# How expensive is it to hire a soloist to perform on a soundtrack?



## tiago (Mar 12, 2016)

Hi guys! I'm currently working on a soundtrack for an indie video game (still in the very early stages of development) and, while the music will be mostly electronic in the style of Ex Machina and others, I've been discussing with the project lead the possibility of hiring a musician (either a cellist or a violinist) to perform on the soundtrack to give it a bit of a more organic touch. We're currently trying to manage our budget for the game and, as such, I would really appreciate if someone could give me an idea of how expensive it would be to hire a fairly good soloist to play those parts. Any information you can share on this subject is very much appreciated!


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## d.healey (Mar 12, 2016)

It depends on where you are, whether or not you're using a union musician, and the price charged by the recording studio/venue. Probably best to ask around in your local area. There are remote recording options as well that might be better value, like this one:
http://www.sofiaso.com/


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## JohnG (Mar 12, 2016)

You can get someone to do it for anywhere between $75 and $100 an hour. I usually pay $100 an hour. There are guys online who will do it too, including one or two members on this forum.


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## Hannes_F (Mar 12, 2016)

Not as expensive as one would think. I sent you a PM.


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## tiago (Mar 12, 2016)

d.healey said:


> It depends on where you are, whether or not you're using a union musician, and the price charged by the recording studio/venue. Probably best to ask around in your local area. There are remote recording options as well that might be better value, like this one:
> http://www.sofiaso.com/



Thanks for commenting! The indie dev team is mostly based on the UK, so I suppose that, if we choose to record in a specific place, it would be a british studio, but I think that remote recording would really be the better and easier option. Thanks for the link, I'll make sure to take that service into consideration.


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## tiago (Mar 12, 2016)

JohnG said:


> You can get someone to do it for anywhere between $75 and $100 an hour. I usually pay $100 an hour. There are guys online who will do it too, including one or two members on this forum.



Thanks for commenting, John. $75 - $100 doesn't sound as expensive as I was thinking but, as I said in the post above, I would indeed prefer to work with someone that can do it online, as it would make things much simpler and we also wouldn't have to worry so much about the issues related to the recording, choosing the right studio, etc. I've already became aware of a couple of sites that offer some cool services since I posted this thread, hopefully I'll get the right musician for the job when the time comes.


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## tiago (Mar 12, 2016)

Hannes_F said:


> Not as expensive as one would think. I sent you a PM.



Hello, Hannes! Thanks for the message, I've sent you a reply.


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## Jaap (Mar 12, 2016)

Also be sure to check out Christof: http://vi-control.net/community/members/christof.5277/

I have no experience with him recording one of my pieces, but heard some really great stuff from him. He is a wonderful cellist!


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## mverta (Mar 12, 2016)

It's priceless.


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## tiago (Mar 13, 2016)

Jaap said:


> Also be sure to check out Christof: http://vi-control.net/community/members/christof.5277/
> 
> I have no experience with him recording one of my pieces, but heard some really great stuff from him. He is a wonderful cellist!



Thanks for the suggestion, Jaap! I had already heard some of the stuff that Christof posted on SoundCloud but didn't know that he also did recordings by request. I'll make sure to keep him in mind in case I really end up choosing the cello as the soloist instrument (which is what will most likely happen).


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