What's a recording studio?
What's a producer?
What's an engineer?
In general terms: An engineer is someone that knows how to operate the recording equipment in the studio, get sounds and who accommodates the requests of the artist or producer. One would hire an engineer based on a recommendation from the studio, work they’ve done before or their familiarity with the studio being used.
What is a beat producer?
What's a co-producer?
What are the hidden costs?
NONE! We don’t want to be nickel and dimed either, so we won’t do it to you.
*The only additional costs are your recording media (CD-R, DVD-R, external hard drive, etc…) *During recording you are welcome to use any studio instruments free of charge, except drums. Sprout City has two drum kits available for use, one for $5/hr the other for $15/hr. We only ask you to pay to use these to cover wear & tear and maintenance costs.
Do I pay by the hour, or by the day?
Rehearsal rates:
Space – $25/hr
Gear – $5/hr each item:
PA, Amps, Drums, Keys, etc…
Can we break up the day rate over two days?
Where are you located?
1697 W 11th Alley, Eugene, OR 97402
In an alley near 11th and Chambers in Eugene, OR. Contact us for really detailed directions and parking map.
Do you work weekends or weeknights?
Of course. In fact, weekends are usually booked up several weeks in advance, and weeknights 5-10PM are studio primetime. Check our calendar online here for availability. If you see a free time that works for you, contact us ASAP to lock it for your project.
Can we get a tour of the studio?
Do you have a demo CD of tracks from Sprout City Studios?
Also, we have this Spotify playlist that has a random assortment of recordings in all sorts of Genres:
What payment types do you accept?
Can I bring my own engineer for my sessions?
Can we come in early or the night before to set up?
Can we all play live in the studio?
Can I record to tape?
What software do you use to record?
Each engineer working out of our space is most comfortable in one or another DAW.
We have Pro tools 10-11, Digital Performer, Logic Pro X, Ableton Live, Reaper, Studio One 3, Ozone Advanced 7, and iZotope RX5. We are happy to install your favorite DAW if it is not on this list as long as it is Mac Compatible.
Do you do voiceovers, video editing, music for film or radio spots?
What should I bring if I record digitally?
We recommend you bring your own hard drive/memory stick to back up the session too. This will speed up your backup time.
Can you transfer my old vinyl/cassette/reels/etc. to CD-R?
Sprout City Studios can transfer most 1/4″ analog reels and cassette 2- and 4-track by a flat rate. Mastering rates apply if editing or cleanup is required. Contact us for details.
Does Sprout City Studios have blank tape for sale?
Is Sprout City Studios non-smoking?
Can we sleep in the studio overnight while working?
Do you have beats?
We have a large selections of drum tracks, samples, etc., but remember that building up tracks is gonna take a lot of time and creativity. There are no “walk in and sing and walk out with a CD” services available at Sprout City Studios. Unless you have previously arranged this with one of our several in-house beat producers.
I have never recorded and don't know where to start. Can you help me?
I only have one song to record. Is one hour enough?
Generally, No!
Depending on your level of experience in the studio, you may be able to finish it, but we recommend no less than a 2 hour session to start, and see how far that gets you. Generally, instrumentation is recorded as the first step, then vocals are recorded. Once all the recording is completed any editing is taken care of. This might include comparing various vocal takes and compiling the best of each into one master take. Any vocal tuning that is needed is taken care of in this step. Then the levels between any instruments and vocals are balanced in a mix.
So if you have a 4 minute song to record, plan on more than 4 minutes in the studio! Usually our customers want their best foot forward when they make a recording, and we can get you as close to a perfect performance as you’d like. It just takes time.
How long will it take to record my album?
How much will it cost to record my album?
We prefer working by a project budget that you set, to get the recording finished within what you would like to spend.
Working this way gives all involved a good idea of what timeframe to allow for experimentation on your parts, and how much time we would have to do editing and mixing to reach your goals. Let us know what a good budget for your needs would be and we can go from there.
That being said, It can all boil down to an hourly or day rate if you prefer.
We have many engineers here working at different rates, so we can meet any budget you require.
We work with folks that set $30 a song budgets all the way to $3000 a song budgets. For example, we have people come in and do 6 songs in a day, and others do 12 songs over 6 months, with lots of production elements and a big budget. It all depends on your goals and what you feel comfortable investing in your product. We’re here to make sure it gets done the way you like, within the budget you set.
If you need musicians, we have MANY to call on. They usually want something close to either $25/hr or $50-75 a song per player depending on what you arrange. If you have folks that are good for what you are after, that is an obvious way to save on budget.
We look forward to recording your music!