At So i Heard, your student can record their songs professionally in an environment focused on education. Professional music production at this level is typically unheard of for kids!
While your student can record their music in their weekly lesson, recording music is a project on its own that shouldn’t take away from their regular lesson experience.
The So i Heard Recording Studio is equipped with everything your student needs to have an awesome session:
- Vocal Recording Setup / Professional Vocal Microphones
- Logic Pro / Pro Tools
- Creative and Fun Environment
At a certain point in every student’s progression, getting in the studio is an excellent reward for all the hard work they’ve put in. Your student can record anything from an original song to a fully produced version of a song they’ve been working on in their lesson.
Our Northvale location will accept a limited number of production projects for non-students. Inquire using the form at the bottom of the page.
While our studio is typically focused on education, our Northvale location may book sessions for non-students. Sessions can be full productions, overdubs, live recordings, EPs, LPs, mix sessions, jingles, and more. Inquire below.
What is the pricing for music production?
For So i Heard Music lesson students, our rate is $75/hour, including the engineer. If additional musicians are needed to add more instruments to a recording, their rate will be added a la carte. You must be a current or past student of So i Heard to record at So i Heard Music.
Pricing and booking are always made hourly, and sessions are pre-paid. Not flat project rates. Booking is typically done in two, four, or eight-hour blocks.
What does a music production project entail? Is it a lot of work?
The work and time it takes to produce and record a song can vary significantly from project to project, depending on what is required and the artist’s goals.
If the artist is a singer-songwriter who wants to record one or two takes of their solo act with just piano and vocals, that might take only two hours from start to finish. On the other hand, if the artist wants to have a full production of that same song, there is a lot more to it!
To bring a song up to full instrumentation, radio-ready status, expect the following:
- An initial 1-hour production meeting, at a minimum, to determine the direction of the song
- A 2-hour songwriting and pre-production session to go over the song structure and arrangement
- The initial 2-4 hour “basics” session, including drums and bass, some guitar or piano
- 2-4 hour vocal session
- 2-4 hour “sweetening” session, where the producer adds special touches and other instruments
- 2-4 hour mix session, where the song is put together
- 2-hour mastering session, where the song is shaped to the final, radio-ready form
Expect anywhere from 12-20 hours of recording time for a single song if the goal is a radio-ready production. With that in mind, many artists prefer to record more than one song at a time to make the process more efficient. While one song might take 12-20 hours to produce, three songs might take 12-30 hours since much of the time can be spent working on multiple songs simultaneously. At the very least, the setup time will be cut down on a per-song basis since we can work on recording the parts for multiple songs in the same recording session.
So i Head Music’s professional recording engineers will take your project to the next level. Our students have used their recording time to get into their favorite colleges, and music groups, and even to hone their craft. Check out some of our previous work below.
Student Projects
Xanthe Miller
Check out the project Flying/Falling produced at So i Heard Music.
Austin Boockvar
Austin was a piano student at So i Heard Music who wanted to take the next step. Austin followed the Artist Development program and took a songwriting class, and booked music production sessions at our music studio. With Austin’s piano and vocal track as the guide, he and our professional music producer worked together to produce a full song!
Millie D.
Millie, a teenage vocal student at So i Heard Music in Millburn, wanted to take the next step on her musical journey by writing and producing a full song. In addition to her vocal lessons, Millie added weekly songwriting lessons to her time at So i Heard Music. When she was ready, she booked time at our recording studio and got to work on her rock masterpiece! With the help of So i Heard Music’s professional music producers, Millie created a pop-rock song worthy of the radio. Masterful lead vocals and stacks of harmonies flow with hard-hitting guitars and drums. Check it out!
Professional Projects
Forth Wanderers
Forth Wanderer came to So i Heard Music as a group of scrappy high school students in the mid-2010’s. Engineers Geoff and Sean recorded the band as a live set with some vocal overdubs with the goal of making as raw and real of a sound as possible. After being retweeted by Lorde, Forth Wanderers were launched to indie fame in the late 2010s and signed to Sub Pop Records. Check out one of their original recordings, as heard and shared by Lorde!
The Narrative
The Narrative is an American indie rock band from Long Island, New York, formed in 2008. They are currently based in Nashville, Tennessee. Since 2011, the band has consisted of Suzie Zeldin (of Twin Forks) and Jesse Gabriel. In the mid-2010s, So i Heard founder and head music producer Sean Killary, helped to engineer The Narrative’s Golden Silence LP.
Jazz Funeral
Jazz Funeral was a band formed by Paul Adler in the early 2010s. So i Heard founder and head music producer Sean Killary engineered, mixed, and co-produced this record in one of the original pre-So i Heard, So i Heard studios in Boston, MA.
