WEBVTT - From Inside Voice: Lake Bell and the Mechanics of Singing 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:20.716 Pushkin. Hey, it's Justin Richmond here with the preview of 0:00:20.756 --> 0:00:23.356 a new audio book I had the pleasure of working 0:00:23.396 --> 0:00:28.196 on at Pushkin Industries, called Inside Voice. Inside Voice is 0:00:28.276 --> 0:00:32.196 by the actor Lake Bell, who's long bit obsessed with 0:00:32.316 --> 0:00:35.996 our voices? Why did they matter in such deeply personal ways? 0:00:36.236 --> 0:00:39.116 Why do we hate our voice? In writing the book, 0:00:39.436 --> 0:00:43.516 Lake went down some really fascinating rabbit holes, exploring the psychology, 0:00:43.716 --> 0:00:48.516 social science, and cultural constructs of our voice. She started 0:00:48.556 --> 0:00:51.876 with the mechanics. In this excerpt, you'll hear Lake in 0:00:51.956 --> 0:00:54.916 conversation with ear nose and Throat doc to the Stars, 0:00:55.156 --> 0:00:58.996 doctor Randolph Schnipman. His office is filled with gifts of 0:00:59.036 --> 0:01:02.676 albums and instruments and other memorabilia from a who's who 0:01:02.836 --> 0:01:06.676 of grateful artists whose voices were strengthened or even saved 0:01:06.676 --> 0:01:10.316 by doctor Schnipman. An Inside Voice, you'll also hear the 0:01:10.476 --> 0:01:15.076 iconic voices of Drew Barrymore, Susie Esman of Curb Your Enthusiasm, 0:01:15.476 --> 0:01:20.396 comedian Tracy Allman, Broken Record alum Jeff Goldbloom, and one 0:01:20.396 --> 0:01:23.716 of my personal heroes. You'll know her from Jackie Brown 0:01:23.996 --> 0:01:28.516 Coffee or Foxy Brown. Pam Greer if you're interested at 0:01:28.516 --> 0:01:31.676 all in how our voices make beautiful music or why 0:01:31.796 --> 0:01:35.356 we hate her own voices, I think you'll like this audiobook. 0:01:35.916 --> 0:01:41.156 Inside Voice is available at inside Voice audiobook dot Com, Audible, Spotify, 0:01:41.436 --> 0:01:49.036 and wherever audiobooks are sold. To fully respect anything, we 0:01:49.156 --> 0:01:51.836 need to know what it's made of. So let's find 0:01:51.876 --> 0:01:55.436 out what the voice is made of, shall we. I 0:01:55.476 --> 0:01:58.516 think we need to consult an ear nose and throat 0:01:58.556 --> 0:02:03.916 specialist aka a doctor to get an unboring scientific education 0:02:04.036 --> 0:02:07.596 on the architecture of our vocal tools. God, if we 0:02:07.596 --> 0:02:10.236 can only talk to the E n T doc to 0:02:10.316 --> 0:02:18.676 the stars, someone like doctor Randolph Schnipman. Doctor Schnipman's entire 0:02:18.716 --> 0:02:23.276 office in Los Angeles is lined floor to ceiling with records, 0:02:23.676 --> 0:02:28.876 musical instruments, and other memorabilia from generations of grateful musicians 0:02:28.916 --> 0:02:33.996 and performers whose iconic voices he has nurtured and even saved. 0:02:34.636 --> 0:02:38.036 Schnipman himself is kind of an icon. The man could 0:02:38.116 --> 0:02:41.196 rock a yamica and skinny jeans concurrently and make it 0:02:41.316 --> 0:02:46.636 sing to boot. His own voice is pretty terrific. Long Island, 0:02:46.756 --> 0:02:52.796 New York accent the best I'm an ear nose and 0:02:52.876 --> 0:02:57.276 throat doctor. It's also known as an oto rhino laryngologist 0:02:57.596 --> 0:03:01.036 otto for the ear, rhino for the nose, and laryngology 0:03:01.196 --> 0:03:04.196 for the larynx of the throat. It is my mission 0:03:04.356 --> 0:03:07.396 to help people get the best out of their voice, 0:03:07.476 --> 0:03:10.116 and especially if it's going to help the function better 0:03:10.156 --> 0:03:13.156 in society. Great. And if you had to kind of 0:03:13.196 --> 0:03:18.036 break it down to the layman, everyday galler guy, what 0:03:18.116 --> 0:03:25.916 are the main architectural structural infrastructure items inside our throats 0:03:25.916 --> 0:03:29.036 and necks and noses that we need to pay attention to. 0:03:29.676 --> 0:03:34.596 The vocal cords are a muscular structure that is has 0:03:34.636 --> 0:03:38.356 a membrane lining on the surface and there's a little 0:03:38.476 --> 0:03:41.756 lubricant in between the actual surface and the muscle that 0:03:41.796 --> 0:03:45.116 allows it to vibrate. And when we phonate, we bring 0:03:45.196 --> 0:03:49.356 those two structures together and align them. Similar to when 0:03:49.356 --> 0:03:51.756 you're a kid and you pull two blades of grass 0:03:52.276 --> 0:03:55.596 and put them between your thumbs and you then gently 0:03:55.596 --> 0:03:58.356 blow through it. Those two blades of grass will vibrate 0:03:58.396 --> 0:04:05.556 and make a noise. And depending on your aperture and 0:04:06.236 --> 0:04:08.836 the force of your air that you blow and the 0:04:08.876 --> 0:04:12.716 way you press your lips, and you can affect the sound. 