How much do I charge per hour for the studio? After many years I reckon it's the same as asking how long is a piece of string? If you want to record an hour of music you're going to need significantly more than just an hour of studio time. You have to consider microphone choice & placement (Valve, ribbon, Condenser or Dynamic), equipment choice (acoustic or electric piano), Recording setup (band of musicians playing live or layered seperately at different times) and then after the recordings there's the editing, compiling, of all the seperate instruments & tracks (fixing mistakes & dodgy notes) and finally mixing all the sounds together for a finished product.

I have been recording since my first tape recorder in 1986, my first multi track in 1992, my first computer in 1995 (up graded to 1 Meg for music!) and my first digital recorder in 1997 and I've been in a few sticky situations so I've loads of experience in how to get the best from the recording studio. It is as much about the user as it is about the equipment itself.

I work towards set goals & budgets tailored around what my client wants. I do full live recording sessions for bands & string quartets as well as individual singers and instrumentalists who wish to add other instruments and sounds to their own solo performances. I have a rather large range of instruments collected over my 20 plus years at this music game including 22 acoustic & electric guitars, 8 electric guitar amps (4 fenders, 2 marshalls, Vox, Music man), a silly amount of effect pedals & Efx units (35), 2 basses & a Bass amp, mandolin, papoose, Baratone ukelele, banjo, Yamaha Drum kit, a big bag of percussion toys, Keyboards, midi modules & samplers, fully restored vintage Broadway upright piano & a fabulous working Hammond C3 with Leslie cabinet c/w foot pedals and more to the point I'd be able to knock a tune out of most of them which I'll gladly do at the drop of hat if it's needed on a session at no extra charge. My basic philosophy is that once the studio is booked then all it's facilities are available even including catering.

So in conclusion how much do I charge should really be I want to record 3 songs/ tunes/ a full album/ a demo and I want it to sound like The rolling stones/ Planxty/ Justin Timberlake/ nothing in this world . How much time will it take and how much will it cost? The daily rate is € 500 a day or € 65 an hour so the best advice is to ring and we can discuss how to organise the recording session. I do offer block booking discounts & I do work evenings and weekends.