In-House Recording Studios
The Silk Mill Recording Studios, Staffordshire.
We have not one but two amazing in-house recording studios here at Alive Network, both of which are primarily used by our artists to improve their audio promo. Studio 1 has a huge live room using a Neve VR console, while Studio 2 is host to an SSL 4000 G+ mixing desk. Both with ATC monitoring & Pro Tools HDX2 rig and a massive collection of boutique outboard to boot! We offer a truly world class recording experience for your band.
Alive HQ Recording Studios
One of the premier mixing and recording studios in the Midlands, located just off junction 15 of the M6 in Staffordshire, with a stunning SSL 4000G+ mixing console, ATC monitoring, Pro Tools HDX2 & a huge collection of boutique outboard & instruments.Price from £229
World Class Recording Studios
Alive Network's in-house, Staffordshire recording studio, The Silk Mill Recording Studios offers world class recording to our bands and musicians at a fraction of the cost of comparable big name studios. All Alive Network artists qualify for our 'unsigned' discounted rate, saving 35% off the rate card. Just check out the gear list below and you'll see why the bands that record with us sound better than all the competition, and why they go on to become our best-selling acts:
Studio 1
Neve VR-36 Console with Flying Faders
ProTools HD Native
Prism ADA-8XR converters
ATC SCM50 PROs
Massive selection of outboard from Manley, Neve, API, Universal Audio, Shadow Hills, Focusrite, SSL
Amazing mic collection (Neumann, Royer, Peluso, AKG ...)
Amazing guitar/ amp / pedal collection (Matchless, Two-Rock, Mesa-Boogie, Klon, Fender Custom Shop, Suhr, PRS, Gibson VOS)
Huge live room with spacious isolation booth
16ch personal headphone monitoring
Experienced producer / engineer
Studio 2
SSL 4048G+ mixing console with TotalRecall & Ultimation
Pro Tools HDX2 (48 in 48 out)
Lynx Aurora converters
ATC SCM50 Pro monitors
Massive selection of outboard from Manley, Neve, API, Universal Audio, Shadow Hills, Focusrite, SSL ...
Amazing mic collection (Neumann, Royer, Peluso, AKG ...)
Amazing guitar/ amp / pedal collection (Matchless, Two-Rock, Mesa-Boogie, Klon, Fender Custom Shop, Suhr, PRS, Gibson VOS)
Large live room and spacious vocal booth.
Van Damme cabling throughout
16ch personal headphone monitoring
Experienced producer / engineer
This is basically the same spec of gear that you'd find in some of the UK's most revered studios, including Alan Moulders Battery 1, SARM, Metropolis, Strongroom, Monnow Valley, Sphere Studios, The Engine Room ...
If you know your studio gear you'll know the SSL 4000 series mixing desks are world renowned, and reportedly responsible for more platinum selling albums than all other mixing consoles combined!
They are the desk of choice for some of the biggest mix engineers on the planet, including Chris Lord-Alge, Bob Clearmountain, Andy Wallace, Mark 'Spike' Stent, Will Schillinger, Alan Moulder and Tom Lord-Alge to name but a few.
Alive Network has built a truly awesome in-house recording studio for you to record in.
Our Investment In You
We built the Alive Network Recording Studio (a.k.a. Alive HQ) so that the bands we work with could afford to produce promotional recordings that sound better than anything they could get elsewhere.
Over the past 15 years of booking bands for private events we've learnt that recording is one area where you really can't afford to cut corners. The general public are so used to hearing perfectly produced, top quality recordings of their favourite bands that unless you can produce something that sounds as good, then by comparison you're just going to sound like a second rate covers act, and no one wants a second rate band at their wedding or corporate event.
To make matters worse, consumer level home recording equipment has become so inexpensive that pretty much anyone can put a basic home studio together and record DIY demos. The idea that musicians with no real sound engineering skills, on budget equipment, recording in acoustically untreated living rooms - can compete with a professional studio is crazy! If you want to make a recording sound as good as a commercially released album you need to do it in a real studio.
