posted
Ok, so far, I have a soprano, 2 tenor/baritones.
I believe ludosti is an alto. That is enough for a quartet. So we have what it takes to get started.
The requirements for the choir are:
- have decent mic ($30 should be ok) - have headphones - be able to play mp3 (over headphones) AND record your own singing at the same time. - I suppose singing ability is a plus, but not required (we'll just pitch shift your voice )
posted
I can sing anything you want but bass. But I don't remember if I still have my mic. And as for listening and recording at the same time, I don't know if I have that either.
Posts: 1903 | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
I sing second soprano by preference, but alto and soprano as well. I have a very cheap mic, but it works well. If you doubt me, I can send you a sample of my singing (recorded a while ago when I was recovering from a cold, so not my best work, but to prove the mic is okay.)
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We don't have the music picked yet. I'm thinking a cappella. Anyone know any good songs? Music copies is a problem too. I would prefer not to scan anything in unless it is paid for. If someone has songs they've written, we can always do that. Or we could do without music (see next:)
I'm planning on recording a "rehearsal" track with just your part that you can use to learn your part. This is one way we could do without music for everyone, if you can sing by ear and memory. Not sure it will work for all.
I'm also planning on making a "full rehearsal" track that has all 4 parts and each person plays it to learn how their part fits.
2 other requirements I forgot:
- be a member of hatrack forum - be able to record mp3's.
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posted
I have all kinds of online resources for free downloadable sheet music, depending on what everyone's interested in doing. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Oh, the reason I want to do a cappella is so that we don't have to deal with a piano. I don't want cheeze midi/synth piano. And it is difficult to record a real piano if you don't know what you are doing. But if anyone can, that would be great. Then we could do piano stuff.
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posted
I have access to a very extensive music library. I can pretty much get any classical sheet music I want, as well as some broadway, and possibly other things as well.
Posts: 7877 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
I can sing alto. Or rather, I used to sing alto in the campus ministry choir. I'm a little out of practice right now. I can't go much higher than the B in the middle of the treble clef without losing quality. The two octaves below that are my range at the moment, although with practice I could probably extend that a bit.
I can't sight read vocal parts, so the "rehearsal track" idea works for me. With sheet music I would have to print it out and go find a piano.
I hope I'm not butting in. I do enjoy singing, even though I haven't done it in a while.
posted
Yeah, you also must have had a bunch of people!
I've seen compositions for 4, 5, 6, and 8 parts. Once I was in a women's choir and we sang something with 9 parts. But never more. Wow.
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posted
It wasn't really a whole bunch of people. We only did 16 parts twice, and we only had 30 people. Some people just had to sing their part on their own. They were fun songs though. Most of the time we did 8 parts. Every once in a while 10.
But really, four parts was almost unheard of for us.
posted
We're going to do a 40-part piece later this semester. I can't even TELL you how excited I am!!! We're having 80 people, 2 to a part. I can't WAIT.
posted
I can't even imagine writing a piece of music that complex. Is it very dissonant or something? Or do you have some amazingly wide-ranged singers?
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I'm a soprano, but I'm probably too busy in the next six months. Maybe I'll sub when beverly has her baby.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
40 parts? What is it? Must have lots of doublings. Be like a 2 piano song (like a symphony reduction) where a singer takes every note.
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posted
I wish I could play, but I have no mic. I love harmonizing. Maybe I can sing along with beverly on occasion. Posts: 4089 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
I don't remember what it's called... or who it's by... but it's a British composer. I haven't actually heard the piece yet, so I don't know how it works, but I'll get to see a score in a few weeks, when we start working on it, and probably hear a recording. It'll be fantastic.
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posted
May I make a suggestion? This is my take on recording this type of stuff, all at different locations and all....
Make the very first track a metronome.
It isn't that we can't sing, or keep a beat...the problem is that if we were all together we could see (and hear) each other, and perhaps even be conducted.
Since we are so far spread apart, we can't do that...and even the smallest deviation from the tempo can make it clash a bit. I noticed that when JenniK sang some multi-track stuff (all recorded with Audacity, the freeware sound program we still use today ) she would get a little bit off....and that was with a piece of music she knew well, singing it herself.
It still sounded good, but it would have sounded better if she had been conducted.
Think of it this way...even professional groups get conducted most of the time, so the metronome track is the "virtual conducter" for the entire groups.
Then at the end remove that track, and you will all be on beat, almost like you had recorded it together rather than half a world apart.
posted
What a fun idea! I'd love to join, except for the lack of a mic. But it sounds cool enough that I'd consider getting one - any recommendations on where to look? (I know this was discussed a while back re: Raia's voice lessons, but I'm too lazy to find that thread. Plus I'm supposed to be doing homework, not posting.)
I could do 1st or 2nd soprano, or alto depending on what's needed. (When I get a mic, that is.)
For a capella stuff, madrigal pieces are a lot of fun, but those might be kinda challenging without a director. And Kwea's metronome idea is a good one. Is there maybe an online pitch pipe sorta thing in case some people don't have pianos?
Posts: 952 | Registered: Jun 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Kwea: Make the very first track a metronome.
I'll be recording something similar to a metronome track.
Actually I've thought of 2 ways to do this. Both of them require the singer to be able to play audio and listen on headphones and be able to record their voice at the same time.
So the first method. The conductor can do a lot by taking loud breaths. The "conductor" in this case will be the rehearsal tracks. I'm not sure it will work, but I have high hopes.
Second, I could just set up a video camera and you all can actually be conducted by just watching the video. It will be odd because there wont be the give and take response interaction that normally happens between choir and conductor.
Either way, it will take a few tries before I think we will have something that we wouldn't be embarrassed of... But I'm pretty sure we can make it work.
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posted
I don't know that the video is a good idea. If some of us have slower computers or if something is going on and the video gets out of sync, there could be issues with it.
I like the metronome idea very much. Especially because I don't use rehearsal tapes-- I listen to it once, then prefer to look at the music.
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posted
Sounds good. The best way to get things going is to...well, get things going. Pick a song and get on with it as fast as possible before people forget.
posted
We can't really do a metronome track because most choral music doesn't have a steady beat. And cut offs and actual entrances are hard to match with just a clicking.
The 4 part rehearsal track idea is mainly to get the tempo down (including any speed ups or slow downs--but to start with we could try to stick with something with a consistent beat). And it will also help with entrances (choral conductors use their own breathing half of the time to get the singers together). The 4 part rehearsal track will not be included in the final mix.
Also, each person's mp3 is going to sound different because of reverb, different mic artifacts, and the distance from the mic to singer. So I'll tweak with the audio to try to get them to blend.
I knew all of this ahead of time and I think we can overcome them. It may just take a few attempts.
Raia is finding music. It may not be until end of next week before we have music and tracks. I had no idea there were so many singers here. If I knew that, I would have had the music all picked out and the rehearsal tracks all recorded before I brought it up.
I'm really excited to see how this turns out!
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posted
I think you should start on something simple at first, to see what real problem occur trying to meld together...something with a fairly steady tempo...also, you could give vocal cues for the first few times as well, and then discard that track.
Next time you do this, JenniK will probably be interested, but right now she is in FL at Disney, so she can't do it. She loves playing around with Audacity, and even made a round with her mother, who is her voice teacher.
posted
The music does need tweaking, and has in fact been tweaked... I just need to figure out how to get my file onto a website that everyone can see.
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) she would get a little bit off....and that was with a piece of music she knew well, singing it herself.
