Pandemic Performances

Editing 13 Virtual Acapella Performances from Self-Recorded Videos

Featured Music Video

Project Summary

Client: The Mixtapes NYU acapella club

Duration: September 2020 - May 2022

Role: Video Editor, Project Manager

Tools: Adobe Premiere Pro, Miro, YouTube Studio

Skills: Project Management, Video Editing, Shot Lists, Storyboarding

13 Music Videos 🎵

Edited/Published

15 Singers 🎤

Managed

61 Video Files 🎥

Collected & Imported

I edited and published 13 virtual music videos my NYU acapella group, The Mixtapes, during the pandemic.

Using Adobe Premiere Pro and Miro, I managed footage from up to 15 members, creating performances that kept us competing nationally. This project enhanced my video editing and project management skills.

The Aca-Challenge of
Virtual Acapella During COVID 😷

When I started college, I was eager to continue singing, but COVID restrictions made it difficult. My acapella group couldn’t meet to rehearse or perform, but we were filled with passion and had music to share with the world.

How might we produce an acapella concert that’s as exciting and engaging as a live show, all from home? 🏠

Adapting to the Virtual Stage

My acapella group didn’t miss a beat. We quickly adapted by creating virtual music video performances, so we could continue sharing our sound and competing nationally.

My Role

Living a Double Life as Singer & Video Editor 👩🏽‍💻

I took charge of editing my acapella group’s virtual videos. Despite having limited experience in video editing, I quickly taught myself Adobe Premiere Pro.

My Singer Responsibilities

  • 🎵 Learn music for my vocal part

  • 🎤 Record my audio, incorporating the music director’s notes

  • 📽️ Record video of myself lip syncing to the final group audios

My Video Editor Responsibilities

  • 👔 Coordinate group wardrobe aesthetics

  • 📽️ Collect footage from singers by the deadline

  • 🔊 Obtain rough and final audio mixes from the music director

  • 👩‍💻 Assemble, edit, and publish final music videos

The Recording Process

Since we couldn’t meet in person, every singer recorded their audio and video from home. Here’s how the audio recording process looked:

Crafting Virtual Choreography

The Editing Process

Step 1

Plan the Video

Step 2

Design Layouts

Step 3

Gather Lip-Sync
Videos

Step 4

Edit & Publish

Step 1: Plan the video

While I waited to collect videos from the singers, I would create shot lists. These were tables that showed how the singers would appear on screen and transition with the music.

Example of a shot list made in Notion.

Example of the shot list in action!

Step 2: Design the layouts

I used Miro’s digital whiteboards to plan where the singers would go on the screen, using frame sizes & positions to highlight how prominent their part was in the music.

Example of layout designs.

Demonstration of the a 7-person layout in action!

Step 3: Gather lip sync footage

Once I finished planning the videos, it was time to get to editing! But I needed footage first 🤔…so I would share a Google Drive folder for singers to upload lip sync videos.

Step 4: Sync lip-sync videos

Once the videos were imported into my Premiere Pro workspace, I would import the group audio and align all lip sync videos to be in sync with audio.

Manually syncing lip sync footage took forever!

So I learned a trick: having singers clap 👏  at a specific point in the track let me visually match the audio spikes. This method saved me about half an hour of work every video!

Step 5: Edit & Publish!

And last, but not least, I would edit the videos to match my shot list plans. This was the most stressful and time consuming part of the entire process.

  • Premiere Pro often crashed during late-night editing because I was working with up to 15 singers’ videos at once, causing me to lose hours of work.

  • Editing layouts wasn’t just about dropping videos into squares—I had to manually crop each one, carefully aligning the edges.

Final Music Videos

Final Notes 🎵

Lessons & Impact

Being able to edit these virtual music videos for my acapella group gave me more video editing experience, skills, and creative control than I would have gained in person. I’m so grateful for this experience working with such a talented team of singers, music directors, and friends!

13 Videos

Edited/Published

2 Virtual Concerts

Premiered

8420 Total Views

And Counting…

Special thanks to Tyler Nabinger for being such a talented music director, composer, and fellow video editor on this project.

Special thanks to Ryan Kawahara for your endless tech knowledge and saving my laptop from a complete meltdown on this project.