As you'd expect, high end studios are pretty expensive and unfortunately many function musicians tend to be quite poor (we really are doing our best to remedy that!). As well as being expensive, they're also quite picky about who they work with, and it's often not possible for a cover band to get time in a top studio even if they could afford the fees!
So, we decided the only way we could guarantee we'd get the kind of recordings we needed for our top bands would be to build our own world class recording studio, and run it at a cost that our musicians could afford to pay.
Live In Session At The Silk Mill Recording Studios
Check out the complete playlist of 'Live In Session' videos, all of which were recorded live in Alive Network's in-house recording studios, The Silk Mill. Enjoy!
How Did We Achieve The Impossible?
In order to offer our bands the quality of equipment that you'd find in the UK's very best studios, but at a price they can afford to pay, we have to run the studio at a loss. There is no way on this planet that we could ever hope to recoup the money we've spent on the studio by renting it out at £300 a day. In fact, we'd have to run the studio fully booked, 365 days a year for three years just to pay for the equipment, not including the staff, rent, insurance, overheads etc.
We built the studio and run it at a loss so we can make our bands sound fantastic, and therefore get them more bookings - which is where we really make our money. Most of the acts who've recorded with us have gone on to become our best sellers, and so we continue to offer discounted rates on this basis.
Invest In Yourselves
Even at discounted rates, recording can still seem pretty expensive. However, if you want customers to take you seriously you need to invest in good recordings.
No business would try to sell a professional product or service in what is essentially a luxury market by cutting corners and presenting themselves like a dog’s dinner. If you think about yourselves as a luxury item it will help you understand the level of quality customers expect to see and hear. No one 'needs' a live band, it's a luxury service that will make their event better - and as such you need to realise just how important it is to sound fantastic.
Making a good job of your recordings is an investment that will repay you many times over. With a poor quality demo you might pick up a few gigs, but with an amazing demo you could be booked every weekend, all year round, for the highest achievable prices.
Recommended Recording Format For A Function Band
For a new band we recommend you record at least 6 tracks as this is a good starting point to show prospective clients what you do. Any less and you'll always be behind bands who've been established for longer.
Based on recording 6 tracks, our standard way of recording a function band goes like this:
- Day 1 - all band present to record drums, with guide guitars, bass, keys and vocals
- Day 2 - overdub bass and rhythm guitars
- Day 3 - overdub lead guitars / keys
- Day 4 - overdub all the vocals
- Day 5 - production, ear candy or vocal overshoot
- Days 6 to 9 - mixing
- Day 10 - mastering
Total 10 days
Over 5 days a good band should be able to record 4-6 tracks really well. By 'well', we mean with decent attention paid to creating a polished production that closely matches the original recording.
To do a professional job of mixing you'd ideally want to spend a day on each track, but as the engineer already has the original track as a reference, it's possible to work faster. We'd suggest four days mixing for six tracks.
Once your band are happy and have signed off on the mixes, they'll need to be mastered so that the volume and EQ of each track are balanced against each other, and the final overall level of each track is nice and loud compared to commercially released recordings. This usually takes a day and is a very important part of the process.
During the recording and mixing process the whole band does not need to be present all of the time. In fact, it's extremely rare for the band to attend mixing or mastering sessions. Once the drum tracking and guide parts have been recorded on day one, it's quite common for band members to attend the studio individually to overdub. This helps to keep the cost of recording to a minimum if you live out of the area as you don't need to book as much accommodation. You can also split recording across several weeks to help with band members schedules.
Our feeling is that it's better to book a solid 5 days of recording and have the whole band here the entire time as it creates more of a vibe, there's more collaboration, more ideas, and that usually means everyone is much happier with the end result.
To find out more about recording at Alive Network Recording Studios go to www.TheSilkMill.co.uk