Probably gonna be fine but for anyone reading this for future jazz instrument prescreens - most schools require video recordings. Some even specify that ‘audio only’ recordings will not be accepted. I think they want to make sure it’s you obviously but I also think they’re looking at technique.
Video recordings are also much more difficult to edit. (So they are more honest.)
Congratulations to all parents getting things in under the wire. Congratulations to @MusakParent for the half tuition scholarship. It is nice having something under your belt for back up if nothing else. Congratulations to @akapiratequeen for getting the Berklee audition done. Our next step is finishing off 2 non-commonapp schools, and recording a pre-screen video for one school and audio for the other. December 15 deadline on those. His private lesson teacher recommended a Sweetwater microphone to plug into an iPad. She said they specialize in recording technology for musicians and recording artists. Anyone know of them? Or have something that worked well for them? We don’t have a DSLR camera and it’s been a long time since I worked with audio/video editing and technology has changed so I wouldn’t know how to sync them. She said no syncing is involved if I go this route and it’s not going to be used for auditions. Only a pre-screen for 1 school.
@UniversityMomOf2 I think the recommendation is to look at variety of external microphones sold by Sweetwater which is a musical instrument retailer. Sweetwater is not the maker of any microphones. Here’s a link to search results page for iPhone/iPad microphones from Sweetwater
https://www.sweetwater.com/c1060–iPad_iPhone_Microphones
Specifically the following two seem nice and easy to use but I’ve heard some don’t work so well with cases on the iPhone/iPad due to the thickness added :
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MV88–shure-mv88-digital-stereo-condenser-microphone-for-ios
Best to read lots of reviews on the products. Also suggest looking for the same items on Amazon as you might see more feedback there. Buy from a place that allows easy returns so it it doesn’t work for you then you can look for alternatives. Best of luck!
Berklee provides guidance on microphone selection and has a list of recommended models in various price ranges. This info is for their students, but it can be useful for prescreens too (if you don’t know where to start).
@coronado I believe all the microphones listed on the Berklee site are XLR plugs (round with 3 prongs inside) and won’t work with iPad. They are meant to plug into a mixer or recorder or a suitable microphone amplifier etc. thanks for sharing though. Great reference site.
@UniversityMomof2 - we looked into all sorts of recording devices - including the Zoom model that is integrated with a video. That would be the best option for sure - and I even found one on TalkBass for $150 (great deal!), normally $350 new but they were located in NY and we needed it the next day! So - our daughter went out and go the $80 Zoom mic (more portable than the Blue Yeti). She has a “guy” who helps her merge audio and video - he’s quite reasonable ($50 for merging 5 tapes for her yesterday - he’s good at finding the right “takes” from both which can be like finding a needle in a haystack). I could give you his name if you’d like. (she just put everything in a drop box for him and he did the rest). He’s always available for our last minute Susie (she thinks he has a bit of a crush on her - she met him once). Anyway…something to think about. Most any tech savvy musician can do it on their own with IMovie - but you have to have the time and the patience for it. Oh - and before I forget - you can achieve both audio and video together if you plug in the Blue Yeti (high quality) into an Macbook and use the Macbook to do the video. Not sure what kind of video quality you get from a Macbook camera - our daughter didn’t think it was that good so opted to do them separately.
@spartandrew - good to know that NEC takes audio - she sent one of each (one audio and one video) - so let’s hope that works. Maybe that’s why the first video didn’t download? (if they wanted audio only?) - it was weird - there were two tapes needed: I downloaded the audio one and then my other daughter downloaded the video. Then when I went to check all was well after submitting it, the video one had disappeared so I downloaded it again (and it let me). I wonder now if they only take audio? Not sure that I read that in their directions - have to look again.
akapiratequeen - Berklee audition in the bag! Yeah!!! Any idea how long it will take to hear? I’m almost tempted to fly our daughter someone in Dec. just to get the agony of the wait over and done with. But then there’s her bass to fly, etc. Never fun. And she wants to play with her ensemble. (who are underclassmen and to honest, judging from her pianist yawning in one of her pre-sceen tapes, are tired of the rehearsal time and taping. I got them a gift certificate for their time - but I that only goes so far. 
(I wonder if these schools take blooper videos like this one and laugh about them when they are bleary eyed watching tape after tape???) At least it will give them a laugh.
Yes - the dreaded scheduling auditions with no time to spare. I think that we might just assume that she’s going to be in the Boston/NYC Feb. 2 for a few days and book the flight out anyway - although flights don’t usually go up until a month out esp in a non-peak area… (our son goes to school in NYC so I look at fares a lot for him).
So - I hope to see some of you on the audition trail. Who is going to NEC, MSM, the New School, Berklee-LA, CalArts (although I think I read they don’t do live auditions) or SFCM (San Francisco)? Yup - our daughter only submitted to 6 places. She says she knows what she is doing - not sure that our pretty pathetic bank account agrees.
@SpartanDrew - oh boy - just checked the NEC Jazz requirements. They require videos. Let’s hope they cut her some slack. She asked a friend at NEC for an example of what he sent last year and he sent her an audio file. Maybe they changed things this year. 
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@HereWeGoAgain2018 - thanks for the feedback. Second time’s a charm. This Shure model was recommended by my daughter’s Berklee voice teacher (it plugs into any iOS device).
Shure MV51 Digital Large-Diaphragm Condenser Microphone + USB & Lightning Cable https://www.amazon.com/dp/B010W6WFEA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_k2kbCbV5HQ378
@coronado that looks like a great product which solves 2 problems I read about associated with the microphones that plug directly to the iPhone /iPad
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they either don’t fit when a case is used or are not firmly seated and tend to fall out - this mic being on its own, tethered to the IOS device with the lightening cable means this is a non-issue
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being attached to the phone/pad the other mics always have to be a certain distance you would frame the video at so voice quality or focus may not be what you need for all given occasions. This mic being on a cable, which you can choose longer ones if needed means you can separate and position your video and audio for the ideal outcomes.
