Policies

Below you will find a list of studio policies and general information regarding how to prepare your project for recording and mixing.

Acoustic treatment clouds with studio lighting

The following is nonexhaustive, but we ask that you please read through each section in order to be prepared to work with us on your project. The advice given in section 2 (Preparing for your Recording) and beyond is merely suggestion. We offer it to help those who may be new to the music production process or those who have not worked with us before so that your experience can be as smooth as possible.

Please note that we reserve the right to change our policies at any time, including reserving the right to deny our services to anyone - though we promise not to do so without cause.

General Policies

At Stone & Steel, we have choosen not to work on explicit material, including music that is profane, vulgar, satanic, sexual or violent. If you are unsure if your music falls into these categories, please reach out to us so we can further discuss this with you.

Tobacco, alcohol, drugs, vapes, e-cigarettes, and illegal substances are not allowed in the studio or on the premises.

Food and drink are allowed, so long as your beverage is in a resealable container.

A non-refundable fee (determined during the consultation) is required to schedule your first session. This will be applied to the final cost of your project

If you need to cancel or reschedule a session, we require a 24 hour advance notice. Cancelations and rescheduling of reservations within 24 hours are subject to a cancelation fee.

Billing for your session begins at the time your session is scheduled, not at the time you arrive - i.e. if you are late to your session, you will still be billed as though you arrived on time.

We charge for session setup time, but not for take down. Most instruments can be set up within 5 minutes, but more complex setups like drums typically take at least an hour for setup, and larger kits can take as long as 3 hours to setup, tune, and mic. As such, we recommend scheduling a minimum of 2 hours for drum sessions with a standard 5 piece kit, and adding an extra hour for every 3 additional pieces. If we finish before your scheduled time is over, you will not be charged for any time you didn't use.

If you miss a session without notifying us you will be billed for the full amount of the time scheduled. We subsequently will not reschedule or release any files to you until your balance is paid in full.

Payments must be made in full at the end of each session. We will not release any material to you (including quick mixes or scratch tracks) until your balance is settled.

It is your responsibility to secure use of any copyrighted material used in your project. Stone & Steel and its team are not liable for copyright infringement committed by our clients.

If a third party is funding your session, we suggest drawing up a contract with that party to establish what they have a right to during the recording process. If a contract is not drawn up, we will assume the third party has all rights to your project at any stage and will not be held liable for their use or misuse of your project.

We take pride in our work and strive to meet or exceed the expectations of our clients on every project. If you are dissatisfied for any reason, please feel free to voice your concerns to us as soon as possible and we will do everything we reasonably can to correct the issue.

Preparing for your Recording

Please read the following carefully before you book a session with us, particularly if you are planning on recording on your own prior to having us mix your project.

Set up your guitars and basses: Either take them to a trusted technician or, if you are capable of doing a pro job, do it yourself. This includes adding fresh strings to each instrument you plan to record with. A poorly intonated instrument with fret buzz and dead strings simply won't be usable for a final recording. Many inexpensive instruments can play and sound close to more expensive counterparts with a proper set up, and this will create a much better final product for you. We are also happy to set up and intonate your instruments as part of your session.
Drummers: Bring new drum heads, the best cymbals you can afford, and fix any rattling or other anomalies caused by moving parts prior to setting foot in the studio.
Bring spares: Spare drumheads, sticks, strings, picks, cables, whatever else you need. Having to halt a session to run to the music shop wastes your time and money, so come prepared.
Headphones: We have some for you to use at the studio, but if you have a set (or IEMs) that you're comfortable with, please bring them! The more comfortable you are, the more confidently you'll perform.
Be Prepared: The studio is not an ideal place to write or rehearse parts, unless you've intentionally budgeted for that. That's not to say there isn't room for some spontaneous adjustments, changes, or additions to your music - but come with everything down pat like you would a performance, and you'll be guaranteed to get the most out of your recording.
Perform with attitude: Said a different way, there needs to be a degree of theatrics in your delivery while in the studio - just like if you were playing to a crowd you really wanted to impress. Why? Because that translates directly to the recording. If you aren't giving it your emotional all, it's going to sound flat when you play it back.

PrepforyourRec

Before You Record

If you plan to record at another studio or on your own prior to us mixing your project, we offer the following list of recommendations:

Record in 24 bit. You can record at 44.1 or 48 kHz, although we recommend 48 (as the industry seems to be moving that direction for the new standard). If you wish, you can record at higher rates like 88.2 or 96.

Take photos of your recording setup: and try to be as detailed a possible when doing so. Send us the photos in a folder. This can help solve a lot of issues on our end if we know how something was mic'd - especially drums.

Tune your drums: this is particularly important, so if your drummer doesn't know how to do this we suggest hiring a professional to help. This will make more of a difference in your drum sound than almost anything else.

Fix problems at the source: even though there is some amazing software out there, please don't rely on us to fix every pop, click, rattle, or other sound problem you have. There is often only so much we can do, so we recommend fixing the problem at the source. You can only put so much lipstick on a pig, after all.

Edit drums before recording other instruments: assuming this is necessary, it will help the other performers play tighter than if the timing hadn't been edited, and will affect the final feel of the song.

