(or 'How much will it cost me?)
The work entailed in making a recording varies wildly; we may set up and carry out a short recording session in 2 or 3 hours and then subsequently, spend 1 to 2 hours editing and producing a CD copy for you; this is not the full story and so the following guidelines may be useful as an answer to 'How much will it cost?' (N.B., these are only guidelines and are no more than an estimate - these values are not a quotation!)
Travel to and From Venue: Most of our work is carried out local to Reading and if this is the case, then a small allowance for travel to and from the venue (say 0.5 hours) will probably cover this aspect.
Setting up and Clearing away of the equipment: Depending on complexity of the equipment set up required to record the performers, this may require a total of 2.0 - 2.5 hours. We try to keep the set up as simple as possible and do not dangle microphones in front of every performer!
Attending the Rehearsal: We like to attend at least enough of the rehearsal to identify where all the performers will be working and need details of soloists, problems of internal balance etc. etc. etc. Where possible we will start setting up as soon as we know the performers positions and endeavour to be ready to adjust microphones and recording levels soon after the rehearsal commences. We appreciate that this is time that you will be paying for but setting up just before the concert by guesswork is not likely to produce the best product! If we are permitted to start setting up equipment during the rehearsal, (we will work as quietly as possible to cause minimum distraction) we can use perhaps the last 0.5 hours of the rehearsal time for our needs but must ensure that any soloist will provide us with an opportunity to hear a little of their performance to assist us in setting levels and balance. This attendance at rehearsal may add an hour to the time required.
Performance including any intervals or breaks: You will know far better than us how long to allow for the concert from start to finish (we don't just work on the performing time for the music alone!) An average figure for a concert with a 20 minute interval is 2.5 hours.
Post Production work: This is the work that we carry out after the musicians and any audience have all gone home, we carry out this work back at base using our digital editing system (SADiE) and produce a CD for approval. Working time varies greatly here, a concert may need say 2 - 4 hours and a recording session may take twice this time or more, as there may be editing and mixing to carry out before we can supply an approval CD (please see 'From Recording to CD' for further details of this work). For the purposes of this exercise, let us assume we are talking about a concert without retakes and heavy editing needs and we will allow 3 hours to provide that approval CD.
The very rough estimate arrived at from the above guidelines suggest that the recording of your concert somewhere in the Reading area will cost you approx. £275 plus VAT. - and all you get is one measly CD!!! No, not quite! That CD is your approval copy, if all is well and you wish us to make further copies, we will do so - and the rates for this work will be found on the CD Price List.
No two recording sessions are the same, nor is the setting up or the individual needs; the above is therefore only provided as a rough guide, as we are often asked (understandably!) 'How much will it cost me?'
This page last updated 17/03/08