Features
Jam WIth Vam Festival
By Charleston Rothschild
May 13, 2008, 11:23

Jam With Vam Festival
Must Hear

If American Idol’s auditions prove anything, aside from being hilarious and the only part of the show worth watching, it’s that if people could hear their voices as the rest of the world does, perhaps they’d think twice. Or maybe they’d get better. With the advent of the Vocal Acoustics Monitor (VAM for short), Byron Cancelmo hopes to help vocalists improve their delivery not only in the studio, but on stage as well.

“It’s all of the above,” Cancelmo says. “It’s gonna help you improve your pitch. Most people don’t have the opportunity to be in a studio, when you wear headphones and you sing into a condenser mic, you’re in an entirely different environment, you're hearing yourself totally upfront. If you could hear yourself like that all the time, people would develop some amazing vocal techniques. Generally, when you hear a live band and listen to the studio version, it sounds different because their environment’s changed. The VAM gives you that studio environment everywhere.”

The JAM with VAM festival is not only a celebration of Cancelmo’s ingenious invention, it’s also a chance to rock out with local luminaries Breathing Underwater (pictured) and L.A.’s Magnetico featuring Brazilian guitarist Rafael Moreira from the reality show Rock Star, both of whom have used the VAM to step up their game. “I delevoped the Vocal Acoustic Monitor over the period of three years,” Cancelmo says. “So I was very busy. I was Vice President of a plastics company and I wanted to see if Jake [Breathing Underwater frontman] wanted to try the vocal tool. Jake was like, ‘Byron, that product is amazing. I been using it in practice with the band and I have better vocal endurance. I’m not pitchy, I’m not screaming.'”

Well, get ready to jump and scream at JAM with VAM because not only will Breathing Underwater be rocking the crowd with their ultra pumped-up round of hits like “Call Back Baby,” but you can also try out the VAM for youself, as there will be kiosks set up at the event. There will also be a VIP party with local importers Jaguar Vodka and a portion of the proceeds from the night will go to Gleaners Food Bank of Southwest Michigan to help fight hunger, an issue Breathing Underwater feels strongly about. The VAM came about from a simple idea, but it could go on to helping a lot of people find their voice.

“I never thought it would have anything to do with a microphone,” Cancelmo says. “It was really just when I was in a recording studio in-between sessions I would be re-singing my stuff and I just wanted to hear myself. I’d go to the corner, go to the hallway and I was like, ‘There needs to be something where I can just sit here with a tube or something and be able to just hear myself clear.’ I thought about it, went home and there was an empty paper towel roll, I cut a v-notch in it, bent it in a j-shape structure and then cut an ear and mouth opening and I went, 'Check 123,' and I was just stunned. So I just used that in a studio and being in a plastics company I began working with an engineer to sculpt the vocal acoustics monitor.”

It won’t help one breathe underwater, but if it helped Breathing Underwater, maybe you’ll hear the truth without the help of Simon Cowell.  | RDW

JAM with VAM • 5/24 • The Crofoot

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