Topliner, Vocalist, Songwriter

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

A: Producers & Mix Engineers: Max Hurrell (Producer, Mixing Engineer, Vocal Editing), Adam Neilson (Writer - Producer - Mixer), Matt Dougherty (Mixing & Production), Jeff Schoeny (Produce + Mix + Master + Beats) Male Singers & Writers: Michael (Top Line, Lyric, Vocal), Michael McQuaid (Emotional Vocalist & Topliner) Female Singers & Writers: Jesse Ritter (Nashville Vocalist/Songwriter), Brittany Hadley (Singer-Songwriter), Summer Hazelwood (Singer, Songwriter, Topliner), Julia Ross (Vocalist, Billboard #1 Songwriter), C. Joleene (Session Singer & Songwriter), Krysta Youngs (Songwriter/Vocalist), Brittany Bouchard (Vocalist + Topliner + Songwriter) Drums: Kyle May (Drummer, Producer, Mixer) Guitar: Peter Ferguson (Musician, Producer, Mixing) Film Composers: Becca Schack (Composer, Producer, Singer)

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

A: I co-wrote Tritonal's "Electric Kids" with my best friend (and featured vocalist) Linney. It was both of our first times on a Billboard chart, and it was beyond special to be able to share that moment with one another.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm currently working on several songs for my own artist project, and I'm on the writing teams for the upcoming Linney, CruiseControl, Frye, and River Lane releases. I run a recording studio and artist development business with my husband (Songbird Society) and we are working on releasing several online courses on the topics of vocals and songwriting through our website.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both! Digital has democratized the music industry, making music creation much more accessible to everyone. Analog brings a warmth and character that can't quite be digitized (yet), and blending the two together creates beautiful tones.

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

A: I promise to deliver a high quality product with fair terms.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love that I get to connect with people of all walks of life through the common humanity of emotions.

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

A: I often get asked about how I come up with harmonies, and the answer is a bit complex. But in short, I have studied music theory and aural skills to the extent that the emotional functions of both melody and harmony have become ingrained in my brain's instinctual functioning. I also get asked about my turnaround times, and that answer varies on my current schedule. Usually within 2 weeks.

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

A: That I'm just magically blessed in my level of talent. I have been working at developing my craft since I was 9 years old and am continually enrolling in new professional development courses to expand and further develop my skillset.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What is the project's turnaround time? What are your top 3 goals that you're hoping this project helps you work closer toward? What's the #1 most important thing that the project needs to get across to the listener?

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

A: You (generally) get what you pay for.

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

A: Assuming accessories don't count... Laptop, Apollo x8, Lewitt LCT 140 Air, Midi Keyboard, Backup Drive.

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

A: When I was 7 years old, I asked my mom if I could move to LA to become a singer. When she said yes, I cried... not realising that she meant when I graduated college. I began voice lessons at age 9, and when I hit 15, I began taking work trips to LA to write, record, and train. I released my first album at 16, and at 18, chose Belmont University in Nashville, TN as my home to hone my skills in both vocal performance and music business for the next 4 years. I finally made the long-dreamt move to Los Angeles during my final semester of college, and spent the next 8 years writing, recording, and teaching independent artist skills at the collegiate level. In the middle of the pandemic, my husband and I moved to Australia, where we have recently opened up a recording studio and artist development company called Songbird Society.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Catchy, yet interesting pop melodies delivered through bright, quirky, and harmony-rich vocals.

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

A: If I could get over my absolute awe of being in her presence, Katy Perry. Analysing her songs introduced me to so many great songwriting tools and led me to learning who Max Martin, Esther Dean, and Bonnie McKee were.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: The #1 thing to prioritise in a vocal recording session is not the technical proficiency of the performance, but the EMOTION behind the performance that's being given. 55% of human communication is delivered through body language, 38% is through intonation, and 7% is through words we're actually conveying. When recording, 55% of your ability to convey emotional information flies out the window, as nobody can SEE your performance when they're listening to your track. So, in recording sessions, you have to make sure that the 38% of emotional information that you can give through intonation is ramped up by about 2.5x to make up for that 55% of missing info. You can fix a lot of things in post, but one thing you can't fix is emotion.

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

A: The two most common genres that I work in are pop and electronic, however, I also do work in country, r&b, hip/hop, rock, and alternative.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Text-painting! If you're unfamiliar with the term, all it means is musically reflecting the literal meaning of a song's lyrics. I do this through vocal delivery and intentional construction of the melody, harmony, and rhythm. I'm able to do this well due to my extensive music theory background.

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

A: Rick Ruben, Max Martin, Julia Michaels, Pharrell, Kimbra, Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus, Sara Bareilles, Cheryl Crow, Charli XCX, Tove Lo, Sigrid, Bülow, Esther Dean

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

A: I do quite a lot of EDM top-lining and deliver not only lyrics and melody, but fully-edited, radio-ready vocal recordings complete with stacks, background vocals, and adlibs.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Highly practiced and honed-in craft. I have been studying music theory for 14 years and am especially skilled at pop music theory (student of Asaf Peres, Top40Theory). This allows me to construct catchy, engaging melodies and emotional harmonic landscapes. I am an expert vocalist that has 21 years of training under my belt, which allows me to record emotional, yet pristine pop vocals that meticulously align with the click, stacks, and harmonies. Plus— I am a highly sought-after songwriter for my authentic and emotional lyrics.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I write and demo the song on my own using Logic. Once the song is ready to record, I bring in a professional engineer/vocal producer to capture and edit the final vocal in ProTools so you can get the highest quality recording possible.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I have 2 control rooms: a large control room that was explicitly designed for professional mixing and mastering, and a smaller control room full of creative gear to write and record from, plus a purpose-built live-recording room. I use an Apollo x8 as my interface, have a selection of nearly a dozen microphones, and use ProTools, Ableton, or Logic as my DAW, depending on which phase the project is in.