So you want to be a session singer …

Well, what is a session singer exactly?

It’s the other main type of employment in the music industry for singers aside from the more usual ‘artist’ path. Officially it’s a singer who is a ‘hired hand’ brought in to be part of a live or recording project. These days however, it’s generally considered to be someone who regularly sings in a freelance capacity in a recording studio and which makes up a fair component of their income. The type of work (and pay) varies a lot.

The following are examples of vocal “session work”:

• Lead and/or backing vocals on jingles (commercials) for television and/or radio (eg. “Currys, always cutting prices…”)

• Lead and/or backing vocals on radio station idents (eg. “BBC Radio Twooooo…“).

• Lead and/or backing vocals on new material that songwriters have written (“demo songs”) where you’re generally the first singer to interpret the material, often from a very sketchy guide track. This is generally used to pitch the song to a particular artist’s management or for the writer to get a publishing deal etc.

• Backing vocals on an artist’s track or album.

• Lead vocal feature on songs written by others for release (eg. for the dance market).

• ‘Ghost’ vocals: where your voice gets mimed by or mixed with the ‘artist’ on a released track.

• Vocals for film soundtracks (nb. a very high level of music sight reading ability is generally required for this type of work).

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Points to consider …

Having been a session singer for many years (since 1990) I would suggest that you consider the following questions when deciding whether session singing is for you:

1. Have you had any studio singing experience to know whether it’s your ‘thing’ or not? This is a crucial first step because not everybody enjoys the scrutiny & perfectionism involved in session singing. It’s very different to singing live and is often not what people imagine it to be.

2. Do you learn things super fast, both by ear and through reading music? We’re talking about only minutes here as ‘time is money’. The more musically educated and knowledgeable you are the better!

3. Are you able to change things musically & vocally in a multitude of ways to get exactly what the producer or writer is after? Sometimes they don’t know what they want till they hear it!

4. Do you hear all the full harmony arrangement by yourself? It’s most often up to the singer to be able to sing all the parts innately – it’s an essential part of the job.

5. Do you have very accurate pitching, especially when it comes to ‘tracking’ parts up (ie. doubling, tripling etc)? Can you do it fast and efficiently? A session singer of all people needs to be able to sing in tune!

6. Do you blend tightly in all aspects (eg. tonally, phrasing, diction, vibrato etc.) both with yourself when tracking and/or with other singers?

7. Are you stylistically versatile (eg. pop, rock, soul, dance, jazz etc etc)? For an artist it’s desirable to have a distinctive, identifiable ’signature sound’ and specialise in one style. Conversely, for the session singer it’s preferable to have a more generic, commercial vocal sound which is stylistically versatile in order to maximise work opportunities.

8. Do you have a reliable vocal technique that gives you a high level of control, stamina & consistency? Are you able to sing for hours on end if need be without losing your voice? For example, at times I’ve had to sing for up to 12 hours straight to get backing vocals done on a whole album done in one day!

9. Do you have infinite amounts of patience? For example, with producers who aren’t singers and who don’t know exactly what they’re after or give you odd/vague instructions, or with sessions that start really late. Even if you’ve been waiting around for hours and you’re tired and hungry, you’ve still got to be able to sound fresh & vibey etc.

10. Are you able to generate performance-level vibe in a completely ‘dead’ room with no audience, take after take after take? Many singers find this difficult and need an audience to get them going.

If you answered ‘yes’ to most of these questions then session singing may be something you could consider pursuing.

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How to get into it …

From the outset, you need to be aware that it’s a highly specialised, relatively closed and competitive area. Generally, only a handful of people make a decent living out of session singing because it’s such a specific ‘head-space’ and skill set. To be honest, it just doesn’t suit most singers. Also, there is only a limited amount of work available which generally goes to the tried, trusted and proven few. This is why it’s usually quite difficult for new people to break into the scene.

In order to get good quality session work, you’ve generally either got to be:

a) extremely lucky (i.e. right place at the right time), and/or

b) so naturally good at it that you will eventually be noticed and recommended by other producers, writers or singers (i.e. ‘word of mouth’ working for you).

To get started I suggest that you begin by getting as much experience as you can and be prepared to work for free initially. You need to start to build your network and get your skills well honed. If you have no track record as a session singer then you can mostly forget about contacting the session agencies as they generally only want to list singers with impressive CVs that they need in order to sell your vocal abilities to their clients. For example, check out the singers’ CVs on session agency sites such as www.hobsons-international.com to see what I’m talking about.

So where can you get studio experience then to get the ball rolling? Keep your ear to the ground. Be entrepreneurial. Do your research. Find your contacts. Put the word out to all your musician and singer friends that it’s something you want to try out. It doesn’t generally stare people in the face, but the path is there for people who are observant, committed, determined and sufficiently skilled and talented of course! You should also consider becoming a member of Equity so that you have a network of professional support behind you before you start and guidelines for knowing what to charge in different scenarios.

There are some useful resources readily available for those prepared to trawl through them on a regular basis looking for the little gems of opportunities that pop up, but one of the best and easiest places to start getting session experience in my opinion is by demoing songs for songwriters. Each country will have its own industry magazines and websites, but here in the UK you could check out adverts in “The Stage” newspaper every Thursday and websites such as http://www.soundonsound.com/readersads (under “Wanted – Personnel”), http://www.starnow.co.uk and http://www.gumtree.com.

In order to be ready for the opportunities if and when they come, you will need a great promo pack:

1. flattering, professional quality photos
2. a concise, well-worded biog, and
3. an outstanding and varied demo.

This is the first thing people will ask for when you apply for any session work. A ’standard’ demo is around 3 to 5 minutes long and should be comprised of short sections from 3 or more songs of contrasting tempos/styles. If you are really serious you should consider putting together your own website, or a least have your own page on a free, easily accessible, industry standard site such as MySpace Music http://www.myspace.com/.

For those who are based in and around London, my home recording studio, which is designed specifically for recording vocals, is available at competitive rates for people wishing to record a pro quality demo that adheres to industry standard protocols. Contact info@virtualvocals.com for more details.

I hope this has provided food for thought and all the best for your future career!

Kim

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