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Whilst your gospel choir will not be judged on the production quality of the recording, it is vital to get the best recording of your choir in order to paint an accurate picture of how you really sound.

For example, your choir may be well-balanced, but if the recording equipment is not appropriately placed, it may pick up more of one part (or even individual voices), which will make your choir sound unbalanced on the recording. Remember, the recording is the only reference the shortlisting judges have of your choir's sound.

The following simple guidelines will help you to achieve a better-recorded sound.

1. CHOICE OF EQUIPMENT

Not all choirs are blessed with state-of-the-art recording studios, but you really don’t need one to achieve a suitable recording; a basic set-up is adequate. You’ll ideally use two microphones, or one stereo microphone and a recorder. It's better to record in stereo (i.e. independent left and right signals) in order to capture the full sound of the choir.

Bear in mind that you can even use a smartphone or tablet to record your choir as long as it has a high-quality recording app.

2. PLACEMENT OF MICROPHONES

This is key to achieving a suitable recording. The best way to approach this is to think of recording like you would if you were filming the choir. You would want to get everybody in the shot, and the choir to be centre of the picture.

Microphones should be a few feet away from the choir in order to achieve a balanced sound. The further away the microphones are the more balanced the choir will sound. You may need to experiment with what is suitable distance. Ideally place the microphone(s) just above head height where practical or possible. Simply get the choir to sing a few bars and then have a listen. If you discover you are picking up individual voices, or the sound is too 'in your face', then move the microphones or choir backward.

Do bear in mind microphones should be placed to pick up the choir, and not the keyboard accompanying the choir.

3. PLACEMENT OF CAMERA

If you are using a smart phone or tablet to record the choir please make sure your appliance is in the landscape (horizontal) position not portrait. Make sure you have a static shot which includes all the choir members or as many as possible. Do not record so far away that we can’t hear the choir clearly. Check the sound levels before recording.

4. NOISE REDUCTION

Try to record with as little background noise as possible. Close doors and windows.

5. LEVEL

In order to achieve the correct level for the recording, get the choir to sing the loudest parts of the songs they will record and make sure the recording does not distort.

6. PRODUCTION

In the world of recording, and with the rapidly developing sound technology at our disposal, recording engineers often use techniques to make a recording sound more commercial and to give the best possible sound.

Choirs are required to sing live, so we recommend that only recordings which are a true representation of the choir singing live are submitted. We discourage choirs from employing specific production techniques to make a sound more balanced, or sound bigger. Many conductors are not responsible for the recordings so please do pass this on to anyone who may be responsible for making the recording of the choir.

Choirs should not use the following production practices and techniques:

• Dynamics Processing - the choir should be recorded without dynamics processing, i.e. compressors, limiters, expanders, gates. The judges do judge dynamics, and therefore need to hear the true dynamic range of the choir.

• Auto-tuners should be avoided. Again, the choir is being judged on tuning.

• Tracking/layering voices should be avoided. This is where individual voice parts are recorded, so a sound engineer can manually balance them. This also includes a technique known as 'double-tracking', where a choir records multiple times to give a warmer, smoother, fuller sound. If you are a choir of 20, and sound like 200 voices on the recording because of production techniques, how will that be achieved live?

• Recordings should be unedited. By all means edit out noises before or after the recording, but editing individual phrases to make it sound as though the choir is coming in and cutting off together will not work in the choir's favour.

• Sound effects - e.g., reverb etc. should be avoided. We are keen to hear the choir’s natural vocal sound and reverb can mask this; other sound effects (delays, etc.) should also be avoided.

Don’t forget the basics: a standing choir will produce a better sound than one sitting!