PlugHead Productions is owned and operated by N. Jay Burr, an accomplished musician, composer, producer, and audio engineer. From its humble beginnings over a decade ago, Jay (aka PlugHead) has recorded dozens of albums, countless demos, scored music for film, video and animation, and been home to various creative projects. The focus has always been live musicians, and recording them at the best of their abilities. The primary objective of this studio has always been to capture the BEST sound. This objective is accomplished through amazing talent, recorded through premium microphones, mic preamps, and great outboard gear in a good recording environment.
With having a musical and composition background, in addition to production and engineering skills, interfacing with the artist on various levels is both easy and accepted. Having composed and arranged music for many years, collaboration with singer/songwriters is not only possible, but is encouraged. This can often help create the best possible body of work, and further develop an artist's material to become not only stronger, but 'market-friendly' as well.
PlugHead Productions has recently relocated, yet has a broad-based clientele, from one end of the country to the other. With the surge of technology in the past decade, having access to musicians around the globe is easier and more affordable than ever. Having direct experience with 'distance' sessions, PlugHead Productions can hire, arrange, and record talent from virtually anywhere, and can be provided to any client upon request.
The decline of record sales has a direct impact on both the artist, as well as a recording studio's livelihood. No other arts-based industry has transformed as rapidly as the music industry, and it's future is currently in a state of flux. With the home recording market full of cheap tools, it is easy for musicians to record original music on their own terms, and at a much more affordable cost than imaginable, even a decade ago. However, many artists lack the experience in recording, and cannot capture their performances where detail, nuance, and flattery are desired. Although having accessible tools is liberating to the artist, it does not necessarily create 'better art'. Through being an artist playing on one side of the glass, and having moved over to the other side, years of dedication and commitment, and attention to detail has yielded many recordings that sonically can compete with 'major label' releases. PlugHead Productions will make every effort possible to capture the magic of your performances in your recording, and endeavor to make the entire process an enjoyable affair.
- Studio rates:
- $35/hr: less than 10 hrs. booked
- $30/hr: 10 to 40 hrs. booked
- $25/hr: 40+ hrs. booked
- Remote recording services:
- $40/hr. - does not include load-in/setup time
- teardown/loadout is off-clock.
- Mastering (in-house):
- $40/song, up to 7 minutes length
- $400 for 10-12 songs
- $600 for 13-25 songs
- Session musician fees:
- $75/song to a maximum of $300/8 hr. day
- DAW/Converters/Recorders
- Pro Tools MIX+++ (ver. 5.1.3/OS 9.2.2)
- Pro Tools LE (ver. 7.4.2 w Elastic Audio)
- Apogee AD-8000SE AD/DA converters
- Ramsa WZ-AD-96M Converters
- Rosendahl Nanosyncs (ver.3) WordClock Distribution
- MicroTrak II 24/96 CF recorder
- Sony MD recorder
- Fostex R8 8 channel tape machine
- Sony TC-788-4 tape machine
- Sony cassette deck
- PowerMac G4,1.25 GHz
- MacBook 2.16 Ghz
- Software/Plug-ins/Library/internet-FTP
- Plug-Ins include: Waves, Massey, TC, Lexicon, McDSP, Line-6, etc.
- Instruments/libraries: Spectrasonics, BigFish Audio, Bob Clearmountain, East/West Orchestra, NYC DrumWorks, Funky Ass Loops, Hollywood Edge, etc.
- Hi-speed internet for file UL/DL, FTP/distance sessions spanning the globe...
- Outboard
- 2 X John Hardy M-1 mic pre's
- 2 X Buzz Audio MA 2.2 mic-pre's
- 2 X Neve Portico 5012 mic pre's
- 1 X RCA BN-5A mic-pre
- 1 X API 512b mic pre
- 2 X Ward Beck M-470 mic pre's
- 1 X SE Ghost mic pre/DI
- 8 X Ramsa WZ-AD96M mic-pre's
- 2 X TLAudio C1 mic-pre's
- 2 X Scully 280 mic-pre's
- 2 X TLAudio C1 compressor
- 2 X ART Pro VLA compressor
- 2 X RNC compressor
- 2 X BFE-Filtek MK-3 EQ's
- 2 X JLM PEQ-500 EQ's
- 2 X Eisen lilPEQ-r EQ's
- 1 X Standard Audio Level-OR
- Buzz Audio MIA 1.1 DI
- Avenson Small DI
- 2 X Behringer DI's
- Microphones
- Neumann SM69FET stereo multi-pattern microphone
- Neumann KM88 multi-pattern microphone
- Neumann KMR-81 short shotgun microphone
- AEA R-88 stereo ribbon microphone
- Royer R-121 ribbon microphone
- 2 X DPA (B&K) 4060 omni microphones
- 2 X AKG C-451-E microphones with BLUE R6 lollipop capsule, 2 X CK-1 capsules, CK-9 capsule
- 2 X Chameleon Labs TS-1 small diaphragm tube condenser microphones
- 2 X CAD E-100 condenser microphones
- 2 X Sennheiser 421 dynamic microphones
- Sennheiser MK-401E condenser microphone
- Rode NT-1 condenser microphone
- 2 X Shure SM57 dynamic microphones
- 2 X Shure SM58 dynamic microphones
- 4 X Karma X-micro omni condenser microphones
- 1 X ACM-6802-T multi-pattern tube microphone
- 1 X ACM-900 tube ribbon microphone
- 1 X ACM-4 ribbon microphone
- Monitoring
- PMC: TB-1's
- BlueSky: Sky System 1, “THX approved” full-range monitoring
- Mirage bookshelf speakers
- Instruments:
- Kimball grand piano
- Fender Rhodes Mark I (suitcase) piano
- Roland FP-8 piano
- MidiMan 62 note keyboard/MIDI controller
- Custom cutaway acoustic guitar
- Seagull acoustic guitar
- Rudolph Meinl CC Tuba
- Bach 42 tenor trombone
- Getzen valve trombone
- Istanbul dumbek
- Various percussion items…
