Truman State University’s female acappella group, Minor Detail, is hoping to hit the recording studio after a 10-year absence.
The group is currently working towards a fundraising goal of $2,500 by hosting a concert 8 p.m. April 1 in Violette Hall 1000. Entrance to the concert is $3, but the group encourages donations larger than the $3 minimum. The singers also have a Go Fund Me page. To incentivize large donations, the group is offering rewards for certain monetary levels.
Senior Noelle Kellerman, Minor Detail co-music director and treasurer, says the group hasn’t recorded an album since 2006 so none of the group’s current members have experienced the recording process. Kellerman says during her time in Minor Detail, the group has grown.
“It’s such a difference from where it was, it’d be such a shame if it couldn’t be recorded,” Kellerman says.
Kellerman says the group is still in the process of researching recording studies. She says there are different ways to record acappella songs. Kellerman says the cleanest way to record is to have each member on an individual microphone. This means that a lot of time needs to be invested in recording, but this technique allows the producers to edit each individual voice. The entire recording process could take up to 20 hours.
While the group is currently contacting different studios to explain what they would like to do and explore their different recording options, they won’t be able to choose a studio until they have a final budget.
“There are really nice owners of recording studios that want to work with a capella and that have in the past,” Kellerman says. “There’s owners out there that want to work with us.”
Kellerman says the goal of the concert is to raise enough money to produce the CD without going into debt. Once the CD is recorded, the profits from the sales will go toward recording another CD, Kellerman says.
Kellerman says Saturday’s concert will feature a variety of crowd-pleasing favorites and some newer numbers the group has put together, including a Maroon 5 medley.
Junior Brianna Mann, Minor Detail co-music director, says the group will sing eight or nine songs together during Saturday’s concert but will also perform in duets and trios for a few songs. The goal of this is to feature everyone’s voices.
“We all have very unique voices and they work together very well,” Mann says. “But not everyone has a solo so it’s just nice for everyone to show off their voices because there’s a lot of really good and unique voices in the group.”
As part of the group’s increased public relations efforts to promote the Go Fund Me, freshman alto singer Seleen Hubbert produced a video to promote the concert, featuring the members of Minor Detail lip syncing to “Rather Be”. The video has garnered over 3,000 views since it was published on the group’s Facebook page.
Senior Melissa Janney, Minor Detail president, says the video has helped spread the word about the group’s talents. She says since the video was posted, the group has seen an increase in the number of requests for Minor Detail to perform.
“It’s so fun to make, and it’s a really good bonding experience for all of our members,” Janney says.
Minor Detail does guest performances throughout the year and takes on as many gigs as possible to show off the group’s talents. The singing group hopes to be finished fundraising by the end of the semester so they can record over the summer.