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Old 01-30-2022, 08:45 AM
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ChuckS ChuckS is offline
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Default Choir Christmas Concert

I realize it’s late for posting a Christmas song, but since the Christmas Season went until Jan 9th this year, and the concert wasn’t until Jan 7th, I guess it’s only about 3 weeks past due. There are no guitars, but I did get lots of insights and experience that will relate to my guitar recordings.

I volunteered to record the Choir Christmas Concert for a local high school. I hadn’t been given much of any information prior to the concert (or even that they definitely wanted it recorded), but looking at pictures from last year I assumed it would be in my church (large, high ceilings, brick walls) and there would be about 75 choir members. About 2 days prior to the concert, I’m told that various choir formations will be on stage, including all members at once (about 130) and groups as small as 30, and on some songs, there would be a violin, piano, cello, and/or organ. I was a bit overwhelmed and a bit under equipped.

My focus / priority was the choir, and there were compromises elsewhere. I had 7 mics/channels total; the cello (only on one song) and the piano did not have spot mics so were only picked up by the choir mic pairs. On two songs the organ also played. There was an audience of about 250.

Here's one of the songs from the full choir, with piano accompaniment. Wave file can be downloaded from Soundcloud and is also available at the link:



https://1drv.ms/u/s!ArPFBNX3leKCg35B...l8hi5?e=vj9Wfk
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2012 Carruth 12-fret 000 in Pernambuco and Adi
2010 Poling Sierra in Cuban Mahogany and Lutz
2015 Posch 13-fret 00 in Indian Rosewood and Adi

Last edited by ChuckS; 01-30-2022 at 04:55 PM.
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Old 01-31-2022, 11:20 AM
Glennwillow Glennwillow is offline
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What a lovely recording, Chuck! It sounds very natural through good headphones.

That is a good sounding choir, especially for a high school choir. I have noticed over the years that Minnesota produces wonderful choral music, I'm not sure why that is. But I have observed the same thing over the years, so I don't think I'm just making this up.

It's very generous of you to use your equipment and knowledge to help a local high school out, Chuck! I have noticed that when recordings like this are made, people don't think much about it or are even irritated at the efforts needed to make the recording, but later a recording like this becomes invaluable. It's a wonderful way to capture a moment in time.

- Glenn
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Old 01-31-2022, 07:28 PM
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Originally Posted by Glennwillow View Post
What a lovely recording, Chuck! It sounds very natural through good headphones.

That is a good sounding choir, especially for a high school choir. I have noticed over the years that Minnesota produces wonderful choral music, I'm not sure why that is. But I have observed the same thing over the years, so I don't think I'm just making this up.

It's very generous of you to use your equipment and knowledge to help a local high school out, Chuck! I have noticed that when recordings like this are made, people don't think much about it or are even irritated at the efforts needed to make the recording, but later a recording like this becomes invaluable. It's a wonderful way to capture a moment in time.

- Glenn
Hi Glenn,
Thanks much for taking the time to listen and give me some feedback on the choir recording. I agree that the choir is really good for high school. They're in a pretty rigorous program and have a very good director.

You mentioned "people might even get irritated at the efforts needed to make the recordings". When the choir director asked about recording the concert, not just the dress rehearsal, I made sure he was aware of the required mic stands and its impact on the audience sight lines. I did try to minimize the audience distraction though: I placed the outriggers further to the side than I would have preferred so they were not in anyone's sight line and did not distract the performance by moving/changing any mics during it. It was less than ideal, especially with all the different sizes and formations of the choirs, but I feel good about how it turned out.

I'm not sure how the school will be using and/or sharing these latest recordings. It was nice that when I recorded three songs in their theatre back in November the school posted them on their Facebook page throughout the Advent season.
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2012 Carruth 12-fret 000 in Pernambuco and Adi
2010 Poling Sierra in Cuban Mahogany and Lutz
2015 Posch 13-fret 00 in Indian Rosewood and Adi

Last edited by ChuckS; 01-31-2022 at 07:54 PM.
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Old 01-31-2022, 07:42 PM
pf400 pf400 is offline
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Nice. Got me thinking that an acoustic-electric guitar could be just as nice as a piano for accompanyment.
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Old 02-01-2022, 12:41 AM
Glennwillow Glennwillow is offline
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Originally Posted by ChuckS View Post
...I'm not sure how the school will be using and/or sharing these latest recordings. It was nice that when I recorded three songs in their theatre back in November the school posted them on their Facebook page throughout the Advent season.
Hi Chuck,

I mentioned that recordings like this can be invaluable out in the future somewhere. I realize that with today's technology and social media the sharing of recordings like this is fairly commonplace now. But you never know what the future might hold.

I have had people come to me 20-25 years after choir recordings I made and ask if I still had them, and I have been able to send them an mp3 file via email. Requests like this came in when the choir director I formerly worked with, who was born the same year as I, had just died. These recordings meant a lot to people, to partially be able to relive a little of that time with the choir and this director.

You just never know what impact you may have.

- Glenn
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Old 02-01-2022, 08:03 AM
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ChuckS ChuckS is offline
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Nice. Got me thinking that an acoustic-electric guitar could be just as nice as a piano for accompanyment.
Thanks, and I appreciate that you listened. I agree voice and guitar is wonderful, but never really considered a large choir and guitar.
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2012 Carruth 12-fret 000 in Pernambuco and Adi
2010 Poling Sierra in Cuban Mahogany and Lutz
2015 Posch 13-fret 00 in Indian Rosewood and Adi
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