Session Vocalist for Hire

I love being a guest vocalist on recordings. It allows me to align myself with other musicians, become a part of their stories. I’ve very much internalized the pace of social media, always demanding new content, and these little collaborations are one of the ways I like to remain current, between releases of my own.

I just signed up for SoundBetter last Thursday. It’s a marketplace for music recording professionals to offer their services in dozens of different categories in music production - all different stages of mixing, editing, mastering, all different kinds of session musicians for every style and instrument under the sun. By Sunday, I had completed my first job, adding backing vocals to a really energetic pop track from a Swedish artist (and received a nice little paycheque too!).

I’m especially excited about SoundBetter because - as I am so fond of saying - it’s important for independent artists to have multiple revenue streams, and I’d really love to grow the session vocalist aspect of my business. I’m torn as to which I like better: the exposure or the money. And, really, any type of work that presents both of these things in tandem is the very best kind of work to have.

I’ve only just started to seek pay for my session work, and it’s mostly just because my main source of income - local performance fees - has been admittedly drying up a bit as of late. There are still plenty of opportunities to host ticketed shows, but these types of events come with a lot more work and overhead - designing print materials, putting up posters, buying online ads, hiring staff, managing ticket sales, etc. The easiest shows are the ones where you can just show up, play, and get paid (with maybe a few tweets and Facebook posts for good measure), but so many of these steady paying gigs (think restaurants, pubs, and the like) have been either cutting back musicians’ pay, offering less live music, ending their live music altogether, or completely closing up shop. It’s a bit unnerving - I have to convince myself that one business closing means another one opening, and keep sending out booking inquiries to new places.

At any rate: all the more reason to branch out into new territory! I’m very excited about being on SoundBetter and I really hope I get more opportunities to collaborate on others’ recordings. I love getting a chance to add my voice to styles of music that I enjoy but don’t directly make - like hip-hop, electronica, folk, and rap. And we have such a lovely little home studio, it’s a joy to get to use it.

My favourite past collaborations are Zeo’s “Back N Forth”, Benji Beach’s “Little Love”, and Sarkastodon’s Aalis, all of which were recorded in my one-bedroom apartment just up the street (and are all embedded here). The Zeo track is just so much fun, so energetic and exciting, and I’m still really proud of the things that I ad-libbed in that song. Benji Beach’s tune is a polished pop piece - I feel he’s like a beautiful lion, so fierce and stunning. And Sarkastodon’s Tom Waits cover was my first real experience in hearing Tom Waits, and I fell utterly in love with “Alice”, this song structured and sung like a beautiful jazz standard - a smoky and enchanting outlier for Waits, but a cornerstone for me. I feel like the “Stranger Things” style production on this track is especially delicious and satisfying.

So! If you’re in need of a session vocalist, or know someone who is, please send them my way, through SoundBetter or even just right here! I’ve set my rate at $70/song on SoundBetter, but I’m extremely flexible and just want to be involved on more recordings. I’ve also marked myself available for writing music, lyrics, and top-line melodies on tracks. And, of course, I’m always available to write you a custom love song for someone special in your life. ❤️