A recording and podcast studio on the Taff since 2015. Every room by the hour with the half-day and day caps published, an engineer if you want one, and the free sessions for today and tomorrow on this website.
From the diary and the clock. Price it or ring 029 2018 0750.
What we do
01
Forty-two square metres on a floating floor, with a five-metre ceiling, a drum riser, two isolation booths and a window into the control room. A five-piece can play live together with sight lines; a single songwriter can sit in the middle of it with a piano. £45 an hour, capped at £150 for a half day and £300 for a day, with an engineer from £20 an hour.
£45 an hour, capped at £150 for four hours and £300 for ten.
02
A treated room with a round table, four broadcast microphones on arms, three 4K cameras and soft lighting, recorded to separate tracks and separate camera files. £40 an hour, capped at £130 and £260, with an engineer who runs the cameras and the levels at £20 an hour on top; edited audio and a three-camera cut the next morning on request.
£40 an hour, capped at £130 for four hours and £260 for ten.
03
A box-in-box control room with a 32-channel console, a rack of outboard and monitors you can trust, for mixing what you recorded here or anywhere else: book the room and an engineer by the hour with the caps, or send us the stems and we quote per song. Mastering for streaming and vinyl at £35 a track or £120 for up to five.
The mix room £35 an hour, capped at £120 for four hours and £240 for ten; an engineer £20 an hour on top.
04
A dead, quiet booth with a broadcast microphone, a talkback to the control room and a screen for picture, for adverts, audiobooks, e-learning, games and dialogue replacement for film. £55 an hour with an engineer; remote direction so the agency in London can listen and direct live; files delivered to spec the same day.
£55 an hour with an engineer, minimum an hour.
05
A separate room on the ground floor with a PA, a drum kit, two guitar amps and a bass amp, for bands getting a set ready or songs ready to record. £15 an hour, weekday evenings and weekends, with a regular slot held for bands who rehearse weekly and a record button if you want to hear yourselves back.
£15 an hour with the backline; £12 an hour for a regular weekly slot.
06
Everything in the building, listed: the 32-channel console, forty microphones including the ones you have heard of, a rack of preamps and compressors, a Gretsch kit with three snares, Fender, Vox and Ampeg amps, a tuned upright piano, a Rhodes, and the plug-ins on the mix machine. All of it is in the room price; nothing is hired on top.
All of it in the room price.
Free now
From the diary and the clock: an hour that starts less than an hour from now is gone. Further ahead, send the form with a date and we reply the same day.
The podcast suite
A round table so nobody has their back to a camera, four broadcast microphones each on its own track, three 4K cameras each to its own file, remote guests on their own track and live streaming if you want it. Forty-one shows recorded here last year. £40 an hour, capped at £130 and £260.
How we work
Setup time is not your time: the engineer is in an hour before a band session to patch, place mics and get levels on the room, at no charge. If a session overruns because of us, the overrun is ours.
Every session ends with the multitracks and a rough mix on a link before you get home, and the files stay on our server for ninety days. Bring a drive and you can take them on the night.
A week's notice and the deposit comes back. Two days' notice and the session moves to another date at no charge. Illness in the band on the day: we move it once, because it happens.
Since 2015: first EPs, third albums, a Radio Wales session, a podcast that went to number one in its category, and every kind of voice-over from a supermarket advert to an audiobook. We like the first EPs best.
Mixing and mastering
A box-in-box control room with a 32-channel console, a rack of outboard and two pairs of monitors, one of them cheap on purpose. Most of what we mix was recorded somewhere else; send a test song and we say how it will turn out and what, if anything, to re-record. Mastering £35 a track or £120 for up to five.
How mixing works hereClients
We booked a day and the quote on the website said £300 for the room and £150 for Siân, and that is what the invoice said. She was in an hour before us getting the drums right, we tracked five songs live in the room, and the rough mixes were in our inbox before we got back to Grangetown. It sounds like us, only better.
Two episodes every other Tuesday for two years. Three cameras, four mics, Dylan watching the levels so we can talk, and the edited episode and the cut-down clips by ten the next morning. Our audience doubled when we moved here from a spare bedroom, and we put that down to the sound.
I sent one song first, as they suggested, and Owain told me honestly that the drums would mix but the vocals should be re-recorded. We did the vocals in the booth in an afternoon and mixed ten songs over five days in the mix room. Best money I have spent on music.
The live room is £45 an hour, capped at £150 for a half day and £300 for a day of up to ten hours. An engineer is £20 an hour, capped at £70 and £150, so a full band day with our engineer is £450. The podcast suite is £40 an hour (£130 and £260), the mix room £35 (£120 and £240). The book page works out any booking. Including VAT.
The book page lists the free hours today and tomorrow for every room, worked out from the diary and the clock, and the home page shows the next free slot in the live room. For further ahead, send the form with a date.
No: every room can be booked with one of ours at £20 an hour, capped like the rooms. If you bring your own, they get a free half hour first to learn the room.
Yes: four microphones, three 4K cameras, remote guests on their own track, live streaming, and an edited episode with a three-camera cut by the next morning if you want it.
Yes, most of what we mix was recorded somewhere else. Send one song first and we will tell you honestly how it will turn out. Mastering is £35 a track or £120 for up to five.
The multitracks and a rough mix on a link before you get home, or on your drive on the night. Files are kept on our server for ninety days.
The live room is £45 an hour, never more than £150 for a half day or £300 for a day; an engineer £20 an hour on top, capped the same way. The book page does the sum and shows what is free today and tomorrow. Half the quote holds the date.
