How do I record my performance?: Music
If you want to enter our Musical Performance category, you don’t need access to any fancy recording equipment. As long as you have access to a mobile phone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer, you will be able to record a video for submission to the King Lear Prizes.
If you’re a tech whiz who has access to more advanced equipment and want to play around with your recording, that’s incredibly welcome. However, this guide is to show that recording and submitting a video to the King Lear Prizes is really simple, and can be done by anyone!
A few general pointers:
If you have been using any device for video chats over the past year, then this will be absolutely fine for recording your performance.
Record a few practice takes to ensure that you can upload your best performance.
This will also help with camera positioning and sound quality - ideally we’d like to see you fully in shot (with your instrument if applicable), so it’s also handy to do some practice recordings to check your positioning and to check that you can be heard.
For best results, place your recording device on a flat surface or a tripod rather than asking someone to hold the camera.
Where to record?
Now if you’re using the webcam on a desktop computer, you won’t have much flexibility, but with portable recording devices such as phones and tablets you might want to consider where you want to record.
If you have a few options, one thing you can do is clap your hands in each room of the house and see which acoustic suits your performance best
In general, you want to find a space with the least amount of external/background noise. Avoid recording in rooms that face out onto a road!
You may find that you need to compromise on video or audio quality to get the best overall recording. The important things are that you’re comfortable, you can be heard clearly and you can be seen in the video.
What to record with?
The list below gives some more specific tips and links to help you depending on what device you are using:
Phone: Smartphones including iPhone/Android
The most simple and straightforward way to record yourself is to use the camera app on your smartphone. Simply open the camera app on your phone and select video. Then place your phone on a surface and check that you are fully in shot.
Tablet:
Like with a smartphone, simply use the video function on your camera app and position it somewhere that means you are fully in shot.
Laptops/Desktop Computer:
Use either the inbuilt webcam or an external one to record yourself - if you can use it for video calls, you can record your performance on it!
Uploading your submission
Uploading your entry to the King Lear Prizes is simple - first, head to our online submission form by clicking here.
Once you have filled in your details and answered some short questions, you will be asked to provide a Title for your piece, the Composer and you will be able to select your instrument from a drop down list.
Following that, you will see the submission box for your entry (“Please upload your King Lear Prizes entry”). Drag your chosen file into this box, or click on it in order to search your computer or device for the video file.
It may take a moment or two for a large file such as a video to upload - be patient!
I have another way!
You may have a different way of recording to the above, which is absolutely fine! If you have any useful tips or tricks which are not included here and which you think could be useful to other entrants, please do let us know.
What next?
If you’re ready to enter your musical performance into the King Lear Prizes you can do so here.
If you want to read more posts about music, check out our Hints & Tips blog here!
If you want to know more about the King Lear Prizes generally, please go here.
If you have any feedback on this post, or any other ideas of what hints & tips could be useful to you in your musical performance, please email Hints &Tips Editor Matilda on matilda@kinglearprizes.org. She’d be delighted to hear from you.
