RPM Vocal Studio

Brendan Davies

Kevin is an excellent voice teacher. My lessons with him have been interesting, insightful, productive, and the environment he has chosen at Funkadelic rehearsal studio in Times Square, NYC is very conducive to establishing the proper vibe and energy for musical progress. I moved to NYC in 1998 to be a professional singer-songwriter. After some years of networking, collaborating, taking music classes, and studying engineering and production with a jazz saxophonist/producer in NJ, I worked in the music business in artist management for 7 years as a member of the management team for a famous pop / r&b artist. During this time, I lost my own musical performance mojo, so it had been almost 8 years since I had sung or taken voice lessons when I found Kevin on Youtube. I came to Kevin with a very specific set of questions and expectations, and so far he has helped me to begin to achieve everything that I laid out in my very first lesson when explaining to him my background and singing goals. During the 8 years that I didn't sing, my singing voice shifted upwards in register by half an octave or more, and my total range expanded to almost 5 octaves as some sort of unexpected and at times disorienting present from the Universe. When I started studying with Kevin last year, I literally didn't know what to do with my "new" voice. I sounded very awkward in certain registers, and Kevin has been quite helpful in guiding me towards the right exercises and approaches to solidify my voice over its entire new range. Kevin can do this because he himself has a 5 octave vocal range from low bass register (Kevin is a low baritone with the booming speaking voice of a radio DJ) to soprano high C in pharyngeal full voice. Because of this, Kevin is able to demonstrate EVERYTHING to me during my lessons in his own singing voice, instead of simply playing notes on a piano and telling me to sing. This has been very helpful compared to other teachers I have had in the past who have had different vocal registers from me and who could not sing in part of my range while demonstrating a given lesson. I have chosen to almost exclusively study non-screaming "adducted vocal cords" high tenor register heavy metal singing for the past year, and when I first discovered Kevin on Youtube demonstrating how Geoff Tate of Queensryche achieved his signature 80s/90s sound, I knew that Kevin was the right teacher for me. Each lesson, I have come prepared with (sometimes many) questions about various famous and obscure male singers from throughout the canon of heavy metal from the late 60s to today. Every single time, Kevin has been able to have long, very informed and accurate conversations with me about each singer, explaining to me how that singer achieved his style and signature sound -- particularly regarding sound placement and resonance. I have then been able to demonstrate my own voice singing the same song passages, and Kevin has worked with me to design and brainstorm various exercises that I can do in lessons and at home to work on those parts of my own vocal range. Studying with Kevin -- in lessons and then on my own at home in between lessons -- has been a grand vocal adventure so far. He is the first teacher I have had who has transcended "traditional vocal pedagogy" concepts of vocal registers. No longer do I need to feel pigeon-holed as "a baritone who will never sing as high as a tenor," as I was with previous classically trained voice teachers. Now I regularly vocalize up to D5 in full voice during my lessons with Kevin, without any vocal tension or mental/emotional stress or pressure, and occasionally Kevin takes me up to F5 during arpeggio-type exercises. At home, I am beginning to sing much higher than this, having twice achieved E6, which I have recorded both times to chart my progress. I attribute beginning to solidify my voice over my entire range to everything I have learned in Kevin's lessons as well as hard work on my part applying what Kevin has taught me to a lot of home sing alongs with various classic heavy metal albums. Thank you, Kevin! You are a great voice teacher, and I hope that this review helps you to get more students in person in NYC as well as online via your Youtube channel.

2017-07-22

Jonathan C. Reiter

Kevin has an encyclopedic knowledge of vocal technique and stage performance which he communicates freely and in a highly useable form. He has a flexible approach geared to my particular needs, styles and talents or lack thereof (lol). He really cares about elevating his students' abilities and gears his approach to the goals of the individual. I recommend him highly.

2017-07-21