Four days, seven a cappella groups and 250 expected singers add up to a lot of do-re-mis.

But they also mark Northwestern’s first-ever mass audition for a cappella groups.

Seven a cappella groups will attend the event, to be held Wednesday through Saturday at Norris University Center. The audition was created by the Northwestern A Cappella Board, said the group’s acting president, Chris Plevin, a Speech sophomore. The board was created last year to remedy the scheduling conflicts caused by multiple audition times.

In last year’s chaotic process, some potential a cappella members attended as many as 10 first-round auditions, some of which were held on the same day. After callbacks, singers could face upwards of 15 auditions, and the whole process took weeks to complete, Plevin said.

With the mass audition, singers will only attend one first-round audition.

“The competition is so high at Northwestern, trying out for so many groups is so time-consuming,” said Speech freshman Tricia Huie, who plans to audition.

Furthermore, small a cappella groups can select from a much bigger pool of applicants, Plevin said.

“It allows us to see a lot more people. It streamlines the whole process,” said Medill junior Zach Mulert, leader of Five Minutes of Fame, the smallest a cappella group on campus. His group might select only one new member to add to its existing five, he said.

Plevin estimated that as many as 250 students will participate in the mass audition, but only 30 to 40 will become members of the groups.

The mass audition also aims to decrease competition between groups for potential members.

“Last year you might have five groups competing over one singer,” Mulert said. “It was total chaos.”

The groups that will attend the audition include Asterik, Aural Fixation, Five Minutes of Fame, Freshmen 15, Melisma, Purple Haze and Significant Others.

Melodious Thunk already held auditions earlier this month, said group member Lauren Stern, a Speech sophomore. Melodious Thunk opted not to participate in the mass audition because it has been a member of the Arts Alliance for the past nine years, she said.

Brown Sugar, a South Asian a cappella group that incorporates Hindi music, also will stage its own audition, Plevin said.

Students interested in joining an a cappella group must first sign up for a time slot at the Norris Information Desk before Wednesday, Plevin said.

They then must submit an online application (http://members.tripod.com/nuacb) that will be distributed to each group. Applicants list their vocal part — from soprano to bass — and previous musical experience.

At the audition, applicants will perform a song for representatives from each a cappella group.

Groups will then have callbacks during the first week of October. After the callbacks, if more than one group wants a particular applicant, the applicant ranks the groups on a preference card and will be assigned to his or her highest choice.

Plevin said that one drawback to the mass audition is that in past years groups could display more personality in the first round of auditions. However, groups can sell themselves to applicants during the second round of auditions, which will be on a group-by-group basis, Plevin said.

As opposed to a few members of one group watching the audition, having 20 people from seven groups is much less personal, he said.

But Huie said the change may seem minor in an audition that is “nerve-racking” no matter how many people are watching.