Originally Posted by Guitarhacker
I had looked at hiring one of those Fiver singers. The initial quote for the song in full was close to $200 and if I wanted the rights to the performance it would cost me over $300 total. If I wanted harmony tracks, which I had mentioned, that would be extra above and beyond the basic single lead vocal. They had specified their "rules" and how many revisions were included. I asked about turn around time and they said several weeks minimum and on this particular song, the deadline was less than a week out.
It was at this point that I thanked the person for their time and consideration but I was not going to move forward. For a song that was most likely to not earn any money, I could not see investing that kind of money in a "for fun" song. I think I ended up getting the Synth V singer at that time and starting my journey down that rabbit hole.
That was pretty confusing to me (your story) and all I can say is from my experience, your handling of multiple singers at the same time was simply amazing. Talk about an exercise in frustration. Wow....

I went to Fiverr after disappointment with SynthV. Some musicians can make SynthV work really well, even impressively, but most that I hear sounds bland and amateurish.

I think had you researched more you'd have found better vocalists as the turn around times are nearly always under a week, plus having had my 2nd vocalist - which was a failure - charge more than the 1st & 3rd together I now narrow my search parameters to maximum start out costs of $20 per 30 seconds, the cheapest being $8.99 as that way the total costs should be well under $100. I can't recall whether you're US or UK, but as I'm in the UK these are my costs so far in £s, though this is for the job only and doesn't include the additional tip and Fiverr's fee for allowing you to tip:

Rock version: £75.56 for a total of 8 vocal tracks.
Smooth version: £69.62 ~ ditto.
1st baroque version: £216.19 for one unusable track.
2nd disastrous baroque version: I was refunded £124.15, but that was an overcharge as the vocalist at the cheapest rate misunderstood the job from the start.
3rd currently in progress baroque version: £105.50, but this vocalist usually does other jobs so doesn't charge the same way as the others - though currently I don't have a good feeling about it and I've an itchy feeling that I have been overcharged. If this goes wrong it'll be because I ignored my own advice: if something feels off from the start hightail it out of there! What I'd felt was off was that this vocalist wanted to do the entire job before putting the order through, which isn't the protocol - it's order first, then the job starts - and the only reason I can think of for breaking protocol would be so she could charge me a lot more at the end. I insisted on following the protocol and thus I already know the cost is £105.50.

I've a series of songs I want to do, only 1 of which may better suit a female vocalist, but all the others require my vocals, though I'll still want female backing vocals which will be a lot cheaper than the cheapest above. My main problem now is that I live in a way too small retirement flat with only plasterboard walls separating me from my neighbour, and out 6 flats in the block my neighbour is the only one who has daily visitors, many of whom stay overnight, so the opportunities for singing as loud as I need to are few and way too far between. Hiring a studio would be far too expensive.

Some favourite Waoist Adages:
#1: Play on the Way.
#13: Ask not for whom the flower blooms, it blooms for you.
#58: Bring consciousness to it.
#63: On the road to effortlessness, effort must be made.
#92: Be Love Now, the rest will come on its own.