Recording
Our Goal
Recording at Big City is fast and efficient, but never rushed. Our goal is to provide a space to capture the best performance possible. We never sacrifice client comfort for the sake of a recording technique. A comfortable artist is a groovy artist and that’s what we want to capture.
The Space
The main recording room has just the right amount of liveness and sound control to provide a beautifully flattering environment to capture acoustic instruments.
The main iso booth is most commonly used for drum set, but is often used for vocals, acoustic bass or other instruments when isolation is required. There are two hallways that double as iso booths and offer direct eye contact to all other spaces in the studio.
Both the lobby and back storage room can be used to isolate Leslie speakers, guitar amps and other instruments and/or musicians when eye contact is not required.
We have multiple baffling options for recording piano and other acoustic instruments simultaneously in the main room.
The control room can also be used for isolated recording when necessary.
Budgeting Your Tracking Session
As a general rule, we recommend budgeting at least one hour per song for multi-song sessions. For a typical ensemble consisting of piano, bass, drums, guitar and vocal (or lead instrument such as a saxophone), this budget approach is fairly accurate. It assumes the first song or two might take longer as musicians get comfortable, and that some songs will go more quickly after that. The schedule for your tracking session is important. For example, scheduling the downbeat close to lunch may backfire as players start getting hungry. Before you book your session, we will discuss your preferences and how to make them work most efficiently.
Setup Time
Generally, when you and your musicians arrive at the studio, the session will already be mostly setup. This is because we know waiting around can zap the fresh energy of musicians, so we minimize this by setting up in advance. Actual mic placement occurs once the instruments are set up. Depending on the type of tracking session, we may charge a setup fee which will be determined before your session.
Piano Tuning
Our Yamaha C7 concert grand piano is always in very good tune and maintained to factory specifications. Pristine tuning, however, can be affected by various factors including changes in weather, playing style, etc., so we recommend checking out the piano prior to your session to see if it meets your requirements. If you choose to have it tuned, we will schedule it to be done immediately prior to your session so that you are arriving just as the tuner is finishing. Please contact us for tuning fees or questions.