Working with Dave Stroud has transformed me from a songwriter who squeaked by in live performances to a vocalist that gets cheers on stage for hitting high notes. He is the real deal.

Until I turned to Dave Stroud, I had a constant battle with my voice when I was on tour. The pain from my strained vocal cords took a significant toll on my performances and on my enthusiasm. Dave helped me learn to control and improve my voice in ways that no other vocal coach had. He’s extremely encouraging and easy to work with, and creates an environment where it’s safe to make mistakes. My career has been improved by our lessons – and my quality of life, too. I’m no longer in pain when I sing, and I’m forever grateful to Dave for that.

I love working with Dave. He knows what the voice is capable of and how to get the most out of it. I love to increase my range and to keep developing my voice like an instrument, bringing more flexibility and greater control of tone and emotion. Dave has been so helpful with this goal. He has even been helpful for song writing as the knowledge he has given me about vowel pronunciation has really helped. He is technically brilliant but never sacrifices soulfulness over technical correctness. When you work with Dave you realize the emotional connection between the voice and how you are feeling psychologically. Some how just working on the voice with Dave becomes a kind of therapy.

I never leave home without my lesson CDs, which I use religiously to warm up before live shows and recording sessions. Being an R&B and gospel singer, I really have to be able to sing through my mix strongly and consistently. Dave has gotten me to the point of feeling so comfortable moving from my chest to middle to head voice, that I can sing for long periods of time without ever getting tired−He’s amazing!

I can confidently say that Dave has not only strengthened my voice, but also my overall outlook on life. He is just as much a life coach as he is a voice coach, and he works on you as an individual artist, catering to your personal needs. He understands that every singer is different, and works on balancing not only the physical health of your voice, but also stabilizing your mental and emotional health, especially during stressful times: studio, tour, etc. He’s not someone that just takes you through a few generic scales and sends you on your way. He caters each session to your specific needs, searching out your weak spots and where work needs to be done.

I sing in a way that is unique to the cadence of the Arabic language. Instead of changing the way I sing, Dave embraced it and gave me the tools to keep doing me without compromising my vocal health. That's what Dave does, he finds you first. Often times, before you get to it yourself. Then he shoves that in your face and gives you power in teaching you how to maintain your "you"ness without hurting yourself. And I'm not just talking about the voice.