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christianmurphy
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
534 Posts |
 Posted - 21/05/2012 : 12:47:28
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So I've been writing with the new band for the last 3 or 4 months and working various industry contacts, and finally decided to bite the bullet and book some recording time in a proper studio. It's all gone through our singer, booked up, paid deposit and thought it was all good till we got an email back.
We booked 5 days, to record and mix 3 tracks, coming in at a bit over £1800. £360 a day, not exactly cheap, but we liked their work and considering that thought it was actually pretty reasonable. Paid just over half of it as the deposit (a grand). Then got the reply... "Quote was per track"...
:O :O :O
Five and a half grand for 5 days in the studio. Am I just being a tight ar$e or does that seem like absolute extortion to any of you?! I record plenty of bands in my spare time and get VERY nice results considering I charge about £10 an hour!
Better make some phone calls and try and sort something out  |
79 Ludwig - Pearl Masters - Istanbul - Zildjian - DW |
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Danny Sticks
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
1696 Posts |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 13:02:44
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Depends who they are, their reputation and who else they've recorded i suppose, but yes sounds high!
Why should they charge "per track"? What if you nailed them all quickly? I've only ever been to one's with daily/hourly charges. |
The Bucket - www.bucketoftentacles.co.uk |
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Sharklaar
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
1840 Posts |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 13:04:07
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That's feckin loads of money man! They would have to be some kind of hyper studio to get away with that...
Our local studio charges £180 a day in the week or £220 at weekends with discounts for block bookings. Not the most glamorous place in the world but he gets good results. There are plenty of other studios in the area that charge about the same too.. One of our guitars mentioned the price we were paying to one of his mates who's quite notable in banjoist circles, and was informed that for a small studio even that is probably a bit of a rip-off. |
http://www.blackhawkdown.org.uk |
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drummerant
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
1348 Posts |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 13:12:57
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| That's crazy expensive. The bloke I use is 140 quid a day and he pulls out stunning results, the others around here are 180-250 per day and are just as good. Thats stupidly expensive dude! |
www.fvfdrums.co.uk |
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christianmurphy
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
534 Posts |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 13:20:49
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Glad I'm not the only one that thinks so then.
The last 6/7 years I've recorded all my own stuff. I've worked in some great London studios as runners and over time up to assistant engineer where I was getting paid about 50 quid a day. Which was actually really good considering one of the guys has about 5/6 letters every day from uni students willing to work for free. That was TOP gear (Neve/ssl pre's - Top converters and outboard). And he was roughly 400 a day I think. I've always considered around that price for a very nice recording studio, possibly an extra 100 a day if they've worked with some bigger artists. But we've been quoted more than double that  |
79 Ludwig - Pearl Masters - Istanbul - Zildjian - DW |
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crafty
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
7748 Posts |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 13:31:00
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| Cancel the session and get your money back. You don't need to spend that kind of money on quality studio time these days. Nonsense. |
Super cool - and bongos too!
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metallicpearl
Advanced Contributer
1837 Posts |
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martydrums
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
6138 Posts |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 13:36:23
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| ^Like they are all saying above Christian; way OTT price and as Danny points out "per song" WTF? What part of the country are you in? Perhaps some forumites can recommend a place in your area. |
Official Sugar Daddy of the forum's Sonor Delite appreciation society, as nominated by Jamoca - Honorary President Paul Brook
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NormanHouse
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
934 Posts |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 15:09:59
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| I think you should name them - seems astronomical to me. I'm suprised you need 5 days for three tracks too. |
"Gonna send you back to Walker" (Geordieland) |
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Sharklaar
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
1840 Posts |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 15:37:48
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quote:
Originally posted by NormanHouse
I think you should name them - seems astronomical to me. I'm suprised you need 5 days for three tracks too.
To be fair the last two songs we recorded, including mixing, took 4 days between them. Probably about 2.5 days recording and 1.5 days mixing.
Getting too expensive for us though, we've got about 10 songs to record so we're buying the mics and other gear we need and doing it ourselves. All of the gear will cost what two days' recording would. |
http://www.blackhawkdown.org.uk |
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stakka
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
2592 Posts |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 15:55:03
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You know.... I've always hated the use of the term "Coffee spat at monitor" on forums......
..... however when I saw that price I now have to go and prepare another hot beverage !!
I've just invested a few quid on a Macbook, Protools, multi channel interface set up and have made it fully portable with a view to getting out and about recording our own band and others at local studios. All that gear cost me less than half of what they are charging.......
