An Easier Way to Make a Virtual Choir Video + How I Edit Audio in Audacity

If you want to make an easier, lower-tech virtual choir video, try recording the video on a Zoom call.

Here’s the gist of it (details are below):

Mix an audio recording of your choir members’ individual parts. Then, record a Zoom call with everyone lip-synching to the accompaniment track. (To see everyone in the Zoom call, record from a computer – not a tablet or phone – with the Zoom view set to “Gallery View”). Finally, synch your audio and video together in a video editing program like iMovie.

This method is not as polished as other techniques (you can see our internet speeds vary in the video below), but it’s WAY less time-consuming. For instance, the video below took about 10 hours to make, time mostly spent editing the 14 or so vocal tracks. This amount of time is significantly less than most other virtual choir video methods.

Scroll down for details, including my steps for mixing the audio – but first, a video my choir and I made for a recent online service:

A Detailed Guide to the Recording and Mixing Process

Audio Recording Process:

I record an accompaniment and send the audio file to vocalists, who then make vocal tracks they send back to me. Everyone listens to the accompaniment with headphones and records on a separate device if possible (e.g. record on a phone while listening with headphones using a computer).

Notes: Most people are able to email their audio tracks, but several find it easier to upload to a Dropbox link I send them. Also, most of the vocalists use the built-in mics on their device, but a couple use an external mic.

Video Recording Process:

While hosting a Zoom meeting with choir members, I set my view to “Gallery View,” make sure everyone except me is muted, then start recording the call. On a different device, I play the accompaniment track into the first device’s mic. EDIT: you can play sound-only from Zoom! Here’s a quick how-to since it’s not as simple as clicking “Share Computer Sound.”

My choir finds it helpful for me to count in and sing along. (In the video above, you can see me counting and singing in the square second from the top left – my video is about a second before everyone else’s because of internet lag times.)

Audio Mixing Process:

I mix the audio files together using Audacity. Note: this isn’t a full “how to use Audacity” tutorial, just the process that I use. Other audio editing programs like GarageBand will also work.

For each vocalist’s audio imported into Audacity, I edit in this order. 1. Amplify. 2. Compress. 3. Normalize. 4. Noise Removal. 5. Manual removal of breaths and other non-singing sounds (that is, erase the audio on everything except what is clearly singing).

Once everyone’s audio track is cleaned-up:

First, I align one voice with the accompaniment track. I pick the strongest, most accurate track because every other voice will line up with this vocal track. When I align this track, I’m not just making sure it’s exactly “lined up” with the accompaniment, I’m also checking entrances and cut-offs. Entrances and cut-offs are tricky already for an in-person choir and become incredibly difficult for virtual.

Second, I pick the most accurate recording in each of the other voice parts and align them with the first vocal track. I make sure entrances and cut-offs are exactly lined up.

What to do if entrances and cut-offs aren’t exactly lined up? And how to erase wrong notes without sounding obvious? Silence the material you don’t want (could just be a split-second of extra “t” or “s” at the end of the phrase). Then use the “fade in” and “fade out” tools to smooth the sound.

What if you can’t hear one part over another? Adjust the gain while you edit. (Lower the gain on the part the you can’t hear over.)

Third, within each part, I align each vocalist’s track with each part’s “lead” vocal track. As with the “lead” tracks, edit entrances and cut-offs especially carefully. Depending on the piece and the vocalists, you might need to edit out a lot. For example, on many cut-offs that end with consonant like “t” or “s,” I use just a few voices because almost no one cuts off at exactly the same time (not a knock on the vocalists – this is really, really tricky!)

Four, I listen to all the voices on each part, double-checking that there aren’t any noticeable errors like a breath I forgot to erase.

Five, I listen to all the voices together, checking again for errors.

Six, I play with gain – a lot. I use my ear and adjust the gain to find what will work for a particular piece. For the recordings I’ve done with one accompanying instrument and about 14 vocalists, I set most vocalists to minus -10 to -12, and set the accompaniment between -1 to -3. For voice parts with fewer vocalists, I make those vocalists more prominent in the mix.

Seven, I export the audio and check again for errors.

Eight, my colleagues align the audio with the lip-synch video. They use iMovie, but this can be done in any basic video editing program.

But Why Do a Virtual Choir Video?

Some friends have asked me why I’ve done virtual choir videos with my church choir. After all, it’s nothing like the in-person experience.

For me, it’s about doing a project together as a community. Instead of creating a mural together, we’re each painting our own tiles, and I’m assembling them together in a mosaic. It’s not a replacement for our in-person musicking. Instead, it’s a a different art form for a different time.

If we were recording individual videos, my colleagues and I wouldn’t have the people-power for all the behind-the-scenes editing. But since my colleagues only have to align one video with one audio file, and I only have to edit audio, we have been able to make several virtual choir videos and will make several more before the program year ends in May.

I hope this is a helpful guide – if you make a virtual choir video with your group, I’d love to see it! Just drop a link in the comments.