Oregon Chorale - CD Recording Session

How to Record a CD

Invite 30 or 40 of your closest friends to join you.
Pick out a few songs
Sing them.
Print CDs

OK, so that's the simplified version. In reality (and not necessarily in order!) —

Make sure your friends can sing. It helps if you're already members of the same choral organization.
Pour over your entire repertoire and select the finest literature.
Find a summer weekend that can accommodate the most people.
Hand out a huge stack of music and tell everyone they have to learn it before the dress rehearsal.
Add an extra rehearsal for good measure.
Select a venue.
Hire a recording engineer.
SING!
Find some nice people to fund the project (do this sooner unless you know REALLY nice people!).
Aquire mechanical licenses from publishers.
Engage artist for cover design.
Learn more than you ever wanted to about graphic arts.
Collect material for liner notes.
Produce the master disk.
Send it all off to be pressed.
Put together marketing plan(do this before you get funding, maybe?!).
Sell CDs.
Make enough money to cover expenses and fund next project.

The Oregon Chorale consists of 50 professional and semi-professional musicians that have been singing together for 16 years. Our repertoire includes over 900 pieces spanning the centuries. After reviewing literally every possibility, the list was narrowed to 9 pieces. Survey responses from 42 choir members listed 175 weekends where various members were not available. Thanks to the wonders of computers we were able to identify two consecutive weekends for a rehearsal and a recording session.

Washington County is blessed with a number of choice venues for a recording session. Alas, summer is also prime wedding season. As venue after venue fell victim to scheduling conflicts, we began to despair of being able to record at all. As the list narrowed we be began looking more closely at familiar surroundings. We finally came full circle and selected our rehearsal hall, the choir room at Century High school. The several advantages offered by this venue include familiar surroundings, a very quiet setting, and adaptable acoustics.

Saturday morning, August 25, choir members began gathering for the recording session. The first takes were recorded to tape shortly after 9:20. With just the right mix of concentration and the good humor for which the group is noted, fewer than 70 takes were required to put down the tracks for the entire contents of the album. More than one glass of ale was lifted in celebration of the completion of the project - the first CD recorded by the Oregon Chorale in its 16 year history, scheduled for release in time for Christmas, 2001. Enjoy!

Recording Session Photo Album

Reviewing a tough spot...