....................

As many of you know, I raised my rates this summer to $450/day. The reason for the rate increase was to help cover the high overhead that comes with running a studio of this size.  It was a substantial increase, but at the time I felt that it was a fair price for the level of service and experience we provide. But it soon dawned on me after speaking with some past clients who wanted to, but simply could not afford the new rate,  that the reason I started Russian Recording was to provide a higher level of service to artists that normally could not afford a studio of this quality.  After some number crunching I came up with a rate plan that is more accessible to our music community, while ensuring that the studio can keep itself afloat. 

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With Mike Bridavsky as engineer:....

$400/day (for 3 days or less)

$350/day (for 4 days or more)

$50/hr

$5 per minute of audio for Mastering

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With Dave Vettraino as engineer:....

$300/day

$40/hr

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Studio Rental (with your own engineer):....

$250/day (for 3 days or less)

$200/day (for 4 days or more)

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 A day is 8-10 hours. If you are interested in blocking out a large amount of time for a project (i.e. 10+ days), we can also  work with you to establish a flat “project rate”.

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There is currently a decent amount of booking availability for the fall and winter. There are several weekdays and weekends available this month, and many dates October through December. Please feel free to send a message or give us a call if you have any questions.

thanks!

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hey

so i finally got around to posting a bunch of stuff we've been working on here...9 new jams. it was supposed to be 10, but myspace wouldn't let me post a track from the latest Magnolia Electric Co 7" even though I played the acoustic guitar and piano, recorded it, got permission from the label and magnolia. hopefully i can get Tom to quit being a dick and have it put it up soon.

so....

1) Wackbards: Forever Battleship
Wackbards is a studio band project that I started with my friend Mark Pallman (singer/saxophone for Prizzy Prizzy Please). It was a "drunk" idea we came up with and promised ourselves that we'd actually follow through with it. And we did. The idea is to block out days of studio time, and write all of the songs from scratch in the studio. Each song is written based on how the last one ended, so the album is being made from scratch, top to bottom. We have friends guest appear on it. "Forever Battleship" is the third song on the album, and features our friend Taylor Sprehe on drums, who also plays drums on the last track I posted by Gods On Safari. He''s GOOD! This song is about stealing a battleship from the US Military.

2) We Are Hex: Gold Slash Silver
We Are Hex are a four piece from Indianapolis, featuring former members of Ari Ari. This is one of three new songs we tracked this past spring.

3) Tree City Allstars: No Illusion
Tree City Allstars are a Bloomington hip-hop staple, featuring some of the sweetest dudes in town. We finished their first full length record this year, but no one knows when it's actually going to come out. This is one of the tracks, featuring Password and Stak on the mic and DJ Wushu on the wikiwikizzzzpwikikibzzzt.t.t.t.t.tables.

4) The Delicious: Combustion
OK, I'm not really sure if that's what the song's called, but it's about spontaneous combustion. This is an unreleased exclusive track that will be appearing on We Just Call It Roulette Volume III. More on that soon.

5) Tremendous Fucking: Daddy
These dudes have been rocking it for quite some time. But not anymore cause they broke up. That's really too bad, but at least they recorded all of their new songs before they pussed out. This particular song is also an exclusive track that will be appearing on the third volume of We Just Call It Roulette.

6) Throwing Stars: Alligators
Throwing Stars are a Bloomington band, fronted by Brian and Una Winterman, and backed up by some really awesome folks. All the songs we recorded are being released as singles, with Alligator being the first release.

7) Pink Houses: Take It Back
This track is from their debut album which we recorded some time in the winter.... I think. It was tracked,overdubbed and mixed in two days. I believe it's been released on cassette, and might be seeing a release in some other format in the future.

8) Laura K. Balke: Telephone Lines
Laura is a singer/songwriter based out of Indianapolis. This is from here most recent album which was tracked, mixed and mastered here at RR this past spring. Laura played everything on this track except for the drums, which were played by ME!

9) Gods On Safari: i have no idea what this song is called, i think i made one up.
Gods On Safari are a bunch of whacky dudes from Carbondale, IL. I just found out yesterday that they broke up, which is too bad because this was supposed to be on a split 7" with Tweak Bird. We recorded and mixed this song in less than a day.

also check out my next blog which talks about how much cheaper it is to record here now than it was before.




 

I posted some live videos show by Blueline. The videos are from the Damien Jurado and Laura Gibson show that happened in mid-March. The audio was recorded and mixed live at the studio. Thanks to Isaac, Matt and Chelsea for shooting and editing the video.

