Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Solo Artists
Bands
Solo Artists
Q. Do I need to hire/bring my own musicians to record?
A. No. If you wish to bring your own band to back you up, you are certainly welcome to; however, we work with a variety of professional and experienced musicians that may be hired when necessary, many of whom have worked with the studio on numerous past projects.
Q. What is the process of a vocal demo?
A. If you are using backup music from a compact disk, we will put the track onto the computer, then record your voice on a separate track.
Note: We cannot take vocals off of a cd or any other media, so you must bring instrumental music to sing over.
Q. If I make a mistake or my pitch is off, do I have to start over singing from the beginning?
A. No. We can punch in on almost any part of the song (even separate words), though we may have you re-sing phrases in order to ensure that the vocals sound natural. We use antares auto tune in order to fix pitch and to improve sound quality.
Q. Can I sing my own backup vocals?
A. Yes. Because we record everything on separate tracks, this allows you to go back and sing backups while listening to your main vocal track.
Bands
Q. Do we get charged for set-up time?
A. Yes. We charge our standard rate for set-up time.
Q. How long does it generally take to record an album?
A. After the initial set-up process, it varies depending on how rehearsed the band is. Generally, for a well-rehearsed four to five piece band, it will take an hour per song to get final cuts. Once again, this varies with how well you know and can play your songs. After the initial recording process, time must be allocated for mixing and mastering. This can range from one to three hours per song, depending on how perfect you want it to be.
Q. Do we all get to play together?
A. Yes. We will record final takes for drums and bass on the first cut, which is when the entire band will be playing together. There are enough windows in the studio that you will be able to see everyone in the band, and some will even be playing in the same room together. The rest of the parts will be played again individually for sound and time management purposes, since it can be very time-consuming when there is the possibility of five people making mistakes at any point during a song. Vocals will be recorded alone for sound isolation purposes.
Q. What is the difference between an album and a demo?
A. The real difference is how well the band is able to play together under the pressure of the studio experience. Another large factor is money. During a demo, you might expect to spend two to three hours on a song, but albums take a tremendous amount of effort. There is a reason why bands with virtually unlimited funds can take up to a year to record, mix, and produce a single album. Due to the quality achieved at North Star Studios, however, some bands that have come in looking for a demo have left with a polished album.
Q. Do you do mass production?
A. Not at the moment; however, we are in the process of determining whether such an upgrade to mass production capability would be feasible. For now, we will simply recommend you to a place where you may have this done.
Q. Do you do album artwork?
A. No, though we can recommend artists that our clients have worked with in the past.
Q. Can we visit the studio before we decide to record?
A. Definitely. Please call or e-mail us to make an appointment.