For shorter sessions, we have a four-hour minimum and charge $50 per hour.
The day rate if you bring your own knowledgeable, responsible, experienced engineer is $300, with a $50 fee for the first time the engineer uses the space to cover us teaching him or her the room. We reserve the right to deny the use of an engineer we feel is not capable of handling our equipment, and deposits are not refundable if your engineer does not meet our standards, so to be safe have your engineer come meet us a few weeks before your session for an "audition".
We rent reels of 2" tape at $40 per reel. This buys you the use of that reel for as long as it takes to record and mix your material, within reason. If we feel like your session has been hanging out dormant on the reel for too long (a few months), we reserve the right to transfer the tape to digital and bill you for the time and media it takes to archive your project. We will warn you before this happens, of course. When in doubt, buy tape (2" x 2500'). They're making it again, you know. One-pass is a slightly cheaper option, but either way buying tape will ensure you have something to record onto, not to mention take home with you. Plus, it may sound slightly better than our used stock.
As for digital storage, we also have a limit on how long we can keep your files on our hard drives. Assume that after your project has been mixed we will keep the files for one week, within which time you must arrange for the archival of the files if you would like to keep them yourself. A Mac-formatted firewire drive or DVD-Rs are our preferred archival methods.
Digital media charges are as follows: $1 per CD-R & $3 per DVD-R. Bring your own if you'd like to avoid these charges.
YOUR SESSION IS NOT CONSIDERED TRULY CONFIRMED UNTIL WE RECEIVE YOUR DEPOSIT.
That means that if somebody else really needs the date, and we haven't received your deposit, you may get bumped.
You can mail check or money order deposits to:
New, Improved Recording
5765 Lowell Street
Oakland, CA 94608
Deposits are non-refundable in case of a last-minute cancellation. If we are given sufficient time to re-book the dates (i.e. two weeks), your deposit may be applied towards a different date in the case of postponement.
The balance for the session is due at the end of the session (or at the end of the last day for multiple-day sessions). No analog or digital masters will be released until the full balance is received.