AUDITION FOR TOP SHELF vocal

Top Shelf Vocal is now accepting video submissions for all parts, seeking soprano & bass singers.
Submissions are due by Tuesday, August 11th 2026 at 11:59 pm.

Please note, you must be available to attend our callbacks on Tuesday, August 18th to continue through the audition process.
Our mandatory Winter Concert date is December 12th, 2026.

Please read through the below for group eligibility and instructions on how to submit your audition.

Top Shelf Vocal celebrates our 15th anniversary in 2026! We are in search of talented members to expand our mixed a cappella group. We are accepting submissions from all voice types but we’re primarily seeking soprano and bass singers! We are looking for singers with the ability to sing in a variety of styles, with and without vibrato. You are invited to audition by video submission by Tuesday, August 11th at 11:59 pm PT.

In addition to our two main concerts per year, you can find us performing at other events throughout Los Angeles.

Membership

•Anyone age 21+ is eligible.

•Sight-reading not required, learning tracks are provided.

•Dues are $200 per person per concert season, which will help to cover space rental and other operational costs.

Calendar

•We rehearse in Koreatown from 7:30-10pm on Tuesdays. We sometimes begin at 7pm to record videos and when we approach the concert date.

•Our spring concert will be on Saturday, December 12th, 2026.

•To maintain quality, each member is expected to miss no more than 4 rehearsals each season.

Timeline

The audition deadline is Tuesday, August 11th 2026 11:59pm PT but feel free to submit sooner!

  • If asked for a callback, you will attend an in-person callback on Tuesday, August 18th. There will not be an additional callback date.

  • Audition results will be emailed within a week after callbacks.

CALLBACKS

We will notify all who audition about callbacks via email. Prior to callbacks, we will send you short sections of our current music for you to practice beforehand. In addition, if you would like to showcase another skill, for example, if you’re a part singer who can also beatbox, or scat, do sound effects, throat sing, etc. you may have the opportunity to show us!

We will also have quick introductions to the group, warm-ups, and sing through some selections of the songs from our repertoire together. We want to see your ability to blend with the group as well as get to know you personally. Results will be sent via email.

AUDITION DETAILS

To audition, please submit the form to the right, including an audition video. Review the instructions below for the video:

  1. To get a sense of your range, please record yourself singing scales going up and scales going down on any syllable you’d like, and stop singing once you can’t sing any higher or lower.

    Suggestion: for scales going up, sing “eeee-aaahh” and use your chest/mix voice as high as you can, and then flip into head voice and continue. For scales going down, sing “yah yah yah yah yah”.

    Don’t be shy, just go for it, we know the extreme ranges aren’t always gonna be pretty!

  2. Voice part-specific instructions

    • If you are primarily a solo/part singer (S, M, A, T, Bari):
      Please record a video of yourself singing two contrasting solos (verse + chorus, around 30 seconds each), unaccompanied. We want to hear you at your best, so have fun and pick songs that are in your comfort zone. No musical theatre or classical pieces, please.

    • If you are primarily a bass singer:
      Please record a video of yourself singing a simple bass line using bass syllables (dm, doom, bm, ba, etc.) of a known song of your choice (suggested songs, “Stand By Me” by Ben E. King, or “I Want You Back” by The Jackson 5)...

      ...and a bass vocal solo. Think along the lines of Josh Turner’s “Your Man,” or “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” but it can be a song in any style. We just want to hear you sing a low range solo with lyrics. For both of these demonstrations, we’re looking for tone, pitch accuracy, and style. If you have a solo voice in a higher register, we would also like to hear that.

    • If you are primarily a beatboxer/vocal percussionist:
      Please record a video of yourself doing a 30-second demonstration of straight-ahead beats and fills and 30 seconds of freestyle beats. We want to see that you are comfortable holding down a consistent tempo and groove. Please also perform a simple beat at a comfortable tempo along with a metronome.

  3. Please upload your video audition as one video file. Your video can either be in one complete take OR edited together. The audio must remain raw and untouched – no EQ, compression, reverb, or pitch correction of any kind. We want to hear you as you sound in the room. Keep your video simple! For example, recorded on a smartphone works great, just no handheld selfie mode (Please set the camera down and take a few steps back).

    If you are recording your video with a webcam, make sure to adjust your microphone input level so that the sound doesn’t distort. On a Mac, go into System Preferences > Sound > Input tab and lower the input volume.

If you have any questions, please email info@topshelfvocal.com

Break a leg and we hope to see you soon!