Your recording session will be the most successful and the most fun if you arrive relaxed, prepared, well-fed, and ready to perform. We ask that you do not bring anyone with you who is not performing in your project so we may stay focused.

You will step into the booth, I will close the door, and you will be immersed in near-perfect silence. It's quieter than quiet -- a little creepy if you've never been in anechoic space before. This provides an excellent recording environment. We can always add ambience to your material but we can never take it out -- just like you can't un-mix purple to get red and blue paint. Also, it is far easier to edit, slice and dice, and otherwise get creative when the recording is dry. If there's reverberation (echo) in the recorded material, it's going to sound wrong if we have to do any editing. I'll give you the signal and then you start doing what you do! Every now and then, we'll take breaks for water and rest. When you're done, we'll talk for a little while about what happens next, you'll pay for your session time, and then you go home. I will take it from there...

How Long Does It Take?

This, too, varies greatly depending on the type of material and the preparedness and stamina of the performer. If your finished material runs a solid hour, you should expect to spend between 3-5 hours getting it recorded. This includes breaks, instant playback reviews, and re-takes. The recording session can go very quickly if you have everything well-rehearsed. If you had many little items which required different instruments or other special accommodations, that naturally takes more time. If you need to do multiple takes before you are satisfied, this takes time, too. And more than you think: time to record, time to listen, time to consider, then time to do it over if that's what you want. It is important that we get the very best performance you can deliver -- digital editing, though a powerful tool, is time-consuming and can not cure everything. It is always less expensive to do another take than to try to fix it with editing. As they say, "anything worth doing is worth doing well".

Your session will likely include several breaks for water, food, bathroom, etc. Sometimes we'll just need to relax for a while. Performing can be tiring and a good performance generall requires a well-rested artist. Take your time and don't worry about the clock. The time we spend just hanging out and relaxing is off the clock, as far as your bill is concerned. You only pay for the time we're actually working. Please see the compensation policy for specifics.

After your session(s), what happens next depends on the nature of your project. Generally, you would receive a CD containing the raw material for your review. You would listen to it at home and later we would have a meeting to discuss how you wanted the material edited or processed. If we were collaborating, this would be the point at which we would negotiate the scope and terms. After that meeting, we work on satisfying your vision of the finished product. This can be an iterative process. Some time later we hand you a master CD, suitible for mass-duplication. We can also make a small batch of great-looking copies for you, as discussed on our Services Overview.

How long the entire process takes depends a lot on what is desired. You should expect between 10-15 hours of editing and processing for every hour of product. This can take much less time or much more, depending on circumstances. We will keep you informed and involved throughout your project