@theaterwork - keyboard with weighted keys at the studio.
@myloves I wish we would have recorded the cuts (piano only) when we taped pre-screens - if nothing else, at least for D to practice with. Another, duh moment that belongs in the category “I would be so much better at this the second time around”
I meant to add to post #19 - if you have a recorded piano track that sounds OK but not great, you can also use tools like Audacity to “clean up” a track after recording by removing noise, etc. It may not work wonders, but it may help improve a track recorded “in a pinch” with a cell phone.
Our D’s vocal coach recorded her accompaniments in his studio/apartment without any fancy recording equipment that I’m aware of. It worked great. He just emailed her each different cut in a separate file and she kept them on a playlist on her phone. She took her own speaker to auditions.
@deelight’s suggestion sounds a lot more sophisticated/professional and I’m sure would work well.
Just fyi - D only used the recorded accompaniment once or twice in actual auditions although they were extremely helpful to have on hand to practice with. Most schools had an accompanist at her auditions- even ones who said they wouldn’t! Lesson of that story is - no matter what they have told you - take your book and your recorded accompaniments to all auditions so you are prepared for either situation.
Once again, thanks to everyone for all this great information. It’s good to have the specifics. Agreed - if I had known all this, we certainly would have added this to the last accompanist session, and it would have been completely easy. We used live accompaniment for the prescreens - not my daughter’s voice teacher, but someone expert in this genre and making cuts, etc. But he’s not nearby, it would cost a ton, involve yet another day’s missed school, etc. so will start experimenting in the most simple way, have a listen and then regroup from there after listening to the result – whether it’s the suggested microphone, software, Pianotrax, bringing the voice teacher, who is local, to a local studio, etc. I think we always opted for the cheaper “minus the CD” editions of all the songbooks! (Plus one of my daughter’s songs is more obscure and not in any of them.)
What kind of speakers does everyone use for their playback device? As someone who is auditioning primarily in Chicago Unifieds, almost every school asks for recorded accomp. I tried plugging computer speakers into my phone but they don’t seem to play loud enough at max volume. Also, I assume needing an outlet would be quite difficult to rely on. I’ve heard some people say CDs are not a good idea but it seems having a little boom box that can play a CD loud enough would be ideal.
My d used a Logitech sound dock that is similar to this current model: Logitech X300 Mobile Wireless Stereo Speaker.
It was more than loud enough.
The input for some PC speakers may be balanced to rely on amplification from the PC, so they may not work well with a phone. You need self-powered mobile speakers designed to play from a phone. You definitely should not plan on plugging anything into an electrical outlet.
Our D used a wireless Jawbone portable speaker with Bluetooth capabilities that was great. Easy to use, easy to tote and the sound was great. But if you google “portable speakers with Bluetooth” you will find a whole bunch of different brands of speakers at different price points that will serve the same purpose. She just put all of her cuts on a playlist on her phone. It worked very well for her. And it is nice not to be worried about whether your equipment will work with a school’s equipment.
Ditto on pianotrax. We just used two tracks from them for District competition yesterday and they were great. If you need something recorded faster or slower you can request that as well. Super easy to work with via email and web chat and really fast turn around.
We fretted over this issue a lot. First, we had a hard time finding an accompanist. One decided she was too busy, one got scared after seeing my D’s classical pieces:). We finally asked one of the HS choir directors in our district, who also accompanied my D last year at Solo and Ensemble competition. We recorded at the HS where he works.
While we were there videoing a few songs that needed to be live, he also recorded tracks for the rest of her music. He used an electric piano, so he could record the tracks while she was singing, so the tempos would be correct. He then burned the tracks to a CD, that I uploaded to my computer and into ITunes. I then put them into Garage Band and edited them as I needed. My D took all of the tracks she needed and put them on her IPod. We used the tracks for her prescreens by playing them through a bluetooth speaker. I’m hoping the IPod, bluetooth speaker thing will work for Unifieds as well:)… I was about a day away from using PianoTrax.com and I still think this is an amazing resource.
Ok what does pianotrax do again?? Do they record the 32 bar cuts you need??
If you go their website it explains the company really well.
If you are looking for a customized instrumental as opposed to the standard version of the whole song, then essentially what you do is send them the music with the cuts and you can ask for a different key or tempo. It does more cost money if your sheet music cut is more than 2 pages. You can also put when you need it by. They’ll send you an instrumental with the vocal line as well as the accompaniment and another with just the accompaniment on it. Also a 100% satisfaction so if it turns out it’s not what you were hoping for you get a full refund.
It does cost money so if you have a friend or teacher who could quick play the songs and record them for you for free it might be preferable. You’d be surprised how willing teachers are to help students. I asked my choir teacher and he just had me come in for 5 minutes after school and that was that.
thanks @ParachuteBoy . I looked it up…cool and how did I not know about it for my D! Lol. Leave it to us to be out of the loop… definitely an option for future use! But…yes I see your point that its less expensive to have our accompanist play and us record them. But this would be a good resource for when we might need an additional song later and cant get the accompanist back again to play it. We will have to utilize D’s friend to play (he is quite accomplished…but busy!) and then get the school to provide access again, so its sometimes a pain to line everyone up.
@ParachuteBoy - We got the JBL Charge for our D - it is a great little speaker - it worked so well for her for auditions - we got one for our older D who was teaching a tap class (through a college club) and the volume was great in a big room of people all tapping! My girls loved theirs so much - I bought myself one! It’s amazing how much sound the little speaker can put out! My husband did a ton of research before selecting this model for it’s balance of features and price! You can either connect to the speaker with a cord - or with bluetooth - and you can be across the room from the speaker for bluetooth. If you use your phone - be sure to switch to airplane mode before your audition so no texts or notifications come through while your song is playing!
What app on your phone are you using to record the music? Just the Voice memo or are you using another app made for recording? I know I sound horrible and dumb about all this. I apologize. I just don’t know how to record the songs once we line up our accompanist! Do we literally just prop the phone up near the piano and record?
Thank you Kate! I’ll look into it.
You could use the voice memo app or take a video and extract just the audio. The memo function is easiest if you ask me and it’s easy to then turn into a song on iTunes for your phone. Don’t lean the phone right beside the piano because that’ll mess with the sound. I would stand a foot or so away from the piano.
Hope this link works. It’s a good deal and even if you have already booked, you can get the deal if you call (did that our year)… this hotel is directly across the street from NYC Unifieds.
http://zmaildirect.com/html/73ej44j3d03ct3cq3cx40x43g3d13d842i3c600?pl=73ej44j3d03ct3cq3cx40x43g3d13d842i3c600
We stayed there and it was super handy, especially for someone who was not familiar with NYC. We were able to take the subway directly to Pace, which also helped reduce stress, along with Macy’s being around the corner 
I have a logistics question regarding NYC Unifieds. One school mentioned that space is tight so no real parent waiting area. I plan to be the Sherpa so are parents common in the hallways and such?
@Architectkc I was there last year when my daughter auditioned for a summer intensive - it was actually a good way to get a preview of the whole scene. There is a waiting room for parents, etc. - not all that comfortable - folding chairs or similar, but it’s removed from the chaos of the hallways. Parents are common in the hallways, but they are packed tight and of course many kids want the parents banished from sight. It’s spread over a few floors and there’s a very hyper atmosphere.