CASA - The Contemporary A Capella Society

We spent our initial years simply learning how to sing as a cohesive ensemble - how to move and breathe and think together.  Under Jan’s direction, we developed a personality and a sound that is unique to Pops.

We approach the vocalization of each song differently, so that each takes on a life of its own.  But it isn’t wise to rush that process. It takes a good deal of repetition, adjustment, and coaching; to balance and massage a song until it comes into its own. And it takes time for a new group of people to learn to become a team.

Like any group, we began to get requests for a CD. But we knew we just were not ready. We resisted the many requests from our members and our fans to go into the studio, because we knew the work that was involved, having several members of the team with recording experience.

Anyone can record songs. But will they be proud and happy with the resulting product?

Making a CD can and will be painful if you are not well prepared. It can be embarrassing and even destructive for a group that isn’t realistic about their talents and what the level of their singing really is.  Listening to an out of tune/sync playback in the studio will quickly turn a fun project into a mad scramble to raise a sinking ship. The studio is not the place to prepare to record.

In a cappella music, there are no musical instruments to hide behind. There is no drum track to keep you in tempo, no bass licks or piano accompaniment to keep the tonal center true. No orchestra to be the fill-in during the instrumental section. It’s just you and your voice to make everything happen musically, and a microphone recording all of it – and a microphone can be very unforgiving.

After five years of working our music and “aging” Pops into a cohesive musical group, our musical leadership finally felt that we were ready to start on the process of a CD – one of which we could be proud.

The first step was a detailed schedule to prepare for each recording session. A team of our members put together a master plan to get us to the finished product release. The strategy was to select three songs to take to the studio, and rework those numbers in musical section rehearsals.  The goal was to bring them up to as high a level as possible before the studio session.

Next, each musical section worked with a leader to dissect the songs, clean up the details, and make sure each singer knew every word, note, tuning and nuance of the music. Learning MP3’s and a digital recording of each rehearsal were posted on the Pops music locker on our website to help our members prepare outside of rehearsals.

As much as we thought we knew the music (many numbers had been in the repertoire for three or more years), many of our members actually “rediscovered” the music and found many flaws in execution – incorrectly learned notes, misinterpreted tempos, and even wrong words. That may seem amazing, but when you have 48 singers, singing one of up to 10 different voice parts, with different words in each section with varying degrees of musical acumen, there is a lot there to manage.

Each week, we spent the first 90 minutes in section rehearsals, with the goal of cleaning up the music and listening to each other, to create a unit sound and feel within the sections. Then the ensemble would come together for the final 30 minutes of the rehearsal to bring it all together for Jan. Since Pops normally rehearses only two hours per week, it was an intense work schedule to get ready for each recording session.

Following the studio session, we started on the next three songs on the list.

On to the studio.

Selecting the right studio can be a huge key to recording success. A studio is not only responsible to record the music. They also support the performers, create a warm and nurturing atmosphere, and they gently guide you along the way. They shouldn’t be afraid to tell you when another take is needed, without crushing your spirit and making you give up hope.

That task has to be done in a sensitive manner, such that they don’t interfere with the flow and what the director wants. It is a fine line. A heavy-handed studio staff can create tension, which can flare tempers.  That disharmony can show up on the recording. A non-participative staff can also leave you hanging and not create the kind of artistic energy that is needed. It truly is a collaborative effort between the artists and the studio.

The trust between the musical director and internal advisors, the chorus and the studio engineer makes the journey so much more fun and productive. When those participants develop and maintain trust and respect, it enhances the success of the sessions immensely.

Our team considered several studios in our area, and selected MilkBoy Studios in Ardmore, Pa. It was a perfect fit for us. Their staff and company owners took personal interest in our project, and did an excellent job at accommodating a large group.  They had that perfect touch that helps to create an atmosphere that encourages artistry.

As in any amateur singing group, our members have day jobs, and so we have to contend with singers that come straight to the studio after working an 8+ hour shift at work. We decided to record primarily on the same night as our rehearsal, so we maximized the members that could participate. Weekends would have been nice, but they are just not practical for all sessions.

Once in the studio, our goal was to create an early success, to help our singers gain confidence and enjoy the experience from the start. We selected a song they love to sing, and sing well – “Happy Together.” It was a home run. It sounded great very quickly, and gave us the confidence we needed to prepare for the rest of the sessions ahead of us. The song also personifies Pops. We really do love singing together. Hence it became the title track.

