So here's a little behind the scenes look at a virtual choir. The link above is to a video explaining about the summer music festival and Choir! Choir! Choir!'s participation. Daveed also talked about another song Across the Universe we recorded as a virtual choir. It's another Beetles song that has a chorus that goes: "Nothing's Going to Change My World". We have already recorded that song but it has not yet been released, so I might be in another upcoming video. It was recorded before the tragic events surrounding George Floyd. Daveed and Nobu decided that when what we need right now is change that it might not be the right time for this song.
To be part of the virtual choir, you need to rehearse and then video yourself singing. Daveed and Nobu put out guide tracks and instructions. The link to the instructions are below but you don't have to read them unless you really want to. I rehearsed a couple hours total before I recorded my video submission. My set up was my cell phone on a tripod recording my video submission and a tablet paired with Bluetooth wireless headphones so I could watch, listen and sing with the guide track. This way the only audio on my video submission is just me singing.
I sang to the Part A Guide track, there is a Part B which is higher but I found it was a little more difficult and I had problems reaching a few of the notes. You also download the lyrics although this time they had them on screen in the guide tracks as well. Kostis Maraveyas sang the left hand side. We, the choir, sang the right hand side and everyone sang the lyrics in the middle.
I recorded my video about a half dozen times; every time either I messed up the words or my breathing was off. I still wasn't really happy with my video but my voice was getting a little raspy so I just selected the best one of those I had done. You'll see in my submission that I count in and clap; the clap, in particular, helps them to align the tracks as the clap creates a sharp spike on the audio track.
If you watched my submission, you've heard that I'm not a great singer so it's a good thing I'm part of a larger choir. The link below is bookmarked to our video of the Choir! Choir! Choir! virtual choir.
Finally, I've also added a zoom video with Daveed, Nobu and Kostis. Kostis says "when we're together, there is no worst singer".