Thanks for sharing
For those who like the all in one design, Zoom just recently updated the Q2 and sell it around $129. This looks like a good simple to use product for video/audio capturing.
https://www.zoom-na.com/products/field-video-recording/video-recording/zoom-q2n-handy-video-recorder
Good luck with all the recordings
@HereWeGoAgain2018 - oh boy! Now that’s a Zoom with a great pricetag! Thanks for sharing. I wonder if the same thing applies? If you get the right frame, will it be close enough to pick up the bass? (as you know sometimes the bass can sometimes be harder to hear). At any rate, it’s a great price tag and saves the hassle of merging files. Win-win!
Great info! My S has a blue yeti for video game walkthrough purposes—of course we didn’t think of using it for the auditions! Oy.
@tripletmama , I think we will hear from Berklee before Christmas on admission, then maybe January on aid (according to more experienced parents). I’d also love to hear about prescreens … basically while S just seems relieved, I’m finding the waiting really hard. I need to focus on something else for awhile I think!
@tripletmama I went to the NEC site to try to jog my memory. I feel like we sent just audio recordings of D for her prescreens. I wish I could remember. When you look at the requirements it says for “Final audition” only video will be accepted for those living outside of North America who can’t make it for a live audition. Maybe it’s different this year I don’t know. They have ED this year that I don’t believe they had last year so it could have changed. I think if your D has one video she should be fine if that’s what they require. What format did they take the prescreens? Acceptd or SLideroom? I don’t think ours is there anymore but I can try to look.
Well I have my answer on NEC. Believe it or not we still had D’s college apps saved in a tab on my laptop and I was able to log into NEC from last year and saw that one audio and one video file were uploaded for prescreens. And D passed and was admitted so apparently it’s fine.
So good to hear everyone is on top of those December 1st deadlines. I’m very lucky that I have a very “techy” husband who is also a musician and can help with uploads, recordings, etc. He is also a graphic designer and did her resume too! I married the right guy! I am not techy or musical but I balance out my husband and daughter with my organizational skills and awareness of deadlines (which neither of them seem to possess!) so it all somehow works out. Lol.
Due to the complex demands of the NYU application, coupled with the fact they aren’t known to give much money and we would need ALOT, she decided to take NYU Clive Davis off the list. After discussing it, we felt it would be a ton of effort and time with very little to gain from it besides an ego boost if she got in. She then decided to add New School to her list. She applied on the Common Ap but still needs to submit her prescreen video (the application isn’t due until January 15th but she should have everything in soon.) That one is probably way out of our price range too but they have been known to give decent scholarship money and even work with you during the final decision crunch time to try to offer more if possible. That all depends on the impression my daughter makes the audition, of course, but seemed more realistic than NYU, so she had my blessing. Next up is Berklee. Her audition is Saturday at 11:45am. In typical form, she has procrastinated her preparation a bit which makes me nervous since this is at the top of her list. She chose her jazz song awhile back and has been putting in lots of practice with teachers at her school. But she thought they provided musicians, then realized they did not and went back and forth between trying to hire a piano player from Boston and making a back track. We went with the back track idea so a piano, drum AND bass could be included (she really wanted a rhythm section) but now my husband has to go into to her school to record her teachers performing the song this week (to create the backing track) and they are trying to nail down a day and time. Trying not to stress her out but…audition is THIS Saturday!!! She is also performing an original in which she will play piano herself.
So that’s the latest in our world…will keep you posted.
@AmyIzzy – if she brings a backing track on her phone, be sure (if she has a newer iPhone) to bring the little white adapter (that has a name I can’t remember) or bring it on a flash drive. A last minute decision to bring both of those items was a life saver at dc’s Berklee audition.
@AmyIzzy Another thought: my son auditioned at Berklee last Saturday and he brought the backing track on his phone together with a small Bluetooth speaker. He said they were very impressed when he took them out of the sax case!
Best of luck to your D. S said the Berklee audition was laid back and less stressful than he’d imagined. Here’s hoping for a positive outcome!
Funny I was just having the “backing track” conversation with my D this weekend.
As her Berklee audition is next weekend.
I thought I was so clever when I did a multi-track recording of playing her “prepared” song with her band when she was filming her prescreens. I figured I would just delete the drum and vocal tracks and give her a perfect instrumental mix that just includes the sax/guitar/keys so she could play along with it.
But she told me she doesn’t want to use a backing track at all and just wants to go for it by herself.
Her prepared piece is a well known but rarely recreated solo from a jazz/fusion/rock song that she transcribed herself.
So who am I to question whether or not she can pull it off lol.
I’m also inclined to agree that for a drummer, it’s less important to have a backing track and I’ve also heard it’s tricky getting the volume of such a track right on the fly in a room so you can hear it blended with a live drum kit.
Anyway, interesting to hear other people’s strategies! I’m sure they will all rock it.
@AmyIzzy I think we’ll see you up there on Saturday as she’s in the AM as well.
And we punted on Steinhardt for the same reason. App had too much “one off” stuff and we’re going to focus on the New School instead as our NYC option.
Wish I’d learned about that camera before we recorded pre-screens. That’s about the price of the external mic I bought for my dSLR. Found out at the final taping that it can also pick up the sound of the air conditioning system behind the piano. Practiced at a different setting with just a blank wall that did not have any sound behind it. Ended up going with recordings anyway. Just not perfect since there was a background hum audible when my daughter was no singing.