<p>So my songs are all obscure and I managed to find a backing track for ONE of them and it truly sucks. Where do people get their backing tracks for situations like the unifieds, where we don't usually have live accompaniment?</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>You can find someone local to play the tracks and record an mp3 for you or Google Audition Trax. That could work for you. I haven’t used this service but many have with good results.</p>
<p>My son took the piano sheet music, typed it into his music software called Sibelius, and got his computer to create a backing track using simulated piano sound. It turned out very well. But he has been using these programs for a couple of years because he likes arranging music, so he’s quite adept.</p>
<p>(Gee, maybe this would be a way for him to make some money, making backing tracks! Except it’s probably a copyright violation. Probably “fair use” for him to do it himself, since he owns the music, but not for hire.)</p>
<p>We paid Ds voice teacher to lay down the tracks for Unifieds in all permutations of bars/time. We paid $100 which seems high, but D had exactly what she was used to singing as far as tempo and lead in, so it was worth it.</p>
<p>So I’m a bit confused. My D is going to audition for three schools at Unifieds. For two of them they say they will have accompanists, and one says specifically for auditions they don’t want recorded music. Now, in reviewing their web sites none of them make much distinction between on site and off site auditions, and we’ll certainly check on their requirements, but is there a mix of school in Chicago where some have live accompanists and some don’t? How would an accompanist fit into a hotel room? Need help from the veterans on this.</p>
<p>Thank you guys! I found one of my songs on. Audition Trax and I’m asking around locally. There’s no way I can pay anything in the neighborhood of $100 right now between application fees, voice lessons, Acceptd fees, travel expenses and the fact that I work in an outdoor environment and it’s cold, so no one’s showing up right now, so I’m not getting many hours. Anything I can do to do this on the cheap would be great. I’m working part-time, going to community college and I’m already receiving some money from my parents and I come from an upper-middle class backgrounds, so I have never once gotten a scholarship or few waiver. Sort of off-topic, but still, if anyone knows how to do things on th cheap, that would be great…</p>
<p>downstage - here are some ideas:</p>
<p>If you have zero dollars but can find a friend to play the songs on a piano, you can use your phone or computer to record the tracks. The mics that come with phones and computers are awful so I would suggest trying to find a decent dynamic mic from a friend in a band or from a church (you will likey have to spend around $5 to buy a converter plug to plug the mic into your phone or computer). If you are desperate, a $20-30 USB or miniplug mic for your computer will do the job.</p>
<p>If you can find a friend with a portable digital recorder (most musicians and many MTers have them), this will work even better (you can purchase a low end TASCAM for under $100). The nice thing about portable digital recorders is that they can record directly into MP-3, which means you don’t have to worry about converting the file from WAV to MP-3.</p>
<p>“Audacity” is decent free music editing program that I would suggest if you need to do some editing of the recorded files (you will also need the LAME MP-3 encoder to create MP-3 files from Audacity).</p>
<p>My daughter had her piano teacher record accompaniment for the very few schools she had that did not have live accompaniment (she did not attend Unifieds). We did not pay extra for this beyond her regular piano lesson fees. You say you have a voice teacher. Doesn’t that person play piano in your lessons when you work on your audition songs? Can that person record it? Another option is to ask around locally at various theaters or schools that have musical directors for their shows. I would think someone like that could record the accompaniment for less than $100.</p>
<p>You could also purchase a recording of your 2nd song from Audition Trax. You just send him the sheet music and he’ll send you an MP3 usually in a couple of days. My daughter just got 4 cuts of two songs and it was well under $100.00. </p>
<p>JeffandDan. There are a couple of schools at Unifieds or adjacent hotels that do have pianos but not many. I saw two. Most require students to bring backing tracks.</p>
<p>jeffandann
At LA Unifieds all 5 of my D’s audition schools requested music was to be on CD or mp3. I don’t know how Chicago is, but I can’t imagine it would be different. Hopefully someone who went to Chicago will chime in…</p>
<p>My D had a mix of taped accompaniment and live accompanist at Chicago Unifieds. My kids have either asked their piano or voice teachers to play the accompaniment for them at their lessons and recorded it with a Zoom H3. Then they made CDs to take to the audition, as well as putting on their ipods (D took an ipod dock to her auditions.)</p>
<p>Btw: the live accompanist was provided at Unifieds, but I know that at some regional music auditions you have to bring your own. Gets expensive if you have to pay their travel expenses!</p>
<p>My girl auditioned at Chicago Unifieds and she had a mix of “bring your own tracks” to “we have an accompanist to play for you”. One particular school had an accompanist, but we didn’t know that until my D walked into the room (they had stated on their materials to “bring your own device” for accompaniment) . . . they let her decide whether she wanted to use her iPod player or sing with the accompanist.</p>
<p>Off the top of my head 2 years ago - only Penn state and Michigan had live accompaniment in Chicago. Also CMU at LA unifieds. Otherwise it was all mp3 for my D.</p>
<p>If given the choice of live accompanist or recorded, which is the ebst choice–jsut wondering what the consensus is on here :)</p>
<p>Well, I guess we’re lucky because we’ve double checked with the schools my D is doing at Unifieds and they all say they’ll have accompanists. Although we’re starting the process, I guess I’d rather have her sing with the accompanist for a couple reasons. One, she’s rehearsed that way. Two, it gives her an opportunity to show she can work with one, and an opportunity to show the audition folks how she interacts with people. I attended a talk this past summer where a program director gave hints about what they look for at auditions. One of the things that stuck with me is that they are auditioning you before you even open your mouth to perform, and a big thing was how you interact with the accompanist. If they see you have an attitude, they basically check you off their list right then. Paraphrasing, his point was they will audition hundreds of kids, they know they’ll have a lot of talented kids, so there’s no reason at all for them to pick a kid that has attitude. They don’t need that for 4 years.</p>
<p>Not all accompanists are created equal! It can be a little disconcerting if the accompanists is not as good as the person your child is used to. That point has popped up here and there on these threads. At one audition my son discussed tempo with the accompanist and had to stop at the beginning of the song and politely make a correction. So much is riding on that 32 (or 16) bar cut… BoCo only uses recordings (or they did), even on campus, and I found that odd at the time but perhaps that is why.</p>
<p>I’d take the risk and work with an accompanist. I know how to communicate with them and I know the schools are watching. I HATE singing to a recording because I feel locked in and I have to make my acting choices around the pre-recorded music. And though college auditions may be the worst place ever to show off cutting-edge theater performances, the whe point of theater is that it’s LIVE. But I see the reasons why most of the schools I’m auditioning for want recorded accompaniment.</p>