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.
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And the projects that defined each.
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.
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.
Vocals on scores, national campaigns, and records. Contracting choirs and ensembles when a room needs more than one voice.
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.
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.
