Studio Walk The Line Recording StudioLocation: Aichi, JAPAN



Course Plan for your budget 

Course Plan: Session Planning Guide

Budgeting Your Session

Session Flowchart

Recording Arrow_02-01 Mixing Arrow_02-01 Mixing
-Adjustment-
Arrow_02-01 Pre-Mastering
Arrow_02-01 Mastering Arrow_02-01 CD Burning or CD Press  

What Service To Pick

First please take a look at the chart. We do the services colored in blue in the "Session Flowchart" chart above. We do pre-mastering on your demand. Pre-mastering is not as far detailed as mastering but its basic manner is identical to that of mastering. Our pre-mastering is the mix made better with some margin left for further "Mastering". We usually leave quite enough dynamics margin left so that you might bring it to a mastering studio later. You can add both Pre-mastering and CD burning at a fraction of cost, so we recommend you in most cases have both pre-mastering and CD burning because, if you do, you get both a professional Demo CD (16bit/44.1kHz) and a CD-Rom of pre-mastered mix files (in the format of your choice, we recommend 32bit or 24bit/96kHz) which might work as a good master as well. If you are going to make commercial CDs for public distribution (which means in a good deal of amount), we recommend you use any specialized mastering service and CD Press service out there. In that case you get a perfect pre-master in our studio. My advice is that if you are not going to master at a mastering studio, our Pre-mastering service is a reasonable alternative.

Plan Your Session Well

To get what you want successfully, you need to be specific about what you want. How many songs? Three? Ten? Did you select your songs critically? Did you decide what to be compromised and what not to be? These elements affect your budgeting in a large scale. To minimize the cost, you have to do your homework before you come to our studio. If you do it well, then you can get what you want paying just its worth. If you use MIDI sequences, make ready your MIDI works as perfect as possible in your home before you record your songs in the studio. This way you are good to go once you step inside the studio.

How Much?

Can't imagine how much one song production would cost you? Can't figure out what to pick in Service MENU for your projects? Your budget is tight and just want your projects fit for your budget and not the other way around?

Have you experienced that you spent too much time in the studio, lost in the music creation, then end up paying too much?

Any studio charge you by the hour, so it takes time it cost money. You can't change that. But if you plan and get ready to make most out of your studio time, you should be able to make the studio cost as close as the figure of your budget.

Especially we have "Engineer's Mix Pack". If you use it smartly and do your recording efficiently and smooth, then the cost would be minimum. Also our studio calculates time actually by 15 minute slot. That is to your advantage. And more than anything else we made rates as wallet-friendly as possible.

Then how much might it charge you? We made some plan scenarios here for you to get the picture of approximately how much it might cost you in the most efficient and smooth cases. But in reality you will get more needs like "want to use that instrument" or "change that backup vocal" or "wanna re-do that EQ on guitars. "etc. As a result, how hard you try to stick to your budget, usually it will cost you the planned cost + some at the end. So give your budget some slack.

Overall, you will see here our Studio is such an affordable solution.

*TO USE OUR SERVICES, YOU ALWAYS NEED TO PROVIDE RECORDING MEDIA (DVD-R, CD-R etc.) FOR US TO DELIVER THE FINAL MIX. THIS MIGHT GIVE YOU A CHOICE IN THE MAKES OF RECORDING MEDIA. SOME MEDIA FROM SOME MANUFACTURERS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE STUDIO.

*NOTE: The example shows the sample case where the user is a very accomplished musician. These examples are only for your reference generally when the cost is the most efficiently the lowest. Actual costs vary in a large scale. We don't guarantee any actual cost of any services or don't promise anything by giving these cost examples.

*The cost total shown doesn't reflect promo rates. During promo seasons, the example cost may get even more reasonable.

Course Plan


1 Song Course

Example Cost: ¥52,080

*If you do more recording/mixing for complicated arrangements, or use Instruments options or use Session Musician options, this would cost you more.

*The cost figure above was calculated from our usual rates and doesn't reflect campaign rates.

Flow:

"Recording" - "Mixing"  - "Pre-Mastering" - "Completed mix in CD-Rom and CD Audio"

Package Contents:

Studio Time [Basic Studio Time: Recording  x 3 hours] + [Engineer's Mix Pack: 1 song] + [Basic Studio Time: Mixing x 2 hours = Mix Adjustment 2 hours] + [Pre-Mastering: 1 song] + [Professional Audio CD Burning] + [1 x DVD-R  (for Master data), 1 x Copy fee (for Master data)]

What you get after the session: 1 x DVD Rom (DVD-R) of a song mix files, 1 x Audio CD of the songs (CD-R)

Description:

This is the best pack if you want to make professional recording of 1 song. 3 hours are usually more than enough to record Guitars, Bass & Vocal, especially if you don't rehearse here and ready for recording! (To record live drums, you are further charged of Drum kit option fee.) Even when you do a lot in the studio, this pack could be very affordable. For mixing, it's better you leave basic mix to the engineer after you give a basic direction of the mix to the engineer. You will then come back next or another day (or if you are in a rush, you will wait.) and hear the mix. If there is anything you don't like about the mix, you just fix it along with the Engineer buying some Basic Studio Time: Mixing. (You can buy by qtr of an hr slot).

