|
The basic rate at Hilltop is $40 dollars an hour.
This includes everything except materials you use like tape and cdr's.
When we discuss "your" project I can give you an estimate on how much
time may be required. I can suggest ways to scale down your
project if necessary to fit within your budget. Block rates are also
available, please inquire about pricing. You will be asked to sign
a contract of sound recording before we begin and a deposit will be
required. This protects everyone involved and insures no
misunderstandings. Material costs are explained in detail in
the contract.
To
give you a general idea of what might be required I'll take you
through a typical project. Lets say you have a four piece group
consisting of drums, bass, guitar and a lead vocalist. You would
like to record a three song demo to play for club owners and agents to
help your group obtain bookings. At the first session we would
record drum parts, bass and rhythm guitar. These are typically
called rhythm tracks. It's best if the drummer arrives an hour or
so before the scheduled session to set up his or her drums and
get comfortable. While the drummer is
setting up I'll be setting up mic's and once we're ready I can begin
getting levels on the kit. About a half hour before the scheduled
session the rest of the band members should arrive and begin setting up
their instruments. I do not charge for this setup time. (Of
course if the session is booked for 1pm and no one shows up until 1:30,
well there goes the set up time.) As soon as everyone is ready I'll have
you begin running through the first song you intend to record.
Once all the levels are set and we're happy with the sounds we are
getting the actual recording process can begin. If a band is well
rehearsed and everyone has good quality equipment, (no buzzing guitars
and amp's, no crackling wires and no rattling drum hardware) most bands
can complete three rhythm tracks in an hour or two. Some bands can
work faster and some may require more time. Allow time to
listen to play backs and discuss what you have recorded. If
everyone is happy with the rhythm tracks I would recommend calling it a
day and scheduling the next session. I have found and most folks
who have done this agree that after about 3 to 4 hours our ears begin to
loose their objectivity. Hey we may be just plain tired !
At the next session(s) we would
begin the overdubbing process and record additional guitar parts, lead
and backing vocals etc. How long this takes depends on how
many parts you desire to add and again how well rehearsed you are.
Once all the parts have been recorded we can schedule a session to begin
the mix down process. Mixing a song can take anywhere from a half
hour to a couple of hours depending on, again the number of parts. Typically mixing 16 tracks, auditioning different effects,
erasing or gating out background noises that seem to always creep in
averages out to about an hour. Take home some rough
copies, live with the mix for a few days and if your still
happy we can move on to the next song. If not we can make some
minor adjustments and then move on. Once all the songs are mixed
we would make a master copy, typically to a cdr. If
you would want more then a few copies I would recommend you use a
duplication service, such as
Disc Makers
®
Hilltop is a member of the Disc Makers Studio Partner Program. Budgeting for art work, professional
mastering, promotional costs etc. etc. should also be considered
depending on your intended purpose for this recording.
As you can see a typical project
can get pretty involved but hopefully some of this information will be helpful
to you in planning "your project". If you have any
questions please send us an email
or give us a
call at 610-588-4968. Thanks for stopping by !
|