.... feck'ed if I know how to use it mind - but that's another matter 
Joking aside - our first few dabbles have produced great results for what we were expecting - coupled with giving me a very interesting pastime to get more involved with... If you have been involved with recording before and fancy doing it then might be worth convincing the band to possibly consider going the investing yourself route rather than line someone else's pockets. But if not I am sure there are others like me around but far more experienced who would sort what you need for a very reasonable price. |
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Danny Sticks
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
1696 Posts |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 17:23:09
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quote:
Originally posted by stakka
You know.... I've always hated the use of the term "Coffee spat at monitor" on forums......
..... however when I saw that price I now have to go and prepare another hot beverage !!
I've just invested a few quid on a Macbook, Protools, multi channel interface set up and have made it fully portable with a view to getting out and about recording our own band and others at local studios. All that gear cost me less than half of what they are charging.......
.... feck'ed if I know how to use it mind - but that's another matter
Joking aside - our first few dabbles have produced great results for what we were expecting - coupled with giving me a very interesting pastime to get more involved with... If you have been involved with recording before and fancy doing it then might be worth convincing the band to possibly consider going the investing yourself route rather than line someone else's pockets. But if not I am sure there are others like me around but far more experienced who would sort what you need for a very reasonable price.
Yes i've done self recording too - we hired a room for a day (£35) to record the drums, plenty of time for set-up, doing testing etc., then recorded 7 drum tracks (thats about as much as I can mentally handle recording before i just feel drained and wont be playing the best). The rest can be done at lower levels in other places.
To be fair, its always been the mixing that takes the time - but i like to have breaks between - i.e. have a "week off" and then go back and listen, or listen through various stereos etc.
I also think recording it yourself lets a bit of a creative side come out when you have more time to work on a song. |
The Bucket - www.bucketoftentacles.co.uk |
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WendyB
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
5645 Posts |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 18:14:53
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| My band recorded four tracks in one day recently, for £200. The mixing was done by the studio over the next couple of weeks and we got our finished tracks pretty quickly. It may not be absolute top quality suitable for mass production, but we wanted a demo disk and its perfect for that. It depends what you are recording for, is it a demo CD or are you planning to release it for sale, a "proper" job? If the latter then fine, spend the money and hope you sell enough albums to cover the costs or have a sponsor with deep pockets. If the latter, I think you should be reconsidering. |
I am No 5
www.wearefullyloaded.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ AND www.unforgivenmusic.co.uk
Honorary Forum Cupcake Baker. Nomnomnomnom. |
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Yard
Advanced Contributer
Uzbekistan
5231 Posts |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 18:22:02
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As with all things it depends on how good you want the finished product?
Most recordings I hear sound as though they were recorded in a long bright hallway or are dull and lifeless?
Top notch recordings involve a team of 4/5 including the producer,engineer.tape ops and Pro Tools.
Your quote is still cheap,but only you know their ability?
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Shut it and whack the poxy things!
www.vintagedrumyard.co.uk
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christianmurphy
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
534 Posts |
Posted - 21/05/2012 : 21:12:03
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Spoke with them and decided to have our deposit sent back, which he was completely fine with and said he'd still love to work with us in the future and such which was nice. Don't really want to say the name of the studio as it might seem I'm sort of underselling their work.
Like I said I find anything between 300-450 a day to be a suitable rate for a studio with experienced engineers and high end equipment. Not really sure what extra magical quality we were getting for three times the cost of a good london studio which would mean not travelling!
We've found someone/where else we'd really like to work with for a similar price to what we originally thought we were paying.
They are for (potentially) quite a big release. We have people from a couple of big management companies and a booking agent very interested, and we will be shooting high quality music videos for them which will be a few more grand so yeah my 'home' recordings won't really cut it. |
79 Ludwig - Pearl Masters - Istanbul - Zildjian - DW |
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WendyB
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
5645 Posts |
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shoestring
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
2880 Posts |
Posted - 22/05/2012 : 08:26:16
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quote:
Originally posted by Yard
As with all things it depends on how good you want the finished product?
Most recordings I hear sound as though they were recorded in a long bright hallway or are dull and lifeless?
Top notch recordings involve a team of 4/5 including the producer,engineer.tape ops and Pro Tools.
Your quote is still cheap,but only you know their ability?
