Hi all,

This should be a interesting test. I put a general request out on fiverr. Three people have responded so far. One came back and said they would do the work for $30, another for $50, another for $220.

I gave them all the same instructions. I stated a budget of $200.
There seems to be a very wide range of asking price on fiverr's site. Some of that may have to do with what country the people live in and the availability of work.

As the total cost of this experiment is less than a high quality Nashville session vocalist would charge, it will be interesting to see the results.

Any feedback on your experience with the cost on fiverr?

Cheers,

Billy

Billy,

One other part of the cost equation maybe experience level as a professional vocalist.

A person might have a wonderful voice but little experience singing for pay. So they have no idea what to charge.

Yes Jim, I also think experience level could very well have a bearing on the cost. Like any service, it is worth what someone is willing to pay for it on a given day. Also how badly the seller needs money at a given moment. Put Covid-19 in the mix and it is anyone's guess. Many people, especially musicians are having a hard time finding work.

I get the impression that many of these people offering vocal services are not really professional session musicians. That does not mean they can not sing well. I think it does mean that the ability to communicate ideas to them may be more difficult. It is difficult enough when you are standing side by side with the vocalist.

Any live studio I have been in has a very good idea of what their vocalist can and can not do. It is not easy to become a professional session vocalist.

All of those I have worked with over the internet from fiverr or soundbetter have given time to completion dates. They only sometimes keep those commitments.

We will see how this goes.

Cheers,

Billy

Thirty sounds to me like an introductory price for new Fiverr, though he/she may just be wanting to undercut. If he/she is successful and getting good gigs, I'd expect that price to rise. Two-Twenty sounds like it's probably a "Pro Certified" Fiverr account. I'm not sure how that is achieved--perhaps by reaching a certain level, or perhaps by demonstrating credible bona fides as a music industry professional, or maybe some other means.

In my looking 80-100 dollars for a vocalist for a full song seems about middle. Shorter vocals seem to hit about 20-30 USD a minute as a median.

If I had a good overall experience, I tipped well. My (Italian) sax player delivered three times more material than I requested and followed my instructions extremely well, short of my providing him charts. I almost doubled his asking price in a tip.

Geography likely plays a role. What I paid the flute team would be some padding on a week's pay for a low-end American worker--maybe a bit extra for the month. To a pair of Sri Lankans, it more nearly approached BEING a week's pay. Plus Tip. And happy to do it.

I'd be interested in your results. On the other hand, a vocal is a very subjective experience. Your 30's overall performance may be 7 and 1/3 times "better" than your 220.

Hi Tangmo,
We will see in a bit what the $220 guy does. He just sent me the .wav while we were writing this.

Be back in a while.

Billy

Here is the dry vocal and song with little mixing. The vocal is OK. It may not be in the right key for this guy. I will have to sleep on this.

https://soundcloud.com/planobilly/darling-final-v1

Cheers,

Billy

I kinda like this guys voice. Clear as a bell with lots of slippin and slidin into the notes including a sweet falsetto. But I can see your dilemma. If you want to hear more you have to pay... But that is called investing in the song.

I listen to this a dozen times or so. There is nothing wrong with his vocal. Like it, don't like it, that is all subjective.

There are some technical issues with his singing but this was never intended to be some highly polished technically correct production.

It was to be played live with who ever the vocalist in the band happened to be at any given time.

As I have gone back and listened to this I think I want to simplify the song and take the piano out. Drums, bass, two guitars, organ, and the vocal.

The really good thing about BIAB is I now have a much better idea if I like the song well enough to spend the time and money to get it recorded just how I want it.

I don't have the skills to play the lead guitar the way I hear it in my head.

As far as getting a vocalist from fiverr, so far there have been no surprises.

Cheers,

Billy

I agree, the song is worth investing in.

When the girl comes back with her take on this song I will post both versions. The song is or can be pretty gender neutral.

I hear this song needing a raspier kind of voice, like Gregg Allman's cover of "Need Your Love So Bad". And in fact, this song is almost exactly the chord progression as that one. This guy's voice is nice though, and it would do. Thing that matters most? Also consider the end game here. IS this going to make it on to someone's CDs so you earn your money back? This can be an investment or an expense. I am REALLY interested to see how this plays out.

Do YOU like it?

It's your song, your vision, and nobody can hear the music as you hear it in your head.

To be honest, I can hear THAT guy doing some of MY songs! LOL!!!

Hi Eddie,

Very strange thing about "THAT guy". The first thing he said before he had any idea of what I wanted, he said you can not use my name on any of this. I have no idea why. I really don't care as it is none of my business. He is not someone famous as far as I can tell.

Do I like it? No not yet, but not because of the vocal.

Women around me say this makes them want to cry. Poor guy...his girl has gone away, so sad! Well...I have no control over what other people feel, think or do. Any song that evokes strong emotion has something going for it.

I could care less what the song cost. I have little interest in money and even less interest in anyone knowing who I am. I don't want to sign autographs at the restaurant. I don't want people knocking over chairs to get to me to take a photo when I walk into BB Kings place in LA. Due to health issues, I am unable to actually play guitar any longer to even suit myself.

