RECORD YOUR CHOIR

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

 

What are the benefits of making a professional recording with my choir?

Choirs make a CD for many reasons, but in each case there are multiple benefits

•  A souvenir of members' time with the choir

•  Archiving at a key point in time

•  Marking a Musical Director's time with the choir

•  A memento for your supporters

•  CD for those who can't get to your concerts

•  Sampler material for tour venues

•  Competition entry recording

•  Allow the choir to hear themselves

•  An exciting and valuable experience

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How much time should we set aside for the recording?

Most choral album recordings are made over two consecutive days. Recording days are usually subdivided into two 3 hour sessions, 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm, with break of around twenty minutes in the middle of each session. The expectation is to record roughly fifteen minutes of quality music in a three hour session, so two days allows the recording of an album, which is about an hour long.

 

Where will we make the recording?

It's often the case that a local venue you use for concerts will also serve the recording well. The key considerations for the venue are for it to be free from internal and external noise, and acoustically suited to both the repertoire and producing a good recorded sound. Churches, town halls and concert halls are commonly used. An additional requirement is for the building to have a separate room, reasonably soundproofed from the performance area, within which we can set up our temporary sound control room for the recording engineer and producer. A vestry, dressing room, green room or similar is usually ideal. We will work with you in choosing a suitable venue and if needed, make a site visit in advance

 

When will you set up your equipment?

Setting up of the recording equipment takes between two and three hours and is done either early in the morning of the first day of recording, or the evening before if that is possible. Taking down the equipment at the end of the recording would normally take about one and a half hours.

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What will happen at the recording sessions?

During the recording our team will support you, put everyone at their ease and give clear guidance throughout the sessions. The first day will begin with the recording engineer setting the microphones while the choir warms up and there will be a one or two test takes until the musical director, engineer and producer are happy with the recorded sound. The session will then get underway properly with each piece being recorded perhaps two or three times to allow for the editing of the best possible performance. The producer will liaise with the musical director between takes to agree on what should be done next. Sometimes just smaller sections of a piece are recorded in a take to allow homing in on a tricky passage and to save on tiring voices out too much. Our team are skilled at ensuring the recording sessions run smoothly and are enjoyable. Recordings sessions should be great fun and rewarding but they are also hard work!

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What happens after the recording sessions?

With the recording sessions completed, the producer will then mark up the scores to indicate the chosen takes for each piece and we will get to work on the following: 

 

Editing

Once the recording is complete we will prepare the first edit for your choral director to listen to and comment on. The second edit will be based on these comments and by this stage we should be very close to having a finished master for sending to the pressing plant.

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CD Design

We will organise the graphic design of the CD packaging and would aim to get the graphic designer underway around the time of the recording so that the production master for the audio and the final art work for the CD are ready simultaneously. To help in the production of the CD we will ask you for a simple text file containing all of the wording, names, credits and so on that you would like to appear, as well as a good quality digital photograph of the choir. We will send you proof copies of the design at each stage for approval.

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Copyright

For each album produced, a copyright license must be obtained from the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society. This licences you to record the works on to a physical format and to produce copies. There is usually a cost for the licence, however, this varies depending on the number of CDs being pressed, the price you will sell it for and how many of the published musical works on the CD are still in copyright. On account of this, the cost can range from zero to around £400 and so while it is important that we bring it to your attention, we separate it from the fixed price costing we prepare for the recording.

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How much will it cost?

Since every recording is unique, we prefer to work out a budget for each project and so would ask you to call us to let us know about your project and we will prepare a quote. Of course, you will have five hundred CDs to sell to members, friends, family, supporters and at concerts to help recoup the cost. Some choirs organise pre release publicity drives and take advance orders. Others are able to secure some sponsorship for the recording from local supporters or advertisers, sometimes in return for appropriate coverage within the CD booklet. If you have any further questions please do contact us to find out more or to discuss your CD project.

 

Take a look at our short film about choral recording.

Read about recent choir CDs we have produced.

Listen to some of our other recording work.

Read about shooting a video of your concert.

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