Recording studios + CD pressing

Royale with Cheese

Hi,

My band is looking to record an EP this summer. We've tried doing it ourselves with cubase and a guitar rig etc, but none of us are in anyway good engineers and the recordings just aren't up to scratch. Gonna give it one last go with a engineer friend of ours, but I reckon we'll need to get to a proper studio to get something worth putting on a cd.

Recorded a couple of tracks last year in Ashtown studios, the quality I thought was fine. Not really sure what to look for in recordings, but they sound passable anyway. We're going to use one of those tracks, and record 4 more, so I'm thinking 3 days in a studio. It's €350 a day in Ashtown last I checked, anybody know of anywhere better to go for the same kind of money, or less? We can't afford mastering so not looking for that.

Once it's done we're just going to sell them at gigs + through our website. We don't really have much of a fanbase so this is just to get things going. Also going to pass it around to whatever press we can, try and get a little bit of exposure. Anybody know the best place to get them pressed? I'm guessing England is a good bet with the exchange rate so good at the moment. The few places I've been looking at had a 500 cd minimum, don't think we'd want that much. Probably half that at best.

Any other advice on making an EP? Distribution, getting it reviewed etc? We're half just doing it for our own enjoyment as well as for trying to get the band some exposure. We know we're going to lose money on it, and don't really care.

Beastieboy

inglewood studios in clonsilla might give you a better price. I think they did recordings for Fight like apes and Grand Pocket orchestra and Green Lights. They all sound very very good. My band just recorded an e.p. in K9 studios might cost a little more but great results.... I think duplication.ie will print less than 500 or so i'm told.

booooonzo

just had a look at ashtown's studio spec and i thinks its very pricey for what you get in terms of pre-amps and mic's which when it comes to it, is what captures your sound.

I mean you will get decent results probably but just my opinion

you shoul look for a good studio space (acoustics wise) with decent mics and pre-amps and converters.

I'm just pulling this of a google search but a place like this at €900 for two days and you would seriously notice the difference! They might even do a better deal.

http://www.apstudios.net/services.htm

Royale with Cheese

Unfortunately I think even €900 for 2 days would be out of our price range (we'd need 3 days I'd say, tried doing 2 tracks in a day the last time and it felt very rushed). Am hoping we can get some kind of deal out of Ashtown, if we're booking 3 days.

Royale with Cheese

Just thought I'd drag this up with a question.

We're currently looking at studios for around €300 a day, doing 3-4 days there. If we were going to spend a little bit more, would it be worth spending more on a better studio, or getting the songs mastered?

How much is mastering going to cost, and can anybody recommend somewhere to get it done? Anybody else done this before, recommend some studios?

Thanks.

booooonzo

Depends on how many songs you're doing and what you plan to do with them.
Also depend son how much you would be spending on mastering as bad mastering could easily ruin good mixes.

you usually get what you pay for when it comes to mastering due to the level of expensive gear needed and the experience needed.

personally if it is only 3 or 4 songs id go for a better studio to hopefully get a better souund in the first place. Some of the best recorded/mixed material doesnt actually have much done to it in the mastering room bar a small amount leveling between songs.

Anyway just Turn Your Volume Knob up!! its what its there for
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ

jarain

Hi, I would definately recommend Jam Studios in Kells, Co. Meath for value for money and quality. Martin the engineer there has a seriously good ear and an attention to detail to results in great recordings.

We have done three sessions with him there in the space of a year and a bit and have always been delighted with the result.

Costs wise we were charged €600 for a two day session (10am - 8pm each day). We have done that 3 times now and you'll recieve a mixed and mastered CD a couple of days later. He's fairly decent with price and will negotiate if your looking at longer sessions.

Its a very quick mastering process and you could spend more for a slightly better result but for EP/Demo purposes it's perfect. Have a listen at the myspace below to hear the quality.

Music Matter International based in Rathmines is not a bad place for duplication. Have a look at their website for prices. No sure how much we paid but the product we got back was very good.

As for advice while recording it, just make sure you are certain of your songs before going in and everybody knows their part and is happy with it. You'll save time this way. There is always some evolution in a song when your in a studio but if you know what your doing it saves time wasted on arguing and discussion and enjoy it it's great fun!!!

My band have just gone through a similiar process so if you have any questions or anything just drop a pm.

Sorry for the long post!!

Royale with Cheese

Yeah your recordings definitely sound very good, but I think Kells is just too far out of the way for us. To get there at 10am, we'd be looking at a 2 hour drive.

We're now going to do 5 songs, and would probably be looking at getting decent quality recordings together to send to radio stations, record companies etc. Figured if we're going to do this we might as well spend a little bit extra and get something worth giving to people.

Think I've found somewhere to print them. From what I've read mastering is pretty important if you want something really proffesional. There's so many places that do it, and the prices vary so much, I really wouldn't have a clue if it was worth doing or not.

asto

http://www.aston-records.com

Mr. CooL ICE

This is essentially what my band did for our last demo.

My drummer has his own mini-studio in his bedroom, so recording was essentially free for us. The complete set up involved a 6-channel mixer going into a PC running Adobe Audition, with instruments being recorded with a mix of DI'ing (with DI box) and through an SM58, while the drums were recorded on a v-kit. Mastering was done by ourselves, but we could have done with getting it remastered externally. Check the link in my sig for an example of the quality we achieved.

However, we got a crowd in Dublin called Trend to duplicate the CDs for us. The artwork was all done by myself, and this was for both the CD and all liners. Since we provided the basic CD to be duplicated, along with all the various artwork (very particular specifications, but nothing a little knowhow with photoshop won't solve), 200 CDs with full CD print, jewel case, 4-page inlay booklet and rear inlay came to roughly €730, delivered.

studiorat

Three track recording, commercial release quality would cost about €2,000 in recording time to do it properly, allowing for hidden production costs etc. About 4 and a half days. That's going into a proper professional studio with an engineer/producer etc.

And about €1,200 (maybe less) to get say 1000 cd's done with a time brokerage in a proper cd plant, with A2Z for example.

here for example

sounding like this

Send me a PM if you'd like to have a chat about this kind of a set-up btw.

Royale with Cheese

Think €2k for 3 songs is out of our price range. And 1000 cd's? I really don't think so.

Tried to book that place in Kells but weekends are booked out til September at least and we can't really take time off work, and really need to get it done earlier than that. Would have been nice, the recordings sounded good for the price.

Has nobody else got any other suggestions? Struggling to find somewhere we'd be happy with.