An engineer is responsible for capturing the best sounds possible from the artist(s) and mixing them into the best sounding song they can but they do not help the artist write, arrange, harmonize or bring the song or album about in any other way. A producer takes care of those bigger picture things. This can mean a lot from setting up studio time to hiring horn players and helping with the arrangement of the song. The producer is the project manager, allowing the artist to focus more on their own performance. However, many engineers can play the role of producer during some sessions and many producers can engineer as well.

At TribeSound we have a network of producers and engineers available to artists from many different genres. We like to be open to the artists needs and connect them with the talent they need to complete their project. If you already have a producer or a very finished concept for your songs (self producing) we are happy to just engineer the session and capture the best sounds we can. But if you are in need of production services, we can do that too. We can flesh your song ideas out into fully arranged recordings with our talented circle of session musicians and producers.

Most of the time hiring a producer can be a great move. In some instances your engineer can act as a producer but just be sure that that engineer is the kind of producer you’re looking for. As your relationship with your engineer grows so will your trust and curiosity of their opinion.

A mastering engineer takes the final mixes from the studio recording process and translates them into the final product that listeners hear. This means laying the songs out in order and setting the transitions and fades. It can mean shaping each song’s tone and loudness so that it sounds good beside other commercial music and fits cohesively across the album. It can also mean encoding the correct metadata info into your final files.

A mastering engineer works with the client to determine proper spacing between songs and how songs will be ordered on the CD. The flow of an album must appeal to the listener; it should engage them and take them on a musical journey as determined by the artist. Any final edits will be addressed during the mastering process as well.

The needs of every artist, song and album are different so the price varies, however the studio rates works like this…

Based on your musical style and project needs, we will pair you up with the best producer/engineer and the studio location that best fits your needs. Typically our rates will range between $60 and $80 an hour. This price difference will depend on which studio you are working in and the producer/engineer you choose.

We have block time deals! If you book 10 hours of studio time, and schedule at least 5 hour sessions, we give you 10% off. We can’t discount for our producers or session musicians; this discount is for studio time and engineer only.

All our producers and session musicians prices vary depending on the individual. We are very fortunate to have a ton of professional musicians in the area that we’re friends with. From pedal steel to shredding guitarists we can find the artist you’re looking for.

Still looking to figure out how much this is going to cost? Here’s a breakdown of a few projects that have come through the studio. In this chart you will find a basic description of the project and how much time these clients have used. As you see everyone has their own timeline and budgets. A lot of this depends on how picky you are, your budget, and what the end goal of your project is. We do try to keep our clients up to speed on where we are in the recording process so there are no surprises or time pitfalls.

Here’s the list of a few projects that have come through our door:

• 5 Songs with a few session musicians and light music production ~ 63 hours
• 4 Songs with a lot of writing, producing, and session musicians ~ 160 hours
• 5 Songs Quick live acoustic demo ~ 4 hours
• 5 Songs Demo Live band demo ~ 5 hours
• 5 Songs Three piece band ~ 76 hours
• 5 Songs Demo Quick Band Demo ~ 24 hours
• 5 Songs Live Jazz Recording for demo ~ 6 hours
• 6 Songs Band Demo, tracked lead and vocals separate and route back to the board mix ~ 12 hours
• 4 Songs Three piece band recording quick demo, guitar, bass drums live, overdub lead and vocals ~ 27 hours
• 5 Song Cover Demo – very quickly done quick demo of covers for gigs.
• Four piece band ~ 15 hours
• 5 Song Vocal Demo – Session players to produce two songs the rest done karaoke style ~ 16 hours
• 11 Song Full theater production with song writing, producing, session musicians and sound design ~ 430 hours
• 12 Song Hip Hop record ~ 42 hours
• 18 Song Hip Hop record included mastering ~ 39 hours
• 9 Song CD – Singer songwriter, light producing, full band session musicians – ~ 156 hours
• 9 Songs Recorded live at another studio and brought to us to mi 46
• 10 Song CD – Sparse instrumentation, light producing, and light session work ~ 118 hours
• 11 Songs – Full production with session musicians, song writing, and producer ~ 362 hours
• 13 Song CD – Full band, session musicians, meticulous mixing ~ 225 hours
• 4 Song Demo – Singer songwriter, full band of session musicians. One song just piano and vocal ~ 68 hours
• 9 Song CD – Singer songwriter, light producing ~ 72 hours