My guess is, and it’s only a guess, that 3 out of 5 people have said at least once in their lives, “I want to be a singer.” I know I did. Fortunately I got the opportunity. Sure, it’s in the Christian market, but still… I was able to be on 6 albums (do we even call them albums anymore?).

What about you? Do you have a dream? That’s where it all begins. You know, one of the things I’ve learned over the years is that the older you get, the less you dream. The less you dream, the less creative you become. The less creative you become, well… you get the idea. I think we, in the artists community, need to be really actively involved in encouraging dreaming again. Without dreams, we really have nothing to attain. Nothing to look forward to. Nothing to gain.

With schools taking more and more money away from “the arts” in education, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult for kids to have creative outlets. Remember all the concerts, plays, art shows we did/had when we were in school? It seems to me we had at least 3 activities every month at the schools I attended. Even more when I got into middle-school and high-school. Not so much today.

There have been scientific studies done on the impact of music in individual’s lives. Mozart, for example, has a unique way of teaching infants perfected incremental discernment. Mathematics. I can say in my own kids lives, because we constantly played Mozart and other classical music when they were infants, we have seen a propensity towards math and higher function skills. I’m not saying it’s a “wonder-drug” and that it is a perfected science, but I will say this… It has a profound effect on humans in general.

My goal growing up was to be a music therapist. I know the power and impact music has over our lives. Like smells… certain songs, lyrics, licks, can take you to a place in your past that brings a very full and real memory to life once again. That’s power! So, my question is… why do we abandon our dreams? Why do we give up on those hopes that “someday”… which never seems to come?

I would suggest that the first thing we need to do is… Commit. We have to commit to supporting the arts. We have to commit to supporting our own childhood dreams of perhaps doing something beyond the norm or out of the box. So what if it’s a hobby? You never know how a hobby (which will make you happy) could turn into a career (which would also make you happy). I have to ask… a real question – think before you answer… “WHAT’S STOPPING YOU?”

Don’t give in to the world’s view that, “why bother… it will never happen.” when that is a lie… It will happen, IF you want it to. It CAN happen, if you want it to. Why not be that singer? Who knows, you may be the next Adele…

HyperThreat Sound is a professional recording studio in Denver Colorado. We are a full service studio offering recording, mixing, and mastering. We offer instrument and amp rentals for sessions as well. HyperThreat – Recording Studio Denver.

Summer 2012 completely changed my outlook on music and the industry entirely, in fact I’ve never had more fun in my life. My 5 week visit to Berklee College of Music was an experience like no other, it was amazing all of the things I learned in just a short time and inspired me to work harder to shove my foot in the door to this crazy industry.

I was honestly scared to death after my mother left me in the Berklee Performance Center to catch her flight back to Colorado, but as soon as I met a few friends and got settled into my dorm on Commonwealth street, I eased up and became excited about my courses. My favorite classes were musicianship and of coarse performance perspectives, which every week a new group would perform and share their experiences in the Performance Center. Music theory was so hard to me but it was very interesting to dig deeper into music. Above all of the classes and the sight seeing of Boston, what I loved the most was jamming, recording, and performing with my incredibly talented room mates at the dorm. Berklee really taught me how important it is to get music recorded to sound good and get myself out there. Being surrounded by new talent and the whole idea of just being in Boston at the program inspired me more than anything before, I was able to write new songs every week.

Coming home was sad, but I took what I’ve learned and applied it to my life here in Colorado. I’m working on finishing this song I wrote on Boston and getting my music recorded so I could make a small demo. I cannot stress enough the need to sound professional, and the best way to achieve this is to get the music recorded! Luckily enough I have full access to HyperThreat Sound Studios, they always take great care of me and make my music sound awesome. After my experience with Berklee I trust the engineers at Hyperthreat to make me sound professional, Anne also keeps me on track with great vocal exercises and helps me through any rough patches I have in a song.

I hope to be able to go to Berklee full time and continue down this road to becoming a musician and joining the crazy industry. Who knows the possibilities that could come from Hyperthreat and Berklee combined?!

HyperThreat Sound is a professional recording studio in Denver Colorado. We are a full service studio offering recording, mixing, and mastering. We offer instrument and amp rentals for sessions as well. HyperThreat – Recording Studio Denver.

“Hey man, do you do radio?” – Sheesh… If I had a buck for every time someone asked me that, I’d be a freakin’ millionaire and not have to actually be on the radio. The answer is, “NO! I don’t DO radio.” (If I only knew what “doing” radio really meant and I’m sure the people that work in radio hate that terminology to begin with).

I do, however, work in the VOICE OVER world. For nearly 15 years now I’ve been recording voice overs for clients… well… all around the world. From CNN to Southern California Edison (electric company). From TV shows to local cable commercials. Books. Online Instructional pieces. Everything in between! In 15 years, I’ve recorded over 5,000 voice over pieces. That’s a lot of my voice out there in the world (which my mom was telling me I apparently did a lot of as a kid).

