<p>I recorded my pre-screening CD for vocal performance school yesterday! It was very exciting. I recorded in a small church with lovely accoustics. My pianist is fabulous, but the recording eqipment we used was not exactly high tech. We used my MacBook Pro and the recording program called "Audacity". </p>
<p>What I'm trying to ask is, how professional should the quality be? </p>
<p>The recording sounds pretty decent and the balace is pretty good. I know the recording is not supposed to be "airbrushed" or anything like that, and I'm just curious to know what other vocalists used to record. </p>
<p>For my D, we used the audio tracks of the videos we recorded for NFAA. I have a digital camcorder with a mic port and we did the actual recording onto it. I used studio mics (two on the vocalist, one on the piano) and a small stereo mixer that I'd borrowed from a friend. The sound we got was very clean, to the point that we made some CDs from it to give to family.</p>
<p>From what I've heard, all of that was probably overkill for prescreen CDs. My D was in the Classical Singer H.S. Voice Competition last year and a man from Eastman told a crowd of kids that a digital recorder in the middle of the room (NOT on top of the piano!) was more that sufficient for recording for a prescreen. Given that, I think you'll be fine.</p>
<p>BTW, I use Audacity's PC version as my main MP3 editing tool and really like it.</p>
<p>Thank you so much, don! I'm glad to hear that my means of recording was good enough. I was a little worried! Haha! Thanks for a well thought out response! CC'ers are so knowledgeable!</p>
<p>I have heard some very good results with the MacBook Pro, Audacity and a good quality stereo USB microphone. My son records the songs he writes for voice and guitar with exactly that combination and it works surprisingly well, with results only a small step down from the pro gear I use.</p>
<p>A MacBook Pro is eminently capable of capturing excellent audio provided you use a decent microphone. If you used the internal laptop mic, it is prone to picking up noise from the nearby fans in the laptop. If you switch on the noise cancellation to try to overcome that, it adds all sorts of nasty artifacts to the recorded sound. It also records only in mono and is designed more to make the spoken word intelligible than for recording music.</p>
<p>Other vocalists will run the complete spectrum, from using the 1980's vintage mono cassette recorders that still inhabit A/V carts in some high schools to hiring professionals with the best equipment available.</p>
<p>Make sure you read the most current set of rules for whatever program you wish to supply an audition recording. Many have taken to requiring videos because they are harder to edit undetectably.</p>
<p>While we're on the subject, what are some good mid-level (price range wise, that is) USB microphones for uses like this? I've read good reviews on the Blue Mic Snowball, as well as the MXL, but most of the writers are not using these mics for purposes like recording classical music auditions. Has anybody here had experience with these or similar products?</p>
<p>My son has the MXL USB.007 stereo mic and he gets very nice results using it reasonably close in on acoustic guitar and vocals.</p>
<p>MXL only seems to use large diaphragm condensers in its USB products. I usually prefer small to medium diaphragm condensers when working a bit farther away from the source as I would when recording a singer doing classical music in a nice acoustic environment. I have never tried using his setup when doing a recording of that sort and probably will not get the chance to do so anytime soon because he took it to college with him.</p>
<p>I have never had a chance to use Blue Mic products, so cannot tell you anything that you have not already read about them. The specs published for some of the capsules available on their Blue Bottle mic make them look like possible choices for stereo recording techniques, although I would like to see slightly better off-axis response at the higher frequencies. It is very interesting, however, that Blue Bottle is at least willing to publish its 16 kHz polar response patterns while MXL only gives theirs up to 8 kHz.</p>
<p>We sprung for a professional to do the recording. I think the main reason was that we (and my DS) did not want to deal with the issues of setting up, doing and mixing the recording, and a professional could do all this much more efficiently. DS did the recording yesterday, and we got to hear the music last night. I am very pleased as I do not think it sounds overly "professional" but certainly does a very nice job of presenting DS's pieces. So, I think that using a professional can (1) reduce the stress on your already stressed out kid and (2) with the right management and direction produce a clean recording efficiently. I think it was worth the cost. My two cents!</p>
<p>When my D recorded her prescreening CDs, we used something called a Zoom H4 "Handy Recorder" by Samson. We recorded in a room with reasonably good acoustics and the recording sounded great. The Zoom H4 has a variety of settings for distance, etc. and the recording transfers easily into iTunes or WMP. Amazon sells it for $250. Good luck!</p>
<p>Responding the ThePerformer, my son is a baritone singer. I think it is helpful to have multiple microphones set up to be sure you get a reasonable balance of the piano and voice on the recording. They also recorded in a "live" room with a little bit of reverberation and warmth. That was definitely worth the effort.</p>