Technical Tips for Recording Video Prescreenings, Esp. for Voice

College Majors Music Major
1

My apologies if this has been asked and answered before, but I thought I’d start a new discussion since new technology is always being released.

We are planning to record video pre-screening auditions for vocal performance programs in a few weeks. I have heard, almost equally, to use and not use an iPhone, to use/not use a church like venue, and to use/not use a recording studio. All this conflicting advice is starting to unnerve me. (As if this whole process wasn’t enough to stress out parents!!)

Looking for advice from folks that have recently been through the process. D is applying to some top tier programs, so we definitely want to show her at her best. But I do have some limitations in that I cannot find a studio in my area that has any experience with classical voice recordings. I do have some connections at two churches as possible recording venues – going to check out the acoustics soon. Otherwise my venue options are pretty limited (voice teacher works out of her basement studio - bad acoustics, and high school auditorium has very funky acoustics - dead at the front and strange echo at the back).

I own an iphone 6, have a tripod mount for it, and a decent large tripod. We are quite willing to invest in a better video camera and/or external mic, but I don’t know where to start looking.

Thanks for any and all advice!!

2

Two years ago, D used a small chapel with a standard digital video camera. You need to be able to separate the audio from the video, as some prescreens are audio, some video and some either. D used the MacBook to separate them. D did a trial run a few weeks early so her voice teacher could be sure the acoustic/voice/piano balance was correct and the recording quality was ok. Good Luck!

3

@RKOpera - Here is some detail on what we did, and why we did it that way.

To start, we had to do videos in the 2013-2014 school year for a couple of summer programs D was applying to, and I did these on my iPad. Quality was not great (but she still got into a program). So I knew we had to do it differently.

We went against using a recording studio because we feared schools might not trust the authenticity of the results in a place where editing/adjustments can be made. In fact some schools tell you explicitly not to do that or go overboard on production/editing. I remember watching one pre-screen video on youtube that made me want to vomit because it was edited so cheesily. They do not want to see the pianist or the pianist’s hands. They want to see the auditionee. So we decided to record in the Church where she had her lessons because, frankly, some churches have beautiful acoustics. The way we angled it, no one could possibly know it was a church. So here is a hint: Do not shoot in front of the altar, unless you are applying to DePaul:-)

The next consideration was how many songs needed to be recorded. This is important because each school may have different screening requirements in terms of number of songs and language requirements. So we recorded four pieces - one french, one italian, two english. We also needed to guesstimate how much time we needed to record all for (including multiple takes).

You also need to decide if these are for pre-screen only or will also be used for auditions. This is because depending on how many schools applied to and their location, there is no way you can physically make each audition. So you want them to be REALLY good. Note that some schools will tell you they accept video auditions, but they do not take them seriously because if you were truly interested, you would show up on campus. Our experience was mixed because she got into one school on the strength of her videos, but two schools only accepted her as a BA or minor off of these.

The next consideration was a decision on who to record it, and in making this decision you need to understand you may have the prettiest video in the world, but if the AUDIO is bad, you are lost from the get go. So I first sought out a professional videographer to do it. But his rates included travel and set-up/breakdown time and that blew the budget. This, however, might work out for you if you know others who have to do recordings as well and you can split the costs.

So then I went plan B and decided to hire a couple of her classmates for $100 to shoot and package the videos, I was taking a big risk on this because I knew audio was always a weak spot in their work, but they assured me it would be fine. They turned out OK and we used them for her submissions. But I also recorded them with a Canon Digital Rebel and got better angles and much stronger audio. Amazing how far cameras have come (i.e., you don’t need a standalone video camera).

And when you tape, make sure the auditionee emotes the song they are singing so the reviewers can see s/he understands what they are singing.

Our video sequence was as follows:

  1. Title Card
  2. Fade to Black, fade up to D introducing herself and the song she was going to sing****.
  3. fade to Black, fade up to song
  4. Fade to Black at completion (which should be at least 5 seconds after singing is finished so reviewers can see how the auditionee comports him/herself when not singing).

*****A lot of schools have unique requirements for the intro. Make sure you tape different versions of the intros for the different schools.

And if you want people to look at them or critique them, do NOT go to family and friends. They will tell you that the mangled was song was the most beautiful they have ever heard/seen. Have the voice teacher look at them or other trusted professionals. Picture Simon Cowell from the early days of Idol asking horrible auditionees who told them they could sing.

Another thing you can so is search YouTube for audition videos, see what people have done, and find out of they were successful at getting in.

Hope this is helpful to you and others.