Studio work is hard work and sometimes very stressful. It is also hot and stuffy. 50 people in a small studio room can make the temperature rise quite quickly, which adds to the stress of the situation. Our room was big enough, but without much room to spare. Our members came ready to play and they handled the pressure like professionals. They were also amazingly patient as we gathered to listen and decide what was needed in the next session.

Success in the studio occurs when we bring the right balance of energy, playfulness and passion and somehow risk all and “let it rip”, while still staying musically accurate. It is using all our faculties to attempt to create and record that single best version of a song.

Amidst all the other activities, we also needed to make some adjustments to the technical equipment and location of voices to get the best mix of voices. Besides moving microphones to various locations, we ended up moving the bass section to a split location on either end of the group to enhance the bass sound. Soloists performed from various locations, until we got a balance that worked for both the “vocal orchestra” and the soloist.

Studio microphones have a way of making performers pull within themselves, for fear of “sticking out” or making a mistake. The end result is a musical product that is “safe”-lacking in passion, inspiration and emotion. It’s a constant fight to get performers to be emotional and artistic, and yet keep the composition one without distractions to the listener. Too far over the edge and a song begins to disintegrate.

We would usually record a track a couple of times, and then Jan and I would listen to the takes and decide if it was as good as we were capable of delivering. We then played the game of seeing if we could coax just one more take that was more magical than our best – trading up! Of course, there is a point of diminishing returns; by the nth recording of a song, where the spontaneity and the energy may start to wane. Then it’s time to move on and perhaps come back to it later if needed, which we did several times. Time is money in the studio, and with 50 people and a studio staff standing by waiting for the next direction, you have to make decisions rather quickly and then you live with them.

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Each session in the studio was about three hours. By the end of each session, our members were drained and ready to go home after a long day. They were also excited, because the sessions usually had moments of magic, and we all knew it was going relatively well. But it is very focused and intense work.

Finally, after the final session of recording, we began the mixing of each song. These are the sessions where the mixing engineer does all the technical electronic compression and magic dust work to help the recording sound as good as possible. In one particular song, “Time To Say Goodbye”, we featured our friend Mike Kelly (High Five, Wheelhouse) on vocal percussion and contrabass. In this case, the final cut of Pops was sent digitally to Chesapeake Star Records in Maryland and Mike recorded his work there and then sent it back for final mixing.

Once mixed, Jan and I reviewed the recordings with the studio engineer. We listened and discussed and decided as a group on the best take and how to treat it. That work took another three weeks. If we weren’t happy with the final product, we rescheduled another session on the song the next time in the studio.

We took sample mixes home after the sessions, to listen in the car and live with them, to see if they sat well after we listened to them over and over. It’s amazing what details emerge when you listen to a song 10 or more times, which is what we hope our customers will want to do.

Finally we decided on the order of songs, the length of pause between songs, the volume of each and then finally a finished product we were happy with. Then we went on to mastering, a process where a master engineer reviews the entire product and makes final volume, reverb, compression and other adjustments, to make the entire recording a cohesive product.

During this time, a separate team of Pops folks assembled a concept for the CD cover, including graphics and music data, received the final master, and contracted DiscMakers in Pennsauken NJ for the cover design, duplication and packaging of the final product.

Another team had begun the work of obtaining all the mechanical licenses for the music – obtaining all the names and arrangers of the music, and paying the royalties, and making sure we were legal and above board, a thankless task which is almost a fulltime job.

The end result is not only an end product in a jewel case, but a reminder of a journey – a focused effort on the part of A Cappella Pops and our supporting team that culminated in a recording that will forever be in our CD collection. It was a snapshot of where we were at that time in 2005.

It was a victory for all of us, and one we are all very proud of.

If you ask the question, “Should we make a CD?” perhaps this will give you some insight on what that journey could look like.

Tom Halley has sung in and coached a cappella musical groups for over 30 years and is a member of the Barbershop Harmony Society. He was lead/baritone in the popular mixed quartet, PhilHarmonix, and is co-founder and President of A Cappella Pops. Tom and his wife Donna live in Wallingford, PA.