| Music Row Quality without the Music Row Price |
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One-Stop-Shop for Creating Music |
We will meet or beat other Nashville
based studio rates that are at our level of quality and professionalism.
We work hard to earn your business. There's no job too big or small.
- Full Band Productions & Demos (& Single Song Demos).
- Full mixing and mastering services regardless of platforms.
- Single-Song Piano or Acoustic Demos.
- In-studio Vocal Coaching by Dave Demay .
- Remote Vocal Coaching & Background Vocals.
- Vocal Training by appointment.
- In-house Full production services.
- Specializing in a wide variety of musical genres: Country, Blue Grass, Contemporary Christian, Gospel, Pop, R&B, New Age, Instrumental, Rock and Metal.
| The Best Service Possible |
If you're looking for superior
sounding demos and independent CD projects that are sure to impress,
or looking to cut masters for your next record, then you've
come to the right place. We give our repeat customers more
than what they would normally pay anywhere else. We want
to earn and keep your business! We believe the best form of advertising
is by word of mouth, and by providing as much information
about our studio as possible to the public through our website.
Our studio is about the same distance from downtown
Nashville as Berry Hill, but we don't have to pay the high
cost for our location. We pass that savings on to you, our customer.
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We work with clients in all phases of song development … from the initial concept to radio ready production.
Hello! Song City Studios is owned and operated by Song City Inc. My name is Dave Demay, President of the company. I've worked and lived in the Nashville music community for for more than 24 years. I'm a producer, engineer, songwriter, vocalist and musician. My mother Shirley Webb, Aunt June Webb, and Uncle Buddy Killen were all members of the Grand Ole Opry. They each were strong influences in my life, and aided in my early development and understanding of the music business. I was an audio engineer well before moving to Nashville. Upon moving to Nashville my engineering skills took a quantum leap after my exposure to the advanced skills of other accomplished local engineers. In my years of engineering I've come
to understand one thing, aside from the talent you have in the room, insuring yourself a pure, well thought-out signal path is the most important stage before you can even think about mixing. Everything else that follows is dictated by the quality of the recording, or the lack there of.... If
you don't get that part right, you're guaranteed to fall short of that master quality mix we all desire.
Enough about me. Let's focus on you and your music! There are many services we can provide you here at Song City Studios! Feel free to email or call me directly if you have any questions. I'd love to hear from you. If you want to know more about me you can click here. Thanks for visiting and please read on... - Dave Demay
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A great benefit to using us is that we don't have bottleneck traffic like downtown Nashville, or Berry Hill. We are also located near all the conveniences you can possibly need during a session, such as nearby restaurants Opry Mills Mall and even a Super Walmart.
One of the great things about Song City Studios is that we don't have
as much overhead due to our location. Studios on "The Row", or other popular
locations, have to pay dearly for their space and that cost is transferred to the customer.
We have recently purchased a Trident 24. Tridents are British Consoles that have been putting out hit recordings
ever since the Beatles.
Trident consoles are one of the most popular consoles used
in many top studios in Nashville and known for their clear and uniquely
warm sound. This model console has 28 channels,
24 Buses and it sounds fantastic. Its crystal clear, warm
tone is why it's such a popular board. This particular board was originally
manufactured in 1989 and we've recently reconditioned everything
but the meter bridge.
The console was completely re-chipped and recapped. We also upgraded the built-in mic preamps with accelerated chips,
more accelerated than the factory chips. So this board isn't only like new, it's better
than new!! It is sonically
nothing short of amazing... Even if we chose not to use any
of our 'other' great sounding outboard mic
preamps, this board alone can deliver fantastic sounding
recordings with beautifully warm, crisp separation and clarity.
Dave has put a large portion of his life into engineering and producing industry-standard mixes. Dave's fellow engineering and production peers with which he exchanges innovative audio and mixing techniques are among some of the best you can hire in the country. Tell him what you're going for and he easily deliver it.
Whether or not you are knowledgeable about what is indeed cutting studio equipment, you should always question a studio that doesn't list their signal processing gear. The simple fact behind this logic is that an engineer is only as good, or as weak as the equipment at his disposal. The first and most important step in any great recording is the equipment used to record and mix it.
