How good are you and the MARS system?
We’re pretty good from a number of different perspectives — technical background and
experience, side-by-side with musical comprehension and “feel.” But there is one
area well-known in the studio that is often overlooked in location situations:
our ability to work well with various artists. We go out of our way to work
with you, and to help you capture the best music possible (hopefully the way
you hear it in your head). The success of that goal depends on a synergy of
location, equipment, your performance that day, and how comfortable you feel during all
stages of the project.
How much do you charge?
As you might guess, a number of variables determine the price of location
recording. But to simplify this we do offer a number of all-inclusive
packages. Each package is complete for a specific type of project, and for
one package price we provide a number of services.
For example, our $399, 8-track location concert recording package includes these items:
Our $499 12-track package is similar but includes extra hours for added set-up, tear-down, and mixing/editing.
Additional charges will be incurred for production hours that you'd like to add, travel mileage beyond 30 miles, and special services such as coordinating a production run of CDs.
For extended session or live festival work we offer day and week pricing. The week pricing features two free days for every five days purchased (assuming contiguous days on the same project at the same site). We can also work on a traditional hourly rate basis. (That rate depends on the services requested.)
If festival participants wish to share recording expenses and be billed separately, and have their segment of the recording handled independently, we can do that for a small added adminstrative charge for each participant. The exact amount depends on the services each participant would like. (This cost would be included as a line item on our quotation.)
We are pleased to provide a formal, written quotation for each project, and will be bound to that quotation unless you decide to add services and hours. We won't charge for any additional hours caused by our oversight or any technical problems, rare as they might be.
Repeat business is critical to our ongoing success, and we will make every effort to keep you as a satisfied, return client. Perhaps the most important part of this is telling you up front as many particulars as possible, then discussing any potential deviations from our original, mutual plan before they become an issue.
That's a rough overview of our pricing; do tell us more about your project and we can provide you more exact numbers.
Do you have any demos of your work?
Yes! A free demo CD is available on request to interested parties in our geographic area,
and shows a wide variety of different acoustic and classical music, recorded
under varied conditions. Included are written notes about each track.
(This is a preliminary edition of our demo CD. We are currently working on a new version that shows not only the high level of our work, but also walks through “how we got there” on a few different example recordings. If you order the current demo CD, we'll send the new version once it is available.)
Why are you working so cheaply?
Well, it’s not that cheap. But our current rates are a reflection of these
items: today’s relatively lower cost and smaller size of good equipment,
our business efficiencies, and our passion for good music.
How firm are these prices?
While published rates are subject to change without notice, please
understand that any prices we quote for your project will remain firm throughout
that project (up to 180 days) even if our rate card has changed in that period.
Prices we provide on any formal quotation remain firm for up to 180 days from
the date of the original quotation.
If your project goes over 180 days, or if your quote is more then 180 days old, chances are the prices haven’t changed, but we’ll be happy to verify them for you.
Don’t look for huge price changes at any one time; and clients who use us now will be remembered for their loyalty.
How much input can we give and how much control do we have?
This is your project and your money, so you are the boss. However, we would
be bereft if we failed to alert you to specific problems that we might
see. We can act as producers for your project, giving feedback on performance
or making various other artistic suggestions. Usually, these projects are
collaborative efforts to get the most from your musical abilities and our technical knowledge.
Can we bring our own producer?
Of course! Our role then becomes one of engineering, acting at the behest of
the producer, though again we may offer advice from time to time if we sense a
problem and if in general you desire such input.
Can we bring our own engineer?
This is a little more of a gray area. Generally, yes; but we will discourage
any misuse of the equipment. In this case the MARS engineer becomes a “second”
engineer, providing technical support to your engineer and producer as they use
our system. (No discounts apply, as our engineer is still working with you
on site.)
Do you offer a Guarantee?
Yes. Should there be any technical problems during the recording, that day
is free, as is the replacement date that we set up. However, if you are unhappy
with your musical performance and want to suspend the project for a period, we
can only help in a limited way by offering a partial credit for unused hours,
to be applied to a later production date.
What are your payment terms?
1/3 down, 1/3 the day of the recording, and 1/3 at the time of post production.
Any outstanding balances must be paid before the release of materials.
We do accept Visa and Mastercard.
What about cancellations or scheduling changes?
If you cancel or reschedule with more than 21 days notice, your deposit will
be refunded or reapplied. If you cancel or reschedule with more than 14 days
notice, 50% of your deposit will be refunded. No deposit refunds are possible
with less than 14 days notice. However, if we (or you) are able to find a viable
replacement client for that slot in our schedule, 80% of your deposit will be returned.
Can we make our own small-run of CDs?
Yes, but you may not want to. We’ve tailored media and burners for the best
possible sound, and will be pulling the image from a jitter-free master file.
Ripping and reburning digital music does degrade the sonic quality of the project.
Unlike data CDs, this can happen with music CDs for a number of reasons,
but mainly because CD music playback is not as tightly controlled for
error correction and detection as are data CDs.
What about full-press runs of CDs?
For larger runs of CDs (greater than 100), we can suggest a number of high-end
pressing facilities, or handle the project for you. These production runs are
quoted on an individual project basis.
Is there anything you won’t record?
Yes, but just a few things. We won’t work in loud club environments or take the
MARS vehicle into high-risk areas. Our primary specialty is acoustic music of
all forms, along with spoken word and special events. We are not equipped for
rock/pop recording.
Some of our past recordings sound, well, odd — thin, like they’re coming through
a plastic tube. Can you fix this?
It’s difficult to fix existing recordings that have this problem, but new
ones we do will not have that “tunnel sound” problem. Generally, it’s caused
by a mis-used minimalist two-microphone technique. While purists will swear
that two microphones can do the job,
from a practical perspective this approach can be more of a
disappointment than a joy.
Two microphone techniques rely on many factors being exactly right, from the microphones and electronics used, to microphone placement, to the size of the room (and how many audience members are present during the recording), and to the listener’s playback system and their room! One of these being out-of-kilter will contribute to poor sound quality. Many subtle aural cues must be captured and perfectly reproduced to make the two-microphone approach work.
We take a different tact for most of our acoustic recordings done in a concert setting. We indeed use a main stereo field (mid-side, ORTF, XY, to name just a few methods), but we reinforce delicate acoustic subtleties by also capturing them independently. This includes separate channels to get just the right amounts of room ambience and also solo or section sounds.
During the mix we balance these sources into a rich, warm, complete sound. You might think of what we do as adding carefully adjusted stage lighting, as would be seen in a theatrical production. You could still see a stage play if only a few stage work lights were on, but isn’t it so much more interesting (and your willingness to be enfolded in the illusion so much greater) if the proper lighting is applied?
Continuing with this analogy for sound recording, think of your eyes as the main stereo field, and the carefully crafted theatrical lighting design as the additional microphones that we use.
Of course the balance is important, and so too is the alignment of time. Digital recorders make this aspect very easy, whereas a few years ago time alignment was a much more daunting proposition. When appropriate, we can time-adjust tracks to get the best possible sonic focus.
But doesn’t multi-track recording and mixing take a lot of extra time?
It can, but we’re careful not to fall into some of the traps of
multi-miking technique. Once the "seasoning" is in the pot, we don't spend
a lot of time going over and over that seasoning — it's done. Also, unlike
most pop and rock recording, we usually don't need to make countless moment-to-moment
mix changes.
Please feel free to contact us with any additional questions you might have. We’re always happy to discuss your project.