FAQ

Sometimes we have artists request that we record them ‘live’ – effectively doing an album’s worth of material in a single day. In the majority of cases we will refuse this request, which people may find difficult to understand, but there are a variety of reasons for our policy on this issue.

A live demo will not sound like a modern release-quality album. Ever. It doesn’t matter how good the performers are, or how good the engineer is at mixing on-the-fly. Modern commercial releases are simply not made this way, and if you have heard otherwise on a rockumentary, interview or article you have been misled.

As large as our live room is, we don’t really have the space or the isolation facilities to do this type of recording well enough. A drum kit is very loud at 2m away and will spill onto every mic around it, and guitar amplifiers aren’t usually much better.

That’s not to say that a live demo will be useless. It’s not always easy to hear things properly in a rehearsal room, so to do live demos for pre-production purposes, or simply to get a better understanding of where you are going right or wrong as a band can be very beneficial.

But if you are intending to sell the demo, use it to get gigs, send to record companies, or basically play it to anyone outside the band (except perhaps your mom!) we would always suggest you think again. Like most recording studios, the vast majority of our business comes from word of mouth. People like what they hear and ask where it was recorded. If we know we cannot meet our minimum standard of quality within the timeframe set by the client, we would rather turn away business than put out a record which would be a poor representation of what we are capable of achieving.

If you want to do a live recording to perfectly capture the way you really sound live, we will come to your gig and record that for you. We are not against live recording per se, but a gig has a completely different sound, and atmosphere then something played in a controlled studio environment. People know what to expect from a recording made at a gig.

To summarise – Live demos – make them for yourself, but don’t make them for anything else.

This is a complicated enough answer that we made a whole separate section for it!! Click here.

We would prefer you to, as your own instruments are what you are most used to, but we do have some alternatives for use here. See our equipment list.

Yes, we will work 7 days a week. We also work Bank Holidays and evenings. We generally do 10 hour days from 10am to 8pm, but we are flexible and will do shorter sessions on evenings, and later starts/finishes.

Yes, but we can not guarantee any response from them. We can give you some suggestions as to what to do and where to write.

No. If you just want to sing to a backing track call us and we can point you in the right direction for obtaining them – we can then record the vocals for you and prepare a CD.

Yes, but should you wish to sell this recording later you will need permission from the songs publisher. For more details got to the PRS/MCPS web site.

It is occasionally possible to a degree, but it will affect other instruments within the mix. For example you may lose drums and bass, so modern pop/rock recordings it does not usually work, but with orchestrated recordings it can sometimes be achieved.

We can provide you with contacts where old recordings can be digitised so we can remix from them.

Probably yes, although it will be subject to certain compatibility issues. We offer a home demos pre and post production service where we offer advice to people with home studios. Contact us for more information.

Probably Yes, tell us what you need and we will try to arrange it for you, but keep in mind that this can be expensive. We have contacts for bass players, drummers, guitarists, brass section, backing singers and more. Prices vary depending on what your requirements are.

This info can be found on the BPI website. By UK law copyright is inherent, so you do not have to copyright it, but should a lawsuit arise you may need to prove when you wrote it.

This is often just due to the drum heads being worn out or not being tuned properly. If possible replace the top heads on the snare and the toms, or if the tom heads are similar on the bottom swap them around so the unused heads are on the top. We do have some heads for loan subject to them fitting your equipment. We can tune drums for you. If all else fails you are welcome to use our in-house kit. See our equipment list.

See our hints page, but one important thing you can bring is recently recorded releases of professional artists you like the sound of for reference. Bring an original audio CD if at all possible.