A: I charge $40 per hour. I prefer an hourly rate because it is just as much the client's responsibility to work as it is mine. When working based on an agreed amount I find that a lot of time can be wasted. To some it may seem more relaxed to work under the circumstances of the latter, but I prefer to be working while you are here. I start charging from the scheduled start time til the end of the session, including a short break for food. (We all gotta eat!)
Q: What hours are you open and what's your availability?
A: I usually prefer to start sessions no earlier than 11am, however, I'm willing to work earlier. I cut off drum tracking at 10pm, but all other work can continue as late as needed. It's usually not good to work more than 8 hours on a session due to ear fatigue. For tracking we can work as long as needed, but I wouldn't recommend sticking with a mix from that same day. For mixing and mastering I can usually handle on average about 4 hours til my ears begin to tire.
Q: How long does a session usually take and what is the process like?
A: Obviously it depends on the type of project, how many songs, and how picky you are. I've completed a full 16 song Punk album in 8 hours before, and worked months on others. It usually takes 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours to setup and get levels. After that, however long it takes for you to play all your songs to your satisfaction (think about how long it takes you to rehearse all your material twice through). Afterwards, we overdub/edit any mistakes made on your best takes, along with solos or extra instrumentation (this can vary on how much needs to be fixed/overdubbed). Then we track vocals (if there are any). By the time we are done with all of this I usually have a pretty good mix going, so the mix shouldn't take too long. Then we Master it and cut you a CD (usually takes about an hour). So on an average demo project about 8 hours; an average album project between 16 to 32 hours. I work very fast, but it all pretty much depends on the client
Q: What should we bring? Can we use your Instruments/Drumkit?
A: Along with yourselves you should bring strings, picks, tuners, cables, amps, pedals, drums, extra drumsticks, and all the instruments you'll be wanting to use. You may use any of my instruments, amps/cabinets, and effects pedals free of charge. There is a one time $25 charge to use my drum kits, and even though I have an electronic drum kit, I wouldn't recommend it over a real kit. Also...needless to say...you break it, you buy it.
Q: Do you accept credit/debit cards?
A: Currently no, but maybe at some point. At the moment I accept cash, check, and money order. Cash is preferred.
Q: Where are you located, what is your address?
A: I don't post my address online for safety reasons, but I am located near Guitarville off of 15th ave NE in Shoreline WA.
Q: Do you make hip-hop beats or sell music of your own to clients?
A: I used to, but I don't anymore. If you are a songwriter but don't play any instruments and are looking for someone to play your music I'd recommend finding a studio musician. For hip-hop I'd recommend looking for beats on website's like www.soundclick.com.
Q: Can you add instrumentation such as drums, bass, keys and guitar?
A: Yes. I can play drums, bass, guitar and many other instruments. However I don't work with sheet music or try to write songs to your lyrics. I charge $25 per song plus my hourly rate. If you wish to bring in other studio musicians you are more than welcome to.
Q: Can you mix/master tracks of sent via the web?
A: Yes, either online or in the studio. For having your tracks mixed, make sure you send me .wav files that are labeled appropriately and all have the same start time so they line up when I bring them into my program (other file types will work, but .wav is best). For mastering just send your songs mixed down between -5 and -3 decibels so I have headroom to work with. WAV files are usually pretty large, so you will need to send them to my email via www.yousendit.com. It also might be a good idea to use a zip program like www.winrar.com in order to send multiple files through one email. After I've finished I will send you a 20-30 second sample for you to approve. Afterwards you mail me a check or money order and once I've received the payment I will send you the full songs.
Q: What is Mastering?
