Training Ariana Grande & Timothée Chalamet: Inside the World of Hollywood's Top Vocal Coach | Billboard On The Record - video Dailymotion

Billboard

From coaching superstars like Ariana Grande, Shawn Mendes and ROSÉ to training actors like Timothée Chalamet, Angelina Jolie and Austin Butler, Eric Vetro has become one of the most in-demand vocal coaches in the entertainment industry. Vetro sits down on this week’s episode of Billboard On The Record for a look inside his process of keeping today’s biggest stars performance-ready and helping actors transform into music legends for film. He breaks down what makes a great singer, how artists can protect their voices throughout their careers and how his coaching sessions help shape some of the industry's most memorable performances. Love what you hear? Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe so you never miss an episode of Billboard On The Record. Love what you hear? Follow Billboard On The Record on Instagram, TikTok, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Youtube @billboard so you never miss an episode.  Billboard On The Record is a podcast in partnership with SickBird Productions.

Transcript

00:00:00Can everyone sing if trained properly?

00:00:03Oh, absolutely not!

00:00:05No, no, they can't.

00:00:07I thought it would be so interesting to talk to you about being a vocal coach to so many of

00:00:11the highest performing singers in the game right now.

00:00:14You started working with Ariana when she was, what?

00:00:16About 13.

00:00:1713.

00:00:18Yeah, really young.

00:00:19So what was your first impression of her?

00:00:21Oh, superstar.

00:00:21People don't realize how much stress and strain there is on the human voice for these people.

00:00:27Most audience members just think, oh, they sing at night on stage for an hour and a half or two

00:00:32hours.

00:00:32They don't realize they do camera blocking, do a sound check, get in hair and makeup, then do the show,

00:00:38then maybe a pop-up meet and greet, then an interview.

00:00:40There's so much involved.

00:00:42So they're using their voice the entire day.

00:00:44I've heard before that taking a shot of whiskey before you go on stage helps loosen up your vocal cords.

00:00:49Don't do it if you're listening.

00:00:50Don't listen to her.

00:00:51Ignore this lady.

00:00:52She's crazy.

00:00:56You might not know Eric Vitro, but you hear his work all the time.

00:01:01On the radio, on the Broadway stage, in films, and on tour.

00:01:06Eric is perhaps the music industry's most in-demand vocal coach, perfecting the voices of top artists like Ariana Grande,

00:01:13Bette Midler, Rosalia, Rosé, Omar Apollo, Liam Michelle, Addison Rae, Camila Cabello, Shawn Mendes, Katy Perry, and many, many more.

00:01:23He's also the guy that every actor seems to call when they get cast in a musical biopic.

00:01:28So this week on the show, we're going to talk with the one and only Eric Vitro about this essential

00:01:33but little explored role in the music industry.

00:01:36Eric Vitro, welcome to On the Record.

00:01:38Thank you so much.

00:01:39I'm so happy to be here.

00:01:40I'm so glad that you're here because I actually first heard about you when I was doing this cover story

00:01:46on Addison Rae, who's one of your clients.

00:01:49She talked about you in our cover story interview.

00:01:52She was talking about basically in your house somewhere, there's a quote, this Miles Davis quote that we both love.

00:01:59And it takes a while to sound like yourself.

00:02:01Maybe I'm paraphrasing that a little bit.

00:02:03It's man, sometimes it takes a long time to sound like yourself.

00:02:07There you go.

00:02:07It's one of my favorite, favorite quotes.

00:02:09I mean, I think there's been different ways that he's been quoted on it, but it's one of my favorites.

00:02:14I think it's the best.

00:02:15And I think it's so true about being a vocalist.

00:02:18So true.

00:02:19So true about anything really in life.

00:02:21Yeah.

00:02:21Right.

00:02:21Musician, anything, but especially a singer.

00:02:23It does take a long time.

00:02:24Yeah.

00:02:25Well, on the show, we try to cover a different area of the music industry with every show.

00:02:29And I thought it would be so interesting to talk to you about being a vocal coach to so many

00:02:33of the highest performing singers in the game right now.

00:02:37Ariana Grande, one of my favorites, Rosalia, who's stationed right behind us.

00:02:42A million others.

00:02:44Addison, you know.

00:02:45So I'm super happy that you're here.

00:02:47And I'm wondering if you could start off with a very basic question.

00:02:51I'm sure you've been asked this one before.

00:02:53Okay.

00:02:53But can everyone sing if trained properly?

00:02:58Oh, absolutely not.

00:03:00Oh, no.

00:03:01Okay.

00:03:02Explain.

00:03:03I get that question a lot.

00:03:04And I know that everyone probably wants to hear yes, yes.

00:03:08But it's just not the way it is.

00:03:09I mean, I always say to everyone, I can make you sound better.

00:03:13I can't guarantee you're going to be the greatest singer ever or that you're even going to sound amazing.

00:03:17But I can guarantee you'll get better.

00:03:20But, you know, you either have the potential in your vocal cords or you don't.

00:03:23But it's not just vocal cords.

00:03:25It's your musicality.

00:03:26It's your ear.

00:03:26It's your sense of pitch.

00:03:28It's what you do.

00:03:29Can you convey emotions in the music?

00:03:32So, but it really comes down basically to the vocal cords and the sense of pitch.

00:03:37And if you don't have those things, I'm sorry.

00:03:39You know what?

00:03:40It's just not going to happen.

00:03:41So, I'm sorry to say that because I know you probably want to hear yes.

00:03:45Well, it's like, did you ever watch Ratatouille where they have this?

00:03:49No.

00:03:49There's this.

00:03:49Okay.

00:03:49Well, like part of the premise, I can't believe I'm talking about Ratatouille on this show.

00:03:52But great Pixar movie.

00:03:54Now, of course, I'm going to have to watch it.

00:03:55Yeah, but like the whole premise of it lies on this famous chef in Paris who says that anyone can

00:04:02cook.

00:04:03And so he sells a bunch of cookbooks that way.

00:04:05And that might be true for cooking.

00:04:07Maybe true for cooking.

00:04:08It is not true for singing.

00:04:09Not true for singing.

00:04:10Yeah.

00:04:11Well, I imagine with a lot of your clients, I mean, caring for their voice, like everything is riding on

00:04:17their voice.

00:04:18It's one of the most stressful and important parts of their career.

00:04:23So, I'm wondering, you know, how do you deal with stress when you have these clients that are going to

00:04:30on a world tour?

00:04:31They're going to sing the national anthem in front of the entire world.

00:04:34These are really high stakes situations.

00:04:36So, how do you kind of help them and coach them through those moments?

00:04:40Oh, gosh, there's so many different things, but a lot of it is all the prep leading up to it.

00:04:45Because my feeling is if you feel prepared, if you feel good, if you feel confident, then all of the

00:04:51other things will sort of dissipate or your confidence will kind of override all of those things.

00:04:57So, the preparation is really important so that people really know what they want to achieve, how they're going to

00:05:03achieve it, how we're going to get there with the vocal exercises that will warm them up correctly for that

00:05:08performance.

00:05:09Really getting the song in their body, in their bones, of course, in their vocal cords.

00:05:14And then there's a lot of deep breathing exercises I like to give to people that can kind of settle

00:05:19them, relax them, all of that.

00:05:22And so, it's a combination of things, really.

00:05:24And then also having some vocal products that can be helpful to them.

00:05:28And really, it's a mind game more than anything.

00:05:31That's interesting.

00:05:32Yeah.

00:05:33I have people visualize their performances a lot.

00:05:35I think that that's a really big part of it, is visualizing yourself on stage.

00:05:40There are several different ways of doing it, one of which is to leave your body, go out into the

00:05:45audience, and just watch yourself on stage.

00:05:47See yourself performing, go through the entire performance, and then you can start making decisions.

00:05:53Oh, this needs to be worked out, or, oh, I don't like the way I came out.

00:05:56I looked a little timid.

00:05:57Because the way you walk out affects an audience, right?

00:06:00They're going to make an instant judgment.

00:06:02Is this person confident?

00:06:03Are they prepared?

00:06:04Are they excited to be here?

00:06:06Are they happy to be here?

00:06:07All of that.

00:06:07Which colors their viewing of the performance.

00:06:10And so, I have them visualize the performance a lot.

00:06:14That's interesting.

00:06:15I'm wondering if you could break down what you think defines a good voice.

00:06:20I mean, pitch, obviously, is probably the first thing that most people can recognize with their ears.

00:06:25But there's a lot of other things that go into what makes a good voice.

00:06:29Well, I think the tone, the beauty of tone.

00:06:31Some people just have a more beautiful tone than others.

00:06:35And you can always enhance that and work towards that.

00:06:37But a lot of that is what you're born with.

00:06:40I think that also, the way you use your voice, are you able to find ways of really sounding authentic

00:06:49to what the song should sound like?

00:06:51For example, you know, a highly trained opera singer, which you go, oh, they probably can sing anything.

00:06:56Well, no.

00:06:57They probably would sound ridiculous on a pop song.

00:06:59Unless they had the ability to really transform their voice in that moment to sounding like a pop singer.

00:07:06So, you have to have that.

00:07:07You have to have a certain musicality.

00:07:09You have to have a certain rhythm, too.

00:07:11If you're off rhythm, the audiences feel that.

00:07:13You know, a lot of times in recording sessions, the vocal producers or the engineers are all about getting everything,

00:07:20so-called, the quote, is in the pocket.

