Johnny Cash Mash-Up with Carisa Brown

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/ˈmaSHˌəp/

nounINFORMAL

noun: mashup

1. a mixture or fusion of disparate elements.

   • a recording created by digitally combining and synchronizing instrumental tracks with vocal tracks from two or more different songs.

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Mashups have become increasingly popular in music since the 90’s.

You've been on the dance floor when the DJ combined two familiar songs in a way that surprisingly worked!

YouTube artists and music makers are now sharing their masterful creations, marrying songs in ways never imagined by the original songwriters. The result is a new species of music where the best elements of original songs we already love multiply into works of art. 

My client Carisa Brown loves creating song mash-ups, though she came to me having never before made one. With an open mind and a willingness to try, it didn’t take long for Carisa’s vision of a mashup with two Johnny Cash songs to take form.

“Hurt”, was originally written and recorded by the rock band Nine Inch Nails and recorded by Johnny Cash in 2003.  The other song, "God's Gonna Cut You Down" is a traditional American folk song recorded by Cash in 2006. 

Where did the idea come from? What was the process? Here are Carisa’s thoughts in her own words. 

What was the inspiration for this mash-up? 

The mashup started because I wanted to combine two Johnny Cash songs. I love his voice! It's so deep and powerful, I always think I want to sing like that. After trying to learn "Never Enough" originally sung by Loren Aldrich, I thought okay, now let's see how low I can go.

What was the creative process like?

I started playing around with the story first. How can you combine these two songs together to form a logical storyline, and we'll deal with the musicality of it later (sorry Annie). I had a rough outline and presented it to Annie, and then we moved some pieces around to make it fit the piano arrangement. 

It came from story first, musicality second, and deciding how to sing it third. 

Playing over the Hurt chords, you could just feel the emotion, so deciding how to make it my own and unique was the easy part. We knew the story and let the piano lead the rest. 

Annie, on Creating the Piano Arrangement

I did some research by listening to mashups, so that I could get a feel for how they made them work. 

Carisa led the way vocally, while I played around on the piano.  We tried a few different iterations and eventually came up with an arrangement we liked.  After that, I called composer and arranger Lynn Hutchinson, to take my piano idea and make it even better.  Lynn did just that.  Sending me sheet music with a dynamic piano part, which still left room for Carisa’s voice to soar.

We spent an afternoon at my home with videographer Stephanie James and created the video you’re about to see.

My husband Marcus Ashley, shared his expertise mixing and mastering the final track. Annette Betting-Fuentes did our video editing.

Check out the full video here! 

Carisa, what are you working on now? 

I am currently recording some mashups and covers my friend and I made in his living room in Echo Park. It's not professional by any means, but it's by far the best part of my week. I think we have  five mashups at this point and we're finally starting to record them. 

It's mostly duets of the songs that got us in our feels in middle school: Neyo, Usher,  Omarion ect. We just covered a Billie Ellish and Khalid song that is incredibly beautiful and chilling. It's been stuck in my head for months. 

Learning how to sing with another person, knowing when to let them shine, when to harmonize, when to breakout and do your own thing has been a really fun challenge.

Actress, Musician, Voice Coach Annie Little on The Actor's Vow Podcast

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"It was my own vocal challenges that really got me interested in the voice and singing. Because I was just so determined to want to figure it out for myself. Because I didn't want to feel limited anymore. As an actor, as a singer or a songwriter it's such a horrible feeling when you feel like you have something inside you that is stuck or limited by your instrument. My body was getting in the way." -Annie Little

I was recently a guest on an episode of @theactorsvow podcast.

In the episode Denise Borraz Trepat and I talk about how I got my supporting role in Argo, the teaching methodology I use, how anybody can learn to speak/sing, how to find your ideal speaking pitch and some cool exercises you can do at home to warm up your voice.🎙 Available now on iTunes.

For an even more in-depth look at my experience auditioning and shooting my role in Argo (including how I made it bigger), visit my blog post HERE.

Goal setting with Clarity

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When I’ve lost clarity about my goals, or I’m feeling overwhelmed and can’t figure out what I’m supposed to be doing, the first thing I like to do is bake something to clear my head.

I bake with a recipe that gives me clear directions to follow. 

How comforting to know that if I follow them well, I’ll (most likely) end up with something good and delicious in the end.  

So where do we find a recipe with clear directions for life?  

“Just tell me what to do!!!”  I have silently screamed (to the heavens, universe, myself, or anyone who is listening).

Well, after I enjoy a warm, soft-on-the-inside, crunchy-on-the-outside chocolate chip zucchini muffin (here’s that recipe), I go through a process that helps me create my own personalized recipe with directions to achieve my goals.  

A recipe that directs me, with purpose and meaning.

So, Grab your favorite journal and pen, and let’s hand write our way to clarity.

Creating A Recipe For Life With Goal Setting

Take your time with this process by honestly answering the questions below.  

I allow myself to break it up and do it over a few days or so.

These questions will take you through a process of doing an inventory of the recent past, so you can see where you’ve been, figure out where you want to go, and orient yourself towards that vision.

You can decide whether you’d like to look at the last year, the last 6 months or even the last 3 months to do your inventory.  Do what feels right for you.  

I’ve listed a couple of references at the end of this blog if you’re interested in an even deeper dive into goal setting.

Grab your pen and let’s start writing.

SIX questions to goal clarity for your recipe:

1. What were your accomplishments? None are too small to acknowledge. What’s working? Consider what actions you want to keep or do more of in your life.

2. What were your disappointments? Get them all out on paper. Consider what’s not working?What are some actions you can let go of?