Since the release of the new compilation is coming up real soon, I uploaded 6 tracks from the comp to the myspace player.

The first three are Child Bite, Medusa and Beyond things. Those are the three bands playing the release show.  The rest of the bands that are on the comp and have myspace pages are listed at the top of my "friends" list, so check them out.

The new compilation will be available starting March 28th. This is the night of the release show, which is taking place at the studio. Admission to the show also gets you a free copy of the compilation CD. See show details below:

We Just Call It Roulette, Volume Two CD Release Show
Russian Recording
1021 S. Walnut St
Bloomington, IN 47401
Saturday, March 29th 2009
9:00 pm
$6 admission includes a copy of the compilation

MEDUSA (members of Racebannon, Rapider Than Horsepower, Whoopirwhil, Fatted Calf String Band)

CHILD BITE (from Detroit)

BEYOND THINGS (members of Panoply Academy, Ghost Mice, Early Day Miners, Turn Pale)

So as of this month, I will be hosting shows at the studio.

I just invested in a decent PA system, and we will be building a stage this month.

Shows will not being happening very often, maybe a few a month at most.

Please see the calendar on our page to see who is playing when. So far the following are booked:

3/5: Phosphorsescent, Mike Bones, Uno Moss

3/28: Russian Recording "We Just Call It Roulette Volume 2" CD Release Show: Medusa, Child Bite, Beyond Things

4/11: Damien Jurado and Laura Gibson

4/15: Chain and the Gang (featuring Ian Svenonius), The Hive Dwellers (featuring Calvin Johnson), City Center

All of the shows besides the RR WJCIR release show are being put on by Spirit of '68 Promotions. Tickets for those shows are available at Landlocked Music, TD's, the Sunrise Box Office, and online at bloomingtonarts.info.

thanks

I know it's been a long while, but the new Russian Recording compilation is in the final stages of completion!

We Just Call It Roulette, Volume 2 will be officially released on Saturday, March 28th at the record release show. Following the show will be an after-party at the studio, with DJ LVX spinning records.

Below are details for the show, the after-party as well as the track listing and artwork for the new compilation.

Russian Recording "We Just Call Roulette, Volume 2" CD Release Show
Saturday, March 28th
at Uncle Fester's
Bloomington, IN
DOORS AT 7:30 pm, MUSIC BY 8:00 pm
$6.00 admission also gets you a free copy of the compilation
 
Performances By:

Beyond Things
(Bloomington, Plan-It-X Records, former Panoply Academy)

Child Bite
(Detroit, Suburban Sprawl Records/Joyful Noise)

Medusa
(Bloomington, Hawthorne Street Records, members of Racebannon)

After-party will be at Russian Recording following the show at 11:30 pm. Music spun by DJ LVX!

Here is the artwork for the new compilation:!

FULLY OPEN FRONT:


FULLY OPEN BACK:


FRONT COVER FOLDED UP:


CD FACE:


TRACK LISTING:
(exclusive tracks from Child Bite, Valina and The Cover Band)

So after building the new studio and running it full time for 6 months, I realized that I will need to raise my rates if I want be able to keep up my payments AND have a life of any kind.

Raising rates is a very hard thing to do. I have kept my rates DIRT cheap for over 6 years. And after building a huge first-class studio this summer and making over 40,000 dollars in equipment upgrades alone, I only raised my rate by $50/day. But this is now my bread and butter... and keeping my rates so low means that I can barely survive, even though i'm working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week!

Based on my experiences in other studios, and from the feedback I have received from my clients, I can say with confidence that my work as an engineer and my new recording facility are worth significantly more than what I charge, even after the rate increase. But I still want to keep it as affordable as possible to local bands and artists on limited budgets. I hope that my current and future clients understand that they are still receiving top quality service in a studio where absolutely no corners were cut in the design, construction or equipment choices, at a rate that is still half of what it could be. Other professional studios of this size and caliber typically go for anywhere between $600 to $2000/day, often times without an engineer.

The new studio rate with me as the engineer for a full 10-12 hour day (which does include breaks!) will be as follows:

Tracking/Mixing
$450/day (1-4 days)
$400/day (5 or more days)
$50/hr (hourly rate with 2 hr minimum)

Mastering:
$6/ Minute of Audio

This new rate will take effect on June 21st of this year. Any sessions booked before this date, regardless of when the session will take place, will be booked at the current rate of $300/day. So even if you want to book a session for July, as long as you book and confirm the session before June 21st, you will still receive the current rate.