00:07:22So that it's not, you know, and yes, they can slide it, they can fix things, but they want it

00:07:27to happen naturally in the moment of the recording.

00:07:30Because that's what the audience is going to feel.

00:07:32So, it's your sense of rhythm.

00:07:33It's your sense of musicality.

00:07:35It's the tone quality.

00:07:36And, of course, then, the range.

00:07:38How high can you sing?

00:07:39How low can you sing?

00:07:40Can you sing without sounding like you're strainy?

00:07:43All of those things.

00:07:44Yeah.

00:07:44Well, I like what you mentioned about, you know, just because you can sing opera doesn't mean you can walk

00:07:50in and sing a pop song.

00:07:51No.

00:07:51And I do think a lot of people who might not know much about The Voice might think that pop

00:07:55music is not difficult in comparison.

00:07:58Can many vocalists switch between genres like that, between classical pop, Broadway, you know, jazz as well?

00:08:06I don't think a lot of people can do it easily.

00:08:09That's for sure.

00:08:10I think that some people can.

00:08:12Some people have such great vocal cords.

00:08:14You mentioned Rosalia, of course, Ariana Grande.

00:08:17You know, those girls can do it because their vocal cords are basically capable of doing anything.

00:08:23And they have very, very wide ranges.

00:08:25So they can sing very high.

00:08:26They can sing very low.

00:08:27And they have a really great mastery over their own voice.

00:08:30So for people like that, yes, they can switch in between.

00:08:34But most people can't.

00:08:35You know, most of the pop singers around could not turn around and do a Broadway show or do certainly

00:08:42do an opera easily or make an operatic recording.

00:08:46You know, even Ariana with the great voices she had, she worked quite diligently to sound like the voice that

00:08:53she wanted Glinda to have, you know, authentically sound like a legit Broadway soprano voice.

00:08:59She worked very hard on that, you know, even though she already could imitate anybody under the sun.

00:09:04Yeah.

00:09:04So I would say to answer your question is very few people can, I think, really switch between them easily.

00:09:11Yeah.

00:09:11Well, you started working with Ariana when she was, what?

00:09:14About 13.

00:09:1513.

00:09:16Yeah.

00:09:16Really young.

00:09:17So what was your first impression of her?

00:09:19Oh, superstar.

00:09:20Just knew it.

00:09:21Oh, immediately.

00:09:22Immediately.

00:09:23The voice, the look, the personality, the charisma, it was all there.

00:09:27Wow.

00:09:28It was just all there.

00:09:29You know, it's anything you see of her now really was there.

00:09:32Obviously, it's enhanced and gotten better and better and better.

00:09:35But she's always had quite a gift.

00:09:38How did you help her prepare for Glinda?

00:09:41Because you mentioned that she worked really hard on that.

00:09:43So what was kind of that timeline and process like to shift her over?

00:09:46We did a lot of vocal exercises that used her higher voice.

00:09:49She already had all those high, great notes, the whistle register notes.

00:09:53But she wanted to make them sound much fuller, much more operatic or what they call in the Broadway world,

00:09:59the Broadway legit soprano voice, which is a stronger version of what you might think of as a whistle tone

00:10:06or a falsetto sound.

00:10:08She wanted that to be strong because, you know, Glinda enters in the bubble, but singing with all those big

00:10:14high notes and she wanted them to sound authentic, not like she was imitating or creating it just for the

00:10:19movie.

00:10:20She wanted it to sound like that was her.

00:10:22That's how she was supposed to be singing.

00:10:24And so we worked for months on that, doing a lot of exercises that would get her there and also

00:10:29just going through the song and figuring out, do you have to open your mouth a little bit more or

00:10:34a little bit less?

00:10:34What about the vowel, you know, the pronunciations of the vowels and the consonants, not letting the consonants get in

00:10:40the way?

00:10:41Sometimes people will close off on a consonant and it tightens up their voice or the sound of their voice

00:10:46and constricts it.

00:10:48So a lot of times you have to work with somebody on loosening up the consonants, you know.

00:10:53So it was a lot of work on that, just how it was going to sound its very best.

00:10:58And for her to be able to do it, you know, 50 times in a row if they required that.

00:11:02She didn't know if they would.

00:11:03Nobody would know.

00:11:04Nobody knows until they get on a set, really, how many takes you're going to do.

00:11:07Yeah.

00:11:08But I really wanted her to be prepared to do and she wanted to be as prepared as she could

00:11:13be to do as much as they wanted at any time of day, middle of the night or early morning.

00:11:18Man, that's crazy.

00:11:19They did live vocals, right?

00:11:21Yeah.

00:11:21And I remember she said that if they want me to do it at six in the morning, I want

00:11:24to be able to do it.

00:11:25Or if they want me to do it, you know, at midnight, I want to be able to do it.

00:11:28Man, such a professional.

00:11:30Yeah.

00:11:30Oh, the ultimate.

00:11:32Okay.

00:11:32I like what you mentioned in there about imitation.

00:11:35You didn't want her voice to end up sounding like an imitation or she didn't rather.

00:11:39She didn't.

00:11:39I didn't either.

00:11:40Of course, I didn't.

00:11:41I never do.

00:11:41I've worked on a lot of biopics.

00:11:43You know, Elvis, the Bruce Springsteen, the Bob Dylan, all of those.

00:11:46I've worked on all of them and I never want anyone to sound like an imitation.

00:11:50You know, it's always the goal is getting the essence of that performer.

00:11:54What makes them special?

00:11:55What makes their voice unique?

00:11:57What makes it identifiable?

00:11:59So I do.

00:11:59But yes, she was very, very determined not to sound like an imitation of a Glinda, but

00:12:06to have her own Glinda.

00:12:07Yeah.

00:12:08I feel like, you know, when you're entering a character or even a real life person in a

00:12:12biopic setting, you don't want to just use that one original as the only guiding light

00:12:19because there has to be some level of differentiation.

00:12:21Yeah.

00:12:21Well, a lot of times what I do is I'll say, you know, we'll go back and who were the

00:12:25influences

00:12:26of this person?

00:12:27So like with Austin, we listened to a lot of people that Elvis, Austin Butler, we listened

00:12:32to a lot of people that Elvis liked and he really enjoyed listening to.

00:12:36Or the same thing with Timothee Chalamet, who was Bob Dylan influenced by?

00:12:40Who did he listen to?

00:12:41So if you go back and do that, then you're really going through it organically, getting

00:12:46to the point of this is why they sound how they do.

00:12:51And so then even if it's not an identical, you don't want it to be, you know, it's like

00:12:56they could hire an Elvis impersonator and the impersonator may sound like Elvis, but it's

00:13:02not going to capture the magic.

00:13:04That's what you want to do.

00:13:05You want to capture the magic of that person.

00:13:07Yeah.

00:13:07Well, when you're working on biopics, what is the timeline for that?

00:13:12Is it a year out?

00:13:13I mean, because film sets, you do usually know a schedule.

00:13:17They're all different.

00:13:18They're all different.

00:13:19You know, with Angelina Jolie for the movie Maria, where she played Maria Callas, that

00:13:25was seven and a half months.

00:13:26That was great.

00:13:27With Timothee Chalamet, I had already worked with Wonka on him, with him, the movie Wonka,

00:13:32which was a movie musical.

00:13:33So we already knew each other.

00:13:35So then we already had a shorthand between us.

00:13:38And that was several months.

00:13:39I also worked with Monica Barbaro, who played Joan Baez.

00:13:42Oh, she was great.

00:13:44Yeah.

00:13:45She'd never sung before, never played the guitar before.

00:13:47Yeah.

00:13:47Really?

00:13:47It was pretty astonishing.

00:13:49Yeah.

00:13:49And I don't remember how long it was.

00:13:51I know Jeremy Allen White, when we worked on the Bruce Springsteen movie, I think he

00:13:57said in an interview it was six months.

00:13:59And I was kind of surprised hearing that.

00:14:01I don't remember it being six months, but I enjoyed it so much that it went by very quickly

00:14:05because he was so great to work with.

00:14:07And then this year I worked, I just finished working on a movie with Glenn Powell and Madeline

00:14:11Klein, where they both play singers.

00:14:13He plays a country singer.

00:14:14She plays a pop star.

00:14:16And people are going to be stunned at how great they sound.

00:14:19They came so fat.

00:14:20We only had a few months.

00:14:21I only had a few months with both of them, Glenn and with Madeline, and they both sound

00:14:27great.

00:14:27And I think they're going to do a lot of promotion for the movie singing live because

00:14:31they can.

00:14:32Wow.

00:14:32Yeah.

00:14:33And they filmed a lot live.

00:14:34Yeah.

00:14:34That's so cool.

00:14:35It was astonishing how fast it all happened.

00:14:38Well, I'm wondering, do you find that people who are primarily actors who, do they approach

00:14:42singing differently than someone who considers themselves to be a recording artist?

00:14:46Yes.

00:14:47But, you know, a lot of it is because they haven't done it before.

00:14:50And so they don't really have a history or a background or a lot of experience with singing.

00:14:56So yes, they would be considered much different.

00:14:59So that's why whenever I work with anybody, given the amount of time I have, even if it's,

00:15:04let's say we have one month, I'll spend the first week just working with them on their

00:15:07voice, helping them to understand their voice, how to best use it, how to support their voice,

00:15:12how to train it, all of that, just so they have an understanding of their own voice.

00:15:16And then we start trying to work on the voice of whoever they're going to portray.

00:15:21Because I think that's really important.

