─────────────────────────────Studio Primer ─────────────────────────────────
This page was established to help you the artist be prepared for the studio experience. We will attempt to make this a quick study and just hit on the essentials. Of course if you have any questions feel free to contact us or email us at anytime.

How much will this cost me?
I get this question...well, all of the time so I thought I would throw this in the primer. We can do anything from simple Karaoke or cover song recordings for the solo artist, quick and dirty one shot recordings for bands, and live on-location recordings. These are the most inexpensive way to record and while they are cheap, they are not ideal. Even though they will sound light years beyond any home or hobbyist recording, it is difficult to obtain a polished product from these situations. For this very reason, I built my studio. It is a tuned room designed to record. Clubs, bars, practice rooms are not designed for this purpose, thus your recordings will suffer. But, if you are on a strict budget this may be the way to go. Email or call us, you maybe surprised how inexpensive an in-studio professional recording is as opposed to the "budget" way to go. Like most pro studios we require half of the balance booked at the first session and the final half when the project is finished.

Okay, okay, I want to book studio time, what should I do next?
Before even thinking about booking studio time you should make sure you are ready for the studio experience. Your music needs to be tight. You should make sure there are no questions needed when it comes to your songs. Arrangements should be set in stone, lyrics finalized, and structure solidified. The last thing you want to do is spend time arguing over a part on studio time. No one likes to pay to argue. ;-) While we can serve in an emergency, it is best if you are planning on a doing a 5-6 song demo or a project that needs more than 2-3 hours in the studio, that you call about 2 weeks in advance. Studio time books quickly and at certain times of the year we will need 1-3 months of lead time. If you are sure you are ready or need advice on the subject, please email or call us, we can help.

The big day is coming, how should I prepare?
As stated above, make sure your music is ready first and foremost. You also make sure that your equipment in working conditions. Get to a reputable shop and get your guitars set-up, get your amps purring, make sure any drum pedals and equipment are free of squeaks, etc. About 1-2 days before you come in you should have your guitars restrung with new strings. Especially bassists!!! Your recordings will suffer greatly if you come in with dull strings. You can always dull a bright string sound, but you can never brighten a dull string sound. Dull strings will muddy your recording, unless of course this is what you are going for. Still, that "sound" is better left to the studio engineer to achieve. Also keep in mind that if you do change your strings as instructed, make sure you use the same brand and gauge that are currently on your instrument. This will avoid changes in your action due to tension differences between string brands and gauges. A day before you come in to record your project is not the time to experiment.

Okay, got all that, what should I bring to the session?
For the guitarists/bassists, we provide various speaker cabs, preamps, amp heads, and effects. We have finer guitars/basses available too. Although, most clients bring their own amp combo or amp head(s), pedals, guitars and use our speaker cabinets if needed. No need to bring cables unless they are specialized in some way. For the most part, if you don't have it, we probably do.

For the drummers, we have a 14piece maple Sonor drum kit, high end Sabian cymbals. The kit is completely configurable to any set-up. Toms range from 8" to 18", and we have a myriad of snare drums. This kit is tuned before each session and is well maintained with periodic replacement of all heads, felts and mechanical components. Most drummers are floored when they see and hear it. Generally, if you bring your kick pedals, specialty cymbals, snare, and sticks you should be good to go. This will save you considerably on set-up time and money.

For the vocalist, bring yourself and your lyrics, we already have all the tools to make you sound great.
Obviously for everybody else, make sure you have extras of any perishables that you may need. And if you are not sure what to bring the best thing to do is email or call us and we can help you.
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