David Perry’s blog

Tamara has had a page here on Vox for a few weeks and I've been consistently excited by how solid, tasteful, and natural her vocal ability seems to be. I've left her a number of glowing comments because I am taken aback by the professional level of her performances in spite of the fact that she does not as yet record for a label.

She recently recorded "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" at Arena Studios in Fleetwood, Lancashire and posted the video and audio of the recording on YouTube.

Here's the deal: people are going crazy. I would characterize the comments she is getting as ranging from very impressed to near ecstatic.

Here's my personal rundown on Tamara's vocal talent:

Her voice is both soft and powerful at the same time. It isn't shrill, nasal, or rough in any way, just creamy smooth and her high notes are clean, powerful, and brilliant, yet retain that yummy, silky quality that she has throughout her range. Her vibrato is just a plain wonder to behold---one of the most technically perfect vibratos I've ever heard coming out of anybody anywhere, and that includes opera singers.

Please have a look and listen, and check out some of the comments she is receiving:

Somewhere Over the Rainbow---YouTube

I don't mange Tamara and I have no financial interest in her career. I'm purely motivated by being basically in awe of her vocal talent and I'm doing a little extra work on her behalf to try to get her noticed by a major label.

Well, now, I've decided to blog on this issue and post it to the A & R group since I think Sony/BMG UK division should know that, though they have done nothing to lead non-UK artists up the garden path, they have also done very little to make it clear to them whether they are wasting their time here. They must understand that artists without extensive industry involvement may have no understanding of how things internally function so they may not realize that, although Columbia and RCA are American companies, the UK divisions may not listen to their tracks and possibly can't help them even if they do.

I was going under the uninformed assumption that these divisions are part of a cooperative whole and might share recommendations between themselves (even between different regions of the world) but I'm suspecting that that might not be the case. I'd surely like it if the Sony/BMG UK division would understand that they should openly clarify this aspect of things so that non-UK artists don't continue to be drawn in because they know Sony/BMG is a large multinational entity so they aren't that concerned that this is hosted from within the UK. Although I'm making friends with other artists within the A & R group and have seen some real talent here, from the standpoint of my own career it's a waste of time for me to be here if there is no real A & R exposure available here for people outside the UK.

Hey, everyone. I'm writing this post specifically to add to the A & R group because, as a relatively new arrival, I find it at least a little unnerving that the RCA Demos and Columbia Demos blog pages haven't been updated for some time now. It seems they were plugging along with fairly regular entries during 2007 and I (and I'm sure many others) are left wondering if their interest has somehow dried up.

I feel I'm speaking for quite a few active members of the group when I say that it would be reassuring to see a little word or two over there to let us know we aren't forgotten (and some more entries showcasing some of their favorite contributers, as they have done in the past, would offer some encouragement to the rest of us to the effect that some artists are getting the attention of the A & R staff).

If anyone feels inspired to comment or would like to add any suggestions, I'd like to encourage you to do so here. Perhaps RCA and Columbia will post at least a quick word to assure us of their continued participation if enough people add comments asking them for an update.

Thanks so much,
Dave

Hello everyone. I've started my Vox page in order to post demo music that hopefully will be heard by the A&R folks from RCA and Columbia records, as I am seeking to work with a well established label in producing and releasing the music I've been working to compose over the past few years.

I'd like to use these first blog posts to present as clear a picture as I can of who I am as an artist and what things constitute my passion, vision, and goals in the musical and visual arts.

My primary environment for music composition at present is a small home studio in my house in Oregon and my main tools are MIDI keyboard, a variety of hardware and software synths and sample libraries, and a PC with audio/sequencing software. I use these tools to work out the writing and arranging primarily in the dance instrumental and piano instrumental genres.

In the dance genre I feel my approach stands out and is in some ways different from the mainstream of modern dance music. The reason for this is simply stated: my vision for new dance music combines two elements, those being the dance (disco) song and the synth driven dance instrumental (heretofore exemplified by the trance, house, etc. genres).

My dance tunes are melodic and songlike, with a structure that moves through from beginning to end like a song, telling a "story" in musical phrasing, but they are instrumental and thus deviate from the main disco formula of having a vocal lead. However, they differ strongly from modern instrumental dance because they are not repetitive and groove driven. In my pieces, the synthesizer "sings" and leads the arrangement, rather than meshing with the rhythm section. That's not to say that the rhythm foundation is weak, though, as I primarily rely on muscular drum tracks to pull the song forward with solid momentum.

Another feature that stands out in my dance arrangements is a fat, solid wall of synthesizers, with  dense chord or arp tracks and powerful, almost vocal, lead sounds. There is something akin to a synth orchestra within my mixes that, along with the powerful drums, comprises a potent, compressed, "wall of sound" that is one of the hallmarks of my dance style and one which I have been drawn to instinctively, as I believe this approach has the potential power to pull listeners in and to compel them to become immersed in the melodic and rhythmic drive of the music.

One caveat is that I am a composer/arranger well before being a producer/mixer and this introduces one of the key elements in my desire to work with a label: I wish to tap accomplished production talent to collaborate with in making this vision of new dance music a successful artistic and commercial reality. I have to be up front and say that my mixes need work, since the goal inherent in them is a technical challenge, but the key ingredients of the overall idea are present and, I hope to think, ready to be refined and perfected as I interact with skilled producers and engineers in the studio.

So my hope in posting music in the coming weeks here at the Vox site is that A&R representatives from RCA and/or Columbia will hear and relate to the new potential that I feel my dance music represents. I know I'm asking people within the industry to sense the potential for a new way forward, which may present challenges, but I feel so strongly that a commercial success can be realized after work is done with talented production and studio professionals, that I feel confident in asking the major label A&R community to seriously consider this music as a viable professional project with benefits the label can realistically hope to reap from the investment of resources.

I'm continuing to build up this page with more blog posts further clarifying my artistic vision, and, of course, with music, so I hope everyone will be willing to come back and check up on what I'm doing.

Thanks very much for your time and consideration,
David Perry