Simon Oldhams on SoundBetter

Top-lines on time, on price and on trend. Catchy hooks, considered lyrics and dynamic vocals. Credits with major commercial clients and publishers.

Established award winning artist with years of experience in the music industry as a writer, performer and producer. Credits with major TV Networks, Radio and Film broadcasters.

I can help you discover and harness the dynamic, melodic and lyrical power of your project. Working together, I can give you the hook and content you need to put your project on top.

I love enchanting melodies and harmonies that wont leave you. I have a particular passion for complex backing vocal beds and textures.
Lyrics tend to be project dependent and determined by the clients brief.
For example much of my recent work has been producing top-line lyric and vocals for trailer music for Sky broadcasting, where the lyric is focused on motivation, power and achievement particularly in sports events and movie promotions.
As a singer I have a broad range of dynamic and power and I am able to provide many different flavours vocally, I write for both male and female vocalist and understand the nuances of each.

Clients are requested to provide a detailed brief and audio reference material. Please also include intended use of finished material.
Please state if you require just a vocal session for your completed song with lyric and melody or if you require a full top-line service with original lyric and melody.
Royalty division to be discussed per job.

I'd love to hear about your project. Click the 'Contact' button above to get in touch.

Credits

Languages

English

16 Reviews - 3 Repeat Clients

Endorse Simon Oldhams

by Roope H.
Verified
What a fantastic musician. Super pleasant to work with, highly professional - and nailed what I needed. More than happy to work with Simon, you should too!
by Nate Kohrs
Verified
Great experience working with Simon! He took a thoughtful and soulful approach to the project and his vocals were emotional and on point. Will definitely work with him again in the future!
by Dawn W.
Verified
Simon is so easy to work with and his professionalism and quality of work is outstanding for
by Kay B.
Verified
I really appreciated Simon's commitment towards getting the track solid-he is a well-tuned generous vocalist that aims to please, and moves swiftly towards the end-goal!
by Ewa M
Verified (Client)
I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to work with such a fantastic musician as Simon. Communication was great and I had such a good time working on this project. I'm happy we were able to build a connection and I hope to work with you again. Thank you Simon!
by Christian B.
Verified
Third time already I have been working with Simon and it's always a pleasure. He has a very unique, yet versatile voice, delivered within one day and sent me a couple of extra options to choose from. Can 100% recommend working with him.
by Bernhard S.
Verified
Si is a nice guy and very hardworking!
by Michael Bedwell
Verified (Client)
Simon was great to work with. Communication was easy and clear. He was friendly and knew exactly what he wanted. Challenging but awesomely funky tune too.
by Just Ben
Verified
Si is just a machine.
Everything is so easy to do with him.I've worked with a lot of talented artists but he is clearly above them.
Si will do whatever it needs to be done to reach the perfection.
Si is also a really good guy, such a good point too.
The delivery was also perfect, he gave me the possibility to choose between several recordings he did, which alows me to find the perfect interpretation, everytime I need it.

I will 200% recommand you guy to hire Simon, you won't regret it at all.
by Christian B.
Verified
Always a pleasure to work with Simon! He has a unique voice, is very responsive and understood exactly what I wanted. Definitely gonna work with him again.
by Christian B.
Verified
Simon did a fantastic job! He was very responsive, fast and cooperative. His voice sounds great and the recording quality was top notch. Definitely wanna work with him again.
by MATTHEW M.
Verified
Simon gave 100% and really came through on my stomp/clap blues rock song. He took the time and really dove into the reference tracks and took the project seriously. He gave me more than enough to work with and was an absolute breeze to work with. With many singers on Soundbetter, once you get the files, there is no room for tweaking and what you get is what you get. But Simon was a total team player and as a result the end product will turn out the best that it can be. Highly recommend!
by Paul McKeever
Verified
Simon has been a joy to work with throughout this project. Communication was great, he was really upfront about everything, clearly understood the brief and took a genuine interest in it. His delivery was spot on, I was so pleased, and no revisions needed at all. Would highly recommend Simon and would definitely like to work with him again.
by Apollo Hyder
Verified
Again, Simon delivered excellent work by adding life, expression and character to this song. I highly recommend working with him.
by Apollo Hyder
Verified
Simon Oldhams delivered exactly what I was hoping for. Excellent job! Happy to work with him again whenever the opportunity arises.
by Manuel B.
Would have given 6 Stars, but sadly that's not possible :)
Fast work, extraordinary voice, superb quality and very understanding when it comes to changes.
Simon is an amazing singer and songwriter, couldn't have wished for more.
Really looking forward to working with him again !

