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Policies:
Balance due at end of session for release of any media. PRC not
responsible for media left over 90 days after completion of project.
A booking deposit of 50% is required to book session. Balance of
block time balance due at end of first session. Clock starts at
booked time. Media , software and hardware warranties extended to
client. No cash refunds after 30 days but credit balance can be
applied to future sessions/services. Policies subject to change.
How things generally work:
With the exception of "live" recording, where everyone plays all
at once, there are three main recording stages and two mastering
stages.
Recording
- Drums. 5 to 10 mics are placed on the drumset depending
on its size. If needed for timing, a guitarist or bassist can
play along with the drummer, and they are fed directly into the
sound board to be used as reference only when adding guitar later.
As dorky as it sounds, it is important to say "one, two, three,
four" on these tracks so later when you add in the guitar and
bass, you will know when to come in. If this is excessivly dorky,
you can count off using rim shots. But we need to know when the
song starts for later mixdown. We can feed a click track to all
the headphones if that is desired.
- Guitar and Bass. We use one or two mics per amplifier
when recording guitar and bass to give it a better range of tone.
Everyone will hear the previously recorded drum parts in headsets.
Many groups perfer to DI the bass guitar, which is fine. You may
also decide to DI the lead and rhythm guitars through the Line6
POD, which can "emulate" nearly any amp speaker combination
used in the last 40 years.
- Vocals and Solos. Lastly the vocals are added in on
top of everything else, as well as any extra guitar solos (yes,
this means you can solo against yourself).
Mixing
Mixing always takes at least as long as one run-through of the song(s).
It can take many times that. For complex mixdowns, many hours are
needed for each song.
- Effects.Add in any necessary effects (e.g. reverb, chorus,
compression) to make the sound more full.
- Mixdown. Set the levels and pan positions before the
mix down to two tracks to be put on a stereo CD.
- Mastering. Before you commit to 1000 copies of your CD,
it is strongly recommended that all of the songs be mastered.
If you want to sell the CDs commercially, or use them to land
a megadollar contract, get a specialist mastering studio for this
step.
Assuming that the fees are paid up (see policies),
at the end of each session, we'll burn a CD of what you have so
far. This takes about half an hour, and many people find it easiest
to packing up and then go out to McDonalds or something; picking
up the disc on the way home.
Rules
Lastly, a few Rules:
- Show up on time. You'll be billed for the time you have
reserved, whether or not you're there. Cancellations are allowed,
but must be made at least twenty-four hours in advance.
- Show up rehearsed. In the studio is not where
you decide which key your song sounds best in. Know what you're
going to record before you come.
- Have a schedule. Don't spend two hours on one song and
then suddenly realize it's time to go. Know what you want to do
and budget your time accordingly.
- Don't be a jackass. There are people living in the house.
You are expected to maintain a reasonable volume level when not
recording, and to respect all the studio equipment as well as
the furniture in the house. We are not your mother! Clean up after
yourselves.
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