recording with a children's choir
Much of this insight comes from recording Shepherd King in South Africa in 1994, with a handful of musicians and a small children's choir.
- Find a recording studio/engineer who likes children, and is sympathetic to their needs. Our recording engineer had done a number of projects with children in the past, and had introduced simple measures to make the recording experience less stressful for them. For example, he would provide each child with a single headphone to hold to one ear. These headphones were suspended from the ceiling, leaving the space almost wire-free. It helped make sure the children remained in position, thus making the placement of the microphones easier.
- Draw up a detailed outline for each song. Studio time is expensive, and if you don't come with a detailed plan and keep track of your progress along the way, you can waste a lot of time (and money). Decide beforehand how many bars you will allocate for each part of the song, changes in tempo, proposed tracks (e.g. bass, drums, guitar, solo) and recorded tracks. Pay particular attention to intros and endings. We had to settle for a fade out ending to a number of the songs, because we didn't plan the ending well.
- Practice the songs thoroughly before going to the studio. One way to save on practice time is to provide the children with a tape of the songs, so they can practice at home.
- Be creative with the children's voices. Experiment. Use them in different combinations. Each child's voice has a unique tembre. Voices used in sequence or in small groups can be very charming. One of the children in my choir had a slight lisp. I wanted to use his voice as a solo voice, but he couldn't sing the word "Father" without lisping, so I combined another child's voice with his. His voice came through clearly, but the lisp was masked completely.
- Give each song a characteristic sound/feel.
- Plan a special occasion to launch the tape/CD. Perform some songs live and perform others with backing tracks. Choreograph some of the songs, using actions or dance, and costumes and props. Teach some of the songs to the audience/congregation.
irene bom ~ songwriter © 2022