3. What roles do you play in my life and how would you rate my satisfaction with them? Up to 10. (For me these might be something like:  Mom, Wife, Homemaker, Family Member, Community Member, CEO, Self-coach, Student, Voice Teacher, Artist)  

4. Which of those roles would you like to see the most progress this year? Choose just one that you’ll prioritize.

5. What are all the goals you’d like to achieve in each of  those roles? Once you’ve made a list of everything you’d like to achieve in each role of your life, and then, narrow that to three per role, starring the ones that make you feel the most excited. 

6. Which 10 goals are your priority? Making sure you keep at least one goal for each role, and keeping in mind which role where you’d like to see the most progress, pick your top 10 goals. 

Tips on Choosing your Goals

If you are feeling stuck around what kind of goals to set or how hard they should be, follow these S.M.A.R.T. goal guidelines.

Set S.M.A.R.T Goals

• Specific

  • Narrow it to be specific so you can do effective planning and really envision yourself achieving your goal.

• Measurable

  • How will you measure your progress?

  • Consider whether it’s best to set a process goal vs an outcome goal.  

  • For example: Practice voice 30 minutes a day 4x per week VS Learn to sing through my break.

• Attainable

  • Don’t make them too easy just to protect yourself from failing, but don’t make them so hard that you give up next week. 

  • Make sure it’s something you can reasonably accomplish within a timeframe.

• Relevant

  • Do your goals align with your values?

  • Do you feel excited about achieving them?

• Time-Based

  • Be realistic AND ambitious about setting a time frame for your goals.

  • Break your outcome goals down into steps and set timeframes for when you’ll accomplish each step in the process.

  • Start from the end date and work your way backwards.

    • Where do you need to be at the halfway point?

    • What needs to happen by the first quarter?

    • What needs to happen right away?

Now that you have completed the questions, take a moment to appreciate the work you just did.

See yourself accomplishing your goals.

How will you feel?

How will you celebrate?

Bonus points:

Forward this to a friend who you know is working on clarifying their vision.

The only thing better than finishing it, is completing it with a friend who you can hold mutually accountable to accomplishing what you said you would. Accountability is key.

I hope this gives you some inspiration and tools to create a RECIPE for a life you love. 

Bookmark this blog can come back to it a few times a year. I like to reevaluate mine every 6 months.

This simple process works really well for me, but if you want to go even more in depth.  You might enjoy a book called My Best Year Yet by Jinny S. Ditzler which you can find here. 

I’m also a former member of Brianna Brown Keen’s philanthropic group The New Hollywood where Brianna created a workbook for her goal setting process called Manifesting Your Mission, which you can get here. 

Please note that I am an affiliate for some of the resources I recommend. As an affiliate, I may earn a referral fee if you purchase these products based on my recommendations. Rest assured, I ONLY recommend resources I actually use myself.

Waking Up Your Speaking Voice

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From the moment you open your mouth, your voice is one of the primary ways people gather information about you and begin to create judgments.

If you are someone who wakes up in the morning feeling like you croak instead of speak, you may not be putting your best foot forward when it comes to how people perceive you.

By taking a little time to prepare your voice, you give people the chance to take you in as your best, most confident self.

When people hear you speak with a voice that warmed up and expressive, they are more able to fully receive your communication and feel emotionally moved and influenced by you.

Getting Rid of Morning Voice

Check your vocal hygiene

• Get plenty of sleep. The National Sleep Foundation recommends seven to nine hours of sleep per night for adults to function at their best.

• Hydrate the day before. The vocal cords aren’t exactly your body’s first priority when it comes to hydration. How fast your vocal cords rehydrate is directly related to how dehydrated you are in the first place.  Water will travel to your cords faster if you are already hydrated, so I like to think of the water I drink today being for the voice I use tomorrow!

• Use a hygrometer. Check the humidity of your living and sleeping environment, and consider using a humidifier at night if it’s too dry. 

• Mist with a nebulizer. Nebulizers can be used with saline to directly hydrate the vocal cords.  Some people prefer steaming, which feels good, but the water particles from steam are too large to get all the way to the vocal cords. A nebulizer creates smaller particles which allow the moisture to directly reach the vocal cords.

• Warm up your entire body. A short stretch and brisk walk can help get the blood flowing in the body, which will also help it flow to your vocal cords.

Find Your Ideal Speaking Pitch

Many people speak too low in their range and fall into using vocal fry. This can be tiring to the voice. Watch the video below and I’ll lead you through the following process of finding your ideal speaking pitch.

• Say “uh huh” like you are agreeing with someone, and you’ve got to really mean it, or it doesn’t work as well.

• Use the second pitch you get on the “huh” part, which is usually higher than where you start the first one.

• Play around with speaking around that second pitch you found.

• Is it higher than where you normally speak? It might feel or sound strange to you at first, but it’s most likely that you just aren’t used to it. When I’m using my ideal pitch, I like to think of it as using my “happy voice”.

Warm Up Your Speaking voice

For the same reasons you warm up your body before you exercise, it’s wise to warm up our voices before vocalizing.  This is true whether you plan to speak or sing.

Warming up:

• increases blood flow to the vocal cords

• stretches and relaxes the muscles we use for singing

• gets the voice into vocal balance

• helps prevent injury

Let’s try it…

Mini Warm Up for your speaking voice

In this simple 3 minute warmup, you can take your voice from frog to princess (or prince), so that you have more confidence and build stronger trust with your audience, allowing them to fully receive you and your message.

Feel free to pause the video at any point and repeat each exercise as many times as you’d like until your voice feels warmed up.

Please note that I am an affiliate for many of the resources listed above. As an affiliate, I may earn a referral fee if you purchase these products based on my recommendations. Rest assured, I only recommend products and services that I actually use myself.