What it costs, with the arithmetic left in
Four rates, seven extras and eight terms - all of it on this page. Every rate includes an engineer, setup and teardown are never billed, and the number you are quoted is the number you are invoiced.
4 rates - 7 extras - 8 terms
the card
Four rates, and an engineer in every one of them
There is no rate on this page that gets you a key and an empty room. An engineer who knows the building comes with the hours, because a studio you have to operate yourself is a rehearsal room with better carpet.
- Live room, with engineer $72 per hour
Room, desk, cabinet and an engineer. Three-hour minimum. Setup is not billed.
- Control room, mix sessions $58 per hour
Attended or unattended. Two revisions are already in the rate, not sold back to you.
- Mastering $85 per song
Separate room, second engineer. Streaming delivery included; vinyl is a second pass.
- Full-day lockout $640 10 hours
Both rooms and the booth, doors closed, gear left standing overnight. Works out at $64 an hour.
All figures in USD, tax not included. Held through the end of 2026.
extras
Things that cost, listed before you get here
A short list on purpose. If something is not on it, it is included - coffee, the plate, the tape echo, parking, the room's panels being moved nine times, and the hour at the end where everyone listens back.
- Second engineer $30 per hour
- Backline hire - kit, amps, keys $45 per day
- Analog tape, 1/2 inch reel $110 per reel
- Mix revision beyond the two included $60 per song
- Vinyl master, in addition to streaming $40 per song
- Archive retrieval, sessions over two years old $25 per session
- Overtime, in 30-minute blocks hourly rate no premium
worked through
A four-piece, four songs, start to master
Two days tracking live in the big room with a guide vocal in the booth, six hours mixing across the following week, four songs mastered next door. This is the shape of most records that get made here, and this is what it comes to.
| Line | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Live room lockout, two days | 2 x $640 | $1,280 |
| Mixing, six hours | 6 x $58 | $348 |
| Mastering, four songs | 4 x $85 | $340 |
| Backline hire, two days | 2 x $45 | $90 |
| Four finished songs | $2,058 | |
A 30 percent deposit holds the dates - $617 on this one - with the balance due on the last day in the building.
terms
The whole of the small print
There is no second document. If a term is not on this list it is not a term, and nothing here changes after you have booked.
- 01
Three hours is the smallest booking
Under three hours nobody has played anything worth keeping. The lockout is better value past six.
- 02
Setup and teardown are never billed
The clock starts when the machine does. Miking a kit properly takes forty minutes and you do not pay for it.
- 03
A 30 percent deposit holds the date
Balance is due on the last day in the building. Card, transfer or cash, and an invoice either way.
- 04
Cancel seven days out and the deposit moves
It follows you to another date within six months. Inside 48 hours the deposit is kept, because the room stayed empty.
- 05
Overtime is billed at the same rate
In 30-minute blocks, no premium, no drama. If the take is close at 23:00 we finish the take.
- 06
Two mix revisions are already in the rate
Sent as notes against timecode. A third is $60, and by then something bigger is usually wrong.
- 07
Every session is archived and kept
Stems, session files and a rough reference within three working days. Retrieval is free for two years, then $25.
- 08
You own the recordings
We take no points, no publishing and no credit you have not offered. The engineer would like their name spelled right.
Get a quote against real dates
Tell us how many songs, how many players and roughly when. You get a line-by-line quote like the one above, usually the same day, and a soft hold on the dates while you think.
Ask for a quote