Cost of making a CD

brightspark

Hi,

Not sure this is the right place to ask but I am looking for a very rough figure of the cost of making a CD of a choir singing Christmas hymns.

Hopefully it would only involve one day (or less) of recording as it's not easy to get everyone together.

I have no idea of how many CD's somewhere from 300-3,000?


Obviously I am not expecting an exact quote, but just some idea of how much the initial outlay would be.

Thanks in advance.

dav nagle

brightspark wrote: »

Hi,

Not sure this is the right place to ask but I am looking for a very rough figure of the cost of making a CD of a choir singing Christmas hymns.

Hopefully it would only involve one day (or less) of recording as it's not easy to get everyone together.

I have no idea of how many CD's somewhere from 300-3,000?


Obviously I am not expecting an exact quote, but just some idea of how much the initial outlay would be.
Thanks in advance.

3k

one day recording
one day mixing
duplication

3k

fitz

dav nagle wrote: »

3k

one day recording
one day mixing
duplication

3k

That seems on the high side to me Dav, though maybe not if you're getting 3000 cds.

You can get serious value at the moment, I'd have said around €1k for a day's recording and a day's mixing, total.

Duplication should be treated separately, because it depends on the size of the run, and the packaging. Budgeting between €1 and €2 euro a cd (with it heading towards the €1 mark the bigger the run gets) should give a good indication.

Alwyn Walker

Hi Brightspark.

My name is Alwyn Walker. Before I took over here at Westland Studios in D2, I was 9 years working in Komodo Recordings in Co. Down. It's my family's business and they (now without my good self) specialise in recording choirs, brass bands and any other location recording.

Recent jobs include The Kildare Cathedral Choir (In Kildare Cathedral) and The John Brown University Choir (USA) in a large church in Belfast. Over the years we have recorded countless brass bands, church choirs, accordion bands, flute bands, concert bands, school choirs etc...

We have 2 vans on the road, all professional gear as well as carpets and acoustic walls to customise any recording venue to the projects desired acoustics. (even the BBC don't do this.)

My brother Darrell is the guy you should talk to, he is extremely helpful on the phone/email/post and will answer any questions you may have. He will also gladly provide appropriate samples of his/our work for your comittee members to listen to as well as references from very happy clients, likely you'll know (of) them somehow!

And yes, graphics and duplication can be part of the deal, and usually is with these jobs.

We are also "police vetted" in N.I. as we have done a lot of work with school choirs etc...

Alwyn Walker
Manager/Producer
Westland Studios

His contact info:
(numbers to dial from ROI)
-Komodo Recordings Office: 04892 688 285
-Darrell's Mobile (emergencies only): 0044 7723 306 690
-info@komodorecordings.com
www.komodorecordings.com

My contact info:
Alwyn Walker Mobile: 0879 668 333
westlandstudios@gmail.com

studiorat

Do you have a suitable venue for the recording?

The manufacture of the CD's and the hire of a suitable venue for the recording is the most expensive part. Churches, concert halls etc. No outside noise, churches in city centre locations are out.
CD's can be printed as required, people usually do 1,000 and you can always make more if needed.

Choral albums I've recorded have taken in the region of 3 days of perhaps 2 three hour sessions a day (18 hours). Most orchestras or choirs would work on about 20 minutes work for every 3 minutes of music that ends up on cd. This is for things like masses and heavy classical stuff. Christmas songs may take a little shorter depending on how "perfect" you want it to be. Children's choirs obviously take less time since you can't expect them to work for as long.

We usually record the longer pieces in parts and then edit the whole thing together in the end, taking copious notes on the score as we go along. Starting with a full run through and then picking up any mistakes etc. Editing takes together is another day or so presuming you have listened through to the takes properly and have your notes in order.

That said for a guy to come along to a concert and record, would be in the region of €250 to €300. And possibly a half days work to top and tail it and cut down the gaps between the songs. However in my experience a recording of a concert is seldom good enough to release commercially.

OP where are you based? Somewhere near everybody would obviously be a good place to start.

robertbarry

for cd duplication I would recommend http://www.mediashack.co.uk hands down.

EMMA_JVC

hi

dav nagle

EMMA_JVC wrote: »

hi

Hi, you don't say much do you?