Demo Vocalist, Topliner

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

A: I'm extremely proud of a song I co-wrote, co-produced, co-mixed and co-mastered called "Late to the Party" by Rachelle Rhienne which recently was featured on BBC radio 1. I absolutely loved working on this project as well as my own song "Trapeze" which made it up to #3 on the aBreak58 radio station through iHeart Radio, the largest independent radio station in the US. On this project I was the artist, co-writer, and vocal producer/editor.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm currently working on self producing my first full length album, rehearsing for my live shows for next year and helping prepare a series of upcoming releases with other artists I've co-written and co-produced/mixed for including Rachelle Rhienne out of Scotland. I have many other artists I've been writing with worldwide who will be releasing a bunch of music we've co-written in 2025, many of which have landed film placements and placements TV, which I'm thrilled about! I'm busy but I love it!

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I think both have strengths--analog sounds create a palate of nostalgia for me that has a really nice contrast to the crisper textures/frequencies of the digital sounds we use today, but digital also has it's strengths in creating sonic landscapes that hit you really hard. I love when producers combine the two! It can be great to pass a digital song through some analog tape during mastering to give it that final texture/character.

Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?

A: I promise to listen, to deliver your vision to the best of my ability and to show up with my best positive energy! I also promise to be honest and give the best guidance I can that will serve the song in order to get it to the best possible level of quality. I am meticulous with details but I also love to write freely and explore. I promise to create a safe space where we can discover the best possible path for your song. When delivering you vocals on a song I am tracking, I promise to sing from my heart and soul, and from an honest authentic place. I really feel this is the gift of music and it allows others to tap in and feel the message of the song. I also promise to send you back vocals in a very reasonable timeline within 3-7 days.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What commercial use is the song for? (ie demo vocals, a song to be commercially released, etc) Do you have lyrics/melody/a demo of where the song is at now? What specifically are you looking for me to provide? ie writing topline, tracking lead demo vocals, bgv's, etc What project settings would you like me to bounce the vocals at? (typically I bounce at 48khz/24) What part of the song (in a co-writing situation) are you the most proud of? What part feels the weakest? Who are the artists that you'd compare this song to, and which reference tracks have inspired you? Do you have a deadline for this project?

Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A: I really thrive with clarity so having reference tracks and notes on the vision you're after will help us get the song to the place that you envision. Communication is key. :) I'm very easy to talk to and open hearted and I want you to feel 100% satisfied with your art! It's also great when clients give me organized stems to track to with the bpm, lyrics, or anything else I might need (including the sample rate you'd like me to record in).

Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

A: After studying music and getting my music degree in jazz studies as a vocal major I was teaching voice lessons and playing music/writing with my band constantly. We were playing shows and releasing albums of music and repeating the cycle. :) This was where the bulk of my real life experience came with writing, tracking, producing, and arranging. During this time I was also working in the film industry as a voiceover actor and an actor. I stumbled upon sync licensing through a songwriting program and it led to writing music in various projects with people all over the world geared towards sync. I've landed over 75 placements with networks like Netflix, Amazon, T-Mobile, USA Televison, FOX, CBS and more. I've even had a song I co-wrote placed in a feature film with my vocals. I now book writing work and tracking work with clients from all over the globe. I plan to continue releasing music under my artist project while helping others reach their creative dreams as I keep honing my craft as a vocalist, writer, and producer. As Ryan Tedder would say, I want to be a 100%-er.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I'm a mixture of neo soul and pop with flavours of singer-songwriter. I have a sensual warmth to my vocal tone but I can change it depending on the song I'm singing. For my artist project I'm really vibe and groove oriented and I like to find ways to tell stories with lyrics that feel like the poems I write. Think H.E.R meets BANKS meets Lauryn Hill for a party and Jeff Buckley shows up. I know....strange mixture, haha.

Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?

