This blog is part 2 in an ongoing series. If you missed it, jump back to part 1 here.

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Fast forward to March of this year when after releasing a few albums of my own that I self-produced in either my bedroom or my previous rentals depending on the record, I was invited to an interesting audition. 

My talent agency, (because I have one of those as part of my never-ending quest to attempt to live life to the fullest and chase my dreams no matter how silly some of them may seem) set it up. 

The scope of the audition was that there was a music producer looking for new singers to work with. The purpose of this was a little unclear, so I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a producer who even works in my own wheelhouse of sound, if it was just for backing vocals or lead, or if it could be for theater or studio. 

The audition summary mentioned that you could bring in original music or you could perform a cover. From there, presumably if he heard something in your voice that was useful to him in some way, you would then proceed to whatever came next. 

It was vague enough that I didn’t want to say no to the opportunity and I felt an audition could never hurt. Heck, just the experience of auditioning for roles is one I wanted to get more comfortable with as up until this point I only had been given one lead from the agency, so even if it led nowhere I knew I had to take part. 

I thought about it for a while and determined the best way to play this was to perform original songs. I am not an Adele-level singer by any stretch and I actually find my voice capabilities pretty specific to the styles I dabble in, so performing a cover might work against me in this case if I choose “the wrong one”. Whereas at least with performing an original, you’re also showcasing your writing talents (or lack thereof) and there’s a possibility if they don’t love your voice, they might like your writing. 

Whereas some people may have only seen one door when they received this audition letter, I saw many.   

Plus, having recorded so much music on my own with no outside opinions to bounce off of, I have been itching for the chance to work with a professional who might be able to provide me with a unique perspective and could guide me to a new direction I didn’t know I could or should be trying right now. Collaboration really is the heart and soul of so many of my favorite records and I am beyond ready to open myself further up to it. 

So I went to the audition. 

I’ll be honest with you here, I didn’t do a deep dive into the guy before going into it because I wasn’t sure if it would make me more or less nervous. What I did know was that the guy came from a certain level of music industry royalty; his grandfather had produced Elvis and was a songwriter for what I consider to be one of the greatest songs of all time. 

I’m no Elvis, and I didn’t know how much production talent may have passed down through the generations, but I remained optimistic. 

I was happy to see to his own credit, he’d worked with popular pop singers as well who by their own right are also a certain level of music royalty. Based on those, I felt if I’d been given the opportunity to work with him, he’d be someone worth being in a room with no matter what the purpose of the project was. 

To try and fine-tune my audition to my audience, I chose two of my poppier songs to perform.

When I arrived to the audition I had to sit outside the room just as I did when I first auditioned for the agency itself. As I sat there I could hear a great singer inside performing along to a full-production backing track. It was like rnb/pop and she had a cool voice as far as I could hear it and I sort of felt I was in the wrong place if that’s the type of singer this guy was looking for, but who was to say? 

Once I was invited in, acoustic guitar in tow, I asked the receptionist if I should even bring it with me or if I should just sing without it. 

“Bring it with you, that’s part of the whole bit isn’t it?” 

Yeah, I suppose it is with me. 

Across the room they had moved the desk I signed my agency contract on and opened up the office floor a little. They sat in two chairs against the wall and I positioned myself in front of them. 

Neither of them got up to shake my hand or anything, so it felt weirdly formal for how casual the setting was. 

It turns out I had to perform both for him and my agent at the agency and after a brief introduction where I explained a little bit fbaout myself (solo artist, music producer, prior professional recording industry experience as an engineer but now focusing on my own music) I pretty much jumped right into them. 

He seemed to enjoy the songs as I played them and although I knew they were not my strongest performances (damn those pesky audition nerves!), I still felt alright about them. 

When I finished he lightly complimented them before asking for more information about me. 

I told him I’d released at this point 3 full albums, some EPs and some one-off singles, and reiterated a bit about my previous work in pro studios and how I’d just started working on my own projects work in 2020. 

I distinctly remember him commenting on that. It was something like, “That’s a lot of work you’ve put out already. What makes you want to work with someone else now?” 

The way he phrased the question almost implied that I was at the wrong stage of things in some way, but I didn’t understand how I could be. I have been barrelling through releases and I’ve been proud of my efforts, but I haven’t been great about promoting and I still feel very far from where I’d like to be as a recording artist. I still feel very green on this side of things, to be honest.

I responded, “I know I can take myself very far, but I would be able to go much farther working with others who can elevate what I’m already doing.”

I really believe that to be true. 

I am not so precious about my music to believe that my opinion and direction of things is the best way or the only route I can take things and I’ve seen and heard first hand the difference a great producer, engineer, mixer and mastering engineer (often separate roles, to be clear here), can be in turning a pretty good recording or a pretty good song into a truly professional sounding recording capable of captivating a listener. I have the utmost respect for truly great engineers who understand how critical their role is not just technically, but in ensuring the artist feels heard and respected every step of the way of the process. 

That experience is one that I know I have also been able to give other artists and is one I expect any time I enter into an agreement with someone in the industry, whether it’s in the studio, in marketing and promotion, in creating a music video or artwork or otherwise. 

He seemed to appreciate the answer and gave a brief explanation of himself, that he worked with singers on productions and then they would help promote and market that work once it was complete, too since he was also kind of an A&R guy. Made sense that he’d be holding auditions, then, I thought.  

On the spot he offered me the opportunity for us to work together on a single and then I was quickly ushered over to our agency’s scheduling staff to book me in for the following week. He said next week we could listen through some of my work and then read the contact and if all was good, we’d proceed from there on the recording. 

It seemed reasonable to me; I wasn’t agreeing to anything yet and would have time to review the terms of the contract which is really important, and ultimately we were leaving on a positive note. A producer with some very interesting experience that intrigued me wanted to work on an original CF song, great! How could this be a bad thing? It couldn’t. 

I booked my time in and then as I was walking out of the agency he sort of called me back quickly, noticing my sweater. 

“Is that a Death Cab for Cutie sweater?” 

‘Yeah it is,’ 

“I really like that band. What’s that singer’s name the main –” He couldn’t find it. 

‘Ben Gibbard’ 

“Yeah him, he’s a great songwriter. I love that one song, what’s it called, it starts with something about the glove compartment… –” He trailed off again. 

‘Oh yeah, that’s Title and Registration’

“Yeah, I love that song, it’s a great song! I’d love to produce a song like that”

‘Yeah that’s a good one for sure, he’s a great songwriter,’ I agreed. ‘I actually cover a lot of their songs in my Death Bus for Blondie project. I haven’t done that one yet, I could learn it for you’

“Yeah that would be cool.”

It was a very positive interaction that had me leaving the experience feeling a little more comfortable even if I found it mildly bizarre with how randomly it seemed to come out at the end. Up until that point, both the producer and my agent had been pretty stoic, straight to the point and all business, so it was like, “Oh hey, here’s some personality for ya before you go.” 

I almost instantly started mentally going through my current song lyric inventory and wondered if any of them would fit a similar vibe to T&R, but the only ones I could think of I’d already recorded and considered complete, so I decided I’d do some more writing that week. 

And I also sat down the next day and started to learn Title and Registration. Nothing is cooler to me than performing a song for someone of a track they really dig and, ideally, nailing it in some way – even if you change it up. 

And I’d been meaning to learn that one for a while anyway. 

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Next up in the series, read Part 3: The Contract.