<p>Ok, so my S and his amazing accompanist spent time with a Sony microphone and a camcorder trying to get a good video/recording of trumpet and piano. It looks and sounds like what it is: a recording done in our living room. The sound is uneven and bounces all over the place. He's so frustrated, he is about the scrap the whole thing. Has anyone made a decent DVD with good sound? Does anyone have any advice?</p>
<p>My wife wanted me to buy a camcorder to record my son's senior undergrad recital, and that he could use to record summer festival auditions. I did some research, and found that most camcorders would not be of sufficient quality either audio or video wise to suit our purposes. I ended up not buying one, because of the minimal level of quality I felt was necessary, I could not justify the expense.</p>
<p>We ended up having his recital recorded professionally. I got to sit back and enjoy his performance.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure there's a thread or two here about different audio recording devices with and without using a home computer.</p>
<p>If you are near a music college/college with media programs, they often have studio recording services at very reasonable rates, far less than the yellow pages pros.</p>
<p>If you do hire the job out, either to a college student or a pro, try to find someone with experience recording classical music. If you get someone who only knows guitars and drum sets, you may still come away with something that does not meet your needs.</p>
<p>If you do it yourself, do not do it in a room at home. It is impossible to make a trumpet sound good in that small a space unless it is specially treated to be acoustically dead, and then you add in some reverb later. You want to find an auditorium or a church sized room so that you do not get a lot of early echo.</p>
<p>Although we had it professionally done, we did DD's recording at the church. It was easy to arrange on a weekday. The sound was wonderful. Even if you did it yourself, agree you should find a good performance venue for the recording.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for this! Viola Dad..you were so right to save on that camcorder! We are not near a school with media equipment (although I will call the arts high school up north and see what they have). The video professionals in our area don't really do classical recordings (they mostly record weddings). They also charge a fortune...and it seems silly to pay a lot for music scholarship recording...sort of defeats the whole purpose. Bass Dad..you are so right...our living room was not a good choice. Normally, S records at his school, but they only have sound equipment, not video, and we actually have a much better and more recently tuned) piano. S is in the midst of college apps and everything else...I'm thinking this is not going to be a happening scene. Too much else to do! But thanks anyway...</p>
<p>Realize that the video part of these recordings usually does not have to be broadcast quality. You can probably get by with decent digital camcorder level video as long as you have the best audio possible. The reason that the audition judges want video rather than just audio these days is because it proves that you are the one playing the piece and it is extremely hard to do undetectable edits on combined audio and video. With audio alone, you could submit someone else's recording or edit down from a few dozen takes with the splices being almost impossible to hear with today's technology.</p>
<p>You might try the recording again at your son's school or the arts school with their audio gear feeding into your camcorder.</p>
<p>I find it so disappointing that NFAA changed its policy from CDs to DVDs for instrumentalists last year. It is difficult to get good sounding audio without having to hire a studio to record it in- but at least you could use recital recordings. It was especially difficult for brass...ever heard the shades or light fixtures rattle at the sound of a strong brass note? </p>
<p>But now, where's a student musician going to find a place to make a DVD with high-quality audio at affordable prices? (Is that an oxymoron?) I think NFAA has just eliminated the musicians it was trying hardest to get- the ones that find it difficult to pursue a career in music because of lack of support, either monetary or moral. </p>
<p>What a shame!</p>
<p>Actually, I disagree with the last post. I have long thought that NFAA SHOULD go to video, rather than just audio. I don't think that the video or sound quality needs to be anywhere near professional either! The judges just want to be able to authenticate the play, which they can do more easily by video. </p>
<p>We used a regular home camcorder and two decent microphones and it is in no way professional, but at least they know it is my own kid playing, and not someone else synched in, which is what may have happened in the past. I honestly do not think that they expect people to be spending hundreds of dollars in a studio to record a scholarship audition DVD.</p>
<p>If you used that Sony stereo mic, than you had pretty good audio coverage. I've used it before and it works great. Your choice of location is your problem. Why not give it another shot at something like a local church that has good accoustics. If you record from the front of the balcony, you could get a much improved sound... </p>
<p>I've had great results with said microphone from the balcony of our HS auditorium which has really poor acoustics.</p>
<p>When I was researching for potential purchase, the audio quality was always the drawback in the cameras <$1000, even with a stand alone mic setup.</p>
<p>My son did have friends who did their own dvd's for grad school prescreens/auditions and he gave me the impression they had varying success.</p>
<p>The change of venue may work for you. Most houses of worship have pretty good acoustics.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>I commiserate! My daughter's teachers have the studio and excellent audio equipment, but know nothing about videoing. We have neither the time nor money to do a video recording session. I invested in good but very cheap video software and she will be putting together a bunch of her performances to make a DVD to fit all the requirements. Luckily she has enough professionally taped performances that she can meet all her requirements I totally understand the need to go DVD but I also totally agree with the other poster - alot of musicians will just say "forget it" as the deadline approaches.</p>
