80-plus people all singing the same song sounds like the makings of a choir — but when each of them is in their own home, it isn’t quite there yet. Fortunately for Choir of the Sound, among those 80-plus are some singers with the technical expertise to blend all those recordings into one sweet song. How do they do it? Let’s ask some of the people on our Tech Team: Anne Fordham, Chuck Weger, and David Horiuchi.
Q: What is your background in tech?
Anne: One of my dual majors in college was Music Production/Engineering, so once upon a time I passed some classes relevant to audio editing and mixing. I spent most of my time working with analog consoles; I never dreamed I’d be putting it to use 20 years later, let alone to edit and mix 80+ audio tracks from my dining room table!
Chuck: I was fixing TVs and radios when I was 12, and built a home-grown audio mixing console when I was 15. My degree is in Geography (!) but I spent most of my undergraduate time at Columbia University’s radio station (WKCR-FM) learning about broadcast sound and eventually becoming Chief Engineer. Then I worked in commercial radio in NYC a little bit before deciding that computers were where I wanted to be. So for the past 40 years I’ve been a software developer (we called ourselves “programmers” back then). I used to do all the theatre tech for my kids’ school in Virginia, so I had a lot of hands-on experience back in the day.
David: Liberal arts education. 🙂
Q: What is the hardest part of your job?
David: When each of us records a video at home, we’re all using different equipment, which leads to a lot of difference in file format and quality levels. Working with those files to make them look and sound consistent with each other is one of the biggest challenges for the tech team.
Anne: As a choir, we are more than the sum of our parts. Trying to distill all the separate voices into something that sounds “like us” is a challenge!
Chuck: Trying to cram all those little pictures into one screen. And sync them all up. Also, listening to THE SAME audio track 500 times as I move back and forth doing edits.
Q: What is the easiest part? Is any of it fun?
Anne: I love spending time with everybody’s voice.
David: One of the really satisfying parts is how so many members — including me! — are learning about technology from these projects. We have members 80 years of age who are recording and uploading videos because they want to participate, and that’s awesome.
Chuck: I love the product. I think it’s super important for arts organizations to stay in the public eye, and this is one way to help ensure that.
Q: How can singers make this easier for you?
Anne: It’s hard to recreate the energy we feel when we’re together on the risers. But if we warm up, focus, and try to respond to the conductor as if he’s in the room with us, it will help bring that glow to make our recordings the best they can be.
Also, turn pages silently!
Chuck: This is a difficult thing for all of us (including me) to do. Singing by yourself, to no one, is like a stand-up comic performing for the dog. But I agree with Anne; imagine that you’re on stage, and don’t worry about the tech, worry about how you’re looking and sounding.
Q: What did you learn from making “Light, Beauty, Peace”?
David: When we’re recording from our homes, it’s hard to find a place that both looks and sounds good. For our current project, we decided to have members record their audio in a place that sounds good, then record the video in a place that looks good.
Chuck: I learned that I really don’t like my voice, and even after 12 takes I’m not happy.
Q: What would you say to other choirs who are interested in doing a virtual performance?
David: Don’t make a virtual choir just because “everyone else is doing it”. Do it if you want to keep your community working together on a musical project.
Anne: Start easy. Sing something everybody knows, with simple rhythms and without a lot of sustained notes. That will help singers get comfortable recording, and allow the tech team to get their bearings.
David: Also, don’t judge yourselves on how the finished project looks and sounds compared to other virtual choirs. Very few groups have the budget of Eric Whitacre! If your final video is something you and your audience enjoy, and it gives you a small taste of singing together, then it’s a success.
Chuck: Plan ahead. Get commitments from singers who will follow through with delivering their recordings. And invest in big disk drives.