00:15:22Now, if you're working with someone who's sung all their life, then you don't have to do

00:15:26that, then you get right into what are we trying to achieve with the person they're

00:15:31going to portray on screen?

00:15:32Yeah.

00:15:32Do you typically take on clients that have a specific thing that they're working towards?

00:15:36Or do you just kind of have, okay, this person's just going to be on my Rolodex.

00:15:40I'm going to do a weekly...

00:15:41It's all over the map.

00:15:42It's all over the map.

00:15:43I mean, with a lot of the younger ones, like Ariana, Sabrina, Rosalia, Shawn Mendes, Camila

00:15:49Cabello, all of these young kids that I started with, it was just working on their voices.

00:15:54A big part of it, trying to help them learn how to maintain their voice.

00:15:58Because people don't realize how much stress and strain there is on the human voice for

00:16:04these people.

00:16:05You know, I think most audience members just think, oh, they sing at night, either on stage

00:16:10for an hour and a half or two hours, some more, or, you know, they do a couple songs on

00:16:15an evening talk show.

00:16:16They don't realize they might have been up at five to do Good Morning America or one of

00:16:20those shows, you know, and have to get there really early, get there, you know, five, 5.30,

00:16:25six in the morning, do camera blocking, do a sound check, get in hair and makeup, then

00:16:29do the show, then maybe a pop-up meet and greet, then an interview, then sound check at the

00:16:34venue, then getting ready for the show, all of that.

00:16:37There is so much involved.

00:16:39So they're using their voice the entire day, you know, until very late.

00:16:43So it's a lot about, and when you're very young like that, it's hard because you don't,

00:16:48you're not born, you might be born with the ability to sound good and sing well, but you're

00:16:53not born with the ability or the knowledge or the technique of how to maintain your voice

00:16:57when you're doing all of that.

00:16:58Yeah.

00:16:59Well, that actually goes to another question I wanted to ask you about.

00:17:02So you obviously worked with Timothee Chalamet on Bob Dylan.

00:17:06And with Bob Dylan, I think he's kind of a perfect example of an artist who's very known

00:17:10for having such a distinctive voice, but, you know, he's much older now and his voice

00:17:14is completely different now than it was when he was 25.

00:17:18I want to understand more about aging with the voice.

00:17:22Is it common to have a voice evolve that much?

00:17:24I know that Bob Dylan definitely, you know, smoked some cigarettes in his day and drank a

00:17:28little whiskey.

00:17:29So yeah, I'm just curious, like how the aging process impacts the voice typically.

00:17:33Well, the aging impact obviously affects us in every possible way, you know, our lung

00:17:40capacity, everything, our stamina, our memory, everything.

00:17:44However, how you take care of yourself is what makes the real difference.

00:17:48So one would be all those things you just mentioned, smoking, drinking, any kind of drug

00:17:52abuse, all of that is going to affect your body and therefore affect your voice.

00:17:57But also some people train better than others.

00:18:00Some warm up for every show, some don't, you know.

00:18:03And that can really cause a lot of strain and deterioration on the voice.

00:18:07Because if you're going out there cold and then singing, you know, really strongly and

00:18:11not singing for a few days and then hit it again.

00:18:13Or if you take a month or two off and then go and do that without warming up, that can

00:18:18really start affecting your voice.

00:18:19And so a lot of times when I hear someone, I'll know right away if they've been maintaining

00:18:24their voice by doing vocal warmups, following the acid reflux diet.

00:18:28You know, what you eat and what you drink really affects your voice, really affects your vocal

00:18:32cords.

00:18:32So I always say that's a really important part of it too.

00:18:35And you can hear that.

00:18:36Some people's raspy voice comes from what they've been eating and drinking, you know.

00:18:40Oh gosh.

00:18:40Because they have acid reflux.

00:18:41Imagine getting known for having a voice that essentially you're like killing your voice.

00:18:45Yeah.

00:18:45Doing the thing that you're known for.

00:18:47I imagine that actually happens more often than we think.

00:18:49Maybe someone belts in a certain way and that's what they're known for.

00:18:53But really, they're kind of straining their voice every single time they have to go on

00:18:56stage.

00:18:56Absolutely.

00:18:57And then there's other people that that's just how they sound.

00:19:01That's their tone.

00:19:01That's how they sing and they're fine, you know.

00:19:03But the better you take care of yourself, the better you take care of your voice, the

00:19:08longer it's going to last and the better it will sound.

00:19:10Yeah.

00:19:11Okay.

00:19:11So, I mean, I've heard before that, you know, taking a shot of whiskey or taking a shot of

00:19:17tequila before you go on stage helps loosen up your vocal cords.

00:19:20Don't do it if you're listening.

00:19:20Don't listen to her.

00:19:22Ignore this lady.

00:19:23She's crazy.

00:19:24Okay.

00:19:25So, that's a myth.

00:19:26It sounds like.

00:19:27Well, you know, yeah, in a way it is a myth because, yes, I know if you talk to someone

00:19:33who does that, they say it loosens me up, it relaxes me.

00:19:36The problem with it is, well, first of all, alcohol in general can dry out your vocal cords.

00:19:40It can cause acid reflux.

00:19:42There's a lot of things.

00:19:44Yes, it does relax you, but it might relax you to the point where you're not supporting

00:19:47as much now because your body's kind of too relaxed.

00:19:51But sadly, often those habits lead to more and more because that one shot doesn't do

00:19:57the trick anymore.

00:19:58You know, after a few months, you might need a shot and a half or maybe two shots and then

00:20:02three shots.

00:20:02And that's the problem.

00:20:04And that's a syndrome that we've all watched and seen or read about or watched biopics about

00:20:09where it just gets out of hand.

00:20:12Yeah.

00:20:13So, I don't recommend that.

00:20:14I say, you know, deep breathing techniques, meditating, all of the healthy things that you

00:20:19can do is so much better than something like that.

00:20:23One thing that I find really interesting about the voice is that it's so intrinsic to who

00:20:27we are.

00:20:27It is part of our body.

00:20:28Our body is the instrument when we're talking about the voice.

00:20:31But at the same time, there are trends with voices.

00:20:34There are certain ways of singing that are popular in one era versus another.

00:20:39I'm wondering if you can kind of explain some of the trends that you've kind of seen

00:20:42cycle through and where you think the trend is today.

00:20:46Is there a certain way that pop stars are singing that, you know, feels very of this moment

00:20:50to you?

00:20:51It's had so many changes as life in general.

00:20:54It just keeps evolving and changing.

00:20:56You know, I mean, I remember a time when every singer was putting in as many riffs as they

00:21:00possibly could.

00:21:01Oh, yeah.

00:21:02And then there was a time when they weren't.

00:21:04There was a lot of singers.

00:21:05As a matter of fact, there was an article I read years ago.

00:21:07I think it was called The Death of the Melisma Singing.

00:21:10You know, it was over, which wasn't really true.

00:21:12But yes, there were a lot of singers not singing with as many riffs.

00:21:16And then it came back and a lot of singers were again.

00:21:18I think we're living in, I believe, a kind of a golden age of vocal singers or singing

00:21:27in a way because almost everything now, if it's done well, is not only accepted but applauded.

00:21:34You know, so for example, Rosalia's brilliant album, Lux, I don't know if just a few years

00:21:40ago that would have been as embraced or appreciated as much as it is now.

00:21:45I don't know if people would have really appreciated the work that went into it, the skill for her

00:21:51to be able to sing, all those different styles of music, classical, very operatic in some

00:21:56points, the orchestrations, those beautiful orchestrated songs.

00:22:00I don't know if that would have been as appreciated.

00:22:02But now it was totally embraced.

00:22:04But so is every other kind of singing there is, you know.

00:22:06So I feel like we're in a really great period right now because if you decide you want to

00:22:13sing jazz or if you want to sing blues or hip hop or whatever it is, you can do it.

00:22:18If you do it well, there's going to be an audience for it, which it wasn't always like that.

00:22:22So I think we're in a really great place right now, which I'm thrilled to be a part of it.

00:22:27Yeah.

00:22:27Well, Lux is one of my favorite albums of last year.

00:22:30It's just gorgeous.

00:22:31I think, didn't you say there was like 13 languages or something crazy like that?

00:22:35Yeah, yeah.

00:22:36A ton of different languages.

00:22:37How does one prepare an artist to sing through all of these different languages, especially

00:22:42when those are really not, you know, maybe languages she's ever tried to sing in before?

00:22:46Right.

00:22:47Well, she was already, I think, pretty skillful at doing different languages.

00:22:52And, you know, she will always make jokes about her English not being perfect, but it's great.

00:22:57You can understand everything she's saying.

00:22:58And I've always never even thought twice about it.

00:23:02She has a really, really great ear.

00:23:05She has a really good ear for language.

00:23:06She has a good ear, obviously, for pitch and for music, for tone, all of that.

00:23:10So I think when you have that gift, then doing 13 different languages, it's not easy, for sure.

00:23:18Not easy.

00:23:19And she worked really hard on it, but she did have an aptitude to do it.

00:23:23And she also is one of the hardest working people I've ever known in my life.

00:23:27And so she's one of those people, when she decides she's going to do something, she's

00:23:31going to make it happen.

00:23:32Yeah.

00:23:32She's just going to do it.

00:23:33Yeah.

00:23:34I just, I imagine there are certain languages, like maybe German or something that are really

00:23:37consonant heavy, where you have to maybe adjust to that kind of style.

00:23:42Well, we worked so hard.

00:23:43I've worked with her for quite a long time.