After you've done with the mix and  the engineer will work on pre-mastering the mix. He would make some versions. You will pick any of them or if you don't like it you can buy some Studio Time: Mixing (2hrs in this plan) in order to adjust. There is no re-do in "Mix Pack" or  in "Pre-mastering". Give a clear request how you want it to be if you don't like it, please.

Then the engineer will burn you a DVD-Rom (or CD-Rom) containing the mix file & versions of pre-mastering you picked, and a Audio CD-R from the best pre-master you chose.

Note:

If your studio time lags, simply you may have to buy more studio time. So I suggest at least you should be prepared to pay some studio time fee in addition to the upper cost. And of course, you may want to use some instrument options (drums, software instruments etc.) Always make some room in your budget.


3 Song Course

Example Cost: ¥122,430

*If you do more recording/mixing for complicated arrangements, or use Instruments options other than listed or use Session Musician options, this would cost you more.

*The cost figure above was calculated from our usual rates and doesn't reflect campaign rates.

Flow:

"Recording" - "Mixing"  - "Pre-Mastering" - "Completed mix in CD-Rom and CD Audio"

Package Contents:

Studio Time [Basic Studio Time: Recording  x 7 hours ] + [Engineer's Mix Pack: 3 song] + [Basic Studio Time: Mixing x 2 hours = Mix Adjustment 2 hours] +  [Pre-Mastering: 3 song] + [Professional CD Burning up to 3 songs] + [Instruments option: Drums (DW)] + [1 x DVD-R  (for Master data), 1 x Copy fee (for Master data)]

What you get after the session: 1 x DVD Rom (DVD-R) of a song mix files, 1 x Audio CD of the songs (CD-R)

Description:

Here, to take advantage of drum kit option (the same option fee no matter how many songs you record), we record drums, since you have 3 songs to record. If you are fast, 7 hours will be fine to record Drums, Guitars, Bass, Keys & Vocal, and of course you should do your home work to be ready! Here, taken is the instruments option: DW Drum kit. There is no way to miss the opportunity of live drums recording! For mix adjustment, studio time is limited to 2 hours. If you get the engineer to make the picture of your mix in your head, this should be fine. Other things are the same as other plan.

You will see here that more songs you do, the better the cost performance per song gets.

If you are not good enough on playing drums, you should hire a drummer. Session drummer is available at the studio.

Note:

If your studio time lags, simply you may have to buy more studio time. So I suggest at least you should be prepared to pay some studio time fee in addition to the upper cost. And of course, you may want to use some instrument options (sampled instruments, software instruments etc.) Always make some room in your budget.


6 Song Course

Example Cost: ¥171,990

*If you do more recording/mixing for complicated arrangements, or use Instruments options other than listed or use Session Musician options, this would cost you more.

*The cost figure above was calculated from our usual rates and doesn't reflect campaign rates.

Flow:

"Recording" - "Mixing"  - "Pre-Mastering" - "Completed mix in CD-Rom and CD Audio"

Package Contents:

Studio Time [Basic Studio Time: Recording  x 15 hours] + [Engineer's Mix Pack: 6 song] + [Basic Studio Time: Mixing x 4 hours = Mix Adjustment 4 hours] +  [Pre-Mastering: 6 song] + [Professional CD Burning up to 6 songs] + [Instruments option: Drums (DW)]

What you get after the session: 1 x DVD Rom (DVD-R) of a song mix files, 1 x Audio CD of the songs (CD-R)

Description:

15hrs are taken for Recording. You can possibly record Drums, Guitars, Bass and vocal parts within time, if the songs you record are not very difficult or complicated. But if you get too particular about what you record audio-wise by experimenting etc., you may easily go over budget. You should be specific about what these 6 songs are meant for. For some CD album inclusion? Or independent from each other? Are they CD singles? etc. Be very clear of both what sound you want to get and of what is actually attainable at this studio, at the very stage of pre-recording talk session. 4hrs of mix adjustment is secured in this plan. This is not ample but often enough if you made yourself clear of what sound . Recording and mixing 6 songs are long session. Take good breaks.

You should be really prepared to have some room in your budget. Big projects (recording many songs or CD album recording) often take more time than expected. Other things are the same as other plan.

You will see here that more songs you do, the better the cost performance per song gets. Even if you go over budget, still you get such high cost performance. We think it extremely reasonable that you can record and mix 6 songs at this cost.

Note:

If your studio time lags, simply you may have to buy more studio time. I suggest at least you should add some studio time fee to the upper cost. Always make room in your budget.

Back To TOP