In order to provide more insight and perhaps a little education
for those of you who may be challenged in this area, I've written a
detailed outline , as well as a Get to the
Point breakdown of some very important things you should be
aware of when considering a studio for your next project. That is of course,
if you're interested in assuring yourself the best
possible recording of your music.
Reading it this summary will help you know the
right questions to ask, and will help you to become more knowledgeable
when shopping around for a quality studio. Our studio fits all of the following criteria and more.
It's surprising sometimes how many people don't know
what to look for in a good studio other than asking how expensive
or nice the microphones are. Most people think it's only the microphone
collection that qualifies a good studio. Although we do have a great
in-house microphone
collection there are other important factors which "clearly" makes
the difference between your recording sounding like
a "demo" or sounding like a "record". Our demos indeed sound like records. Without these factors in place, all the
great microphones in the world won't bring your recordings
up to the same level as the master quality recordings associated to the
famous "Nashville sound".
There are several elements in the initial signal path that make
a huge difference in sound quality. These critical first-stage elements begin with Excellent microphones to capture the detailed signal, then top of the line mic preamps, a recording industry standard tracking console, and mastering-level analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters. Digital (in-the-box) recording and mixing platforms such as Steinberg Cubase or Pro Tools HD are only critical as to which application the engineer prefers to use. It is irrelevant to the sound quality after the tracks have been captured as to which mixing application one chooses to use. We support both Cubase and Pro Tools platforms. These platforms primarily treat the tracks after they've been recorded into the digital domain. We primarily use Steinberg (Cubase/Nuendo).
The true indicators of a great recording and mix is that you can hear all the detail of the vocal and the instruments while still hearing the fullness and tone in the overall production. So if you really want to know what makes the difference
between a recording that sound 'amazing' and a recording that sound
'pretty good', click one of the following links to gain a deeper understanding of what is necessary to achieve such audio quality in the final mix.
Please, read our detailed
summary of how we do things at Song City Studios by clicking
here to expand it below... It is very useful information
that will stick to your ribs...
Click
here to close the Detailed Summary.
(skip
preface)
This summary points out the primary factors responsible
for outputting extremely high-fidelity recordings
and mixes that have all the luster you're looking
for in the final mix of your project. Choice of studio,
and the gear they have means everything. It is also
important to note, that great gear means nothing if
you don't have the right set of ears mixing your project.
I've put together this information because it never
ceases to amaze me how little the customer knows about
what they're paying for, and who they're paying to
deliver it. We've gone through the trouble and expense
to get all this great equipment, and when I tell our
customers about what we have, I usually get a blank
stare, or they say, "I don't know anything about
that stuff, but it sounds like you do". It's
important to us that our customers know the differences
between recordings that sound "OK"
and recordings that sound "Amazing".
You can get one or the other for the same amount of
money these days, especially in Nashville and surrounding
areas. Everybody and their brother has a recording
environment of some sort, and in some cases you get
what you paid for and in others you don't. Isolated
recording space and the gear means everything.
Many studios rely on the ignorance, or inexperience
of their customers. Which allows them to use less
expensive, lower quality equipment, and of course,
you get what you pay for. There are two levels of
equipment available these days. You've got "pro-consumer"
level gear, which is mid-grade gear that doesn't sound
bad, but it doesn't have that pristine, record quality
sheen to it, which isn't bad for composing ideas or
making cheap demos. And then you have the "real
pro" gear, which is preferred by the most discriminate
ears in the audio world. With "pro" gear,
there's no denying how great it makes your recordings
sound. If you use lesser equipment, it definitely
shows up in the final mix. It's easy to tell when
you compare a poorly recorded mix to another mix done
in a top notch studio using the best equipment you can get your hands on with an
engineer who has a discriminate set of ears.
The difference is revealed in the detailed elements
within your mix. If you record with lesser equipment,
the individual elements in your mix tend to get
washed out, or seem out of ear shot, with a notable lack of separation. Lesser gear forces the engineer to overcompensate,
over-EQ, and work harder than necessary to create an acceptable mix. At that point it starts
to sound unnatural or contrived.