Thanks for understanding. As usual, please get in touch with any questions or concerns.

best wishes,
mike

This is the third of three new blogs posted on February 24th, 2009.

I just came out of 47 consecutive days of recording. And although things are still pretty busy, they aren't THAT busy. So I wanted to post current availability for the next few months.

There will be a rate increase after June 21st. Please read the rate change blog  for more details. If you book your session before June 21st (regardless of when your session actually is) you will receive our current rate. Any sessions that get booked after that date will be at the new rate.

Here is the current availability as of today, February 24th:

March
Weekends:
21st-22nd

Weekdays:
4 wednesday
6 friday
10 tuesday
13 friday
18-19 wednesday-thursday
20 friday
23-27 monday-friday
30-31 monday-tuesday

April:
Weekends:
25th-26th

Weekdays:
2 thursday
6-9 monday-thursday
13-14 monday-tuesday
20-29 monday-wednesday

May
Weekends:
9-10
16-17
23-24
30-31

Weekdays:
everything is open after the 4th...

To get in touch and book some time, or if you have any questions, please call me at 812-327-7939 or send me a message here.

thanks!
mike

So I put up some recently finished stuff.

ROOMS:
I had an unfinished track up previously (no vox, rough mix). We just finished mixing the record last week. So I replaced that one with a finished song. It's called No Fortress. They recorded the vocals at home, and we imported the files and mixed it all together. POW!

FATTED CALF STRING BAND
The FCSB is a four piece bluegrass group consisting of banjo, violin, acoustic guitar and upright bass. The whole record was recorded live in one day using only one stereo microphone for the whole band. The mic used is a Calrec Soundfield.

PUSH-PULL
It's been over a year and a half since this record started getting recorded. It's finally done. Most everything with the exception of a few small overdubs were recorded at the old studio. It was mixed and mastered and the new place earlier this month.

RESTING-ROOSTER
These guys recorded and mixed their new record here in 7 days. This particular track was mixed at 15 ips to Ampex 499 1/4" tape at a reference level of +6 dB/185nWb/m.

I finally got around to posting some recordings from the new space. It's a wide variety of music, and each session involved a different recording approach. So if you're intersted in that kind of stuff, you can read all about it right below this paragraph.

Rooms:
Rooms are a four piece from Indianapolis. They spent a weekend recording the bed tracks (guitar, guitar, bass, drumz), and are currently working on vocals at their home studio. Once those are down they'll come back to mix. I went ahead and posted a mix of the bed tracks though, cause it's a good example of the new space.

The drums were set up in the isolated live room (which has a really great sound, though not as live as i thought it would be... even still, it provides a very natural sound). Both guitars were setup in the big live room, and the bass was in the dead room. The songs were all tracked live. I played and recorded the piano part after they left. They asked me to.

We Are Hex:
This song is from their upcoming debut full length. Most everything was recorded by the band in their home studio, and I mixed the tracks at the new space. One interesting thing I did was send the drum mix through the playback monitors in the big live room, and then place a stereo room mic up and blend that in with the original mix to give the impression that the drums were played in that room. It worked.

Slam Dunk!
Slam Dunk! are a three piece hardcore rock band. Drums, guitar and vocals. The guitar runs seperately through a bass amp and guitar amp. The whole record was tracked live, with all three of them set up in the big live room. They did every song in one take. It went real fast. Although we used some of the original live vocals, we ended up overdubbing most of them later. No other overdubs. none. not one.

Prizzy Prizzy Please
Prizzy are a four piece with drums, keyboard, bass and sax/vox. Rocket Boots was recorded for their new full length which is still in the process of being recorded. The drums were set up in the big live room, the keyboard amps (stereo keyboard, so two amps) were in the isolated live room and the bass was in the dead room. Vocals and saxophone were overdubbed at a later time, both in the big live room. The mix posted is not the final mix for the album, but it could be considered a "professional" rough mix, or something, I guess.

Toby Oler
This was the first full band session I got to do at the new place. Everything on this song is recorded live, including the vocals, harmonies, etc.... so everything. The drums were set up in the dead room, while the acoustic guitar/vox, upright bass/vox and violin/vox were setup close together in the big live room. Note that there is no violin on this song. But I swear it's on others. Anyhow, there are no overdubs on this recording, and all of the ambience is the sound of the room (no digital reverbs). The mix posted is a rough mix that was done very quickly at the end of the session.