Everybody’s first question when they call the recording studio is about rates. This is normal, but the answer is not always straight. Before asking a quote for recording, write down your plan. Determine what you’re looking for: a demo for promotion in clubs, a demo for promotion with A/R people at labels, for radio, a full album, an EP, etc. This aspect is very important, and understand that without knowing exactly what you’re looking for, you may get an over or under priced quote, just because you didn’t specify exactly what you want to do.

Let me explain: for a demo to get gigs you may not need your project to be mastered – see mastering. For radio, promotion, CD for sale at gigs or local release you can not afford NOT to master your project. And, in case of national release, a high-quality mastering should be done even if it is more expensive.

Getting back to the planning stage, once the nature of your project is established, answer to following questions: do you need pre-production? (and I recommend to do it yourself, so you can save some money; in case you don’t have great synths use the studio ones). If you’re a solo act, do you need to hire musicians for your projects? Do you (your band, musicians) play together at the same time or can you do overdubs? Check choosing a studio, recording, mixing mastering demos and songwriter's demo pages and you are going to get a clear idea about the whole process. Estimate for yourself the amount of time required for your project (the aforementioned pages will help you with that). Check and compare studios rates and see what they have to offer on the budget that you can afford. Money is important, but you want also the best quality for your money. Based on the nature of your project and your budget you can take the best decision in the end.

A good idea when asking for a quote is to have an outline of your musical project written down. The more specific you are, the more realistic the quote you are getting. If your project is a large one (recording, mixing/mastering a whole CD), you are probably in the position of negotiating a project price, where you can save some money. 

Getting a quote for forensic audio could be more complicated; the best thing is to make an appointment and come to the studio so we can see exactly what is all about. This could be a long and slow process and we can offer a quote only when we know exactly what's involved and what is the shape of the original audio.

We always welcome a discussion with you and provide an estimated price for your project; the more accurate the details of your project you can provide, the better quote you’re going to get. We also would like you to come and see and feel our studio and we can discuss your project in details over a cup of coffee.