The Barn Studio Prices

The Barn Studios Recording Project Pricing

Since The Barn Studios works mostly with local and upstarting acts in the Fayetteville - North Carolina area (Wilmington, NC area on special request), we try to maintain reasonable and competitive prices for our services.

Note: All prices and or services can change at any time without notice. I try to keep this page updated at least once a month, so most prices should be current, but there are no guaranties. Please contact The Barn Studios on pricing before determining your project budget as prices may have changed since the last page update.

In ALL cases, at least 1/2 of the total payment is expected at the time of contracting the recording. The remaining amount is to be paid when you receive your final product or service. Some projects will require full payment in advance, but those are exceptional cases, "on location" recording being one of those exceptions.

NOTE: As of Oct, 2018, due to the loss of my home and studio from the flooding of Hurricane Florence, and my move to Fayetteville, NC, all "On Site" recording has been suspended until further notice. I will only be doing Mixing, Mastering, Drum Enhancement/Replacement, and on special occasions, overdubs. Until I'm back up and running full tilt once again, all prices below are NULL and void with exception of Mixing, Mastering, Drum Enhancement/Replacement, and Overdubs.
I hope to have my full studio capabilities back soon.
Bill P.

The services are as follows:

The recording of a single song (average 1-5 piece group, for larger groups see below) - $150

Drum replacement per song (see below) - $100 (Tempo correction and/or beat/fill enhancement +$25 per song)

MIDI song sequencing (bass, drums & keys, see below) - $200 per song

Vocal/Instrumental recordings (per song, using the above sequencing [$ extra] or providing your own backing tracks) - $75 per song

Mixing complete package of raw wav files or stems must be provide by the client (unless recorded here. Max 5 instruments + 5 vocals) $200 per song ($20 extra per instrument/vocal beyond max)

Mastering is priced on a "per contract" basis. Most small projects (1-5 songs) will include mastering in the prices. Larger projects will require a mastering fee which will be discussed at the time of the recording contract.

Mastering for a single song (This includes songs recorded with me or songs recorded elsewhere) - $75 (for every 5 songs, -$25 discount)

Notes & Exceptions:

Multi-Song Specials:

Contracting 5 songs under the same contract grants the band a $25 discount per song... i.e. 5 Songs -$625

I will offer special prices for a "complete CD" (12-15 songs). This can be discussed at the time of contracting the recording.

Additional Instruments:

Additional instruments beyond the "1-5 Piece" band - $25 per instrument, per song (this applies to multi-song contracting as well)

Additional Instrumentalists/Artists:

The Barn Studios maintains a list of talented musicians who can come in to record any needed parts for your project. Prices for extra musicians cannot be determined in advance as different musicians (and services) require different prices based on years of experience, instruments involved, and in some cases, location recording. In most simpler cases, MIDI sequencing would be adequate to provide bass, drums and simple keyboard fills (see "MIDI Sequencing" below). For artists requiring "extra" musicians, pricing will be discussed at the time of the recording contract.

Drum Enhancement/Replacement:

The Barn Studios specializes in "Drum Enhancement/Replacement" services. Quoting a long time sound engineer friend of mine, "There are only 3 good drum rooms in the US and all 3 cost a small fortune to use". Most recording I hear done in small "home studios" lack that "big room" drum sound.  I have developed a method of drum replacement that rivals "live drums" and most times, produces much better results. 75% of today's recordings all use drum replacement. The process is as follows:

 The "live" drums are recorded to scratch tracks and then those tracks are "MIDI-mapped" exactly as the drummer played it (mistakes and all). Then the drum sounds are enhanced or replaced with real drum samples from our vast drum library. The samples are high quality, 24-bit, 48khz samples with multiple velocity and right/left hit variances. The drums are then converted to individual audio tracks and mixed just as a real kit would be or mixed in addition to the recorded kit. The result is stunning to say the least. By request, timing can be fixed as well as mistakes (extra $$).

To hear examples of my drum replacement, just listen to the songs on the "Dead Man's Hand" page listed in the left sidebar of this page. All drums in the Dead Man's Hand songs are replacements. I think you'll be surprised at the sound of these drums.

(All Dead Man's Hand songs by permission of Dead Man's Hand)

MIDI Sequencing:

I have been doing MIDI sequencing since MIDI was standardized in the early 1980s. Sequencing entails the performer knowing what they want in the song. Having sheet music and/or charts is even better. I have 30 years song writing and production experience, so creating parts to fit the song are part of the job to me.