00:23:46And there were times when we would go every day for months, you know, I would FaceTime her

00:23:50wherever she was in the world, you know, different countries, different places.

00:23:54And we worked a lot on vocal placement, healthy vocal placement, so that even if she was going

00:24:00to sing a language that might be considered a little bit more guttural, she still understood

00:24:05where she had to place her voice to keep it healthy and to sound its best.

00:24:09So if you understand that and have that technique, then you can try a lot of different things and

00:24:15still sound great and not worry about hurting yourself.

00:24:19You mentioned that you have FaceTimed with her to do some of these vocal lessons.

00:24:23I imagine you have clients that are just all over the world.

00:24:26Maybe it's for a world tour or maybe they just live in a different country.

00:24:30World tours for years, but Ariana was all over the map.

00:24:33Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, all of them, Rosalia.

00:24:36And at times living in different cities, you know, I have four or five people right now I

00:24:40work with in London who are regular students.

00:24:43I just see them on FaceTime.

00:24:44One, I've worked with for probably about seven years and we've only seen each other three

00:24:50times in person.

00:24:52Really?

00:24:52Yeah.

00:24:53Wow.

00:24:53I love it in person.

00:24:54I prefer it, of course, but, you know, sometimes that's just the way it is.

00:24:59Is it hard to do a vocal lesson over Zoom when, you know, you can't see their full body

00:25:04and like the way that they're holding themselves?

00:25:05Well, yes, you can.

00:25:07We're constantly adjusting the camera.

00:25:09I'm always saying, back up, tilt it upwards, do this, do that.

00:25:12I'm constantly having to move it around.

00:25:14But I've been doing it for so many years.

00:25:16I started with Skype, you know, that was how many years ago?

00:25:1912, 14 years ago.

00:25:20And I'm sure it was laggy back then.

00:25:22Oh, it was not good.

00:25:23But in those days, I was able to know the person's voice enough to know what they needed

00:25:29to hear and what they needed to do.

00:25:31Now the sound is so good.

00:25:33You really can hear them.

00:25:34And especially, you know, I don't want to go that the one person I was talking about

00:25:38three times in all those years.

00:25:39That's not optimal.

00:25:41I love it when I hear someone in person.

00:25:42But the sound has gotten so good.

00:25:45It really has.

00:25:45And they also, we don't just use the FaceTime.

00:25:49They'll send me voice memos.

00:25:50They'll send me recordings.

00:25:51I'll hear them in the recording studio.

00:25:53I'll make notes.

00:25:54Then I'll tell them.

00:25:54Then they'll do it again.

00:25:55They'll send me another voice memo.

00:25:57There's all sorts of ways of doing it.

00:25:59And I've done it for so many years now that I know how to do it.

00:26:02That's why when people during the pandemic were like, oh, I don't know how to do this.

00:26:06Oh, Zoom is so hard.

00:26:07I was like, what are you talking about?

00:26:08I've been doing a form of this for the last 10 years.

00:26:11There's nothing difficult about it.

00:26:12You make it work.

00:26:13Well, I imagine that means that your day starts really early and it's really late.

00:26:18It can.

00:26:19Yeah, it can.

00:26:20Because I might be doing a lesson to someone in Korea.

00:26:23One of my students lives there in Korea.

00:26:25So I might do that at 11 p.m. at night or midnight.

00:26:29And then also when you're starting with people in London, Paris, France, all different places,

00:26:36that could be really early in the morning.

00:26:38Or working on a movie set, doing it by FaceTime.

00:26:43Even if they need to warm up at 9 a.m. on the East Coast, that means that's 6 a

00:26:47.m. for me.

00:26:48So I have to be up by at least 5 a.m. to be awake and ready to go at

00:26:536 a.m.

00:26:54Oh, my gosh.

00:26:55When did you wake up this morning?

00:26:56This morning, I didn't have to wake up that early.

00:26:58So it was great.

00:26:59I slept until 8 and it was fantastic.

00:27:01Oh, my gosh.

00:27:02If 8's your late morning.

00:27:03No, very late.

00:27:04We need to get you a vacation.

00:27:06That was great.

00:27:06I imagine that at this point, your schedule is really full.

00:27:10So how do you decide what projects to take on and which to pass on?

00:27:15That's a hard question.

00:27:16It's a juggling act.

00:27:18It's a constant, constant juggling act.

00:27:20But I try to work with people who I really think I can make a difference with.

00:27:24I try to work with people that I'm inspired by, often not just inspired by their talent, but by their

00:27:31work ethic.

00:27:31And I can tell right away that people who have a really strong work ethic, and I'm really drawn to

00:27:36those people.

00:27:36And I get very excited by them.

00:27:38It inspires me to work harder.

00:27:40So that's part of it.

00:27:42And, you know, I mean, there's certain artists that I think I might not be the perfect person for them.

00:27:48So let me recommend somebody else that I think might be better.

00:27:51So it's just on an individual basis.

00:27:55I don't have one, you know, a list of, you know, pluses and minuses or anything.

00:28:00I just feel it at the moment, what I think.

00:28:02One thing that I wanted to ask you about is the National Anthem.

00:28:07Do you work with Charlie Puth?

00:28:09I do work with Charlie Puth.

00:28:10You work with Charlie Puth.

00:28:10I have three years.

00:28:11And he did the National Anthem at the Super Bowl.

00:28:14Yes, he did.

00:28:14That is just about the biggest stage you can think of.

00:28:17He's described it as like his take on Whitney Houston's National Anthem.

00:28:22No Easy Feet.

00:28:23Well, he was very inspired by her.

00:28:24Yeah, very inspired by her.

00:28:26So I'm curious.

00:28:28People say that the National Anthem is one of the hardest songs that a singer can be singing.

00:28:33Do you feel that that's accurate?

00:28:35It is a difficult song.

00:28:37I mean, it does have a wide range.

00:28:40I think what makes it more difficult than people realize is a lot of the held notes.

00:28:44There's a lot of held notes.

00:28:46So for someone who's been on Broadway or grown up with that type of music, then holding long notes is

00:28:51all part of it.

00:28:52But most pop songs don't have a lot of long held notes or notes that might have a lot of

00:28:58vibrato in them.

00:29:00The Star Spangled Banner, the highest notes are held for quite a long time.

00:29:04And that partly makes it difficult.

00:29:06And then, of course, you know, a lot of times, depending on the venue and the skill of the engineer

00:29:12who's working with your in-ears, if you're hearing yourself through in-ears, that can be very challenging getting to

00:29:18be able to hear yourself correctly because there's a lot of echo and reverb and all of that.

00:29:23And then, like you said, a huge stage.

00:29:27And that can be daunting.

00:29:28Even for someone who's been performing their whole life, that is a huge crowd.

00:29:32And that crowd is not there for you.

00:29:35They're there for the game.

00:29:37So, you know, because people say, well, they've sung at stadiums before, you know, and arenas.

00:29:42And I go, yeah.

00:29:43But for audiences who are there for them, who came to watch them because they love them, not because they

00:29:48were there for a baseball game or a football game or whatever.

00:29:51And these aren't your crowd.

00:29:53So you're trying to win over that crowd or trying to please them or make them happy.

00:29:56Man, yeah, that echo would really get to me.

00:29:59I know they have in-ears and everything, but still, I feel like it could very easily go wrong.

00:30:04Yeah, and the slightest adjustment in the in-ear can throw you, too.

00:30:08I've had people come off and say, I couldn't hear myself.

00:30:10I could only hear the track or I could only hear the audience.

00:30:12I could hear people screaming.

00:30:13That was so many different things.

00:30:15Yeah, I think it might have been Alex Warren who performed at the Grammys this year.

00:30:19And he said that there was something going on with his in-ears.

00:30:21And there was, I think, maybe like a weird echo thing that was going on, and he really could not

00:30:25figure out where he was.

00:30:26And it's interesting.

00:30:27He pulled it off well.

00:30:29You couldn't even tell that anything had happened.

00:30:30It could happen at any time to somebody, you know?

00:30:32And the goal as a performer is just to keep going.

00:30:37Fake it till you make it.

00:30:38Yeah.

00:30:38Well, it's not even so much fake it.

00:30:40It's just never let them see you sweat.

00:30:42Do your thing.

00:30:43I mean, because, you know, I learned a great lesson years ago.

00:30:47I took a lot of classes at NYU and also some at Juilliard.

00:30:51And one of the professors would say to us all the time, the audience doesn't really care if your dog

00:30:58died that morning, your mom died, your brother, if somebody was in a car accident.

00:31:03All they care about is getting their money's worth.

00:31:05They have come to see a great show.

00:31:07Now, I don't believe that's necessarily true in today's world.

00:31:10I think the audiences are very, very attuned and emotionally attached to the artists they love.

00:31:16So I think they do care.

00:31:18But I do think that that was something to think about that, you know, if you're tired, you have a

00:31:23headache, got cramps, you got constipation, whatever it is, the audience doesn't want to know about that.

00:31:28They just want a great show and you have to do it.

00:31:31A performance of Ariana's that I really loved was when she was on The Ellen Show and singing Thank You

00:31:36Next.

00:31:36And she kind of slipped for a second.

00:31:38You could hear it in her voice.

00:31:39And afterwards, they said, oh, we can do it again.

00:31:42And she's like, no, it's okay.

00:31:44The rest of it was great.

00:31:45It's real.

00:31:46I was live.

00:31:46I'm singing live.

00:31:47You know, things happen.

00:31:48And it was all part of the performance.

