<p>I would appreciate any suggestions you may have in creating an effective audition DVD for summer programs. We are interested in helping our daughter gain acceptance in one of the summer Musical Theater programs. Thanks!</p>
<p>This has been such a pain for us that I'm happy to share what we've learned. I'm sure there must be other simple solutions but they have eluded us!</p>
<p>The easiest way we've found for S to make a DVD is to use a Mac Power Book. He was able to record and nicely format his audition on his MacBook but it doesn't have the capacity to burn to a DVD directly without adding an external DVD write drive (not expensive--about $100).</p>
<p>We were surprised at the quality of the recording. It's not studio by any means but it does put the necessary pieces together needed for such audition recordings.</p>
<p>mrdutt, I have no experience with this, but I don't think the summer programs expect professional quality videos. I think they merely want to see what the kid looks like and how the kid sings, dances and acts. I have spoken with a number of kids who simply had their parents videotape them against a plain background and who sent tapes/DVDs in and got into the programs.</p>
<p>We put together a DVD for schools we applied to out of state. What we did is ask the music teacher at the school if we could borrow the choir room. We simply had our voice teacher play the piano and we used our home video camera to record it. I'm sure it would be okay to play the music from a CD as well. You then plug the video camera into a computer via a firewire or USB port, capture the video to a file, edit and then burn it to a DVD. Software like Nero or Pinnacle Studio make this real easy. I believe the better versions of Windows Vista (if you just bought a new computer) have movie making software built in. If you don't have the equipment or the technical knowledge then ask a friend, or ask someone at the school. I do have to add that this is a lot more work than you may think it is. You should do an introduction and you may have to do 3 or 4 takes of the song. Then the editing, burning, and labeling can take time. Make sure you test it on a couple of players too. Ours was somewhat sophisticated as we did an intro, acting monologue, two songs and an interview. If you have any more specific question feel free to ask.</p>
<p>My son is an instrumental performance BM grad, and we have had similar concerns with both creating both CD and DVD audition materials for prescreens, festival and grad school applications.</p>
<p>Accompanied submissions can be tricky as to mic placement for proper sound quality, and it's hard to find a dvd recorder at a <$1000 price range (even with external mics) to accurately reproduce the tonal qualities necessary.</p>
<p>Here's a few links to threads on the Music Major forum that have addressed some issues, and ideas that have worked for some. I realize their may be different aspects in recording an instrumental versus vocal, dance or MT submission but these may provide some general info:</p>
<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/284101-dvd-recordings.html?highlight=recording%2C+cd%2C+dvd%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/284101-dvd-recordings.html?highlight=recording%2C+cd%2C+dvd</a>
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/399037-nfaa.html?highlight=recording%2C+cd%2C+dvd%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/399037-nfaa.html?highlight=recording%2C+cd%2C+dvd</a></p>
<p>If you live near a college or high school with a recording studio, these services are offered at what we've found to be an extremely reasonable cost.</p>
<p>It might also get a bit easier once your s/d is an undergrad, as many of the programs tend to record performances, and these are available to participating students at a very minimal cost. (Son amassed a large collection of his chamber performances, which served as his admission submissions to a large number of highly competitive festivals.) Additionally, recording service fees tend to be deeply discounted for matriculated students.</p>
<p>I know how hard it is for even a high level instrumental performer, and it appears the MT group is up against far tougher odds. While recording fees add quite a bit of cost to an already expensive proposition, it may be money well spent if it serves to bolster the chances for success.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>