A: I'd absolutely love to write with Ryan Tedder because I took his songwriting and production course and watching his process, it's very similar to how I write topline melodies. He's very intuitive and sings "gibberish" first from a melodic place prior to evolving the lyrics which is typically how I write too. He's such a badass producer and I would love to get in a writing room with him and crank out some hits! His ability to tie melodic hooks with dynamic and unique production is so inspiring to me.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: I would say focus on the core beat or central feeling of the song and whether or not it makes you want to move, or feel something. I always go by my instincts and the feel of a song. Timing is the breath of a track and if it's not sitting in the pocket in the arrangement rhythmically, there's no plugin that will ever fix that root error. Take the time to time your instruments, your vocals, and your core beat to sit in the pocket from the start, so that you're getting a true picture of the song and the feel is with you from the start. It doesn't matter if there's a lot of bells and whistles and ear candy on a track, if that foundation isn't there and feels confusing for our bodies to "feel" it won't land the way that it needs to. The beat has to be in the pocket and really align with the vocals. Those two elements are so key to me. Of course, on top of that, make sure the quality of the recordings, and performances are accurate and top notch from the source recording, and don't rely on mixing to fix issues down the line. Get it right at the source and you'll save sooo much time down the line.

Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

A: I work in a variety of projects at the moment! I work on anything from pop, to singer-songwriter/folk, to EDM, rnb and even country. I write and produce/engineer/edit vocals for my Marina Bennett artist project as well as Scottish artist Rachelle Rhienne, and I write record and co-produce with my indie band The Sea Suns, and a variety of other co-writing collaborations that are geared towards sync licensing. I'm also writing for international artists around the globe looking to build their catalogues of songs. This is my favorite thing in the world to do.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Writing melodies that stand out and captivate and recording industry standard polished vocals that are timed, tuned, and comped to perfection with additional gorgeous background vocal layers and harmonies that make songs stand out and come to life!

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I bring my positive energy, enthusiasm, a high vocal standard when it comes to performance and technique and recording quality, anopen mind, extremely strong harmonic and chord/lyric writing, very sharp instincts hearing melodic ideas off the bat, meticulous with details, skilled at developing rhythmic grooves for songs, creative use of melodic contour, laser sharp intuitive instincts when it comes to hook writing, good at spotting weak moments in lyric delivery, humour, depth, extreme awareness of rhythmic details and production ideas. I tend to put people at ease in sessions and I'm very confident that the song always has a way of coming alive in sessions and it's my thrill to create music that reaches its fullest potential. I'm hard working and dedicated to nail every performance so that clients feel like they got exactly what they were looking for artistically.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Typically a client will send me the project that they're working on, and if it's a fully written song that they're looking for vocal tracking on, we'll have a conversation to make sure that I know what they're looking for in terms of vocal timbre, delivery, and what the song means to them/what they are trying to emote. This might mean being sent reference tracks for the overall "vibe" they're after--I love this part of the process because I love learning about the vision for the song! The song is queen!;) Once we're ready to get started and I have any notes I need from the client prior to tracking I'll ask for half of the fee upfront as a non refundable deposit for my time and get to work tracking ASAP! Within about 3-7 days I will send a check in mp3 with the vocals and some basic reverb/processing for the overall feel and see if the client is into the vibe. If not I allow up to 3 free revisions. Once approved by the client and they're happy and the funds have been released to me, I deliver dry, comped, timed and tuned vocals at 48khz/24bit unless specified otherwise. If for any reason there needs to be other revisions once I've sent the final stems, I charge $75/hour for extra revisions. Typically this is not the case as I'm very meticulous in my work and make sure that we have a really great lines of communication open so that we're on the same page from the get go. :) In other projects an artist will come to me with an idea, but it needs some support in refining the lyrics, the arrangement, the melodic contour, the hook, the concept, and it needs a vision for the production/overall dynamic arc of the song to get it to the modern market. I think very much like a writer and a producer in one, so when I listen to any song I often hear it fully produced, even if it's only on guitar or piano. In these cases I work with writers and artists to develop/co-write the seed of the song until it feels really solid and has depth and excitement. In these cases we will get together for one to two sessions: we will hang out on zoom and get to know each other and chat about the song and see what it needs and get to work discovering what serves the song in the best way. We will have fun and throw paint on the canvas until something feels REALLY good!! This part to me is like MAGIC! I love writing so much and connecting with others. Sometimes these writing sessions only take one meeting and we fix the issues right away, leaving the artist with a completely revised version they're thrilled about. Other times we might spread it out into a couple sessions if need be. In any writing scenario I ask for 50% of the publishing and 50% of the writer's share, unless discussed otherwise. Getting the business out of the way means we can really relax and let the muse come. Once the client is thrilled about the song, the remaining fee is paid. :) In some cases a client will send me a beat or some kind of instrumental, and ask me to topline it, in which case I will get to work writing, and send over the client an mp3 of a scratch vocal stem with my ideas after refining the concept that we both chat about together, similar to what I discussed above. Once I know the vision and 50% of the deposit fee is provided, I get to work writing and recording! We can check in periodically to make sure I'm on the right track with the vibe the client is looking for. We sign a contract for the writing splits together in a split sheet I provide prior to working on it together. Once I am finished I will send an mp3 of the song for approval by the client, upon which payment is released to me. Sometimes they will also want me to sing the lead vocals for a demo in which case, after the final mp3 is approved and the funds are released, I will also send the comped timed and tuned dry vocals. In some cases I will be sent a song to sing bgv's on- in which case the same process occurs. I will chat with you about the song and which kinds of harmonies you're looking for in which section, and see if there's any reference tracks you can show me so that I know the vibe you're after. :) If you have absolutely no idea and want me to compose background vocals for your song, I charge a little more (150+) and after chatting with you I'll go ahead and arrange a bunch of beautiful harmonies to elevate the song. This is where my choral background comes out full force and all those early morning rehearsals become worth it! This is more time consuming and involves composition, so depending on the amount of work involved and what you're after I will charge 150+ for these vocal arrangements if I am not provided with any guide harmonies. Open to discussion as always!