00:31:50And I love that she did that because it made it so much more human.

00:31:54And I think that's why people react so strongly to her and love her so much.

00:31:58Yeah.

00:31:59I mean, well, there are so many tools now that you can use in the recording studio when

00:32:02you're recording a vocalist to make them sound better, like Melodyne and autotune.

00:32:12I'm wondering how you feel about those as a vocal coach.

00:32:14Can you hear it when you are listening to a recording?

00:32:17Can you feel like it feels like they shifted the pitch on this a little bit?

00:32:21Yeah.

00:32:21You know, my feeling has always been the degree of which they're using it.

00:32:26I mean, a touch here and there is different than changing an entire note.

00:32:31You know, like I think that when someone says, oh, we'll fix it in the mix, but the note was

00:32:37wrong.

00:32:37Oh, yeah, we can change that.

00:32:39Well, now you're really, well, you're really doing a little black magic here.

00:32:43You know, why not?

00:32:45Let's just do another take and get it right.

00:32:47You know, why should, so I think it's the degree and how much it's used.

00:32:51And then with some artists, it's all part of the, their vibe.

00:32:54It's all part of their sound.

00:32:56That's true.

00:32:57Some people use autotune as like part of what makes their voice characteristic.

00:33:00Your T-Pain, for example, Drake.

00:33:03I never sit there and really judge it.

00:33:05I, I, I just like listening to the artist and if I enjoy their music, the sound of their

00:33:10voice, the motion they're putting into it, the lyric, I'm fine with anything.

00:33:15Yeah.

00:33:15So, I mean, how, how do vocalists that you work with approach recording something differently

00:33:20from performing live?

00:33:22I don't think they do.

00:33:23I think it's, they just doing the very best they can at the highest level they possibly

00:33:27can in both situations.

00:33:29Got it.

00:33:30You know, I mean, there's a lot more prep that goes into singing live.

00:33:33Often people will write a song and record it that day.

00:33:36And sometimes that day is the magic take.

00:33:39You know, so many times I've been involved where they'll go back to redo it, to make it quote

00:33:44better.

00:33:45And then they can't recapture that, that spark that was there the first day.

00:33:50And they go, let's just use that original take.

00:33:53Yeah.

00:33:53Sometimes it's just the emotion in the moment.

00:33:55Yeah.

00:33:56It just makes something perfect.

00:33:57Exactly.

00:33:58One of my favorite things to do is to look at old songs and hear the vocals separated out.

00:34:04You know, it's pretty easy to separate stems these days.

00:34:07And so I've done that with vocalists like Michael Jackson or Freddie Mercury or whatever,

00:34:11and hearing the perfection that they were able to achieve with no tools like we have

00:34:17today.

00:34:18Right.

00:34:19And it's really remarkable.

00:34:20I mean, obviously, Whitney Houston, you know, the list goes on of people who can really

00:34:24nail it.

00:34:25I mean, do you think that the bar for a vocalist has lowered given the tools that we have today?

00:34:31Or is that not the right way of looking at it?

00:34:32I think that it depends on the vocalist.

00:34:34I think that there are singers who they work as hard as they possibly can to be as good

00:34:40as they possibly can.

00:34:41And they want to perform at the highest possible level that they can.

00:34:46So those people know it's not affecting them at all.

00:34:49And they're not leaning on that or relying on it.

00:34:51There's going to be other people who do.

00:34:53They just don't work as hard or they don't have that work ethic as a part of them.

00:34:58Or maybe they just don't care as much and they're lazy.

00:35:01I don't know, you know, but I think it all really depends on the person.

00:35:06Because when you go way back, I remember years ago, I knew someone who knew, what's

00:35:13his name?

00:35:13Well, they knew Judy Garland.

00:35:15And because of her, they knew Tony Bennett.

00:35:17And they said that Tony Bennett would just rehearse it over and over and over and over.

00:35:22So when he hit the stage, he knew that music cold.

00:35:25And, you know, you could see it in the very last performances that he ever did that, you

00:35:31know, he had Alzheimer's.

00:35:33I believe it was Alzheimer's.

00:35:34And sometimes didn't quite know where he was.

00:35:37But when the music started, when the intro started, he could sing it, you know.

00:35:41And that's why, because he had worked so hard.

00:35:43Or Frank Sinatra, you know, one of the greatest vocalists, that he knew that music so well, he

00:35:48was known to go in and do it in one take.

00:35:50He would go in and do it in one take, you know.

00:35:52And that's, that's very unusual.

00:35:55Most people do a lot of different takes, and then you comp it into one performance.

00:36:00But he just went in, did it, left.

00:36:02Just perfectly.

00:36:04But someone like that, you know, they worked hard to get there.

00:36:06You know, that they really rehearsed it.

00:36:09Yeah.

00:36:10Well, I want to learn more about how you got into this, because I imagine you have a wonderful

00:36:15voice as well.

00:36:16So how did you decide that you wanted to be a vocal coach?

00:36:19Oh, gosh.

00:36:20Well, you know, it's funny, because it started in grade school, believe it or not.

00:36:25Wow.

00:36:25Yeah.

00:36:26When I was in grade school in the third or fourth grade, I had a teacher who every morning

00:36:32we would sing some kind of patriotic song, like The Star Spangled Banner, America the

00:36:35Beautiful.

00:36:36And she did not have the gift of music.

00:36:39I mean, really, her piano playing was just, oh my God.

00:36:43It was very upsetting to me.

00:36:45Even as a child, I remember being so frustrated with her lack of musicality.

00:36:51And she would play wrong notes, and it drove me crazy.

00:36:54And I wasn't a bold or an aggressive child, but I stayed after school one day, and I said,

00:36:58you know, if you'd like, I could play those songs for you.

00:37:01And she said, you could?

00:37:02And I said, yeah.

00:37:03And I sat down, and I played through two or three of them, and I could tell she was really

00:37:08impressed and actually happy about it.

00:37:10So the next day, she made an announcement, from now on, Eric Vitro is going to play the

00:37:14songs in the morning.

00:37:15Probably no one else remembers that.

00:37:17I remember it as being an announcement heard around the world, that everybody knew that I

00:37:22was going to be doing this.

00:37:23Like, not just the people in my class and the little city I grew up in, upstate New York,

00:37:28but everybody, you know?

00:37:29Oh, yeah.

00:37:31And that just started me, started playing the piano.

00:37:33I would go to friends of mine, my neighbor's houses who had pianos.

00:37:36The kids would sing along.

00:37:38When I was in the fifth grade, the most popular boy in class, or at least who I thought was

00:37:42the most popular boy, I think he was, asked me to teach him a song.

00:37:46I brought him home.

00:37:46I taught him a song.

00:37:47It bonded us for life.

00:37:49We could not have been more different.

00:37:50He was very athletic.

00:37:51I was a theater nerd.

00:37:52And yet, we were bonded by that experience.

00:37:55And it just gave me the feeling of having something special.

00:37:58And then in high school, I played the piano for all the musicals for years while I was in

00:38:03high school.

00:38:03And so I was teaching kids songs, and I was taking voice lessons at the time, and then

00:38:09I would take whatever I had learned and pass it on to them, you know?

00:38:13So if I learned a breathing technique, I would teach them that.

00:38:16If I learned, you know, drop your jaw, whatever it was, relax your tongue, I would pass it on

00:38:20to them.

00:38:20And I remember distinctly one day that two of the teachers who were doing the high school

00:38:27musical, and our high school musicals were quite grand.

00:38:30They really were great.

00:38:31They rented a piano that Liberace used at Saratoga for a former art center that he had signed.

00:38:37For those of you who don't know Liberace, for those of you my age or younger who have

00:38:43no idea, I mean, my age, everyone knows, but younger, he was a very, very flamboyant,

00:38:49flashing piano player known to be quite good.

00:38:51And he was sort of like the gold standard.

00:38:53He really wasn't the gold standard, but he was thought to be because he was really good

00:38:57at the piano.

00:38:58And so our high school musicals were great.

00:39:01And I remember they pulled me aside and said, can you teach this one, this song, and this

00:39:04one, that one, and will you rehearse them?

00:39:06And I don't think my feet touched the ground for months because I was like, wow, they're

00:39:11putting this really important task in my hands.

00:39:14And so I've just done it my entire life.

00:39:16I never have done anything else.

00:39:18Yeah.

00:39:19So you've preferred to do the teaching role rather than be on stage yourself.

00:39:22I tried it.

00:39:23I tried.

00:39:23I did a few things in New York.

00:39:25I did a couple off-Broadway things and then, or off-off-Broadway, I should say way off-off-Broadway.

00:39:31And then a few things, there was an operatic company called Light Opera of Manhattan.

00:39:36I did a couple of things, but I didn't really enjoy it.

00:39:39I had a certain amount of stage fright.

00:39:41But what I did enjoy, what I realized was, was helping the other people in the cast.

00:39:45I would say, oh, here, let me help you with this.

00:39:47Or let me teach you this part or whatever.

00:39:49And I thought, well, that's what I really love doing.

00:39:50So let me just do that.

00:39:52But I can honestly say I enjoy it more today than I ever have.

00:39:56And I've been saying that for years, which means I keep enjoying it more and more every

00:40:01year I do.

00:40:02You mean it every time you say it.

00:40:03I really, really mean it.

00:40:05I love it.

00:40:06I can't get enough of it.

00:40:08What was your first big gig?

00:40:10Oh, gee.

00:40:13First big one.

00:40:14I don't know because they just kept graduating.