Tune and retune your instruments: this is particularly for guitars and basses, but all instruments should check their tuning often - ideally between each take - to ensure tuning doesn't drift over the course of your recording.

Dampen and/or mute guitar and bass strings whenever possible with foam, cloth, fretwraps, etc. There are tutorials online that can explain how and why this is done.

Please do not apply any EQ, compression, or other baked in effects unless you are 100% positive that you know what you're doing. If an effect (like delay) is necessary to play a part, record that part dry and "wet" so that we can give you options during the mix stage.

Record a DI signal of guitar and bass alongside your mic'd tracks. This can come in handy down the line if the mic'd signal doesn't fit your vision or we decide the sound isn't ideal. If we need to reamp your parts, having these DI's will be necessary. Tutorials are available online if you are recording on your own.

Please also read the "Preparing for your Recording" section above for additional advice.

Prepare your Files for Mixing

If you have already recorded your project and are sending it to us for mixing, we ask that you follow these steps:

Edit your tracks: Unless you are planning to have us edit the timing and/or tuning of the tracks, please have this done prior to sending us your project.

Clean up your tracks: Please remove any unwanted noises and ensure that you've sent the correct takes for mixing.

Consolodate your clips (regions, items, depending on DAW) so that each track starts at bar 1. This will ensure the fastest turnover time for your project. It's okay to have minutes of silence at a time before a track comes in when you do this.

Bounce virutal instruments to audio files: as expansive as our library is (and we work to continually expand it) there is just no way we can have every single VI on the market. Please make sure these tracks are bounced.

Export mono files as mono and stereo files as stereo: we can do this on our end, but it will take less time if you send it to us like this. Also, please fully pan all stereo sources and center all mono sources. It's much harder to make adjustments to partially panned files than those that are fully panned or fully center.

Name your tracks/files using a convention that would make sense to someone who is approaching your project for the first time. If your VI calls the synth patch you used "ULTRA NUCLEAR WINTER FIRESTORM " - as cool of a name as that is, we don't know if it's a lead, pad, arp, or something else entirely. Stick with the basics.

Export the tempo map and any time signature changes if you recorded to a click. Export as MIDI files for each song (MIDI only please. Proprietary tempo map files from your DAW won't work in ProTools). Include these in your project files. If there's just one tempo for a song and it stays in one time signature, you can just note the BPM and any time signature other than 4/4 in the folder name for each song.

Double check that you have prepared the correct files and that nothing is missing. Test this by importing all your files into your DAW to make sure they are all present and aligned. We'll work with what you send us, so if the guitar solo is in the wrong place, we won't know until you get the first mix back.

Prepare one file per song. It's not necessary to create subfolders for each instrument so long as you've named your tracks effectively.

If possible, include a rough mix for us to reference. This will help us get inside your head and make sure the right thing is featured at the right time. If you don't have a rough mix, you can always outline notes for us in a text document.

Or just leave the mixing up to us! If you don't like how we've interpreted your mix, we can always make changes.

HowLong?

How Long Does All Of This Take?

Since each project is different, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. That said, here are some general rules of thumb that can help you estimate the time necessary for the completion of a project, and help you get an idea of how much time to book for your sessions.

Recording times vary based on preparation, length of song, and intricacy of setup. Most instruments can be set up to record in about 5 minutes, but adding mics will naturally increase the time necessary to prepare - about 5 minutes per mic.

Drum kits naturally take more preparation, and therefore more time to set up for recording. A standard 5-piece kit will usually take an hour to load in, setup and tune, and about 30 minutes to mic. As such, we recommend booking at least 3 hours for drum sessions, and recommend adding an additional hour to your booking for larger kits.

You may also opt to use an electronic drum kit to trigger any of our virtual drums to reduce setup time. We currently have access to Steven Slate Drums and Logic Pro drums, and will be expanding our selection in the near future.

If you want to utilize any of the digital amp modeling we offer, such as the Fractal Axe FX III, we suggest planning about 30 minutes for an initial setup of your preferred signal chain, as there are a large number of amps, cabs, and effects to audition - even if you're pretty sure you know the sound you're going for.

Additionally, since we currently run the control room and studio in the same space, we recommend multi-tracking as often as possible, especially if you are recording live drums. At the very least, the vocals will need to be recorded separately unless you are recording with an acoustic guitar and/or MIDI piano.

Editing times depend on how tight everyone was able to record to the click (assuming one was used), and this will naturally vary depending on song length. A typical 4 minute song takes around 20 minutes of vocal tuning for lead vocals.

Mixing can vary from 1.5 hours for a simple acoustic and vocal, to upwards of 6 hours for large and/or complex songs.

We generally master as we go so that you can hear what the final product will sound like with each mix revision. If you are planning to master at another facility, just let us know and we can give you your session without mastering added.

Since it is necessary to schedule blocks of time for each step in your project, be aware that most songs from start to finish (if recorded in-house) will average around 8 - 11 hours of production time. As such, we suggest that you budget both your time and money accordingly in order to be the most efficient with your project.

We are happy to answer any questions you may have about the timeline for your project's completion! Just reach out to us on the contact page, or call or text the studio anytime.