World‑class session vocals for producers and composers.
Charissa Nielsen helps producers, composers, and music teams bring world-class vocals to life — from major artist recordings to film soundtracks and national commercials.
Trusted on projects ranging from Star Wars and Spider-Man to recordings with artists like Neil Young and Post Malone.
Three roles.
And the projects that defined each.
Session Vocals
Lead and backing vocals for feature scores, national campaigns, and artist records. Remote and in-studio. Pop, classical, gospel, country, Spanish — whatever the score or supervisor calls for.
The soundtrack's opening number — one of the most-quoted choir moments in modern film. Justin Hurwitz's arrangement needed singers who could read pop while sitting under the leads. The choir didn't just back the track; it built the city the leads were stepping into. Charissa was part of the ensemble that anchored it.
Reprise · 2016
Vocal Contracting
Booking and directing singers for choirs, group sessions, and ensemble recording. SAG-AFTRA and non-union rosters across LA. Twenty-plus years of calling the right voices for the room.
Neil Young Called Me.
Not his manager.
Not his assistant.
Neil Young.
A few days later, I was hiring singers for what became EARTH, his 2016 live album. On the album, we became known as the Vanilla Singers.
Directing vocal performance on set for commercials and film — including non-singers asked to sing on camera. Get the picture right the first take, fix it before the audio post does.
Six actors who could sing. One who couldn't. The job: make all of them sound like a choir on camera. Lip-sync where it had to be, real voices where they could be. The hardest part isn't the music — it's reading which actor can be coached to sing under pressure and which needs the safety net. They hire on look; my job is to make sure the sound matches.
Charissa Nielsen
Vocals on scores, national campaigns, and records. Contracting choirs and ensembles when a room needs more than one voice.
The short list.
The credentials.
In their words.
Charissa is a joy to work with in every aspect. Whether she’s singing lead, contracting background vocalists, or managing a full choir — she makes every room calmer and better.
Music Director & Choral Conductor
Charissa Nielsen is far and away the most resourceful, creative, energetic, and connected singer and vocal contractor in Los Angeles. She has a voice like an angel and a rolodex like a fixer.
Grammy-Winning Engineer & Producer
