[bubo_bubo]

"but this is a realistic constraint given the difficulty and cost of recording a professional singer"

Just because a singer is professional doesn't mean they're any good. My wife copes with adversity by singing and she can sing "fuck fuck fuck shit shit shit" in soprano, on key, from the kitchen. The only thing keeping her from singing in public is her stage fright.

There are a /lot/ of people like her, that would answer an ad in the newspaper (or craigslist) that would like to /volunteer/ and contribute to a geeky project as long as they got credit in the paper.

At that point, the largest non-tech cost winds up being the studio rental fee, if you have one.

[mwcampbell]

You could also go to karaoke bars and observe who the good singers are.