Before you load in
The eight questions artists, bandleaders and producers ask most often before a tracking day or a multitrack upload, in three groups: the rooms, booking, and files.
The rooms
Engineers, backline and what you can bring in
Is an engineer included in the hourly and lockout rates?
Yes. A house tracking or vocal engineer is included in every hourly rate and every full-day lockout. Guest producers and freelance engineers are welcome; a house assistant still handles the first patchbay setup and stays on site at no extra charge, so a visiting engineer never loses time to room routing.
What backline comes with the room?
Every booking includes the tuned upright piano, the house maple four-piece drum shells, the tube guitar amps, the bass rig and the full vintage and modern microphone locker. Drummers usually bring their own snare, cymbals and kick pedal, though house cymbals are available. Give 24 hours’ notice if the piano needs fresh tuning.
Can I record vocals over a two-track beat or bring in home demos?
Both are common. Many artists write and track synths, guitars and MIDI parts at home, then bring consolidated stems in to replace programmed drums with a live kit and to cut final lead and harmony vocals in the isolated booth.
Booking
Dates, deposits, revisions and tracking day
How do deposits, cancellations and overtime work?
A 50% deposit holds the dates and the remaining 50% is settled at wrap, before the final export. Dates move without penalty with at least 72 hours’ notice. If a take is going well and the room is free after your booked block, overtime is billed in 30-minute increments at your usual hourly rate.
If the answer is not on this page, it is quicker to ask. Send a question instead.
How many mix and master revisions are included?
Each analogue-hybrid mix includes up to three rounds of revision notes, with instrumental, a cappella and TV bounces once the mix is approved. Mastering includes two revision passes. Local artists can also book a 45-minute attended listening check in the control room before the final print.
What should we bring on tracking day?
Fresh guitar and bass strings, ideally stretched the day before; spare drumheads and sticks for a heavy drum day; your own closed-back headphones if you have a favourite pair, though every station has studio headphones; water or throat tea; and an external SSD formatted exFAT or APFS so you can take a raw session backup home at wrap.
Files
Preparing tracks for mixing and mastering
How should tracks be exported for remote mixing?
Export consolidated, sample-accurate 24-bit WAV files that all start at bar one, at the session’s native sample rate (44.1, 48 or 96 kHz), from Logic, Ableton, FL Studio or Pro Tools alike. Bypass master-bus limiters, clippers and reverb washes unless an effect is part of the sound; a separate printed-effects folder is fine. Label every track clearly, for example 01_Kick_In.wav, and include a rough bounce with the BPM and key in the folder name.
How should mixes be prepared for mastering?
Send stereo 24-bit or 32-bit float WAV or AIFF files at the mix session’s native sample rate, without dithering or upsampling. Leave the mix bus unclipped with roughly 3 to 6 dB of peak headroom and any brickwall limiter bypassed; gentle bus compression you mixed into can stay on.
Still have a question?
Send the line-up, the number of songs and a reference track, and the reply names the right room, the engineer and the rate in writing.