A: Mastering is the final step of the whole process before putting it to disc. If you've ever recorded anything on your own and put it to CD or Mp3 you've probably noticed that it's not as loud, present or any bit as polished as a professional CD. Mastering is generally just a chain of multiband compression, sonic maximizing (or enhancing), equalizers, stereo imaging (or widening), and finally Limiting (those are some of the basic tools of course). For most Engineers it takes years of trial and error to perfect this process. The final result will desirably sound like your mix down, but louder, with more presence, warmth and punch. It will also sound bigger more polished. Almost like all the elements of sound have been glued together. However, some may not like Mastering at all, and that's OK. Back in the early 90's the "Loudness Wars" started between the record labels and artists. From then until now Mastering has gotten louder and louder. Some have complained that it's too loud and in some cases I most definitely agree. A great example of a band with little mastering, if any at all, is Spoon's album "Gimme Fiction". Compare it with Wolfmother's debut album, released a year or so apart, and you'll notice a huge difference. One is super compressed and blaringly loud, while the other is very quiet. However, if you just raise the volume on the quieter album, you'll notice it sounds just as good, and in some cases better. I recommend to anyone getting there tracks mastered to give the Engineer an album that you really enjoy for referencing.
Q: How long do you keep project data? Can I get a back-up of the project as well?
A: Yes. I backup all my projects to external hard drives. I keep them forever unless something horrible happens (which is possible). So it is a good idea to get a backup for yourself. However, my backup sessions only work for me. It takes time for me to prep them for anyone else to use. I can give you all the individual tracks with the same start times along with an OMF file so you can take it anywhere else in the future should the need arise. I charge by the hour to prep your backup. Depending on the size of the project it can take between 1-2 hours.
Q: How does Audio Post to Film work?
A: You just bring in a lower resolution .mov or .avi file. Lower resolution is better, since it's the audio we're working on and not the video. Also make sure if your not done editing your video, that the length remains the same after you have finished, otherwise the audio won't line up.
Q: What about location recording?
A: At the moment I can do a stereo recording of your live show or event. I can master it and separate it into individual CD tracks or mp3's and then send it to you via email. I charge $60 per hour at the event ($100 in Tacoma). Sound quality may vary depending on the venue it was recorded at.
Q: What is the difference between the different sample rates?
A: People often wonder about the difference between audio resolutions. The different sample rates are 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, and 192 kilohertz. There is a slightly audible difference between 44.1khz and 96khz, but the difference between 96khz and 192khz is almost completely unnoticeable. With my hardware I can record between 44.1 and 96. However, I choose to record at 44.1khz. Why? For a few reasons actually. The main reason is because no one listens to anything above 44.1khz. The two most popular formats are Compact Disc, and Mp3. CD's are 44.1khz, and Mp3's are a reduced data compression format that removes redundant frequencies (which sounds even worse). The only audio format that uses anything above 44.1 is DVD-Audio. Do you know anyone who listens to DVD-Audio? Vinyl is making a comeback of course, but finding vinyl pressing at anything above 192khz seems to be rare. Despite what most audiophiles think, the audible difference is minimal at best.
The human hearing range is between 20 hertz and 20 kilohertz. According to Nyquist's theorem you need 2 samples for every frequency for an accurate digital audio recording. Which would mean that half of 44100 samples is 22050. 22.05khz is above the human hearing range (not to mention the fact that hearing gets worse through damage and age). So 44.1khz is more samples than we can even hear. Some say we can feel certain low frequencies beyond this range, but actually that is more dependent on the source of the audio and not frequency range (i.e the difference between a cheap boom box and a PA system). Most of the low frequencies we can feel are within the 44.1khz format, and the majority of those frequencies are actually traveling through dense material surrounding us. Nevertheless it is a ridiculous argument.
In the future, our current form of audio sampling will be no more. As computer processors become faster and hard drives get larger and larger, we won't listen to Mp3's or 44.1khz wave files anymore. More likely we'll be sampling something like Super Audio, which is 1 bit direct stream digital and captures between 20hz and 50khz. It's always possible that some other digital format will blow this away, but you never know. In any case, at some point all studios will have to revert to another format and at the moment the audible difference between 44.1 and 192 just isn't enough to sensibly demand using it in my opinion.
