- Session drummer/drums, guitar, bass & keyboard
player/programmer
- Dougie is not only the producer, but is also a widely respected and highly skilled multi-instrumentalist.
- Creatively involved with music & song arrangements
- Vocal pitch correction programming/harmony generation
- Use of all house instruments & Amps
- CD Mastering of finished mixes
- CD copies to take home for all involved
- Your tracks placed in the Music Archive should you wish
- CD back up of all recording & sequencing data
- 1 year (minimum) storage of all track, mix settings and
mastering data.
All work at Blue Hills Recording Studio comes with a ‘Not Satisfied? - No Payment Required!’ GUARANTEE!
Seriously! If you’re not completely satisfied with our work, you don’t pay a cent for it! It’s that simple. The guarantee applies to every service we offer, from pre-production through to recording, mixing and mastering.
So is there a catch? No there’s not! But there are two conditions you should be aware of.
First - for obvious reasons - we can’t guarantee YOUR performance.
Second - we can’t supply you with a CD of your recording if you tell us you’re not satisfied and choose not to pay (but if you’re not happy with things, that’s probably a good thing!). In short, while you might waste some time (no one has yet!), our GUARANTEE means that you’ll never waste your money on a recording you’re not happy with!
If you’re wondering why we developed the GUARANTEE in the first place, it’s because we understand that everything we record reflects on both you and on us. The more we make you sound good, the more we sound good too!
Satisfaction Guaranteed
Production
The Studio
If you are a musician / singer / songwriter looking to create your own musical legacy on CD, Blue Hills Audio is the ideal facility for you.
The Studio is a professional grade setup with all the latest technological innovations to ensure that any recording made here is of the best quality available.
From the first stage of recording to the final mix and master, here at Blue Hills we are small enough to care and give you the best advice and direction whilst being large enough to give your productions that professional edge that is so important in today's ever growing variety of musical styles.
- Recording, editing and mixing and mastering
- Use of all studio
- CD Mastering of finished mixes
- CD copies to take home for all involved
- Your tracks placed in the Music Archive should you wish
- CD back up of all recording & sequencing data
- 1 year (minimum) storage of all track, mix settings and mastering data
- Tea & Coffee. "Bring your own beer"
From 20€ per hour
Dont take my word for it, Google it!
No song is complete without a master. Our mastering service brings more depth, maximizes loudness, widens the stereo image, and brings all of the parts of your song together! We pride ourselves on giving you a record that is commercial release quality; "radio ready" is the term in the business. Each song is carefully tweaked and crafted to perfection, not just run through a couple of presets. It doesn't matter whether you want to do 1 song or a full album make your songs stand out with our mastering service.
This is not a high-priced, snobby studio. I am a one-man operation (which is why I’m able to offer such crazy good pricing), and I’m here to help artists that need their music mastered professionaly, yet may not have the resources (or the desire) to pay 250e per song!
Rest assured, you will get a professional quality master at a price that an independent artist can actually afford!
Booking
For reservations in the studio simply email or
call Dougie on +34 966 775 746 or +34 647 037 176.
You may wish to call and "pencil in" a few provisional dates so that you can later gather various members of your band before any solid booking has been agreed. This is fine, and we would call you if another confirmed booking came in on any of your provisional dates.
If you book more than two days we do ask for a deposit of 20 per day. This is deducted off your bill at the end of your session here at Blue Hills Audio. The deposit is non-refundable.
You can move the booking dates providing you give us at least two weeks notice.
All studio sessions must be paid for in full when leaving the studio on your day.
Recording Studio Rates
I am sure you have searched a lot of website's and at the end of the day, it's the music and production quality that says more than anything we can write here! Please listen to our audio examples and see for yourself the standards of our work!!
Guestbook
Click the picture above to view a
Studio Tour Video
Live Room
Control Room 2
Mastering Suite
Key services:
• Professional recording • Mixing • Mastering • Production • Artist development • Branding • Video editing • Audio restoration •
Marketing
• Albums • Singles • Enhanced CDs • Design • DVDs• Online music distribution
• Song Writing and Arrangement • + more
Live Recording
Alongside our standard longer recording sessions we also offer a Live recording service. This is a recording package to allow bands to record 80% live, and overdub a few parts. In a short 3 or 4 hour session up to 3 songs can be recorded and mixed to a good quality. Ideal for pre-production or for a quick professional promo for MySpace or FaceBook.
