Recording costs breakdown

I often get asked about how to go about recording and the associated costs.  When I started, a lot of people took the time to help me, and maybe this will help you.

There are a number of studios who will do packages of various types.  They bundle together all the services, throw in the first 1000 CDs and charge a flat price.  I am not saying all of those studios are bad, but I am a little wary of that kind of arrangement.  Every project should be unique rather than the result of a cookie cutter process that is designed to maximize profits for a studio.  I would rather you just buy the services as you need them.

That being said, here are the typical costs:

Studio
Yes, you can do a project anywhere including your own home.  Timeless Reflections was done in my living room.  If you do something like that, the engineer has to be very good if you want a good sound.  Studios are designed for sound and in general, you should use one. 

Studios will rent for anywhere from $300-$3000/day on average.  The factors I consider are in this order: piano, equipment, comfort and price.  Why is comfort so important? Because you are going to be spending a lot of intense time there.

For smaller projects with piano and a few instruments, I like Playground in Nashville which you can probably usually get for $500/day.  For full orchestration projects, I have paid up to $3000/day for places like The Tracking Room.

For me, I budget two days in the studio per CD.  You may need more or less time, but I need two full days.

Recording Engineer
To hire an engineer to actually record a session in a studio runs about $500-$700/day.  For that price, you can hire the very best engineers in Nashville.  And if you have a complex project, you need a very good engineer.  A slow engineer will cost you a small fortune in musician pay.

Arranging/Orchestration
If you do not write your own music, you will have to pay someone to arrange for you.  In my case, I arrange myself but send the arrangements to Steve Mauldin who writes the orchestration.  This costs anywhere from maybe $200-$2,000/song depending on what you need.  In the past, I have paid $1000/song for my big orchestrations such as “His Eye is on the Sparrow.”  If I had to make a guess, I would say that price is higher now though.

Musicians
Musicians in music towns are typically unionized with set rates.  At the current moment, I figure about $80/hour per musician with 2 hour minimums.  Musicians can be expensive but professionals nail the songs quickly.  Don’t ever fall into the trap of hiring musicians just on price.  A $40/hour musician may take three times as long to record a song as an $80/hour musician.

Even though it may be tempting, don’t try to save money by using your friends as your studio musicians unless they have studio experience.  Regardless of how good they are, they are likely to have problems in the studio where every note counts.  One musician that is unused to that pressure may slow everything down and cost you a lot of money.

Hiring musicians in a town like Nashville is easy if you go through a contractor.  You just tell him/her what you need and like magic, they all show up on the day you need them.  The contractor obviously charges for this, but the $80/hour I budget with covers that fee.

A simple song might use 1-4 musicians but a big orchestration takes up to forty musicians.   Make sure you are thinking in dollars.  Four musicians will cost you $320/hour and forty will cost you $3,200/hour.  The dollars add up very fast and you can see how important it becomes for everybody to be competent and efficient.

Working with professional musicians can be intimidating but you will almost certainly enjoy the experience.  They are almost always extremely polite and complimentary.  They are the kind of people you want to go to lunch with. And you will find that they almost always want to do a great job for you.

Mixing
Mixing is the process where all the instruments/voices are balanced against each other.  It is extremely important and you want a professional doing it.  Jason Prisk mixes for me but I have used others as well.  For a bigger project, it might cost $3000-$5,000.  For smaller projects, maybe $500-$1000.  But again, don’t cut corners here. 

Mastering
While mixing involves balancing instruments against each other within a song, mastering refers to balancing the songs on a project against each other to get the levels (volume) right.  This process usually does not cost more than $1000.

Graphic Design
A basic CD cover design might cost $500-$1000.  If you have to do a photo shoot, maybe a little more.

Licensing
For songs that are not public domain, you need a mechanical license.  If possible, use the Harry Fox Agency because they make it so simple.  It costs a little over 9 cents per song per CD.  So, if you have 10 songs on a CD and owe licensing on all of them, figure another $1/CD in costs.

Duplication
I have always used Discmakers because of the service.  They are possibly not the cheapest, but even so, finished CDs only cost somewhere around a $1.  That includes everything: printing, shrink wrap, etc.

Producer
The role of the producer is to make everything happen to get a project finished on time and under budget. Their primary job is hiring the different people needed and then coordinating with them.  Sometimes, a producer is also financially invested in the project.  Executive producers especially are usually financial contributors.

You can produce yourself.  I enjoy doing that and I have been producing myself for a while.  But if you hire a producer, expect to pay for their service.  I really don’t know how much though.

Hope that helps some of you.  And now when aspiring musicians ask questions about recording, I will have a blog post to send them to.