Frequently Asked Questions
Recording studios operate in the service industry. This means that when you rent the use of our facilities and personnel, we are there to serve you. We work for you, not the other way around. So Rule No. 1 is: don't be intimidated by the surroundings or atmosphere of the hi-tech environment. You take care of the creation of the music and we'll make sure it gets recorded properly. Our goal is to help you realize your artistic "vision", the way you hear it in your head, as closely as possible. If you have a special request we will do our best to accommodate you.
Some types of services cost extra. There are additional charges for the rental of any equipment not normally on the premises such as extra samplers, synths, or exotic special effects gear; or if an extra engineer or technician is required.
Being sure that you know what you will be doing during your studio time will keep you from having unplanned extra costs. You don't have to know all the technical stuff to do good work at a studio today. However, a basic understanding of the recording process and the types of things that are possible at which stages of the recording are a big help if you want to avoid wasting time and therefore money! There is a saying that "Time Is Money" and that certainly couldn't be more true than in the recording studio where you pay by the hour. So after you're musically and mentally prepared, secure your booking date with us.
"How much does it cost to record a song?"
We hear this one a lot! Unfortunately there is no easy answer to this question. A song can consist of anything from just a guitar and voice; to full rhythm section, horns, strings, lead and background vocals, and seven synthesizer parts! Obviously the second song will take much more time to record than the first, and therefore will be more expensive.
However, over the years we have managed to come up with a few guidelines as to what to expect:
If you are recording as a band, expect the basic tracks to take from 1/2 hour to 2 hours per song. Each overdub will take about 1/2 hour, and mixing will take from one to four hours per song although really complicated mixes for national release can take as long as 6 or 8 hours depending on how much stuff you have left to be decided on mix day such as how to assemble the composite lead vocal from several takes or choosing among several guitar solos.
Of course, these estimates can vary greatly depending on the quality level that you are trying for. Obviously "album release quality" is going to take longer than the "keep all first or second takes and go on" approach.If you're singing to prerecorded tracks on CD typically it takes about 1/2 hour per song for recording and mixing.If you need a more accurate estimate or have a large project to budget for, we'll use the session budget estimation program in our computer. We can meet with you, review the scope of your project, and give you a pretty good estimate as to how much your project will cost.Many frequently asked questions about procedures are also answered in this Sample Recording Session link.
Can I get Studio Musicians through you?
Studio musicians are available through us or by private contract. The actual rate is determined by the individual player contracted; however, most of them charge somewhere between $25.00 to $50.00 per hour with a two hour minimum per session.
Other services we can provide are session production and mobile digital recording.
Load-In & Set-Up: What to Bring
Load-in is done through the door at the far end of the building. Group Effort has many musical instruments available to you. We have congas, bongos, & timbales; electric basses, hand percussion; numerous keyboards and sound modules as well as a fantastic drum set for your use at no extra charge.
If you are an electric guitar player we recommend that youbring your guitar and amplifier to the session as, in our opinion, the instrument of "electric guitar" really consists of a guitar and amp working together to create the sound. So there's no guarantee that you will be able to get "your sound" on just any amp. Bass players, however, do not need to bring their amps as they are most likely taken "direct" into the mixing console and heard through the headphones.
Keyboardists should bring their keyboards but may opt to use our 88-note, weighted keyboard controller to play their own synthesizers via MIDI. Your engineer can help with this if you are unfamiliar with how to do this. We also have a wide variety of synthesized and sampled sounds available for use.
Drummers can bring their sets if they have special tuning or setup problems, or just are more comfortable with their own sets. Do remember that the microphones will be very close to each drum and the smallest rattles and buzzes are usually quite audible in the recording! Our set has been carefully maintained to eliminate all the noises, so all you hear is just the drum.
Also, if you intend to bring your own drums, you make sure the heads are free of dents, are reasonably new, and are all of the same head style i.e. coated, pinstripe, oil filled etc.
We give you roughly 1/2 hour of free setup time.
What is the Producer's Job?
Producer (pro-doo! cer) n.'Someone who sits in a studio control room and periodically freaks out. Never eats, sleeps, or goes to the bathroom. Occasionally will eat your pizza.'
But seriously, at most sessions there is one person who has the final word about musical things. A producer decides things like the tempo of the song, which take of a particular performance is the "keeper", what the general sound of each instrument should be, how are all the instruments best combined during mixing, and with what kind of effects. It is his job to oversee the recording project as a whole including the setting of budgets and devising a plan-of-attack to produce the recording within the time and financial constraints.
Hiring a producer can greatly enhance the quality of your project because he/she fucntions as an objective, fresh set of ears. The producer's job is to constantly evaluate the recorded performances with respect to how they fit together to create the best, most coherent, creative, end product. He is supposed to work with "big picture" in mind at all times, taking the information given to him by the performers as to what their overall intentions are with their music, and using that knowledge to create the final master disc.
