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Recording Costs for London Orchestra?????

M

Mr. Edinburgh

Active Member
Can someone, once and for all give us a (rough and up to date) cost / quote for recording an Orchestra in London - as us students keep hearing massive quotes that frankly blow our minds...

Let's paint a scenario, let's say all the orchestration and printing as been done - we have a mix engineer ready for afterwards and we have the scores and we're ready to go.....we need these:

We would be need two 3-hour recording sessions, so I guess it would be a full 8-hour day.
- Recording Studio: Air Lyndhurst Hall or Abbey Road 1
- 32 Musicians: Chamber Orchestra (21 Strings, 2 oboes, 2 flutes, 2 trumpets, 2 horns, 1 clarinet, 1 Harp, 1 bassoon)
-Recording Engineer
- Conductor
- Fixer

Can anyone give me a rough quote?
This is purely for educational purposes but I feel a lot of us students really need to know this stuff going into the real world....

Thanks
Click to read more...
 
From what I gather:

32 Musicians = £4200
Air Lyndhurst = £3500
Engineer = £1000
Fixer = £1000
Conductor = £1500?

is this about right?
 
I have recently heard of a session with members of the LSO (a bit more strings, about 34 I assume and 4 woodwind players). I cannot say how long the recording time was exactly, but it was shared for 3 projects, so, at least 3 hours, probably more. They did record the strings separately from the woodwinds and it was a smaller recording venue (not Air) - I guess it is hard to compare it with what you are asking for ...
However, what I do know is, it cost about 10.000€. Maybe that helps.
 
Mr. Edinburgh said:
lets say tv soundtrack for purposes
Click to expand...
OK, well the basic musician costs are easy to find from the Union page. Currently you would be wanting Combined Use Session, Scale 4, which works out at £194.40 per player, per session.

Don't forget to budget for:

Leader/Concert Master 150% basic musician pay
Porterage
Instrument Hire (for Percussion)
Conductor, probably 200% of basic musician pay
Fixer will charge 10% on top of all of the above.

You already have the fees for the studio. The engineer will be anything from £600-£1000, depending on who you want.
 
Daryl said:
OK, well the basic musician costs are easy to find from the Union page. Currently you would be wanting Combined Use Session, Scale 4, which works out at £194.40 per player, per session.

Don't forget to budget for:

Leader/Concert Master 150% basic musician pay
Porterage
Instrument Hire (for Percussion)
Conductor, probably 200% of basic musician pay
Fixer will charge 10% on top of all of the above.

You already have the fees for the studio. The engineer will be anything from £600-£1000, depending on who you want.
Click to expand...

great - we're getting closer....so
- 32 musicians would be around = £6,500
- No need or Percussion.
- Porterage = ?
- Conductor = £500?
- Fixer = ?
 
Mr. Edinburgh said:
great - we're getting closer....so
- 32 musicians would be around = £6,500
Click to expand...
Per session. Don't forget you are asking for 2 sessions.
Mr. Edinburgh said:
- No need or Percussion.
Click to expand...
OK.
Mr. Edinburgh said:
- Porterage = ?
Click to expand...
You need to decide the makeup of the Strings. Porterage is for Cello, Double Bass, Harp and possibly Bassoon (can't remember that one).
Mr. Edinburgh said:
- Conductor = £500?
Click to expand...
Around that, per session.
Mr. Edinburgh said:
- Fixer = ?
Click to expand...

As I said, tot up the costs of above, and then add an extra 10%.
 
I’m not 100% sure about London but at least in NY the union rates don’t necessarily apply if it’s not a commercial recording.

You’re best bet is to:

1) contact a fixer and just ask him/her to quote you what they think is doable for an orchestra of that size for an educational project.

2) contact the studio to ask if they could do a deal for an educational project. Also, I recommend researching studios other than AIR and Abbey Road if you want a cheaper quote. I’m sure in London there are great studios that could facilitate an orchestra that aren’t the wallet-busters that AIR and AR are. Although, you never know, if you really need the Ferrari and the Audi won’t do, you may get lucky if they have some downtime on their books.

3) contact an engineer to see what they would charge for an educational project.

You see, there is no one formula for every situation. You just have to ask the relevant parties. For commercial projects it becomes more formulaic once the union rates kick in, but if this is truly an educational project and not commercial all bets are off. They only way to get the best deal is to ask.
 
Daryl said:
Per session. Don't forget you are asking for 2 sessions.

OK.

You need to decide the makeup of the Strings. Porterage is for Cello, Double Bass, Harp and possibly Bassoon (can't remember that one).

Around that, per session.


As I said, tot up the costs of above, and then add an extra 10%.
Click to expand...
thanks!
 
prodigalson said:
I’m not 100% sure about London but at least in NY the union rates don’t necessarily apply if it’s not a commercial recording.
Click to expand...
I already asked the usage. It's TV. That's what the quote is for. If it's library, it's another figure. if it's Classical, it's another figure. Usage is everything.
 
Daryl said:
I already asked the usage. It's TV. That's what the quote is for. If it's library, it's another figure. if it's Classical, it's another figure. Usage is everything.
Click to expand...

Ah, the OP specified it was for educational purposes in the original post so I took thank to mean the recording was for educational purposes, now I see he meant the QUESTION was for educational purposes (also didn’t read your post @Daryl, mea culpa! :rolleyes:)

Yes usage is everything. If this is a commercial recording for a TV soundtrack then the union rates are where to start looking.

You could also just email a fixer and ask them this same question. It’s their job to know the costs involved for each use case.
 
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