4

I wouldn’t recommend the Rebel… It doesn’t have the best audio, no on screen audio meter, can’t take/use regular XLR microphones without converters. You might not know if your audio is distorted until you playback.

If you get a chance, look into the zoom video cameras. Decent video and the same audio quality of their portable recorders. I think the latest one is the Q8.

5

This may be helpful from this thread on May 24 - Quality of pre screen recordings.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/1777432-quality-of-pre-screen-recordings.html

6

I’m the OP for the thread referenced by bridgenail in post #4. For what it’s worth, this is our experience so far, keeping in mind that we haven’t actually done the pre-screen recordings yet.

I bought a Zoom Q8 video/audio recorder that’s been highly recommended for music-oriented videos. We’ve used it for quite a few performances over the summer and agree that the audio quality is excellent. It has two built-in condenser mics as well as two external mic inputs. I work for a company that makes high-end professional audio equipment, so my son already owns a few good condenser mics. I think we would be comfortable taping his pre-screens with this setup (and probably will do so for things like scales.)

In the meantime, I asked around and got a recommendation for a professional live recording engineer and talked to him, asked a lot of questions. Turns out he does a lot of audition recordings and gave us good advice, including budget, the space, etc. His fee (recording 9-10 songs) will be less than what the Zoom Q8 cost, and it’s all-inclusive, including all of the equipment, mixing, production (some video+audio, some audio-only.) We don’t have to worry about editing costs since we can’t edit. We also don’t have to be in a studio.

My son’s job is the music. He made the song list, based on all of his pre-screen requirements, overlapping songs whenever possible. He’s asked the people he wants in his rhythm section (he’s a jazz applicant). He’s practicing. It’s also his job to find the space and coordinate schedules. The recording pro told us to go to the high school first and also gave us a list of other free or inexpensive spaces locally. Advantage is that he’s done session recordings in all of these places and can mic everyone individually so that the acoustics isn’t a factor. Just told us to find the space where our pianist is happy with the piano.

At this point, we’ve decided to hire the recording pro. The cost was much more reasonable than I was expecting and having him responsible for the equipment is a huge relief. This is especially true for us since gathering the rhythm section and having an efficient session to get everything recorded is key. (To put it in perspective, he will cost less than the senior pictures we just booked.)

7

Yes, my experience too.

You have to compare the time and money spent to figure out what to buy, how to use it, and if you are getting the quality etc, vs. hiring a professional (who already is experienced with auditions) and has a space (our D’s music school recital hall) and being done in 30 minutes (for a voice major at least). Everything was delivered by email the next day. Voice only, video and voice etc. I don’t think it costs more than a couple hundred.

But if you are techie or want the equipment for future auditions, it may be well worth the investment. My D just “outsources it” and it’s not that expensive.

8

I agree with the thought above - the student may need to own equipment to make videos while at school for other auditions for summer programs, festivals, etc. Some schools do have equipment that can be used by students for this purpose, but the time may be limited, there may not be good instructions, they may be “bumped” from the schedule, etc.

We are not a tech family - there were times when we hired the pro - the important auditions for undergrad and, in retrospect, probably should have done for grad auditions as well - it would have relieved a lot of stress on top of everything else going on for college seniors. Other auditions were done by my offspring themselves with a Zoom and editing on the Mac. The worst situation was when one kid used the expensive school equipment - and ended up an hour later with nothing shot. I don’t know how that occurred, kid claims he tested everything. That was an expensive afternoon though - paid the accompanist and then had to do it over.

Best of luck to you all. I shudder whenever I approach anything technical. It was a relief that the kids took it on better without my “help”!

9

Just to add, FWIW, my son is the tech guy, and loves playing with recording equipment. BUT when I told him that I was willing to pay for the pro to just come and do the recordings, so that all he had to do was concentrate on putting together the ensemble and play, he was SO relieved.

10

It has been a while since undergrad, but we hired a pro, too. It was very reasonable since they did a lot of student performances at the school, too. They came to the church with the equipment, knew the correct mic placements. Worked with the mulitple takes. Then DD and her teacher selected the takes for the submissions. For grad, DD had someone she knew at school who did it for her.

11

Thank you all so much for your great advice. Glad many of you have talked up the benefits of using a pro, because In the days since I originally posted, my D’s voice teacher reconnected with the sound engineer at the University she retired from a few years back. Turns out that non-university people can book space in the music building and hire the sound engineer to make recordings, for a reasonable hourly rate. She said he was a top notch sound engineer. So luckily, we were able to reserve his time and space in the recital hall to record the pre-screening videos in late October. We are all quite relieved!! Thanks again for all your help and tips!