All of this is just fun stuff, much better than drinking gin and setting around watching TV. I am just sitting here waiting to see who dies first, me or Covid-19. I miss my boat, my friends, and the open ocean.

Anything is possible, but I am far from being the one to write the next hit song.

Cheers,

Billy

That response is what I shoot for with every song I write. When you can touch that emotion with your lyrics, you have arrived. Very hard to touch both cerebral and visceral.

Sounds again like your 220 is a Certified Pro account. Either he's ashamed of the gig (unlikely) or he has some level of reputation that he doesn't want associated with Fivver. Who could blame him? "Dude, you did it for Billy for 220...why should I pay you 500* for the same thing?"

I'm with you on the "investment". I will NEVER EVER EVER recoup all the money I've spent on this hobby. I'm not even trying. The "investment" is in the song and in my enjoyment of the process and the results. I am far too large a chunk of my "audience" to ignore.






*500 is just a wild guess. I ain't never done a'did it, so I have no idea at all what a pro singer earns for cutting a demo. Some of you might.

Hi Tangmo,

I assume there could be many reasons for someone to withhold their name. Tax issues, legal contract issues with labels. Divorce issues...lol

I don't have any real experience with any of this internet "gig" work.

I read that $350 is sort of a "normal" price for a Nashville session vocalist. I have also been told that the price is higher in both LA and New York.

As far as drummers, guitar players, bass, and keyboard, it looks like somewhere $100 to $200 is the going rate. Who knows what it would cost to get a French Horn player. Matt may have some idea about that.

I have read on the internet that to make a demo in Nashville with a professional studio should cost somewhere in the ballpark of $500 to $1000. Cost sometimes exceed $1000, but not by very much.

Fiverr categorizes their sellers as Top Rated, Level 1, Level 2 and recommended. Top Rated are not always the most expensive.

There are dozens of singers advertising to do short clips for $10 to $20 dollars. I have had offers from pros to do a short clip of my material for free to see if I liked them.

At the end of the day, I assume one would need to spend some amount of money just to figure all this out.

What someone would charge may very well depend on how much they have spent on acquiring the skills they have. Getting a degree from Berklee School Of Music nowadays is somewhere around $200,000 dollars. That would take more than 1000 gigs at $300 to even come close to breaking even.

Cheers,

Billy

Here is pricing from one of the better studios in Nashville.

http://www.beairdmusicgroup.com/prices


Premier Demo - One Song – $650 (The 'Demo' is intended for pitching/promotion)

Premier Master - One Song - $795 (The 'Master' includes signed work-for-hire forms and allows for unlimited sales). Vocalists also charge more if you will be using one of our singers and need them to sign work-for-hire forms. Clients may not use the name or likeness of performers who sign work for hire forms.



Their vocalists pricing is generally $100-$175.
Though I'm not sure you can get just a vocal (if you do not use their demo service).


These vocalists are the best in the business.
Many of them have been doing Nashville demo work since the 90's
I have demos that some these people sang on (in the 90's).
(One of them came to my house once to do some background vocals for a friend.)
They do their homework.
Many will nail the first take.

http://www.beairdmusicgroup.com/female-vocalist-samples

http://www.beairdmusicgroup.com/male-vocalist-samples

I like the guy you have singing... Sounds like one of the smooth soul singers of the 60's and 70's. There's no issue with the key of the song for him. He sounds very comfortable in that key and range.

Regarding the link Floyd sent.... some of those Nashville studio cats today will be the Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwoods of the future. In fact, both of those and more, were singing on demos waiting on their chance at stardom.

Here is the Thirty dollar deal just like it came to me.

This girl is from Argentina so I don't know how well she understands English. Well enough to sing the song but perhaps not well enough to change a few words to make it gender appropriate.

Well, this has been a fun experiment. One of the three people decided to back out of the deal. Said he was not feeling well.

I need to listen to this a few times to decide if I want to go to the trouble of coaching this vocalist to fix everything. She is willing but I would never make someone go through all that for thirty dollars...lol If I decide to get her to go further into this I will pay her.

Fun stuff. https://soundcloud.com/planobilly/darling-final-girl-v1

Billy

Dude's voice fit the song better. It just feels like it is a better fit for his range than hers. And she has some pitch issues. She brought to mind how every bad girl singer overemotes on "At Last" in an effort to sound torchy.

Yes, Eddie, a ton of issues. Actually after a couple of times through this, I don't think she has the ability to fix this. There were some way off pitch issues and phrasing issues. The answers to that only come with training and experience.

This was worth the cost for me to see how I would feel about a female vocalist doing this in general.

This sort of thing would be much less trouble to do over the internet making use of video conferencing. I have no idea why people are so opposed to working like that.

A fun experiment.

Billy

Duet ?

Nah. She just doesn't have the pitch control for this range, and if she brings it down an octave for better pitch she won't be able to hit the lower register notes.