For percussionists most of this advice is hard to follow unless one hires a studio and rents all the equipment. Kid did half of his prescreens at home (marimba/snare) and had to do his timpani at school. Less than ideal recording conditions everywhere…that being said he passed most of his prescreens (for schools that required them) except one. We used a dual set up - good camera (Lumix) on a tripod and an external mic (Zoom H1 that I use for work). He merged the two using his Macbook Pro and he’s still doing the same today (albeit sometimes using his iPhone for filming in the musical pit) for recordings his department chair wants to see before ensemble auditions.