00:40:17You know what I mean?

00:40:18It was just such a little by little.

00:40:20It was like I worked with a couple actors who were doing Broadway shows when I lived in

00:40:25New York.

00:40:25And that seemed big.

00:40:26They weren't the stars at the Broadway shows, but they had secondary leading roles.

00:40:30And so that felt really big.

00:40:33And then I remember out here in L.A., a few of the people had roles like that.

00:40:38And then there was some recording artists.

00:40:39Then for a while, I sort of got a bit of a reputation as being able to help actors who

00:40:45were going

00:40:45to sing in movies or television shows.

00:40:47And so then the majority of my business for a couple of years was doing that, you know.

00:40:53And so it was like early movies, movies made for television, like the remake of Annie with

00:40:58Kathy Bates and Victor Garber.

00:40:59Oh, wow.

00:41:00Or Geppetto with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Drew Carey, you know.

00:41:06And so it just kept going and going from there.

00:41:09And then movies like Chicago and Hairspray just kept going on and on, La La Land.

00:41:14So I can't think of one that was the big one, the first big one.

00:41:18Just steps up along the way.

00:41:20Yeah, exactly.

00:41:20That's what you want it to be.

00:41:22Well, looking back, yes, for sure.

00:41:24I mean, I look back and go, wow, that would have been, I don't know if I could have handled

00:41:28it if it had come any, some of these things that I've worked on more recently.

00:41:32I don't know if I could have handled it, you know.

00:41:34Yeah.

00:41:34It was nice that it was so stepwise.

00:41:36Yeah.

00:41:36And so I'm sure there's going to be so many more biopics in the years to come, and I'm

00:41:41sure you'll work on a lot of them.

00:41:42I hope so, because I really enjoy it.

00:41:44Yeah.

00:41:44Well, I mean, it's interesting, like some of these biopics take different paths with

00:41:49vocalists, because some of these vocalists were absolutely astounding who they're trying

00:41:54to emulate.

00:41:54I think Michael Jackson, good example.

00:41:57The Michael biopic was interesting.

00:41:59They didn't just do live vocals, but then in A Complete Unknown, you know, playing Bob Dylan,

00:42:05Timothee Chalamet sang all of that just by himself.

00:42:08And Monica sang.

00:42:10Yeah, and Monica singing Joan Baez.

00:42:12So I'm curious, when you get approached about these biopics, are people tending to sing live

00:42:18on set more often these days?

00:42:21It started happening, it seems like, yes, it seems like it is happening more often because

00:42:25they can, you know, and I think that's the thing.

00:42:29I think that it's all dependent on do they sound good live or not, you know.

00:42:34Now, a lot of them do a lot of pre-records just to have them or in the thinking that

00:42:40they're going to use them.

00:42:41But then when they get there, they realize, oh, they don't need to.

00:42:44They can do it live and let's do it because it looks better.

00:42:47It sounds better.

00:42:47All of that.

00:42:48And technology has gotten better.

00:42:50You know, when I first started doing this 30 years ago when I was working on movie musicals,

00:42:56they didn't have the ability to record people live as well as they do now.

00:43:00You know what I mean?

00:43:02So there might be a little echo or there is a little bit of a hiss or whatever.

00:43:06And now they have gotten much more sophisticated with it.

00:43:09The mics have gotten more sophisticated.

00:43:11Everything about it has gotten better.

00:43:12So they can do it more with that.

00:43:14But also, here's the thing.

00:43:15I always say to someone, even if you are going to, if you're planning on doing it live,

00:43:18and I tell the directors of movies this, still do the pre-records because they will get

00:43:23better doing the pre-records.

00:43:24Because when you go in the studio and you do take, do 10, 15, 20 takes, whatever it

00:43:30is, and then you hear yourself back, you do it again.

00:43:32And then I always say, listen to it.

00:43:34Listen, what do you think?

00:43:35How do you think you can improve it?

00:43:36How do you think you can do it better?

00:43:38And they do it again.

00:43:38When they walk out of there, they now sound so much better when they sing that song.

00:43:43That's given them a lot of experience.

00:43:45It's really jumped them up a few levels.

00:43:47Yeah.

00:43:48So I always say, do the pre-records, even if you're planning on doing it live.

00:43:51That's interesting.

00:43:52And I really didn't realize that the reason why live seemingly has gotten more popular

00:43:57from my vantage point as an outsider is honestly tied to technology and that it just wasn't

00:44:03quite as possible as it is now to do that well.

00:44:06I think a lot of those older movies, and I don't know this for sure, and I should check

00:44:09before I say, but I remember talking to some of the people who did some of them because

00:44:13I'm so old and they were old at the time.

00:44:16I was young at the time.

00:44:17I could talk to them about it, but it was hanging microphones.

00:44:21There was no such thing as, you know, the mics that you hide in a wig or hide it right

00:44:26here.

00:44:27And those things just didn't exist.

00:44:29Battery packs.

00:44:30I don't think they were even invented when they were doing musicals, like the sound of

00:44:34music or musicals like that.

00:44:36So everything has just gotten so much more sophisticated.

00:44:39They didn't have the technology.

00:44:41I remember when people started using cordless mics, sometimes it would pick up the police

00:44:45cars or the fire engines, you would get, you know, right in the middle of a show, you would

00:44:53hear that.

00:44:54And so all of that's just gotten so much better.

00:44:57Yeah.

00:44:58That's super interesting to hear that.

00:45:00Well, another thing that I find to be interesting is that there are certain arenas where vocalists

00:45:04tend to lip sync more.

00:45:06And I think it's just because of like the difficulty and the logistics of things.

00:45:10Like I think Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade might be an example of this or like maybe New

00:45:17Year's Eve, something like that.

00:45:19Do you think lip syncing is necessary even for some of the best vocalists in certain instances?

00:45:26It has nothing to do.

00:45:26It has, I shouldn't say nothing to do.

00:45:29It has little to do sometimes with the person's talent and just the factual situation.

00:45:37For example, Macy's Day, it is almost impossible on those floats to get somebody to capture that

00:45:44sound, to broadcast it out, to get it to sound good.

00:45:47They want those people to lip sync.

00:45:49No one is saying, I want to do it.

00:45:51They are saying, you need to do it to make this work.

00:45:54Otherwise, the sound isn't going to be good.

00:45:55But, um, and same thing, New Year's Eve, you know, sometimes it's so cold, the cold can

00:46:00affect the weather.

00:46:01I remember one person I was working in particular, it was actually Camila Cabello and she was

00:46:07singing on New Year's Eve and she said, I don't care.

00:46:10I would rather, I'd rather not sound as good and sing live than lip sync.

00:46:15She insisted on singing live because she said, I just don't want to lip sync.

00:46:18I don't, I don't like the way it looks.

00:46:20I don't like the way it sounds.

00:46:21And I, I want it to be genuine.

00:46:23So it's fine.

00:46:24If I don't sound my best, that's okay with me, but that's what I want to do.

00:46:29So, and I know a lot of people who feel that way, that they would rather not sound a hundred

00:46:33percent, but not be lip syncing.

00:46:36But, you know, some of those venues don't allow it.

00:46:38They just go, well, then I'm sorry.

00:46:40You know, that Macy's Day Parade.

00:46:42I, I don't remember any in particular that I can tell you right now, but I do know that

00:46:46they have said to some people, if you don't do it that way, we're not going to have you

00:46:49do it.

00:46:50And then sometimes they are on the stationary things on the stages that they have.

00:46:54But then sometimes those people can sing live.

00:46:56Interesting.

00:46:57Well, okay.

00:46:58As I'm bringing out our wheel, I think it's time for us to get into some games.

00:47:02So this is a game we call spin the record.

00:47:04But as I'm pulling this out, I'm wondering if you got to see Ariana.

00:47:08She just performed in LA like two nights ago.

00:47:10Did I get to see her?

00:47:11Yeah.

00:47:12I'm sure you were front row.

00:47:13They're the first night or backstage first night.

00:47:17Um, no, I was out there up front watching, applauding, screaming, yelling.

00:47:22It was, it was the most unbelievable experience.

00:47:27It truly was.

00:47:28And, you know, for me, because I've known her for so long, I was getting flashes of the

00:47:33past, you know, because we weren't just student teacher, but genuinely I think of her and her

00:47:39family, like family, like my family.

00:47:41So we've spent Christmas Eve's.

00:47:43We've spent Thanksgivings.

00:47:45We've done so many different things along the years, had dinners, celebrated birthdays,

00:47:50all of that.

00:47:51So that was all going through my head, which was making me emotional.

00:47:54And then of course, that performance was spectacular.

00:47:59And so that was emotional watching the performance.

00:48:03So yeah, it was great.

00:48:04I had to be there that first night.

00:48:06I'm going again, by the way.

00:48:07I'm sure.

00:48:08Well, I'm curious out of all the songs in her set, what's the hardest one?

00:48:13Like when you, when she's coming up to that song, are you like, Oh, this is the big one.

00:48:16Well, there's never one I worry about.

00:48:18I've always said that about her.

00:48:19I have never once been in the audience, holding my breath that she could do something.

00:48:24I just know she can.

00:48:25I mean, she just always has.

00:48:27I don't remember a time when she disappointed.

00:48:29So, um, I don't know, you know, different songs are difficult for different reasons.

00:48:35I think that dangerous woman is quite a difficult song.

00:48:39And I would say that I think that that's very rare that anybody could sing that song like

00:48:45she sings it, you know?