With "state-of-the-art" equipment, you immediately
hear the true sound of you're recordings with clarity and separation as the track is going
down. Our goal is to make affordable
recordings without sacrificing master quality mixes. Some customers simply don't have an enough of an ear to know, or articulate the difference between a good mix and a not so good mix. We prefer that our customers
"do" know the difference. Of course we love all our customers, and encourage them to learn more about audio and mix quality, so they can appreciate our services even more. Then again many of our customers
are simply not interested in knowing all this stuff
and trust that we know what we're doing. Although
we're glad that they trust us, we'd like for you to
read on, and learn about what makes the difference
between demo quality and record quality recordings...
- Putting the signal first ...
We wanted to make sure that Song City Studio-A, which
is our "Star" Studio, was fully equipped to blow the mind of our customers when their mixes were completed. Along with assuring the best acoustical environment, we were careful to purchase equipment that will yield the greatest results possible. When making those decisions we gave close attention to the signal path,
from the raw sound source all the way to its final destination,
which is the track (recording medium).
In my years of engineering I've come
to understand one thing, aside from the talent you have in the room, insuring yourself a pure, well thought-out signal path is the most important stage before you can even think about mixing. Everything else that follows it that step is dictated by the quality of the recording, or the lack there of.... If
you don't get that part right, you're guaranteed to fall short of that master quality mix we all desire. You have to maintain the highest fidelity
you can at each "stage" in the signal path.
There really are a lot more things to take into account
when capturing your music than just making sure your
mic cable is plugged in to your bargain-basement, garden
variety microphone, tracking into a consumer
line all-in-one mixer/recorder, or 'pro-sumer' sound card. So if you feel like
receiving a condensed and informative education of the proper steps
in achieving master recordings, continue reading this outlined
which breaks down each stage in the signal path. Again,
we want this to be an informative website for our customers,
along with anyone else who would like to know more about
what it "really" takes to make great recordings.
When a recording takes place, the sound is greatly effected
at each critical stage, more so than you may realize.
This plays a major role in the clarity, warmth, detail
and separation of your final mix. The signal flows in
this order:
-
- Microphone choice - the
right mic for the job. Skimp here and you're hurting
yourself.
- Microphone placement -
proper distance and location around the source
- Cable quality - always use
well shielded, quality cable
- Microphone Pre-amplification
- without great mic preamps you're in for a murky
(unclear) mix
- Trident Soundboard - Trident
consoles are considered among the best.
- Digital Converters - Analog
to Digital / Digital to Analog conversion (very important)
- Recording Platform - the
recording & mixing interface (platform)
The above links will take you to the related detailed
information below.
Room acoustics is a science that can only come to you through
time and experience. The more you tinker with and experience
how certain rooms sound acoustically, the more you start
making better assessments regarding acoustical environments.
Our rooms sound great. A true test is how it sounds over
the mic when you place some distance between the it and
the source you're recording.
The second stage is how you capture the signal at the
source. Your microphone choice is key at this point. If
you chose the wrong mic or use a cheaper or lessor quality
microphone it will indeed discolor and misrepresent the
characteristics of your sound and make it more difficult
blending it into the final mix. Admittedly, we are microphone
snobs here at Song City Studios, and are very critical
with our
microphone selection as well as mic preamplifiers.
We didn't hold back on spending in order get the best
tools for the given tasks.
Microphone proximity plays a strong role as well, in how
"focused" or how "live" the vocal
or instrument sounds. It's according to the musical treatment
your going for. It is definitely possible to place the
mic too close or too far away from the source. If you
want to hear more of the room on the mic, you will want
to give more space for the mic to capture those elements.
The closer the mic is to the source, the more focused
it will sound, and the more chance you have of distorting
the sound, which is what you never really want, unless
that's what you're going for. You're better off to split
the difference in most applications, just to be safe.
Or to use multiple mics in varying degrees of distance
and location.
Our mic cable and wiring system is made from either "Proco",
"Mogami", or "Redco" wire, which is
well shielded and industry standard for professional studio
environments. These brands are known worldwide for their
signal reliability and sturdiness.
- instead of using the soundboard
Did you notice we don't have our soundboard listed as
one of the stages in the critical recording signal path?
