Three Circles Recording Studios

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: What should I bring to the recording session?

A: First and foremost you should bring anything that you want recorded. We have various keyboards and synths as well as a drumkit that you are welcome to use, however if you have specific cymbals, drums, effects pedals or amps etc that you want to use for your recording then you should definitely bring them with you.

Q: What about food and drink?

A: We will provide a selection of hot and cold drinks including tea and coffee. You should bring a packed lunch with you. Alternatively there is a variety of local pubs and cafes that serve hot meals that are a short distance away by car. There is also a local shop where you can buy hot and cold snacks and drinks.

Q: How many songs can I record in one session?

A: This depends on many different factors. The most important factors are how rehearsed you are and how you want to record; all at once or overdubbing. People also regularly underestimate how long it takes to mix and to burn CDs at the end of the session. This is something that is equally as important as the recording, yet something clients frequently don’t budget enough time for. Please take time to read our Studio Preparation page for more information as to what you can expect and how you can help make the process run smoothly.

Q: Why isn’t my CD as loud as commercial releases?

A: The main reason for this is due to the fact that nearly all commercial releases are Mastered by a professional Mastering engineer at a dedicated facility. As recording engineers we are tasked with recording a great performance to the best of our ability and then balancing the result to provide a dynamic record where all parts can be heard. There is a so-called Loudness War going on in the audio industry at the moment which stems from artists’ and producers’ desires to create CDs that sound as loud as possible or louder than CDs from competing artists or recording labels. However, as the maximum amplitude of a CD is at a fixed level, once that level has been reached, the overall loudness can only be increased by reducing the dynamic range via hyper-compression and limiting. This is done by amplifying the lower-level program material, while the loudest peak sounds are either destroyed or severely diminished. Certain extreme uses of dynamic range compression can introduce distortion or clipping to the waveform of the recording. A recent example of the loudness war going to extremes was the release of the latest Metallica album “Death Magnetic” which was hyper-compressed to sound louder and more forceful at the expense of sound quality. In fact a version of the album on Guitar Hero 3 was deemed to sound better because it was compressed less than the CD release…
New measures are being implemented to bring dynamics back to music:
Turn Me Up!™ is a non-profit music industry organisation campaigning to give artists back the choice to release more dynamic records. It’s not their goal to discourage loud records; they are, of course, a valid choice for many artists. They simply want to make the choice for a more dynamic record an option for artists.
Something else that is being implemented to minimise the effects of the loudness war is the use of Replay Gain which is a proposed standard published in 2001 to normalise the perceived loudness of computer audio formats. Various audio players have implemented the standard which will output the audio files at a similar perceived volume, hopefully negating the need for over-compressed master recordings.

Q: What is Mastering and why is it important to me?

A: Mastering is a process that is often overlooked and/or misunderstood. Every major label release is mastered to prepare it for radio play and retail sale. The reason? In the studio you may record one song at a time, resulting in songs that could all peak at different levels and have different EQs. This is also potentially the case if tracks have been recorded or mixed at different studios. A CD mastering engineer can unify your album with skilful use of EQ, gain, and compression to give it a consistent sound from track to track.

A fresh pair of ears can be the difference between a good-sounding CD and a great one. A real advantage of post production is that an unbiased sound professional has the opportunity to evaluate your master and determine how to get the most out of your production. After you’ve spent days, weeks or even months in a recording studio listening to your CD over and over again, a fresh pair of ears can put the project into perspective for you and let you know whether or not your CD will benefit from post production.

The mastering engineer, to improve your recording, can:

• Raise the overall level.
• Even out song levels and EQ individual tracks for cohesion.
• Correct minor mix deficiencies with equalisation.
• Enhance flow by changing the space between tracks.
• Eliminate noises between tracks.

Q: What about Payment?

A: We accept payment via cash, cheques or PayPal. We apologise but we do not accept card payments. We expect payment to be settled before any CDs or MP3s are handed out and may ask for up to 50% deposit for longer bookings.