00:48:47I mean, I think I could say no one else could really.

00:48:50Yeah.

00:48:51Um, so I would say maybe that song, but you know, she sings a lot of high notes.

00:48:56She throws them in here and there.

00:48:57She's ad libbing all over the place.

00:48:59You know, she's doing riffs and runs, which she's always done.

00:49:02She has that great ear.

00:49:04And so it's hard to say because one song one night might be a little harder to sing because

00:49:10she's added something to it.

00:49:11And then the next night it could be a different song.

00:49:13Yeah, that's a good point.

00:49:15And I mean, when you add in choreography, cause not all good singers also try to dance and

00:49:19move around.

00:49:20She's moving around in the, I don't know if you've ever seen the size of the shoes, the

00:49:23heels, but they are crazy.

00:49:25Yeah.

00:49:26I don't know how she does that.

00:49:28Yeah.

00:49:28And then she does a backbend in this show.

00:49:30And then even at the end, I'm not giving anything away cause it's all over the internet.

00:49:34I know what you're going to say.

00:49:35You know, is a sense to the heavens and she's singing while she's doing that.

00:49:39Oh, she is?

00:49:40Lying backwards.

00:49:40Yeah.

00:49:41Oh my gosh.

00:49:41I just saw a photo of that from someone who went to the LA show and I, I assumed that

00:49:46she was not singing because her head is all the way back.

00:49:49Your neck is straight.

00:49:50Well, but you know, if you watch them, there's a live performance of God is a woman where

00:49:55she lies down on the table and lies backwards like that.

00:49:58And she's singing.

00:49:59Wow.

00:50:00And there's also a performance of her on the, on an exercise bike singing side to side.

00:50:05Wow.

00:50:06Yeah.

00:50:06She can, she can do anything.

00:50:08That's amazing.

00:50:09And I have to also have to give credit to my friend and student pink who, uh, you know,

00:50:14spins around upside down and flies across that stage.

00:50:18Yep.

00:50:18Like she's completely airborne and singing up a storm too.

00:50:22I got to see her perform for the first time live last week.

00:50:25Um, cause I was in New York.

00:50:27I didn't go to the Tonys.

00:50:29I wish she killed that.

00:50:31I didn't know that she could sing in that style as effortlessly as she did.

00:50:36Well, if you look back, she actually sang on the Oscars.

00:50:38I was there with her.

00:50:39Um, she sang somewhere over the rainbow for a tribute to, uh, Judy Garland and, uh, the

00:50:44Wizard of Oz.

00:50:45But, you know, um, that's what I was saying about as far as today's world about people

00:50:51accepting people from different, you know, genres or any type of voice, but who would

00:50:56have ever guessed, you know, a few years ago, if you had said, Hey, we're going to

00:51:00have a pop star host and perform on the Tony awards.

00:51:03And, and I don't think anyone would have believed.

00:51:06And for my money, the two best performances on the Tony awards were pink this year.

00:51:10She was the opening.

00:51:12And then of course her doing, uh, the song from Chicago.

00:51:15Yeah.

00:51:16Like she just killed it.

00:51:17She killed both those performances that for me, like I said, for my money, she was the

00:51:21best performer there.

00:51:22Well, who would have guessed that a pop singer would be able to do that and be accepted and

00:51:26applauded for doing it.

00:51:28Yeah.

00:51:29I mean, it was funny.

00:51:30I was looking at the comment section of all these pink videos because she was all over

00:51:33my feed.

00:51:34Right.

00:51:35And, um, you know, all of her fans were like, Oh, this is light work for pink.

00:51:38She can do anything.

00:51:39And I just, I did not realize the magnitude of her voice, but I saw her at this kind of,

00:51:45uh, music industry events, the NMPA annual meeting.

00:51:48Oh, okay.

00:51:48She was being given an award and she sang through So What and a few of her other big songs.

00:51:53And I just thought she was great.

00:51:55So anyways, okay.

00:51:56We have the wheel out.

00:51:57This is called Spin the Record.

00:51:59Spin the, spin the record for us.

00:52:01And then I will tell you what they say.

00:52:03Oh, I spin it?

00:52:04Yeah.

00:52:04There are just some fun questions on here.

00:52:06Okay.

00:52:07No music.

00:52:09Hey, we don't have budget for that yet, but we'll get there.

00:52:12We'll get there.

00:52:13Don't worry.

00:52:13Season three.

00:52:14Um, okay.

00:52:15So the question that you got is what is your biggest vocal pet peeve?

00:52:20Ooh, my biggest vocal pet peeve.

00:52:23Well, I guess it would be out of tune singing.

00:52:25I just, but I don't think anyone can stand out of tune singing, but that's probably the

00:52:30worst.

00:52:31Uh, followed a close second with tense, tight, you know, vein.

00:52:36Copying out of the neck kind of singing.

00:52:38I don't really like that.

00:52:39Or tight, tight voices that are just trying to make it.

00:52:43Oh yeah.

00:52:44Does it hurt you to hear when a vocalist is, maybe they're giving a very emotional performance,

00:52:48but you can tell their strain while they're doing it.

00:52:51That's different though.

00:52:52Emotional.

00:52:53I totally am on board for that.

00:52:55Okay.

00:52:55I love an emotional performance.

00:52:57And if it gets in the way of their vocal technique or they don't sound as good, I'm totally fine

00:53:01with that.

00:53:01If it's a genuine emotion, I'm down to loving that.

00:53:06Yeah.

00:53:06Um, but yeah, it's that constricted straining singing too high and a key that's not really

00:53:11meant for them that may, and you know, I always feel sorry for the artists because

00:53:14I go, maybe they were pushed into it.

00:53:16Maybe, you know, maybe management or whoever the musical director push them.

00:53:20You can do it.

00:53:21I know you can do it.

00:53:22Your adrenaline, blah, blah, blah, all that.

00:53:24And so I feel bad for them.

00:53:25So I never judge a person for it, but I really don't enjoy it.

00:53:29You know, you have the right to not enjoy it.

00:53:32Yeah, so that would be my biggest pet peeve.

00:53:35Okay.

00:53:35Give us another spin.

00:53:36Let's see what else we get.

00:53:38All right.

00:53:41What is the craziest place you've ever given a vocal lesson?

00:53:45Oh, well, I've done quite a few crazy places.

00:53:48I'm sure you have.

00:53:49In my day.

00:53:50Um, uh, I would say I was out in a field.

00:53:54It was, uh, making a movie with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and, um, it was called Geppetto and she played

00:54:01the Blue Fairy and we went out in a field.

00:54:04And so they set up my keyboard on a trash can, um, like, cause there was no stand.

00:54:10Somebody forgot to bring the stand.

00:54:11So it was on a trash can and they had long, long extension cord.

00:54:15And then at one point somebody came over and said to me, if you drop something, just leave

00:54:21it there because there's a lot of poison ivy here.

00:54:25And I was like, oh, thanks a lot.

00:54:26Like, first of all, now you tell me.

00:54:29Oh my God.

00:54:31Um, yeah.

00:54:31He said, just don't, if you drop a pencil, a pen, whatever, leave it or we'll come over

00:54:36with gloves on because there is a lot of poison ivy.

00:54:40And so then right in the middle of our warmup, they were doing, they had, um, it was one of

00:54:46those smoke machines, but it started with like flames or something.

00:54:50Okay.

00:54:51I don't know.

00:54:51I think this, remember this was like over 30 years ago, it started the field on fire

00:54:56and then they had to put the fire out.

00:54:59Or they started a wildfire on accident.

00:55:01So this was like, um, yeah, this was one of the craziest, um, but there's been other

00:55:07ones recently.

00:55:08A few months ago, I did one though that I thought was really funny where I was at home in

00:55:13my

00:55:13music studio and Charlie Puth was on a private jet flying over from Europe.

00:55:17So he's on a private jet over the ocean, having a voice lesson, you know, and I thought we

00:55:24are truly in the space age.

00:55:26We are truly living and I've done them where I've been.

00:55:30Oh, I, there's another one.

00:55:31Yeah.

00:55:31I was warming up someone who had just landed in London.

00:55:34They were in a car on their way to a radio station to give a live performance.

00:55:37I was in my car on an iPad keyboard on my phone, FaceTime on my phone.

00:55:43I pulled over to the side of the road and I warmed them up from my car on Coldwater Canyon

00:55:48and they were in London in the back of a car being driven to the radio station.

00:55:54Wow.

00:55:54How about that?

00:55:55You'll do anything.

00:55:56That is crazy.

00:55:57You gotta do what it takes.

00:55:59I don't think anything tops getting basically poison oak, poison ivy, trying to do a film

00:56:05set though.

00:56:06But that one is wild.

00:56:07And I've been in a lot of bathrooms too, because the echo is good and it's the only

00:56:10place we can have privacy.

00:56:12And so sometimes you just gotta...

00:56:14Why is it that I sound so much better in the shower?

00:56:18Well, that echo, that reverb, it just...

00:56:20Okay, it's just the reverb.

00:56:21Oh my God.

00:56:22It enhances your voice so much in so many ways.

00:56:24I sound really good in the shower.

00:56:26So good.

00:56:27Well, I, you know, maybe you should record yourself there.

00:56:31Not as much in real life.

00:56:32My voice is good.

00:56:33It's not spectacular, but I'll give us...

00:56:36Sing for me and I'll tell you what I think.

00:56:39Okay, one more.

00:56:40Yeah.

00:56:40I'm gonna spin the opposite way.

00:56:41Ooh, okay.