There's a reason for that. We don't use the soundboard
before channeling the signal to the recorder. We only
use the soundboard as an overqualified headphone mix,
post the recorded signal. We use great microphone Preamplifiers
to amplify the true sound of the vocal or instrument before
it is captured to track, thus bypassing the board altogether.
If you've ever listened to Alison Kraus & Union
Station albums or Nora Jones recordings, this
is how they get their astounding clarity, warmth and presence.
The best, and first step of any great recording, is to
capture the truth of the sound and all of its nuances.
You can always make any of your necessary adjustments
after the truth has been captured. Like they say, "It's
your choice what you decide to do with the truth".
It is just as relevant to shape the sound of your recording
during the final mixing stage, as it is to do it during
the recording. It's my personal opinion, that I would
rather do my extensive treatment to the signal after recording,
during final mix, than to narrow my options by over-EQing
and possibly giving too much treatment to the signal during
the recording process. There's always a chance of certain
tones getting squashed or dialed out during the recording
process, if it's too treated going down, which that you
may want or need later on in the final mix.
So note, that aside from picking the best mic for the
job, picking the best mic
pre-amp is one of the most critical choices you
can make with your recording. We have an assortment of
great mic preamplifiers. The ones I love to use the most
at this time are the API
3124® and the Millennia®
HV-3D. They sound amazingly full, with unbelievable
fidelity. And because the Millennia is nearly impossible
to distort, it allows us to record good, hot signals levels
without having to use much limiting if any at all. Thus
keeping it sounding very lively and not over controlled.
We also have Universal
Audio® 6176, another well established classic
brand of tube mic preamplifier, which is the same mic
pre they used on Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and many
other great classic artists.
Any experienced engineer will agree with the fact, that
great mic preamplifiers, costing quite a bit per channel,
sound amazingly better and truer than the built-in mic
preamplifiers in most commonly used mid-grade sound board's
found in many "project" studios. When I say
"commonly used mid-grade", I'm referring to
budget -line soundboard's like Mackie 8-bus, Soundcraft,
Alan & Health, Tascam, etc. Although they have "adequate"
mic pre-amps for live mixing, in the studio they pale in
comparison to the clarity, presence, tone and truth that
you can get from a high-voltage / high-fidelity mic pre-amp.
SSL, API, Trident or NEVE boards are in a league all their
own, as they have built in mic pres that are of the quality
that I'm talking about. Even in the top level mic pre-amp,
each are known for adding a different tone, or coloring
the sound a certain way, or not coloring the sound at
all. Either way their clarity and quality is amazing.The
mic pre-amps we're using are of that quality. This is what
will make the difference between your music sounding like
a demo or a record. Record your demo here and you'll have
the option of making it your next single if you can get
the the right attention with it.
Believe me... we've compared our API
3124® , Millennia®
HV-3D and Universal
Audio® 6176 mic pres against other mid-grade
built-in soundboard mic pres and ZOWIE! Hearing the signal
through those great mic pre-amps were like having someone
remove the earmuffs!! I could go on about the amazing
difference these mic pre-amps have made in the overall
sound of our mixes, but I'll curb my enthusiasm and move
on to the next critical stage in the signal path, the
Digital Converters, which explains
the importance of using the best digital converters to
take your sound from the analog domain into the digital
domain.
We have recently purchased a Trident 24. Tridents
are British Consoles that have been putting out hit recordings
every since the Beatles.
This model has 28 channels and 24 Buses and it sounds
fantastic. Its crystal clear, warm tone is hard to beat.
This board was originally manufactured in 1989. Before
we moved it into the studio, we had this board completely
re-chipped and recapped. We also upgraded
the built-in mic pre-amps with more accelerated chips
than the ones that were originally installed when it was
new. So this board isn't only like new, it's better than
new!! This is a great performing console and sonically
nothing short of amazing...
Even if we chose not to use any of our 'other' great
sounding external mic pre-amps, this board alone can deliver
fantastic sounding recordings with the same separation
and clarity I've discussed earlier.
With our collection of external mic preamplifiers, along
with our our Trident console, we've armed ourselves with
plenty of tracking options. You
can see more pictures of our console by clicking here.
- RADAR®
is the only way to fly...