Look at the 'Studio Time' thread who's building the best drum room in the UK. It's taking months and many £1000's to finish his project. You wouldn't expect to hire that for £200 a day. As Yard says, results are what you pay for unfortunately.
However, i've heard some brilliant mixes from people with crap gear, also i've heard rubbish mixes from people with excellent gear.
I would ask them to let you listen to something they have done previously with another band
(hopefully of a similar genre) at different studios', get a CD from them and listen to it on 'your own' hifi and not their studio monitors, that's how it sounds in the real world.
Anyway, let us know when it's finished, i'd love to hear it.
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http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=1050426 |
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benjisonfire
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
4837 Posts |
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crafty
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
7748 Posts |
Posted - 22/05/2012 : 19:40:37
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quote:
Originally posted by Yard
As with all things it depends on how good you want the finished product?
Most recordings I hear sound as though they were recorded in a long bright hallway or are dull and lifeless?
Top notch recordings involve a team of 4/5 including the producer,engineer.tape ops and Pro Tools.
Your quote is still cheap,but only you know their ability?
Top notch recordings do not have to have 4/5 people in attendance. I've played sessions with Callum Malcolm at Castlesound and it's just been him running the whole session. Great results. Sessions with Chris Hughes at Ashley Manor with him and one engineer. Even the beeb have cut down on the grunts responsible for the correct angle of the booms. Great results come from great ears and (but not necessarily) quality equipment. Great studio spaces are closing left-right-and-centre due to the incredibly cost-efficient smaller operations making great records up and down the land. Some need to be far more competitive or they'll go too. That could involve cutting staff?
Ed |
Super cool - and bongos too!
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Yard
Advanced Contributer
Uzbekistan
5231 Posts |
Posted - 22/05/2012 : 21:17:24
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I wasn't saying all recordings take 4/5?
There was a guy up my way who set up a studio and worked on his own and did great stuff.
I had a listen one day whilst dropping off a kit and giving him a swift lesson on tuning as he wanted to tweak the kit rather than let the drummers do it.
'I'll put some music on' he said
'Who's this it sounds good?
'Your son Pat's band'
'Oh.as you were'!!
He went out of business as he did not charge enough but gave them far more than their moneys worth...a shame but that sums it up!
Top Tip: Have a listen to their work before you engage them.Some are good and some very amateur?
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Shut it and whack the poxy things!
www.vintagedrumyard.co.uk
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crafty
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
7748 Posts |
Posted - 22/05/2012 : 22:03:28
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quote:
Originally posted by Yard
I wasn't saying all recordings take 4/5?
There was a guy up my way who set up a studio and worked on his own and did great stuff.
I had a listen one day whilst dropping off a kit and giving him a swift lesson on tuning as he wanted to tweak the kit rather than let the drummers do it.
'I'll put some music on' he said
'Who's this it sounds good?
'Your son Pat's band'
'Oh.as you were'!!
He went out of business as he did not charge enough but gave them far more than their moneys worth...a shame but that sums it up!
Top Tip: Have a listen to their work before you engage them.Some are good and some very amateur?
That's how it reads, Yard.
OK, ok, some...'top notch recordings involve a team of 4/5 including the producer, engineer, tape ops and Pro Tools'.
For the sake of balance, some bottom notch recordings involve more than 4 or 5 people. I should know. I was probably on most of those.
Ed |
Super cool - and bongos too!
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Yard
Advanced Contributer
Uzbekistan
5231 Posts |
Posted - 22/05/2012 : 22:18:17
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| The same with drums...its not how many you have,but what you have? |
Shut it and whack the poxy things!
www.vintagedrumyard.co.uk
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andyyouell
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
2594 Posts |
Posted - 23/05/2012 : 21:39:27
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I used to have a studio set up at home - fairly simple stuff - a Yamaha 16 track recorder and a few mics. I probably spent about £1500 on the whole set up and did loads with it...
For me the real joy was being able to experiment, try again and again, and work on tracks over periods of weeks/months..... knowing that there wasn't a meter running every time I switched it on.... |
http://www.andyyouell.com |
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Dave S
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
5359 Posts |
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crafty
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
7748 Posts |
Posted - 25/05/2012 : 08:02:11
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Just to show how portable stuff is these days, I'm recording a vocal for one one of the tunes as part of my new project. The singer lives on the other side of Bristol and has a very nice space in order to get the vocal down. I'm taking a laptop, mic pre, dual headphone amp, two headphones, two LDCs, stand, leads and pop shield and all this fits on my motorbike!