What I’ve NEVER DONE… I’ve never had an agent. Only auditioned one time. Lost the job to Kent McCord (from One Adam 12 if you recall the show). I didn’t mind because if I have to lose a job via audition to someone, losing it to Kent McCord isn’t a bad wrap. The client liked my voice better, but wanted a “star” recognizable voice. Seems to be the way of VO needs these days. Especially in the movies where they want recognizable actor’s voices rather than VO artists who could do a better job (yep – I said it).

In all that time I’ve been blessed to have received work via word of mouth and my own PR efforts. That’s the truth. I’ve often wondered, what would my VO career have looked like if I had actually been represented and had an agency working on my behalf? I’m still young enough and strong enough with my voice to do that… just not a 100% sure I am ready to go that route, yet.

What about you? How many times have people told you, “You have a voice for radio” or “Do you do voice overs?” If you hear that quite often, you may want to consider Voice Over work as an opportunity. Believe me when I say IT’S NOT FOR EVERYONE! Many people are told they have great voices but when it comes down to it, THEY SUCK! Just watch American Idol and you’ll know what I’m talking about. How many times have we heard people say to the judges during auditions, “Yeah, I sing at church and everyone tells me I have a great voice.” – then – they open their mouths… DOH! Clearly, someone lied to them.

“What are you getting at, Wes?” Great question… What I really want to communicate is, before you spend a TON of money on gear, before you go to one of those crazy “VOICE OVER SCHOOLS” where they charge you insane money and tell everyone, “You have a great voice, all you need is more classes”… Let me help you. We are offering professional evaluations at the HYPERTHREAT STUDIOS in Parker, Colorado.

We are offering a 3 hour evaluation class for $127.00. You will be coached, recorded, and given an honest (and professional) opinion on whether or not VOICE OVER work is right for you. Who knows? You might be the new Don LaFontaine! One thing is for sure, if you are NOT Voice Over material, we will tell you straight up. We don’t need anymore people trying to enter a profession they are not ready or prepared to do.

However – if you ARE the kind of talent that really has the potential, we will give you direction, information, and help lead you into the professional world of “VO” and ensure you come away with solid training, a complete knowledge of what the industry has to offer (and there is a LOT), and a DEMO REEL that is sure to get you noticed.

What do you say? Want to see if you’ve got what it takes? Stop waving your hand and saying, “ah… go on!” to those people who tell you that your voice is fantastic! Take a chance. Sign up for our up-and-coming class. Email us for details!

We are happy to welcome Wes to our team. He does a great job coaching aspiring VO artists, as well as building demo’s from advertising to promo spots. His skill as a director, writer and producer is invaluable to those entering the market and looking for help in launching their careers.

Wes is also a highly sought after producer for film, television and stage. To view his skills, please visit www.hyperthreat.com to review Wes Whatley’s resume and click this link to view his demo reel. http://youtu.be/CFw6WqI9jYA

HyperThreat Sound is a professional recording studio in Denver Colorado. We are a full service studio offering recording, mixing, and mastering. We offer instrument and amp rentals for sessions as well. HyperThreat – Recording Studio Denver.

Thanks for dropping by!

We hope you’ll find our blogs helpful to your creative process.

One thing that most artists forget in the creative process is preparation for their time in the studio. Maybe they figure the studio takes care of it all, which they try to do. Or maybe the project itself is all-consuming. Whatever it is, you’ll find that a bit of preparation is helpful in ensuring the best use of paid studio time as well as the highest quality finished product.

Step 1: Think through your goals. What is it you want to achieve each time you have a session? Is it a finished rough cut, is it a final cut, is it all the guitar parts…? Whatever you decide you must keep this top of mind in order to make smart decisions if changes are considered. Will you expect to be leaving with this in CD format, on a thumb drive, in what format are you going to want the files? Are you planning to have some mastering done and if so have you planned time for that as well?

Step 2: Talk to your friends, family, band members, fans, basically anyone you can get to listen and review what you’re planning. The objective you have should feel a bigger goal like – selling lots of CDs, delivering the biggest surprise to a loved one, producing an audio piece for your web site that inspires or surprises, ….you get the picture. Net-net, you want others to help you confirm your goals are going to satisfy your higher level objectives.

Step 3: The day before you arrive you should gather everything you need to ensure its in good working order and in the condition you expect. For instance, is your guitar strung, are your samples loaded and verified on your storage device, is your voice feeling good, have you arranged to use the studio’s instruments and confirmed their good working order.

Step 4: Plan on arriving a few minutes early (be sure the studio is ok with this too – in case there are back to back sessions). This gives you some time to set up without eating into your paid studio time. This also give you a chance to settle into and gain some comfort in this new environment. You want to be in the “ZONE” to ensure you do you very best.

Ok, so that’s the cliffs notes….more to come! Now just SHUT UP AND PLAY

HyperThreat Sound is a professional recording studio in Denver Colorado. We are a full service studio offering recording, mixing, and mastering. We offer instrument and amp rentals for sessions as well. HyperThreat – Recording Studio Denver.