To hear examples of my MIDI sequencing, just listen to the songs on the "Ray Housand" page listed in the left sidebar of this page. These songs were originally brought to me as "acoustic guitar & vocals" on a cassette tape. Luckily, the recordings were of decent quality and the artist had the forethought to record vocals on one channel and guitar on the other. I transferred the songs into my software, and MIDI mapped them for timing. I then sequenced the bass guitar, drums and keyboards to the songs. All tracks were then converted to audio tracks and loaded into my mixing software. The result was what appears to be a "live" recording of a full band.

(All Ray Housand songs used by permission of Ray Housand)

Most MIDI sequencing only requires bass, drums, and simple keyboard fills. More involved sequencing (such as the above) is available by request and the price will be negotiated at the time of the contract.

Vocal and/or Instrumental Recordings:

Artist requiring backing tracks to accompany vocal and/or instrumental recordings will need to have sheet music, music charts, or at least an audio recording of the music they require. By special request, I will write music for artists, but that will entitle me to song writing credits in the recording as well as song writing royalty payment. This can be discussed at the time of the contract.

Production:

A lot of people do not understand what a "producer" really is. A producer will help the artists with arrangements, instrument settings, and make suggestions on how to make the song better than it already is. The Barn Studios offers production on a "per song" basis and all details will be worked out at the time of contracting the recording. Every artist has different needs, so production costs cannot be "pre-determined".

Mastering:

The Barn Studios offers "mastering" services in finalizing your project for "CD ready" format (Redbook spec) used by most copying facilities. Mastering (to a certain extent) is usually included in the services, however... A complete CD project or vast amount of songs will require a "mastering fee" as this is probably the hardest part of recording. Mastering requires hours and hours of  EQing, compressing, and most of all, intense listening to achieve the above. Pleasing a customer with the final product is not an easy job (but someone has to do it). Mastering can "make or break" a project. Here at the Barn, we feel our mastering is competitive with the Big Boys. Our end product sounds as good (if not better) than most "dreck" you hear on the radio today.

Mass Copying and CD Duplication:

At this time we do not offer copying services ourselves. We can refer you to a copying service or we can handle all the details and have it done for you for a small fee. This fee does NOT include the cost of the copying service.  The services we deal with not only handle CD copying, but packaging and artwork as well.

We will however, help you with your CD artwork and/or photography for the CD packaging (for a fee of course). Most copying services require the cover art to be supplied in a certain format, and we have the facility to create this format for the packaging.

Any required copying services will be discussed at the time of contracting the recording, or later if you want to wait on getting copies of your project.

In some cases, packages can include marketing your music on iTunes and other media venues. This usually is determined by the service and package you choose.

The Final Product:

Once recording, mixing, and mastering are finished, The Barn Studios will deliver a "Master CD" ready for duplication (Redbook specification). For duplication, see above. On special request, we can deliver up to at least 10 copies for a (small) copying fee. With most people having CD recorders in their home computers, most opt to make copies themselves.

Internet Services:

I have been known to do long distance business over the internet, but only in special situations. This is usually only when special services are required in which the artist needs sequencing, drum replacement, and/or mixing and/or mastering of pre-recorded material.

Copyright Services:

The Barn Studios does NOT deal with copywritten material (as in recording cover songs) UNLESS the artist has received a copyright to record the song, provided on paper.

However, we can provide you with information to copyright services for recording other artist's material (for a fee). You will get (on paper) a LEGAL copyright for recording the material. This service is provided through a Copyright Service and only takes a few minutes to get a quote on the copyright prices. The prices are based on how many copies of a song you wish to produce. Unbelievably, it's rather cheap to get permission to record copywritten material as well as easy. This is not including "direct sampling" of previously recorded material as done by rappers and hip-hop artists. Obtaining the rights to directly sampling other artists material can be a tedious and very expensive process depending on who's work you sample. The Barn Studios usually will not attempt to handle such cases. If the artist already has such copyrights, then we not only can record the song, but can also handle the sampling needs.

For Copyrights on your original material, we will refer you to the US Copyright department and we can help you with the process.

Contacting Us:

You can contact The Barn Studios by email at

ooogalapasooo@aol.com

Snail Mail:

Bill Pierce

2009 Gillingham Circle

Fayetteville, NC 28304

Once in contact with us, a phone number will be given for contact. I do not post my phone number publicly on the internet!