0:04:13.116 --> 0:04:15.796 That's really helpful because I do remember, you know, even 0:04:15.796 --> 0:04:18.076 with my children. Now, if we get a blade of 0:04:18.116 --> 0:04:20.596 grass that's a little thinner, it's kind of like, oh, 0:04:20.636 --> 0:04:22.316 that's not going to do a great sound. If you 0:04:22.356 --> 0:04:24.756 get a thicker one, you know, how fat is it? 0:04:24.796 --> 0:04:27.676 How long is it? So you're saying, our vocal chords 0:04:27.796 --> 0:04:33.716 and our vocal mechanics are all different shapes and sizes 0:04:33.756 --> 0:04:38.076 and levels of strength and the breath that we've pushed through, 0:04:38.236 --> 0:04:41.956 So that's going to all affect the variance and sound. Right. 0:04:42.156 --> 0:04:46.876 But also it's not just the way you present the 0:04:46.916 --> 0:04:49.676 air through those two blades of grass, but it's also 0:04:49.716 --> 0:04:54.236 the actual blades of grass and how they are coordinated. Okay, 0:04:54.236 --> 0:04:56.876 and here's a really interesting question, which is you know, 0:04:56.916 --> 0:05:00.276 when you're like, oh, I sound just like my mother, 0:05:00.876 --> 0:05:05.676 is that actually because mechanics of your vocal chords and 0:05:05.916 --> 0:05:08.596 all the fun fixings in there are the same as 0:05:08.596 --> 0:05:11.036 your mother's. Is it genetic to sound a certain way? 0:05:12.036 --> 0:05:16.436 Is it genetic? Certainly? Bob Dylan and Jacob Dylan sound 0:05:16.596 --> 0:05:23.036 very much alike. I'm getting people your own got my 0:05:23.156 --> 0:05:30.276 window open, and yet I've heard Danny Harrison performing concert, 0:05:30.636 --> 0:05:33.196 and he can sound like an exact duplicate of his father, 0:05:33.236 --> 0:05:53.036 George Harrison noise. So there certainly are going to be 0:05:53.156 --> 0:05:59.156 some genetic phenomena based on the way you're that instrument 0:05:59.596 --> 0:06:04.116 is designed, and I think probably part of that will 0:06:04.156 --> 0:06:06.836 also be affected by when you're raised by somebody who 0:06:06.916 --> 0:06:09.956 uses their instrument that way you we will learn to 0:06:10.036 --> 0:06:12.996 use it in a similar fashion. So I think there's 0:06:12.996 --> 0:06:16.156 a combination. I think it's both. Just to pop in 0:06:16.236 --> 0:06:19.156 here this concept hearkens back to the whole oh I 0:06:19.196 --> 0:06:22.396 sound like my mother phenomenon, And I mean it's not 0:06:22.476 --> 0:06:25.156 just like that for the ladies in the house. Let 0:06:25.196 --> 0:06:28.396 the Dylan men remind us that, gentlemen, you probably do 0:06:28.556 --> 0:06:31.236 sound like your pop. I mean, here's my dad. You 0:06:31.316 --> 0:06:33.956 really don't want any advice for me, believe me. And 0:06:34.116 --> 0:06:36.596 then my brother Houston is another exit there, and I 0:06:36.596 --> 0:06:39.436 don't get off there. I get off fifteenth Street. No 0:06:39.476 --> 0:06:43.436 one gets outsafe from this paradigm. Fellas. People have asked 0:06:43.436 --> 0:06:47.116 me some of the albums that are records that are 0:06:47.116 --> 0:06:49.916 hanging on my wall, They'll ask me, does that person's 0:06:49.996 --> 0:06:52.876 vocal chords look different? And then the follow up question 0:06:53.036 --> 0:06:55.196 is if you look at somebody's vocal chords, can you 0:06:55.476 --> 0:06:57.436 predict that they're going to have a certain voice or 0:06:57.476 --> 0:06:58.796 that they're even going to have a good or a 0:06:58.836 --> 0:07:02.476 bad voice? And I'd say absolutely not. The structure itself 0:07:02.516 --> 0:07:06.476 comes from a standard assembly line in terms of just 0:07:06.596 --> 0:07:10.436 looking at it