Just as important as the mics and mic pre-amps, it is crucially
important how you capture all this truth and fidelity
down into digital tracks. It would be a shame to put out
a great performance, using legendary mics, through amazing
mic pres and then pump it all through a set of budgeted,
consumer level, demo quality, digital converters. No concern
for that here, because we use RADAR®
for our high-end digital recording. RADAR®
is one of the top choices for professional, master quality
studios worldwide. When we first started our studio, we
used MOTU converters on our first 2 sessions and after
we heard it in comparison to the RADAR®,
we decided that the MOTU converters had to go. Sorry MOTU...
you sound decent for home studio recordings, but you don't
sound as great for the money as the RADAR®.
The RADAR® is the
choice of the pros because it sounds identical to 2 inch
analog tape. Many studios have gotten rid of their 24
track 2 inch Studer tape machines and replaced them with
the RADAR®. That's
a pretty big statement for RADAR®
and the quality sound it puts out. RADAR®
pretty much ended the old argument that digital doesn't
sound as good as analog.
Our recording and mixing platform is Steinberg Cubase ®.
It is one of the top 2 universal standards in the recording
industry with regard to digital mixing and recording software.
Pro Tools used to be the only standard on the digital plain,
but over the last 12 years or so, Steinberg Cubase ®
has upped the annie on what you can do now in the digital
world. Although it's not cheap, building a Steinberg Cubase ®
based recording environment is considerably less expensive
than Pro Tools, and can perform the same task at the same
quality level, using the right converters. And for those
of you concerned about getting trapped into a format that
you can't move around, that's not an issue either. Tracks
recorded through Steinberg Cubase ®
are transferable to Pro Tools, as well as any other known
platform. There is the old way and the new way to record
and mix projects. The new way is actually a healthy "mixture
of the old and the new". This is why we love using
Steinberg Cubase ®
with the RADAR®. The
converters in the RADAR®
same big sound of classic 2 inch analog tape, without
the maintenance required with for those old clunky analog
tape machines. With RADAR®
there is no loss in warmth or tone when the signal leaves
the analog world into the digital world and visa versa.
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We have total-recall automation capabilities available in Steinberg Cubase ®.
This ability combined with our great collection of microphones and microphone
preamplifiers along with capturing all that
great sound through the RADAR® analog-to-digital converters,
we can the same sonic excellence and performance
as any other "total-recall" automation mixing system
that at one time only existed in million
dollar facilities.
We first send the
mic signal straight into our crystal clear mic
preamplifiers. Compression is rarely
used on the instruments unless absolutely necessary during tracking to keep the signals as
pure and dynamic as possible. At this point we pass the signal through our Trident 24 recording console, and then passed straight through the RADAR® analog-to-digital (A/D) converters. At that point it's captured into Steinberg Cubase ®.
We are able to unlimited
edits and punches on the fly as well (i.e., as the tracks are being punched).
One thing to note about any studio of any size is that it is absolutely critical
they are using high-level mic pre-amps and top-level A/D and D/A digital converters and a soundboard that doesn't defeat the clarity and fidelity of the audio before it is captured to track. You should closely investigate this
important point with whomever you consider
tracking your music. Ourselves, we cover every stage of the signal-to-track
process with extreme efficiency.
About our Rooms
Our rooms sound great and are well tuned. Room acoustics vary
with different studios. It's all according to how well they
have been tuned and treated. Along with how good our rooms sound, we are
able get the same results as other more expensive studios on Music Row, by
using modern (more condensed) technical methods that have the
same level of quality. This is less of a financial setback for
us and our customers. Most of our clients don't even bother
taking their final mixes to a mastering house, because their
mixes sound great in everything they play it in immediately after it leaves
our shop. This is another money saving option to consider.
When you pay for a studio, you want to know that you're paying
for a sound that is as good or better than some of the best studios in town.
Well, that's exactly what you get here, at a price considerably
less than the more high-profile studios anywhere else.
We are only 12 to 15 minutes from Nashville's famed Music Row. We are as close to Nashville as the popular Berry Hill area. The good thing is that we have all the same conveniences as Berry Hill without the traffic or the hassle. For detailed directions visit our "Directions" page.
Feel free to peruse our site, as changes will be
made from time to time.
Thanks for visiting,
Dave Demay
Producer / Chief Engineer
/ Owner
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