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I use a Daking mic pre one, an RME Babyface Pro FS interface, I run Logic X on a Macbook Pro, and use a Gefell UM70s mic as well as an SM7B or my Neumann KMS105.

Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

A: I'm very inspired by H.E.R, Prince, Tori Kelly, Jeff Buckley, Ryan Tedder, Billie Eilish, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Shawn Mendez, Taylor Swift, BANKS, Tom Yorke, Half Moon Run, Radiohead, and many more!

Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

A: My primary work is in recording demo vocals, background vocals and arranging background vocals for clients looking for polished songs to release to the world. I also love to topline for clients looking for songwriting on a project, and I edit vocals as well (comp, time, tune ). Sometimes clients are close to finishing a song and need a hook or something catchier to tie it all together, other times they need a vocalist who can emulate the emotion of the song they've written for their demo. Every project has it's unique needs that I'm dedicated to delivering at the highest level possible. It's my absolute passion!

Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?

A: Kimera Morrell is a friend of mine and she's an absolute legend! She's a killer vocalist, topliner, producer and overall boss. She's a huge inspiration of mine!

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love people! Everyone has a story and I love learning about others through song. It's an honour to get to bring a song to life through my voice, and I don't take it lightly. Getting to feel into these emotions we all share and elevate songs that aren't released into the world is magical alchemy! I love it so much! Hearing a client that expresses their joy when they hear the final product makes my heart really happy!

Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A: How long I've been doing this for. I would have to say I've been singing since I was in elementary school. I've been singing professionally since I was about 17 years old in various gig situations. This is my ultimate passion!

Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

A: Even the smaller jobs like singing background vocals takes dedicated time and energy, because no matter what every detail counts. Everything that is sung or expressed in your song needs to have intentionality and can't just be thrown on there without thought. This will elevate a song or break it and some people think it's quick to just "throw on some harmonies". I really pay attention to details like how the singer is singing so that I can seamlessly blend my vocals in with them and not just stack a different tone on top.

Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?

A: -my Gefell mic -my Babyface interface -my laptop -my Nord electro -my Morgan guitar