I cannot praise enough "Raise Your Voice". Five rocking well-deserved stars! \m/

In this book, Jaime has taken all of the known voodoo and tricks for rock singing and whittled them down into the stuff that actually works for a R O C K singer. Jaime's approach is methodical without getting totally bogged down and turning into a course in anatomy as some other singing books do. There is that info in here, but I really don't need to know how a car is built to drive it. I just need to know WHAT to do with it and what NOT to do to not wreck it. Again, that info is here but is not overwhelming. Dangit Jim! I'm a singer not a doctor! uh... wait, that's not quite the right Star Trek quote.

Jaime's book answers a lot of questions and I can think of one time where it really helped me. I was doing a gig for the second night in a very smoky, yet hi-profile club. I had sung well the first night, however, by the second night, the smoke and the over 4 hours of singing had really roughed up my voice. I had just gotten Jaime's book and was sitting in my hotel room looking for a magic fix. Weird enough, it was there in Raise Your Voice. There's a section there on massaging the neck and throat muscles that TOTALLY loosened me up and allowed my voice to get out of it's own way. Evidently, my muscles had all contracted during the previous gig and trying to sing was really putting more strain on them, tightening them up and locking up the voice. I used his massage techniques and I could INSTANTLY feel the difference and I sang my tail off that night. Granted, this is ONE story about this book but hey, if it works, I'm an advocate! Aside from that story, there are more things in his book that I have also collected over the years from other sources and other teachers and yet, I've never seen them published anywhere except for in Raise Your Voice.
If I had one sort of "whine" it would be that Jaime talks too much about the glass shattering deal that he did on Myth Busters. While that's a cool trick, it doesn't mean much to me in the way of protecting my vocal longevity. I think that rather than that kind of gimmick, Jaime's real talent lies in being able to help his fellow rock singers achieve their goals.

Also, the book REALLY needs an editor. Grammatical errors are rampant but it's a great book for rock singers~!

thanks Jaime- Great job!

This is the book to get if your interested in singing rock or metal singing. The entire book (especially the new edition) is full of information explaining everything you could want to know about singing.

The book teaches a technique called "song mapping". It's a way to work on songs which is extremely helpful when you have a lot of material to learn in a limited amount of time or if you just want to really break a song into pieces to perfect it. Using this technique along with something like the Tascam Vocal Trainer (which is what I use) will help improve your singing on songs. A lot of books focus entirely on singing exercises which is good and most important, but its important to also have a way to apply the technique used in exercises to songs so you make sure you don't carry over bad habits.

The book has what you need to be a great singer. All you'll have to do is read it over, follow the program outlined in the book itself, and you will be on your way to becoming a great singer.

I just bought this book the other day, and I've already gained more knowledge, benefited more than I have after singing in choirs and taking solo classes in school for 4 years. I did each of the exercises in the book and gained the ability, in six hours, to sing above my breaking point at G4 without using reinforced falsetto. Finally, after destroying my voice singing in garage bands over the years, I had found an exercise that allowed me to begin mixing registers. Going even further, immediately after I read the section on whistle register, simply 'imagining the vocal cords tightly zipped with only a pin-sized hole in between them', I was able to, for the first time ever, access my whistle register by exhaling breath rather than inhaling. I choked out a controlled E7. It's a start, and it was a quick one thanks to Jaime's thurough and detailed explanation of every technique he includes. I'd reccommend that anyone looking to improve their ability to sing buy this book. It will teach you more than an hour lesson with most teachers, and at a quarter of the price.

and I stand by that. I have studied many programs regarding vocals and if I had only gotten this book a long time ago it could have saved a lot of money. I was thorougly impressed with Jaime's knowledge as well as his dedication to his students. This book contains everything you need to know to become the singer of your dreams. I have actually spoken to Jaime and what I found was a guy who was loaded with knowledge that was as anxious to teach as I am to learn the secrets of the voice. I think the fact that I talked to the man himself instead of an associate speaks volumes. Another great thing is that when you buy the book you get access to the members only area of his website which includes a message board of other singers so you can share your experiences as well as setbacks so it remains a constant source of knowledge. If I could recomend 2 products it would be this book and "Vocal Power" by Jim Gillette. The 2 work hand in hand and give the most bang for the buck. You wont need expensive voice lessons to become a great singer. Just the knowledge here and a bit of dedication. If I was able to hack this site and give him a 10 star review I would thats how impressed I am. I honestly can't "sing" enough praise about it...but then again I am only 2 weeks into the course :)

So, I'm going to preface this with a little information on me. I'm 19, and I have had about 4 singing lessons, which I did after buying the book. I'm considered a bass/baritone. Before buying the book the lowest note I could sing was about an A2, and the highest was an F4 above middle C.

Well, I read the whole book and sort of understood what was going on. It was really hard not having someone there to help me, but I tried applying the things in the book. My range expanded, going down to a Gb2, and up to an A4, but that was really pushing it to the limit. I then took several lessons, and he helped me to better understand how to apply what Jaime was teaching. My range went higher from there, but after I dropped the lessons due to not having time to take them, I totally forgot what I learned and was back to where I was before.

All the sudden, I had some sort of drastic change happen. I was driving home late at night, and tried doing a vocal slide; started on my lowest note and slid up as high as I could.

I have NO CLUE why all the sudden it happened, but it did. I went past my break point, and up into the Robert Plant zone, which was really crazy and something I never thought could happen. I thought it was a fluke ,and tried it again the next day. I could still do it, and this time I measured it. I slid all the way up to a C6. Almost 2 octaves higher than where I usually flipped into falsetto. I seriously can't believe it.... I can't automatically start on a high note and sing Communication Breakdown in a single try, but just the fact that I am hitting these notes means it IS possible.

Sing a whole lot, read the book, and just have fun. It took me awhile to get to where I am ( and even then I still don't know how it happened), but I'm almost starting to take this for granted. I pretty much don't remember what it was like to have a break point and not get past it, but MAN am I glad it's gone!

This book is a complete must. Check his forums after you buy it. I also think there is a new revision coming out.

-Allen

I've read this book cover to cover. If you are an aspiring singer or even a seasoned professional, you need to have this book in your arsenal. I've been singing for over 20 years and the exercises in this book gave me one helluva "workout". Perfect for vocalists of all styles. I recommend this book before all others.

I can honestly say that you will not find better vocal lessons in any other book or teacher for that matter.After a few short weeks,my voice has gotten stronger,louder,and I hit notes that I thought were impossible.Jaime breaks it down in easy to learn/understand lessons that benefit everyone from the novice to the professional vocalist. Buy this book,you will not be dissapointed!!!!!!