Recording your CD
Acoustic Imagery specializes in working with individuals, ensembles or choirs interested in making their own audio CD recordings. Our focus is recording acoustic music in a natural setting rather than in a recording studio. Our On Site approach means we do location recordings at your church, auditorium or other venue; in essence, bringing the studio to you.
We realize the thought of recording a CD can be daunting and filled with many unknowns. Perhaps you’ve tossed around the idea of recording your group or choir, but had no idea how, or where, to begin. Our approach is to meet with you and discuss what you have in mind for a recording project. We can assist in determining the best location for the musicians, choir, etc. and help demystify the whole process. We'll review a checklist with you too just to make sure there are no surprises on the day of the recording session! Sessions are billed on a flat rate basis, so we don’t have to worry about watching the clock. Rather, we can work at our own pace, insuring you are comfortable so we can concentrate on doing a good job. Not happy with that last selection? We'll do another take!
Once the recording session is complete, editing and post session production begin. You will have the opportunity to preview the final version before it goes into CD production. We also work with you to design the CD packaging, including the front cover, insert booklet, rear cover and CD surface. We can also assist you with obtaining copyright permissions to insure full legal compliance.
Our passion is recording acoustic music in locations with favorable acoustic properties. Perhaps you’ve been considering a choral concert recording or a chamber ensemble performance? Or maybe a hymn festival CD featuring organ and brass? On Site location recording is the answer! Acoustic Imagery is always willing to discuss any project you may have in mind, and we promise to work with you until that day the CD's arrive! Call or email us anytime and let's talk about that project you've been thinking about!
About Our CD Production Process
We record with Shure studio condensor microphones and monitor with Ultrasone Pro headphones. Direct-to-stereo mixing is done on a Soundcraft M Series mixing board with high quality mic preamps for the lowest possible noise floor. The mixer SPDIF digital output is fed directly to a Marantz Pro 500 Series digital recorder. Post production and mastering is done using the BIAS Peak Studio XT software suite, the premier software suite for the Mac platform.
Because audio signal integrity is so critical, we shock mount all mics to eliminate rumble and use only Canare quad shield mic cables for purest signal and lowest noise. Test pressings are made available prior to production, and the Master disc is burned at 1X Real Time speed on special dye low speed medium to eliminate the introduction of digital interpolation errors into the the CD production copies. Further, the Master disc is shipped to the production house rather than uploaded to eliminate audio degredation that results from upload compression via lossy MPEG formats.
Your CD's are retail-ready copies with full color 4 panel insert, rear tray card and full color digital thermal printing on the CD surface itself; no labels! CD's are packaged individually in shrink-wrapped standard clear jewel cases.
NOTE: Retail packaging is not available for Vinyl to CD projects! Special packaging options available for Recital projects.