Q. Will my 5-piece band be able to record at The Sound Palace?
A. The short answer is yes. We have 2 separate recording facilities. Studio A (located in Thousand Oaks) is primarily used for small groups, singer-songwriters, and voiceover artists. It has a modest size live room with a drum kit and 5 piece bands have recorded there. It is not intended for band rehearsals although it can do so if really needed.
Conversely, Studio B, located in Oxnard, is larger and has a performance stage, lighting and a PA system. Studio B can handle much larger groups while also offering the opportunity for bands to record music while “all in the room.”
Q. What kind of recording equipment is used at The Sound Palace?
48 sound source inputs are distributed throughout the tracking room and control room and receive signals from microphones built by Neumann, AKG, Sennheiser, Royer Labs, Soundelux, Beyerdynamic, Audio-Technica, ElectroVoice and Shure. These feed microphone preamps from Neve, SSL, Massenburg, Universal Audio, Vintech, Focusrite and Chandler/EMI’s “Abbey Road” edition channel strip. From there the signals flow into dual HDX converters under the watchful eye of the Big Ben master clock from Apogee for editing and mixing in Pro Tools HDX 12, and an array of outboard processors from Empircal Labs, A-Designs, Purple Audio and a pair of vintage DBX 160VU’s.
Q. What are your rates?
A. Good question. But it’s really more than one. Because like most studios, we offer hourly, full & partial day rates, and weekly rates. But what you’re really asking is: how much will it cost for you to record songs and come away with something that sounds professionally produced? That question is much more difficult to answer precisely. Some folks come in just to do a voiceover recording. Recording speech might be the simplest thing we do and an hourly rate works best for them. (Our standard hourly rate is $125 but we occasionally offer “community rates” of $75.00 to accommodate our locally-based artists who have little to no budget for bringing their music to market.) But for music to sound “professionally produced”, much more work is done after the actual recording process is completed. Sometimes an entire day is devoted to just editing and mixing a single song. The same rate structure applies whether we are tracking, editing or mixing. Daily rates carry a discount when compared to the hourly rate. Maybe you are just interested in a “quick-and-dirty” recording to share just with friends and family. Those projects involve much less time for polishing. So the best way to approach any project is to pre-determine your budget and let us figure out what we get accomplished for you within that budget.
Q. Where do I start?
Send an inquiry using the “Contact” tab above. Or send a separate email to: info@TheSoundPalace.com. Or pick up the phone and call (805)499-1311. The first two options might get a faster response. We tend not to answer the phone during sessions to keep attention focused on the client’s session and sometimes we don’t check the messages until after midnight.