Fall cycle virtual choir submission page

Greetings,

The YPCC Virtual Chamber Choir has officially kicked off! Keep this page booked marked for all of the good info. With the cancellation of our June concert, we wanted to provide the opportunity to all of you to connect one more time through music before we wrap up Season 8 entirely. Megan has selected “How Can I Keep From Singing” as the focus for this project - a song that seems very appropriate for the current times.

Of course, this will never be able to replace the feeling of joining together to sing, something we hope to return to soon! Because this virtual choir project has fewer singing members than our first Sing Out @Home video, we hope to have more involved video editing/production elements in the final product. If you participated in our first project, these instructions will look a little familiar (with some updates to what we learned from the first go-around).

Let’s get started…

// READ BEFORE RECORDING //

SELF-RECORDING PROTOCOL

THE INTRO - After you push record, take a couple seconds to get settled and introduce yourself on-camera. Specifically include: your name, voice part, how long you’ve sang with YPCC, where you’re recording from, and any other fun facts you want to include.

THE TRACKS - For intonation and timing purposes, use the singalong tracks for rehearsing and recording. This might take a bit of time on your end to figure the at-home setup that you need in order to listen to the video while capturing your video recording. Reach out with questions!

THE CLAP - There is a clap at the beginning of the singalong track. Mimic this on your own recording be sure that your hands are in the camera shot when you do. This is important to help line-up all of the videos in post-production. You should lower your hands out of the shot after you clap (duh).

THE FADE OUT - Leave a few seconds of dead time after the final cut-off for to achieve a solid fade out.

THE FILE NAME - Use the following format to label the file for upload: “VoicePart_LastName_FirstName” (ex: Tenor1_Appleseed_Johnny).

RECOMMENDED GUIDELINES

With that said, if you’re looking for some guidance to shoot the perfect self-recording, here are some basic recommendations (less important than what’s above, but still good to know)…

• USE AN EXTERNAL MICROPHONE. If possible, use an external microphone, like a USB or XLR microphone. No external microphone? Test out the internal microphone on your camera/computer versus the microphone on a set of headphones and see which has better sound quality.  Once you know what microphone sounds the best, find a quiet place in your home with limited background noise. Here are some recommended setups (in order of preference):

  • A dedicated external mic on 1 computer to record you while playing the audio track & watching KellyAnn through headphones on another (or from your phone).

  • Using a built in mic on 1 computer while playing audio track & watching on another.

  • Using a split-screen on 1 computer while playing audio track & watching on another.

• CHECK YOUR BACKGROUND, LIGHTING, and CAMERA ANGLE. Not everyone has a professional in-home studio to use, but there are some easy tricks to help make your video look good. This is a quick read if you’re interested in some examples. The basics are:

  • Raise your camera to your eyeline (or slightly above) so you are looking straight into the shot.

  • Position the camera about an arms-length from your face, and frame the shot with a little “headroom” between the top of your head and the top of the frame.

  • Be mindful of the light sources in the room, and try to position them in front of you (on the opposite side of the camera), instead behind you or overhead.

  • Find a nice, clean, neutral background to record in front of, with no windows, lights, designs, or other distractions.

• SING OUT with CONFIDENCE. Project your voice with confidence and good tone. It may feel weird singing by yourself and into your computer or phone camera, but confidence will pay off in the end product. Look directly into the camera. It might take a second to figure out and some experimentation, but set your devices up in a way to capture a solid performance. The audio of the project will be professionally mixed once it is compiled, so the stronger voices we have to work with, the better!

• LOOK THE PART. Dress up a bit for your “final take.” No need to go full tuxedo or ball gown, but a nice collared shirt or dressy top goes a long way. Black is always a good base color for YPCC purposes. Avoid patterns, logos, or other designs that will clutter up the frame (no need to wear a YPCC shirt or logo, etc…). Pants are optional.

Want to take a deeper dive in how to look and sound your best on-camera? Check out these links…

Submit your recordings here. Be sure to name the file as "VoicePart_FirstName_LastName.ext" (ex: Tenor1_Johnny_Appleseed.mp4).