COR was formed to bring convenient, inexpensive recording services to the central Ohio area. We operate from a home office rather than a fancy, full-service recording studio. We bring portable, state-of-the-art equipment to wherever your recording is to be made, whether it’s an auditorium or a living room. We then mix and master the recording and provide you with as many nicely packaged CDs as you need.

What have you got? If you can hear it, we can record it! We’ll record your school concerts and make CDs that you can sell as fundraisers. We’ll record your band’s gigs or rehearsals and make you a CD you can use as a bookings demo or to sell at your shows. If you need a recording to submit with a music school application, or to use for an audition or competition, we’ll come out to your location, record as many "takes" as you like, and make you a CD of the best one. Whatever sound you make, we stand ready to record it!

We are a 5-piece rock band. Can you record our show at the Newport?

Alas, live rock bands represent a bit of an exception to our "we record anything" policy. Sure, we could stick a couple of mikes back in the audience and record like a bootlegger at a Grateful Dead concert. Trouble is, the result would sound pretty much like those old tapes - boomy and muddy. When you are actually sitting in the audience the band is in front of you and the room reverberations are all around you. When you play back a recording made from where you were sitting, the band and the room reverberations both come from the same place - your speakers or headphones. It sounds boomy and muddy.

The proper way to record a live rock show is to put each instrument or vocal on a separate track (or set of tracks) and mix them down to stereo later. Sadly, the present COR recorder, though a 16-track unit, only allows us to record eight tracks at once. When you consider that you need at least four tracks for the drums alone, you can see the problem.

A separate set of problems is introduced by recording at a large venue that has its own sound system, engineering staff, etc. Interconnecting with the house PA and working with the staff can become problematic when they have their own way of doing things or need to impose limitations. Making live recordings is much easier at smaller venues like restaurants or small clubs where the band brings their own sound system (or doesn't use one).

COR has made a number of great recordings of rock bands by recording in a rehearsal space or unoccupied performance venue. We record the basic instrumental tracks first, then overdub percussion, vocals, or additional instruments on the remaining eight tracks. The separate-vocal approach allows us to re-do small parts of otherwise OK vocals and offers many other advantages over recording everything at once. You end up with a great recording!

What about smaller or acoustic bands?

If your band does not have drums or amps, or has relatively few players, we should be able to make a good live recording within the eight-tracks-at-once limitation.

What about label and cover art for our CD?

No problem!  You can provide your own, work with us to create it, or just give us an idea and we'll go from there.  Not to brag, but our custom designs have been very well received.  Of course, we will have to charge a graphic design fee. Trust us, it's worth it!

Can you record me singing along with pre-recorded tracks?

Absolutely! You can come into our humble mastering studio and record lead vocals, harmony vocals, backup vocals - whatever you want to put on there. Because the instruments are already recorded, we can give you a very good price for a recording session plus CDs. Call and tell us about your project and we'll give you a custom quotation.

Where do I get pre-recorded tracks to sing along with?

Backing tracks featuring instruments and background vocals but no lead vocal are available for thousands of songs on CDs or online. Give us a call or send us an e-mail to discuss your options if you need to locate backing tracks.

In a typical project, you get two hours of multi-track recording, post-production, and 5 CDs for somewhere around $100 to $300, depending on your project.

Each project is different.  Let us know what you're working on and we'll try to find a way to get it done within your budget.

What about fundraising? My school is giving a special band concert this season.

Glad you asked! We stand ready to work with you on your fundraising project.  See our fundraising page for details.

Students are thrilled to have their playing professionally recorded and then to hear it on a "real" CD. Parents and relatives will be delighted to purchase this permanent keepsake, knowing that they are supporting the school's music program as they do so.

Surprisingly little, actually. What makes this whole enterprise possible is the existence of a new breed of "studio in a box" recording units that combine CD-quality audio with a high degree of portability, and contain all of the circuits and signal processing units formerly found only in large recording studios. What we will bring is the recorder itself (a Korg D16XD) and a card table to set it on, a power extension cord, some microphones with their associated cables and stands, and few pairs of headphones. That’s about it! Setup and teardown time is minimal. The focus is on you and your performance, not a bunch of gear and wiring.

The bottom line is, if you don’t like it, you don’t pay. Our objective at COR is to establish relationships with customers, and the way we do that is by providing a high-quality, reliable service, and by guaranteeing results for money spent. After your recording is mixed and mastered, we will give you an opportunity to verify that everything is acceptable to you. Only then will we begin the process of duplication and packaging. If you are not satisfied, we will work with you until you are!

Do you do video too, or just audio?

At this point we are strictly "audio only". Video is a whole other world, and it takes a lot of effort, equipment, and know-how to get a good video of a concert or performance. We focus only on the sound.

But all is not lost. We are able to provide a high-quality, stereo audio feed to any video equipment that may be in use at the time of the performance. We can add extra microphones if you need them (up to 16 tracks), and we can create a custom audio mix to be sent to the video gear. We'll be the "audio guy"!

What other services do you offer?

COR engineers are available to act as audio consultants to help you set up your performance space to permit an optimal recording. We also offer a presentation featuring a live demonstration of multi-track recording and mixing techniques. This program, called Audio Recording Basics, is available to schools free of charge. It runs 45-60 minutes and is aimed at music students and others with an interest in the basics of audio recording and mixing.