Duplication
Blue Hills Audio Recording Studio also offers retail quality CD duplication and replication for any quantity. We offer a massive range of packaging options at very competitive prices. Please contact us for our latest prices and packaging options.
WHY DO I NEED MASTERING?
Mastering is one of the most important links in the chain of music production. Yet, it is probably the least understood. And it is rapidly becoming the most abused. You can be assured that no music is released by a major label or competitive indi label that has not been mastered.
Before we explore what mastering is, let's look at what can result if a project is not mastered. An album that has not been mastered may exhibit one or all of the following telltale signs:
1. The CD is low in volume compared to others. Or, if on cassette, it is noisy and distant sounding.
2. The songs are uneven in volume. Some are too loud, some too soft.
3. The songs do not have a consistent sound. Some have more bass than others, some are brighter and thin sounding etc.
4. The album doesn't seem to flow properly.
5. There is noise between the songs.
6. There is no spaciousness to the sound. It sounds confined between the two speakers.
7. It sounds O.K. on big systems, but it doesn't sound good in the car or on boom boxes.
8. It can't be played at a loud volume without the stereo system distorting.
9. It doesn't sound like other albums. The EQ has to be adjusted for it to play back correctly.
JUST WHAT IS MASTERING?
Mastering is the final step of assembling and polishing your project so that it sounds as good as it possibly can before it goes to manufacturing. The mastering engineer will adjust the sound of each song so that they match in a cohesive manner, and will assemble the album so it sounds consistent and has a natural flow to it rather than just sounding like a bunch of songs stuck together,. It is the step in which the sound is tailored for the specific manufacturing format - CD, cassette, vinyl - whatever the medium, each has its own special requirements for sound, and a specific way the master has to be formatted.
I used to think of mastering as the link between production and manufacturing, but actually John Meadows of Apex records in Glasgow had a better perspective when he stated that mastering is the link between the pro audio industry and the hi-fi industry. The idea is to take material that (hopefully) sounds great on big studio monitors and make it translate equally well to the home system.
The mastering session is the last chance for problems to be identified and fixed. It is also the last chance to screw things up. This is one of the main reasons why the mastering engineer must have the experience and the ear to find the problems and apply the fixes, and to not create problems himself.
A mastering session can include any or all of the following:
-- Editing the songs into proper order.
-- Adjusting the spacing between songs (called "spreads").
-- Crossfading between songs.
-- Chasing fade in's/out's to perfect digital silence.
-- Fading out songs earlier, or fading in songs that have weak starts.
-- Processing each song individually so that it matches the others in
volume and eq.
-- Adjusting the volume of sections of a song - the solo guitar intro and
acoustic bridge are too loud, for example.
-- Adding dynamic processing so that the CD plays back at the proper
volume. Or, if on cassette, it is not noisy.
-- Adding dynamic processing so lower-powered playback systems don't
distort at medium-loud levels.
-- Adjusting eq to make subtle changes in the mix - bringing the vocal up,
high-hat back etc.
-- Adjusting eq so that it matches major label releases, and is therefore
radio ready.
-- Adding ambience or other special processing to broaden and deepen
the stereo field.
-- Removing clicks, pops & glitches that occur during the music.
-- Editing between two or more mixes of the same song to assemble
the perfect mix (comping).
-- Editing parts out of a song to shorten it, or repeating sections to
lengthen it.
-- Reversing or replacing objectionable words for a radio version of a song.
-- Mixing in (spotting) fx. Anything can be mixed into the program; from
gunshots to finger snaps - even such things as beefing up a vocal
or instrument track is possible if the raw track can be brought in on
DAT or CD-R.
Get it all done at BHA. Have your Project Recorded, Mastered and Duplicated with your full color CD or DVD layout ready for sale.
Blue Hills Audio
Our New Addition. The Gemini II dual valve microphone is sE Electronics ultimate design. A no holds barred piece of microphone history. The dual valve design means pure valve warmth from the 12AX7 input valve coupled with a 12AU7 valve on the output stage in place of the traditional transformer.
The result is an incredibly large detailed and intimate sound reminiscent of the classic valve microphones from decades ago, but with all of the top end you’d normally associate with the best solid state mics on the market.
If you are after something that extra bit special you really must hear this microphone.
Prepare to be amazed.