00:56:43Okay.

00:56:45What is your advice for an artist who has to perform that night, but they woke up with

00:56:50a sore throat?

00:56:51Oh.

00:56:51And they're freaking out and they call you and they're like, Eric, help me.

00:56:53What am I supposed to do?

00:56:54Well, I tell them all the things, you know, do use a personal steamer.

00:57:00Do that.

00:57:01Drink some warm throat coat tea or any kind of tea that is meant to help your voice.

00:57:08Chicken soup, you know, that has been proven to help people who have colds and flus and

00:57:13things to help them feel better.

00:57:15I tell them to use all the vocal products I've given them.

00:57:18It will warm up very slowly.

00:57:22And usually I say, if it's really bad, you give a call to your ENT, ear, nose and throat

00:57:26doctor, immediately.

00:57:28Don't wait.

00:57:29Call them right now because they might be able to help you with either some kind of medicine

00:57:36or a shot of, you know, like a pregnazone shot, the cortisone shot, or pregnazone pills,

00:57:42cortisone shot, whatever, you know, because sometimes you have to do it just because if

00:57:47you're really sick and your throat's not working, what are you going to do?

00:57:50I'm going to have you spin it one more time because I'm having a lot of fun with these

00:57:52questions, actually.

00:57:54The wheel's going to break while we're doing it.

00:57:57Okay.

00:57:57Who is a client we'd be surprised to hear that you have?

00:58:01Yeah, there's a couple.

00:58:02I would say one might be, if you don't know him as a performer, a lot of people know Danny

00:58:08Elfman as a composer, and he's written theme songs to everything from The Simpsons and Desperate

00:58:16Housewives and all of those great movies by Tim Burton.

00:58:20Yeah.

00:58:20Nightmare Before Christmas.

00:58:21Oh my God.

00:58:22Nightmare Before Christmas.

00:58:23Yeah.

00:58:23So a lot of people know him as a composer and they don't realize that he was the lead singer

00:58:28of a band called Oingo Boingo.

00:58:31And he now still does performances at the Hollywood Bowl every year, either with The Nightmare

00:58:35Before Christmas or with his own show.

00:58:38And so he sings a lot.

00:58:39So I think that would be surprising.

00:58:41It would be surprising, but oh, I'm going to forget his last name, but he was the Prime

00:58:46Minister of Canada and I gave him a couple lessons.

00:58:48Justin Trudeau.

00:58:49No, Steven.

00:58:50Oh, not Justin.

00:58:51I don't know who Steven is.

00:58:53Steven.

00:58:54Anyone?

00:58:54Anyone know who Steven is?

00:58:56Breaking the fourth wall to ask if anyone is Steven.

00:58:57This was about 15 years ago.

00:58:59So that probably would have been a surprise.

00:59:03Okay.

00:59:03I was going to say, I think you've worked with Katy Perry before.

00:59:05So if Justin Trudeau came through, then Couples Vocal Essence.

00:59:09Yeah, exactly.

00:59:10No, I've known Katy for, gosh, a long time.

00:59:13Yeah.

00:59:13Almost 20 years, probably.

00:59:16Wow.

00:59:16Yeah, I love her.

00:59:17That was an interesting one when you say the strangest place is given a lesson.

00:59:21When she was saying on the Oprah show the day after the Oscars, she had been in Austria

00:59:25and they got a special jet to bring her over so she could sing on the Oprah show the very

00:59:31next day.

00:59:31So she did her show in Austria, got on the jet, flew her over.

00:59:36They picked me up at around six in the morning on SUV.

00:59:39I met her at the airport.

00:59:40We put down the middle row of seats.

00:59:42We sat in that third seat in the SUV so I could have the keyboard in front of me and

00:59:46warmed up on the way to the then called Kodak Theater.

00:59:49I think maybe it's still Kodak.

00:59:50I always get so confused.

00:59:52Yeah.

00:59:52It's changed.

00:59:53It may have been the Dolby.

00:59:54I think it was the Dolby at the time.

00:59:56Anyway, and we warmed up on the way so that when she got there, she would be warmed up

01:00:00and ready to do the sound check.

01:00:02Wow.

01:00:03And half her makeup was done.

01:00:04And I said, I thought you were sleeping on the plane.

01:00:06And she said, I was.

01:00:07They just did my makeup while I was sleeping.

01:00:09Sleeping while they put on the eyeliner.

01:00:10Yeah, exactly.

01:00:11Wow.

01:00:12Dedication.

01:00:13Well, okay.

01:00:13So our final game of the day is called What Would You Cue?

01:00:16And so I'm going to give you some situations and then just pick one song to go along with

01:00:21that.

01:00:21Okay, one song.

01:00:22So what would you cue to take you back to your childhood?

01:00:26Oh, gee.

01:00:28Well, Sound of Music was a big movie influence on me, big movie musical, that and West Side

01:00:34Story.

01:00:34And so probably the song from The Sound of Music would be a song called Climb Every Mountain

01:00:39because it's, you know, forward every stream, follow every rainbow till you find your dream.

01:00:45I just found that so inspirational.

01:00:47I still do to this day.

01:00:48I could get emotional listening to it because those lyrics about, you know, keep going, keep

01:00:54going to find your dream, to realize your dream, to make it happen.

01:01:01And that song always, I thought, was very powerful.

01:01:04Great picks.

01:01:05Okay.

01:01:05So what would you cue to represent your favorite era of music?

01:01:09So any time period?

01:01:10You know, there's so many for so many different reasons, but I'm going to actually say right

01:01:15now.

01:01:15I love it right now because like I said earlier, you can do any type of music right now and

01:01:21find an audience for it and people will appreciate it.

01:01:24And I love that what's happening now, like, for example, with Rosalia's Lux album is a lot

01:01:30of kids who would have never listened to orchestrated music in that way or hear that kind of operatic

01:01:35singing are going to now maybe even look into opera or try it themselves or be interested

01:01:41in it.

01:01:41So how great is that?

01:01:43You know, or Ariana doing Wicked.

01:01:45And so all of the girls and boys who loved her as a pop star who went to say Wicked

01:01:50will

01:01:50now go, oh, theater music.

01:01:52It's beautiful.

01:01:53It's great.

01:01:53I'm going to look into that.

01:01:55I love that.

01:01:55So I think what's going on today is beautiful.

01:01:57I love that.

01:01:58Okay.

01:01:58And then finally, what would you cue to remember your favorite concert?

01:02:03Oh, gosh.

01:02:05Well, there's so many favorite concerts.

01:02:07I mean, you know, Shawn Mendes mentioned me, gave me a shout out on the stage of Hollywood

01:02:11Bowl.

01:02:11So that's one of my favorite concerts.

01:02:13So any of those songs would be, I would have to go back to two nights ago.

01:02:18Okay.

01:02:19You know, Ariana singing.

01:02:20It was just, and if you asked me to pick one song, oh God.

01:02:24Just one standout.

01:02:25It doesn't have to be your all time favorite.

01:02:27The biggest standout probably would be Dangerous Woman because I remember when that whole song

01:02:33came about, I remember hearing about it before I actually heard the song, before I actually

01:02:37heard her singing it.

01:02:40And then when I did hear her sing it, I just thought, wow, that song is just such a great

01:02:45song.

01:02:45Yeah.

01:02:46And I feel like it really epitomized her, you know, I've never thought about it so much

01:02:50as being a Dangerous Woman, as being a strong, capable, amazing, incredible woman.

01:02:55That's how I look at it.

01:02:57And boy, when she sings that song, she has all those adjectives.

01:03:00Yeah.

01:03:00I mean, you mentioned that you heard about it before you actually heard the song.

01:03:05Did everyone kind of know this was going to be a huge moment for her when they first

01:03:08heard that song?

01:03:08I think everybody had an inkling.

01:03:10I think her mom, Joan, was the first person to mention it to me.

01:03:13Like, wait till you hear this song.

01:03:15Because Joan heard it before I did.

01:03:16And she said, you're going to flip out.

01:03:17It's just an amazing song.

01:03:19So good.

01:03:20And then when I heard it, and then of course, heard her singing it, I was like, this is

01:03:23incredible.

01:03:24That's it.

01:03:25Yeah.

01:03:25Just incredible.

01:03:27Yeah.

01:03:28Well.

01:03:28And it still lives.

01:03:29Eric Vitro, thank you so much for coming to On The Record.

01:03:31This was so fun.

01:03:32Thank you so much for having me.

01:03:33I really enjoyed it.

01:03:35I appreciate it.

01:03:35Well, because you know music.

01:03:38I do.

01:03:38And I love that.

01:03:39And your questions were great questions.

01:03:41So I really enjoyed it.

01:03:44All right.

01:03:44Thank you so much to Eric Vitro for joining me on this week's episode of On The Record

01:03:48to talk about all things vocal coaching.

01:03:51And thank you for listening to this week's episode of On The Record.

01:03:54If you liked today's show, give us a follow on Instagram or on our brand new TikTok page

01:03:58at BillboardOnTheRecord, where you can find new clips of this show every single week.

01:04:02We'd also appreciate it if you rated our show on your favorite podcast platform,

01:04:05because all of these things help On The Record grow bigger and better than ever.

01:04:10Again, I'm your host, Kristen Robinson, and tune in next week for another peek behind

01:04:13the curtain of the music business.

01:04:15I'll see you then.

Training Ariana Grande & Timothée Chalamet: Inside the World of Hollywood's Top Vocal Coach | Billboard On The Record

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