Music is subjective and art is subjective.
To me, hes got one of the most beautiful voices of all time.
To learn to sound like Dylan, Chalamet enlistedEric Vetro, whos become Hollywoods go-to vocal coach.
“I had to override my quest to make people sound better all the time,” says vocal coach Eric Vetro.Macall Polay/Searchlight Pictures; Ken Sawyer
Bob Dylan has a very distinct voice.
Hes a great singer, though perhaps not on a technical level.
Its something very specific.Ive done it quite a few times.
What I do is wrap my head around, What is the essence of this person?
What makes their voice stand out?
The tone, the way they pronounce words, all of that.
We have a go at work on the essence of the person, not be an impersonation.
Theres such a big difference.
We were lucky to have more time to work on Dylan than we had onWonka.
Hes actually communicating and talking and his feelings are coming through.
When I was much younger, I didnt do that as much.
It was more about listening to the words and the music and the message.
I find it so interesting that he sounds young and simultaneously old at the same time.
Even when he was young, he has that energy of an old soul.
Thats how we would start.
Then we would start bringing him into probably a little bit more what you would call front-nasal exercises.
If he was going to take a voice lesson, how would he do it?
How would he feel about it?
Would he want to do it?
Me, yay yay, yay.
You see where that is very nasal, its very forward.
You could also do me, yee, yee, yee, yee.
Did Timmy ever show up in character?I would see Timmy morphing into Bob more and more.
And I was struck by how natural it all looked.
It looked like he had been doing this forever.
Like it would with Bob Dylan.
Ill tell you a story.
I have an assistant/handyman, Josh.
One day Timmy was early, and he was waiting outside.
Josh went over and said, What are you working on?
And Timmy just started singing and playing it, standing on the driveway.
But I also was like, There you go.
She has that high soprano and also a very distinctive vibrato.
That can be difficult for someone to get in general, especially for someone whos never sung before.
But Monica is similar to Timmy in the sense that shes very diligent.
She would always bring a book with her to take notes on everything I told her.
We would listen together, and pick out, where is the vibrato stronger or heavier?
Where is it a little bit less?
Where is her voice a little stronger?
Joan Baez does have a pretty strong and aggressive attack on the music.
Its not a soft or demure delivery.
The difference between their approaches to folk singing was quite stark.Oh my God, completely.
Because Joans voice is so different in todays world.
How many pop singers do you know who sound like that?
Whereas with Bob, he didnt take big, huge breaths.
It wasnt like, Im going to hit the back row with my voice.
And I was like, No, thats not a healthy way to achieve it.
We can achieve this sound without hurting your voice.
So just because were doing the same thing doesnt mean were going to sound the same.
We have different vocal cords.
When I listened, I thought, OK, I get this.
Its a little in the back of their throat and then its a little bit up.
So you’re free to hear how it would have morphed into his own voice.
Im so old I have seen so many styles and lifestyles come and go.
People are much more aware of their physical health, their mental health.
He wasnt doing it out of ego.
He was doing it out of this real, genuine compulsion to express certain thoughts and ideas.
His intensity drew you in.
You felt that sincerity.
I think Timmy captures that, because Timmy is that pop in of person, too.
Thats my entire life, making someone sound like they have a better voice, a beautiful voice.
But this experience working with Timmy overrode that.