<p>Well.....I take that all back....I just looked at the requirements again and they specifically say they do not allow pre-recorded recitals and concerts. Back to square one!</p>
<p>Even the simplest video editing programs allow you to add a separate sound track. So, if you know someone with a decent audio setup, video tape them using some sort of DIGITAL video equipment there while the audio is also being taped separately. Convert that to a PCM or WAV or AC3 or even MP3 (no compression) and substitue that for the audio part of the of the digital video. It's really pretty simple and doesn't need any fancy equipment if you already have access to a good audio studio...</p>
<p>Brilliant idea,
although you just shot down the entire rational for the live video. Someone could lay down a track with another performer playing as well.</p>
<p>Here's my question for all,
What could possibly be the reason for not allowing recorded recitals? When you've just paid for the hall & the accompanist at the recital, you should have to pay for both AGAIN, specifically to record the same thing AGAIN for NFAA. What don't I see?</p>
<p>I totally agree! I would think a recital or a concert recording would make it even more tamper-free.</p>
<p>Syncing a pre recorded recording with video is not as easy as all that. It's like people trying to lip sync, only worse, because I know for my son's instrument, piano, it would be so darn obvious if the hands and notes don't line up exactly. </p>
<p>Laying audio over video would only work if you are recording (and then syncing) the same pieces the student is playing. Trying to substitute or sync another person's work would be more obvious, because it is impossible to "line up" exactly with the way someone else plays.</p>
<p>But I totally agree that they should allow concert recordings. </p>
<p>I do think that NFAA wants all of the pieces recorded the same day though, which for some instruments is a LOT of music to play at once. Perhaps that is why they don't want piecemeal concert performances...there is some endurance required, definitely.</p>
<p>What Zep suggests is certainly possible, but you have to be very careful and painstaking about the synch between the audio and video, particularly when both are recorded on consumer grade equipment that cannot synch to some external source (SMPTE time code for example.) If the internal clock of the video recorder differs only slightly from that of the audio recorder (and it will,) the results can look pretty bad by the end of a 15-minute video. You have to record the audio one piece or one movement at a time and resynchronize the audio and video at the beginning of each one. My own preference would be to find a video recorder with 16 bit PCM or better audio recording capability that is capable of accepting an external audio source. Take the output from the mixer or microphone preamps directly into the video recorder and let the same machine record the audio and video portion simultaneously. Then you can pull the results into your computer for titling and creation of the final DVD without having to worry about the synch problem.</p>
<p>It would be very hard to make the final product look convincing if the video and audio were made at different times by different people, kind of like in the movies when they overdub the audio in a scene where an actor is shown playing an instrument. It may fool the casual viewer for a few seconds, but it would not be easy to fool someone who plays and teaches that instrument for a period of several minutes. Scamming the judges this way would take so much work as to not be worth the effort in most cases.</p>
<p>NOTE: Crossposted with -Allmusic-</p>
<ol>
<li>Record your audition in the order listed above using a NEW VHS cassette or DVD. Do not submit a mini-DV, mini cassette or VCD.<br></li>
<li> Announce your audition in the following manner: "My ARTS ID# is 08009999/201." (You will receive your ARTS ID# once you have completed the registration process). Also include the names and composers on the content cards inside the DVD/VHS case/box. Do not state your name or place it in or on the video/DVD box/case. Do not make any other comments. </li>
<li>Use a fixed point of view for your camera with the student auditioning being the main focus. Shoot straight on, leaving the camera in one location. Do not pan, move the camera, or follow the musician. Camera may be no closer than waist up.<br></li>
<li>Use a good quality microphone and check for good balance and blend. Edits between songs are allowed. Do not edit within the song. No sound enhancements are allowed. </li>
<li>Submit your audition materials according to the official mailing requirements. Do not submit pre-recorded live performances, such as recitals or concerts. </li>
</ol>
<p>I hadn't interpreted this to mean it all had to be recorded at one session. I had planned to record over a couple of days and use the best recording of each. My brass musician plays for hours upon hours all the time, but that doesn't mean he will have audition level recordings after the first hour or so.</p>
<p>The fact that they allow edits between songs suggests to me that NFAA would agree with team_mom's interpretation. That taken with the prohibition against using pre-recorded live performances suggests that they want to give everyone a shot at picking the best of several takes, possibly over more than a single day of playing. They also do not want the zooming and panning that are typical in recital videos, or the background noise from the audience.</p>
<p>Perhaps I was wrong in assuming they wanted the full recording done in one day. I have read those guidelines numerous times.</p>
<p>For some reason though, I don't think they want different outfits, different locations, etc. It should surely "look" as if it was all filmed on the same day, so as not to be distracting to the viewer.</p>