Interview with Simon Oldhams

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: You have to be pleased with what you do, If you're not proud of the work you do, you need to hand back your fee.
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: Rodney Hylton Smith aka Roots Manuva, I met him once when I was stage manager for the VIP stage at Reading.I love his approach to lyric and production and he's just very honest.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: Trailer music and Stock music for a throwback album.
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: I'm a newbe to Soundbetter, I'll come back soon and answer.
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Being human means I don't limit myself to binary questions, I'm analogue because I have fingers and I'm digital because I'd be a fool not to be.
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: "Yes we can"
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: I choose my hours and I love what I do, so I do it as much as I can legitimately.
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: I work with a lot of the same people on projects, we get good briefs and strong deadlines, the most common question is, "can you get it done today"? the answer has to be "yes"
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: Difficult question, I don't think music is as valued as it was twenty or thirty years ago and as such it's hard to make a living you can rely on. We are professionals, who work hard and need income. I think folk think if you're always working you're making a fortune.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: Do you have a brief? It really is the key to getting to the meat and potatoes of a project.
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: Know what you want and make sure you get it by providing a clear brief with focus on the reference material. Audio, lyric, photos, stories, feeling, anything to communicate your vision.
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: Acoustic guitar, blues harp, 8 track, lots of note pads and pens and a piano, so that I finally had time to learn.
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: I've been recording sound since I was eight, I made a demo for BBC radio one when I was 9 with a local radio DJ who said I had talent, Started a band at 14, then was in a million more, got into production hard, made music for video games, radio shows, did lots of vocal sessions for commercial tunes, became a live sound engineer and a promoter running live music venues stages in London and festivals and formed my current band with a bunch of other full time music heads and here we are years later still doing it.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Visceral, gritty, powerful, heartfelt, honest.
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: Keep your bottom end clean, by that I mean take out the low frequencies of all your tracks except the ones you really need, like kick drum, bass etc. everything else gets a high pass filter. Also be polite and make good friends, it's a small world after all.
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: Song based music, from orchestral to folk, funk, soul, blues, cinematic, trailer music they are all songs with beginnings middles and ends.
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: I like to please, especially my clients. A recent client complemented me on my veracity in my approach to her brief and how I pulled out lots of extra stuff from the production that she hadn't considered and really appreciated. I was blow away by the compliment but it's important to get the job done right.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: I love a melody, if I cant remember a song, to me it's not really a song. Melody is what I bring, I see them as paths and build them and intertwine them forming harmonies and journeys through sound. Hooks make the journey make sense and travel that way again. It's got to be catchy.
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: From getting the brief I'll review the reference material, audio reference tracks, lyric ideas, inspirational photos are always good. Then if it's a top line job I'll review the track and let it loop in the back ground and get on with something else to distract me. I then see what comes to the top. I'll get pulled back by a hook line or a lyric and I'll record in rough ideas on the fly, then go from there. A little fairy magic and we're hauling the mail!
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: I have a full live room based around my Mac running Logic. It has a vocal booth, guitars keys etc old skool really. I rehearse my band in there and score all my TV orchestral work. It's great, no windows no distractions just audio. A dream come true.
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: I love visceral artists, those who fuse control with mayhem. Like a wild pony getting rained in.. I love anything with obvious passion and truth, I have a guilty pleasure for gangster rap but also really dramatic orchestral arrangements.
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: Top-line vocals lyrics and melody is what I do most, I have been writing a lot of lyric & melodies for female vocalists for trailer music. It's very dramatic with huge dynamic shifts.