macroscopically, and it really comes down to 0:07:10.476 --> 0:07:15.476 the way one uses it. You work in the great 0:07:15.516 --> 0:07:19.676 Los Angeles, California aka Hollywood, and you treat so many 0:07:19.756 --> 0:07:23.876 incredible voices and they come to you when in duress 0:07:23.996 --> 0:07:27.276 or crisis, and so I'm curious if you could tell 0:07:27.316 --> 0:07:32.396 me why someone like a Hollywood actor or a sort 0:07:32.396 --> 0:07:34.676 of esteemed singer would even need an E n T. 0:07:35.076 --> 0:07:38.756 What are the plagues and foibles that they go through. Well, 0:07:38.796 --> 0:07:41.316 there's the entire range. I mean, they are people who 0:07:41.356 --> 0:07:45.716 live in this real world and they have obligations to perform. 0:07:45.956 --> 0:07:48.876 So I take care of all the uranos and throat 0:07:48.916 --> 0:07:54.956 problems for performers specific to the performances. Performers can develop 0:07:55.236 --> 0:07:59.756 problems from a cold causing temporary laryngitis, or they can 0:07:59.796 --> 0:08:03.396 develop problems from excess of wear and tear, and that 0:08:03.436 --> 0:08:06.596 can cause more long lasting problems that may or may 0:08:06.596 --> 0:08:10.636 not be reversible. If you could kind of give us 0:08:10.676 --> 0:08:16.156 an example of something that, anecdotally speaking, happened where you're 0:08:16.196 --> 0:08:18.476 called in. You're the big guns and you're called in 0:08:18.996 --> 0:08:21.636 to help. I guess one story that the sticks in 0:08:21.676 --> 0:08:24.196 my mind was there was somebody performing at the Greek 0:08:24.236 --> 0:08:27.716 Theater and I got called at about five o'clock before 0:08:27.836 --> 0:08:30.996 her evening show, and there was an intro band, so 0:08:31.036 --> 0:08:33.636 she had an extra hour and her vocal chords to 0:08:33.676 --> 0:08:36.356 look swollen and inflamed, and she was very anxious to 0:08:36.836 --> 0:08:41.156 not cancel. There's certain little treatments, little tricks that we 0:08:41.236 --> 0:08:45.396 can do on site to try to help resolve those issues, 0:08:45.756 --> 0:08:49.996 little techniques, topical treatments that we can try. Remember she 0:08:50.036 --> 0:08:52.236 even they went out and they told the intro band 0:08:52.236 --> 0:08:54.556 to play an extra couple of songs, so she could 0:08:54.596 --> 0:08:56.996 even say that she could give it even more time 0:08:57.036 --> 0:08:58.956 to work. And then I remember her going out and 0:08:58.956 --> 0:09:02.836 performing and apologizing at the outset, saying that she had 0:09:02.876 --> 0:09:06.876 been struggling. She apologized, and I think subsequent to that 0:09:06.916 --> 0:09:09.116 she even offered them to come back and see her 0:09:09.196 --> 0:09:12.516 perform at another time. Are there any voices that just 0:09:12.876 --> 0:09:14.556 you hear it and you go, oh my god, that's 0:09:14.556 --> 0:09:19.156 the most unsupported. They're killing their internal structures right now. 0:09:19.796 --> 0:09:22.396 Is there a voice quality that almost offends you at 0:09:22.436 --> 0:09:26.076 from a medical standpoint? Well, I mean there's certainly be 0:09:26.116 --> 0:09:29.396 a lot of Harvey Fierstein voice. I mean, the way 0:09:29.436 --> 0:09:32.996 he talks like this, it's probably a combination. I've never 0:09:32.996 --> 0:09:34.836 looked at his vocal chords, but I'm sure they don't 0:09:34.916 --> 0:09:39.676 look great, and mixing that up with his approach, which 0:09:39.716 --> 0:09:42.516 is a real fry type of voice. I would say 0:09:42.556 --> 0:09:45.596 that I hear Harvey Fierstein, and I say to myself, 0:09:46.196 --> 0:09:47.956 that's a voice. I'd be curious to see what it 0:09:47.996 --> 0:09:50.916 looks like, to figure out what combination of things is 0:09:50.956 --> 0:09:54.596 he engaging and listening in order to get that voice. 0:09:55.636 --> 0:09:58.596 I don't believe in God or gods or goddesses, but 0:09:58.716 --> 0:10:01.236 I pray every day, sometimes more than once a day, 0:10:01.556 --> 0:10:04.596 and I operate under a complicated belief system pretty much 0:10:04.596 --> 0:10:07.316 of my own device, which I based on scientific laws 0:10:07.316 --> 0:10:10.636 and humanistic principles, and in a while it works for me.