work as a studio singer and voiceover artist

The finished CDs from my first Alfred recording session in July arrived today. It’s pretty cool to be able to hear my own voice on the recordings (even if I’m vocally “disguised” as a little kid). I got a thrill from seeing my name on the packaging, too. I can’t wait to update my resume with these new credits!

So, today’s recording session went really well. We recorded 13 or 14 tracks in about 8.5 hours, with a lunch break and a few other bathroom breaks, etc.

Today’s process went something like this:

Arrived at the studio, met the other singers, and we all crowded into a small rehearsal room with the piano. Sally Albrecht, one of the head honchos/composers of Alfred Choral Publishing, assigns each of us our parts for each song, and then we do a quick run through of each tune. I am told that I will wind up singing different parts (soprano 1, soprano 2, and alto) throughout the day (and often within a single piece), so I have to mark my music very accurately. Any notes or tricky spots get marked and briefly corrected, and then we move on to the next piece. We typically looked at 5-6 songs at a time.

Next, it’s into the studio to record. Two of us are on each mic. Through the headphones we can hear the track and the mix through the mics. We can also hear the recording engineer and Jay Althouse, another composer, when they have a comment from the control room. We record a first take, which is usually a little rough around the edges. If there are too many errors, we just do another entire take, then “punch in” to fix small problem spots. Some spots take multiple takes to fix tuning, vowel shape, or cutoffs. Once the producers are happy with the first pass (or track), we go back and record a second track—with me and my stand partner singing a completely different voice part. Since our rehearsal was so brief, sometimes we literally have to sight-read the alternate line during the recording. Once again, we fix problem spots with retakes or punch-ins until the second track is clean.

I wind up singing a brief solo in a choral arrangement of “Hushabye Mountain” from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. At the very end of the session, I wind up being called in to record another solo—this time, an excerpt from the song “The Colors of My Life” from the musical Barnum. I was a little nervous about the solos, but it seemed like Sally, Jay, and Andy were pleased with it.

On my way out, the other singers told me it was nice to sing with me. It felt so great to hear that—I was at least 10 years younger than the other 5 women, and most of them have been doing this kind of stuff for years. Sue, one of the sopranos, was employed by Disney for 20 years! Deb, this alto with a FABULOUS voice (and a professor at the University of the Arts) was surprised to hear that I hadn’t done this kind of gig before. Though I was scared completely witless at the beginning of the day, I felt really good by the end of it all.

Well, I hope I left a good impression with the producers. It’s nice to have Andy keep bringing my name up for these kinds of projects—it’s very fulfilling to work with such great musicians and professionals. Today was definitely a recharge for my artistic batteries!

I’m off to the recording studio tomorrow to sing on Alfred Publishing’s choral releases for 2006!

I don’t get a shred of music until I walk in the door at 9:30 am tomorrow, and then I spend 7 hours sight-singing my way through everything and recording with the other women (this year, I’m only singing on the treble choir releases). I can’t wait!

As I told my students today, I’m getting paid $50 an hour to sight-read music….not too shabby, eh???

I just got another call to record for Alfred Publishing - it’s just another 1 day deal, but I’m still excited that they thought of me. My former teacher (and mentor) started out the same way - he has now been singing and working for the company for over 10 years.

I’m hoping I can start parlaying this into a more regular gig….

The only thing that makes me a little sad right now is when I gushed the news to my husband, he replied by saying, “So what? It’s your sustainable daily wage that matters.” Totally hurt my feelings. We just had a huge fight and he’s sitting on the opposite side of the room pouting at me.

Why can’t he just be happy for me? ARRRRRRGGGGH!

...but it’s so frustrating because OF COURSE you have to subscribe. Right now I have a limited membership and have yet to upload my demo. Supposedly I can receive specific contacts once I submit my demo, but they keep on sending these tantalizing leads that I can’t respond to unless I spend the $190 to subscribe. I’m torn on this. I think I really need to get a good demo done first (which will probably cost me $500) before I drop the cash on the promotion website.

I am currently searching for advertising copy to include in my demo. Any advertising folks out there that would be willing to email me some old copy?

Wow, opened up my email inbox this morning to find a PDF file of the cover proof of one of the CDs. My name is REALLY on there (Sally Albrecht sent it to me to check the spelling)!

Woo-hoo!

...to send a CD to the Producer of Sesame Street and Crank Yankers! I really need to put together a reel that shows off character creation and vocal talent. I don’t know if this will go anywhere, but I’m psyched to get the invite, anyway!

Watch this space!

So, about a month ago I got a call from an old friend/teacher who now works for Alfred Choral Publishing. As it turned out, he wanted me to sing on a set of 3 children’s CDs that Alfred would be publishing in the fall. Not only that, but I had to find 4 kids and prep THEM for the session in only 3 weeks of rehearsal. We had over 40 songs to learn!

When we got to the studio, the kids were SO prepared that we actually finished the session early. I just got a nice little note from Sally Albrecht, who was also on the recording session and is a big Kahuna at Alfred. The note said, “Thanks for ALL you did to make the recording session such a joy! The kids were so very well-prepared, and your voice blended so nicely with theirs. It was such a pleasure making music with you again!”

It made me happy.

Here’s to hoping that experience will open some more doors for me!