Mister Tim

"Mister Tim had the whole audience in stitches. He's a talented singer, but he really wowed us with all the things he can do with his voice and his pedals. It was unforgettable." - Kettering-Oakwood Times

Boldly going where no solo vocalist has gone before, Mister Tim is a solo vocal live-looping singer, songwriter, and performer who actively pushes the boundaries of the size and scope of sound and stylistic impact that can be produced by just one person and one microphone. Mr Tim proudly uses the TC-Helicon VoiceLive 2 and VoiceLive Touch to complete his sound and inspire new directions.

I have songs that were written based around cool sounds I found in the VoiceLive 2's presets.

“Music was always around me while I was growing up. Mom and Dad played and sang in a folk music-like group together in the 60’s. Our family parties always included music on both sides of the family and my siblings all played in the band or sang in the choirs at school, so music just felt natural.

Mister Tim and MicsShowing a decent amount of aptitude for music, I attended the University of Utah where I switched from French horn to voice. I eventually attended the University of Colorado to study for a Master’s degree in choral conducting. All the time I was in school, and the few years between, I was creating, directing, and singing with a cappella ensembles (the most well-known being moosebutter), as well as with bands (ska, oldies, folk, bluegrass), in music theatre productions (Forever Plaid, murder mystery dinner theatre, specialty shows), and doing things like improv comedy training and drumming on junk (a STOMP-like percussion ensemble I started called The Bucket Brigade). Since 2005 I’ve created about a dozen new award-winning a cappella acts, including my solo live-looping project. My solo act came about because I wanted to gig out more than the singers in my groups did. I don’t play guitar or piano like most songwriters, so I had to find a way to be able to perform solo. Live-looping was the way, and it’s been very good to me. My myriad of other groups came about just because I am a compulsive group-starter.”

Recently, Mister Tim has been using the VoiceLive 2 and VoiceLive Touch to create and enhance his vocal sounds, “Greg Barker from VoiceCouncil Magazine told me about it when he was interviewing me about the moosebutter “Star Wars” video. At that time I was developing my solo show, and it was a revelation to have this amazing box that gave me a whole new palate of colours to work with. I’ve been actively following TC-Helicon and the VoiceLive products since then, so when I saw the Touch I went bonkers… schemed and schemed until I could get one, and I do not regret it.”

He continues, “The VoiceLive 2 radically changed what I was able to do as a solo performer. I was doing live-looping, but I was very limited because all my songs sounded the same. With the VoiceLive 2 I was suddenly able to change my sound, add textures and effects and create new and fascinating sounds that broadened the range of what I could do. I have songs that were written based around cool sounds I found in the VoiceLive 2's presets. I have songs that work because of ‘tricks’ I can do with the VoiceLive 2. And all my songs just sound better because of the great VoiceLive 2 effects. With every song I sing solo, and most I sing with my groups, I slap the reverb and delay FX on to make it sound better.
I frequently use hard-tuned effects to create pitched drones, and sometimes as a ‘pitch pipe’ feature. I also use lots of filters, radio-like effects and HPF/LPF settings to give variety to the all-vocal loops. I can’t overstate how important it is to have more control over my sound on stage. I am a do-it-your-selfer, I taught myself audio recording, editing, live sound engineering, graphic design, video editing and more so I could do all these things myself. Being able to make great sounds and have total control (if I want it) over the FX in my performance… pretty sweet. The VoiceLive Touch appears that it will be just as, if not more, important to me if for no other reason than the looping ability is OUTSTANDING. Not to mention that the touch controls are sweet, the stand-mount system is brilliant, and the onboard sounds are fantastic.”

We asked Mister Tim how he would categorise his style of performance, “A cappella music is hard to categorize, since it is its own… thing, but it’s not really a genre since you can sing any style of music a cappella. I write and perform, solo or with groups, pop, rock, jazz, world, funk, classical, contemporary choral, and all kinds of mixes and matches of all of the above. My solo work tends more toward indie rock/funk, but there is a lot of acoustic singer-songwriter in it, even though I’m not really ‘acoustic’ and I don’t play an instrument.”

Mister Tim cites a vast range of influences from which he draws his inspiration – “Mozart, Bobby McFerrin, Midnight Oil, Hot Chip, The Moody Blues, Wynton Marsalis, The Beatles, PDQ Bach, The King’s Singers, Take 6, John Phillip Sousa, and countless composers whose music I’ve played/sung through the years in symphonic bands, jazz bands - tc-helicon.com

Marisa: Very theatrical, in an understated way; SUPER smooth transitions

Amy: Yeah, it’s very clear almost immediately that he is not improv-ing here, at least not for the most part. These are compositions, charted and tight, that he performs this way (or close to it) each time.

Marisa: He shows incredible range: he does a pop song (“Billy Jean”), dirty bass (“I’ve seen zombies in the street…”), buzzed bass and more macabre lyrics (with Indian-sounding B section?), bouncy-but-creepy disco with whisper (“cupcakes can kill you if they’re made of death / fear the cupcakes, the cupcakes are coming…”), story-song (“make my cornflakes taste like sadness…”), and back to pop mashup (“Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This”)

Amy: I wrote the word “macabre” too. I suspect Tim will take that as the compliment it’s meant to be! I think Tim is one of the best lyricists in the a cappella world today. He’s definitely taking chances. I can’t wait to see how he progresses as a solo act.

Marisa: Overall, uber-impressive as an act – polished, and dark, and fun. - The Contemporary A Cappella Society

Vocal Magic is a multifaceted one man show that hinges on Mister Tim’s prodigious vocal textures, far-reaching vocal range, and his ability to work three sound effect pedals that enable to sing with himself and mix his voice in real time–a process called live looping. Part stand-up comedy, part poetry slam, and part performance art, Vocal Magic was like nothing I had ever seen before. My first thought: If T.S. Eliot could have sang and Allan Ginsberg had known how to beatbox and been stuck in one body, they could have been reincarnated as Mister Tim. Vocal Magic was like nothing I’d ever seen but it was definitely something I wished to see again. - www.motleyvision.org