Ed |
Super cool - and bongos too!
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Captain Bubble
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
14604 Posts |
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stakka
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
2592 Posts |
Posted - 25/05/2012 : 09:13:45
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quote:
Originally posted by crafty
Just to show how portable stuff is these days, I'm recording a vocal for one one of the tunes as part of my new project. The singer lives on the other side of Bristol and has a very nice space in order to get the vocal down. I'm taking a laptop, mic pre, dual headphone amp, two headphones, two LDCs, stand, leads and pop shield and all this fits on my motorbike!
Ed
Funnily enough I have just almost completed my "Portable ProTools Studio" and here are some pics. Being a 3U flight case you might be a little off balance on your motorbike though
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/stakka_album/DSCN2548.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/stakka_album/DSCN2550.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/stakka_album/DSCN2551.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/stakka_album/DSCN2552.jpg
It is essentially a Macbook Pro running Protools, a Saffire Pro 40 interface with a patch panel bringing most of the jacks to the front (I'm just awaiting delivery of the firewire feedthrough to block that last front panel hole up ) and then with a Glyph 2TB hard drive stuffed in the rear.
With 8 pre-amps it is usually enough to record a whole band as well.
Half of the enjoyment is playing, recording etc. but I also love little projects involving researching and putting together things like this and I have also found the whole world or tracking, mixing etc. really enjoyable and with a mass of things to learn.
But yeah... having the kit and knowing how to use it and your ears properly are 2 different things .... |
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StormBlast
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
1506 Posts |
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stakka
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
2592 Posts |
Posted - 25/05/2012 : 11:33:12
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Why thank you Squire !... although the good results will bear mainly on my abilities which the jury may still be out on
It is also a dead handy set up for "near silent" band practices at home - we have a proper band studio but that belongs to our guitarist so if only 2 or 3 of us (or my lads entire band) want a jam session at home we use this as a fancy routing system for headphone / monitor set up without having to use a mixer. The mix control software for the Saffire Interface has very flexible routing allowing numerous inputs to be mixed in to numerous individual headphone and monitor outputs. I plug my electric drums in along with the rest of the band gear and we can all jam / practice to finely mixed headphone mixes at any time of day without annoying the neighbours as we are near silent (unless someone wants to sing of course!) - plus if something starts to sound good we can easily record it in Protools. |
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crafty
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
7748 Posts |
Posted - 25/05/2012 : 14:12:55
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quote:
Originally posted by stakka
quote:
Originally posted by crafty
Just to show how portable stuff is these days, I'm recording a vocal for one one of the tunes as part of my new project. The singer lives on the other side of Bristol and has a very nice space in order to get the vocal down. I'm taking a laptop, mic pre, dual headphone amp, two headphones, two LDCs, stand, leads and pop shield and all this fits on my motorbike!
Ed
Funnily enough I have just almost completed my "Portable ProTools Studio" and here are some pics. Being a 3U flight case you might be a little off balance on your motorbike though
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/stakka_album/DSCN2548.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/stakka_album/DSCN2550.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/stakka_album/DSCN2551.jpg
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o183/stakka_album/DSCN2552.jpg
It is essentially a Macbook Pro running Protools, a Saffire Pro 40 interface with a patch panel bringing most of the jacks to the front (I'm just awaiting delivery of the firewire feedthrough to block that last front panel hole up) and then with a Glyph 2TB hard drive stuffed in the rear.
With 8 pre-amps it is usually enough to record a whole band as well.
Half of the enjoyment is playing, recording etc. but I also love little projects involving researching and putting together things like this and I have also found the whole world or tracking, mixing etc. really enjoyable and with a mass of things to learn.
But yeah... having the kit and knowing how to use it and your ears properly are 2 different things ....
Nice job! |
Super cool - and bongos too!
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christianmurphy
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
534 Posts |
Posted - 25/05/2012 : 16:55:06
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They did try to offer us a cheaper solution but it was sort of all a bit late by then! Should be booking up with the new place (which as it turns out have recorded a lot of bands we really like the sound of).
Well this is sort of the sound we get for free recording at mine:
http://soundcloud.com/christianmurphy-1/xtian-dry-mix
I think they're pretty good considering we don't have much gear. So we'd have to be offered something pretty nifty to pay over a grand a day  |
79 Ludwig - Pearl Masters - Istanbul - Zildjian - DW |
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