Studio Hints & Tips
- Don't be intimidated. Be comfortable and stay loose. You can't create while you're uncomfortable.
- Know what your project is and isn't. Is it an album, or a demo? If it's a demo then make sure you know what you are trying to demonstrate and plan accordingly. If you are demonstrating a song then make sure the vocal is well sung, up front in the mix; don't worry about a million keyboard overdubs or having the hottest guitar solo ever. In short, use some common sense and don't get bogged down on details which are not critical to the presentation of the song.
- Bring copies of the lyrics to your songs for the engineer. On all but the smallest of projects, you can save yourself a great deal of time in communication with the engineer so when you say "Take me back to 'My baby left me' he doesn't have to ask you "Is that a verse or a chorus? Which one? The one after the solo? 1st time or 2nd?" you get the idea. This may sound trivial but if you ignore everything else we suggest on this page, don't blow this one off!!!
- Make sure your instruments are in good shape. Guitars should be able to play chords in tune up and down the neck, no matter which fret you are on. Put new strings on your guitar two days before the session so they have a chance to stretch out. Make sure you tune the guitar several times in those two days so that they get used to being at correct pitch. Check your 12th fret notes vs. harmonics and adjust your bridges accordingly.
- Basses should have new strings and drums should have new heads on snare and tom toms. Make sure the bass drum pedal does not squeak or rattle noisily when played.
- Don't bring people to the session who are not directly involved with the project. They will just serve as a distraction and will end up costing you money in the long run.
- If you have a home studio of any type, use it! Do your entire project (or as much as you can) on your 4-track at home. Doing this will uncover a lot of unforeseen problems and will provide a good starting point for the engineer to hear where you are coming from when you get to the session. This is especially useful for background vocals, (see below).
- Know your music completely.The more prepared you can be, the more work you'll get done for the least amount of dollars. The studio is a very expensive rehearsal hall. Do your rehearsing at home. You can do a lot of recording in very few hours if you don't waste time by listening to playbacks of takes that are obviously not "keepers".
- Know your background vocals cold. Over the years we have seen many projects that are proceeding right on schedule get bogged down during background vocal recording. If you have people singing background vocals who do not sing any lead vocals at all, then special attention should be given to this area during rehearsal. The problem is this: what sounds perfectly acceptable on the gig through the stage monitors is all of a sudden exposed to the intense scrutiny of the recording studio. A lot of times things that always sounded fine now sound pretty ragged. The most common problem areas are intonation (singing in tune) and ensemble (singing as a unit instead of 3 or 4 individuals). Pay particular attention to group cut-offs at the end of long held notes. Designate someone (usually the lead singer) to direct the cutoffs via a hand or some other visual signal.
- If you will be working with synthesizers on your session, bring the owners manual;unless you are completely familiar with the all MIDI functions. Know what synth sound you are going to use for which part and make sure you know where they can be found in your synthesizer.You should be very familiar with the steps to assign your sounds to the various audio outputs, and how to turn off any reverb or other effects in the board. Making a list of these things before you get to the studio can mean big time savings.
The Group Effort Top 20
Here are the top 20 phrases most often heard around the studio followed by the
usual snappy comeback where appropriate:
1. Do you really know what all those knobs do? Nope, don't have a clue. You prefer more green knob or red?
2. Wow! This place looks like the starship Enterprise. Well then, beam me to the holodeck!
3. That's the biggest door I've ever seen. No getting around those laws of physics!
4. I wish I had one of these in my basement! Yeah, until it rains at least.
5. Is that tree alive? Did you see branches and leaves poking out of the roof when you pulled up?
6. You can make my voice sound in-tune, can't you? Sure, how much money have you got? (Well this used to be the standard response but now with the powerful computers that we've got you can actually retune vocals or any single instrument on the fly in real time... to a certain degree. Another one of the "Holy Grails" of recording realized through technology.)
7. If I owned a studio like this I'd never leave! Oh really? Tell me that again after you've spent a whole day recording power tools!
8. Did you go to school to learn how to do this? No. Music first, tech geeky stuff second.
9. It sure sounds different on the big speakers! Yep. 15" woofers and a 1200 watt amp will do that.
10. Do you guys have a coffee machine? Yes. Jeff even keeps a private stash of "Foglifter" around.
11. Who delivers pizza around here?Everybody! Just look at the autodial buttons on the phone!
12. Don't worry, we'll cover that up with lots of echo!Right... suuuuure we will...
13. Have you worked with anybody famous?If you'rereallyinterested,e-mailus and we'll tell you.
14. Are those real rocks?It depends on your definition of 'real'.
15. What's the TV for?Watching the Bengals lose.
16. Where does that door go?Nowhere. It's just there for symmetry.
17. Do you guys have a bathroom?No you have to hold it for 8 hours or use the 2-holer out back.
18 Who designed this place?Hippies on drugs with guns. You got a problem with that?...
19. Do you have a change machine?Now we do!!
20. If I touch this will it hurt anything?If you have to ask...