Session Planner

Here's the scoop on booking a session at Babble-On Recording Studios:
Call Babble-On Recording Studios at 612.375.0533 to hold time or book firm a session with one of our engineers. If you don’t want to immediately book the time (to give you time to organize voice talent, client and agency schedules) you may hold the time for your session up until the day before without officially booking it. When you book firm a session, you are responsible for paying for the studio time.

If a particular engineer that you request already has a hold on his or her time, you may request a second hold on that time. We’ll keep you informed on the status of the client that is in the first hold position. If that time slot becomes available, we’ll contact you as soon as possible to book firm your session.

You may challenge the first hold client for the engineer's time, if you’re able to book firm your session when you call initially. The first hold client has a first right of refusal on the engineer's time. If the first hold client cannot book firm the session time that they’re holding, you win the challenge, and you may book your session with our engineer. In this instance, you have booked firm your time, and you’re responsible for paying for the session time for which you challenged.

In the event of unforeseen circumstances that force you to cancel a booked firm session, we will do our best to re-sell that session time. If we’re able to do so, we’ll work with you to waive some of the session fees associated with your booking. If we’re unable to re-sell the time, you’ll be charged for the session time that you’ve booked.
To hold or to book a session at Babble-On, we’ll need to know:

• How much time you need
• Your agency's name
• Your client's name
• The project or product name
• The producer's name and direct phone number
• The writer's name
• The nature of the project (a radio or TV commercial, audio for the Web, an industrial voiceover, etc.)
• How many spots you are producing
• Who will be attending the session
• The names of voice-over talent you’ve hired
• Whether or not you require a source connect or digital land patch or phone patch to record voice-over talent at another studio, and, if so, how much time you will need for the patch
• Whether or not you need a pad for your session or your patch or possibly for both

A pad is a half-hour time block that is used as a cushion on the end of a session or a patch. You’ll be billed for the pad only if you use it. Studios typically don't allow pads longer than a half hour.

Se habla EspaÑol

With the ever-growing need for Spanish versions in advertising, we’re proud to have on staff a bilingual engineer (John Lukas) who can help during the production process of Spanish versions of your ads. John is fluent in Spanish and can facilitate communication during the session to help cut down language barriers and ensure accuracy in the finished product.

Our engineers find it very helpful to get the scripts as far ahead of the session as possible. This helps to avoid any potential problems and also helps us to prepare ahead for particular sound effects or music choices that you may use during your session.

Send your script(s) via e-mail, post it to our website ftp, fax it (to 612.375.0536), or mail it (to Babble-On Recording Studios, 12 South Sixth Street, Suite 1221, Minneapolis, MN 55402).

If you're DigiPatching (recording talent that will be in a studio in another city), you’ll want to send your scripts to the other studio as well.

Before your session, be sure that you have:

• timed the script to know the overall length
• timed the individual parts to know how long they are
• accounted for the time that's taken up in each spot by sound effects and music
• accounted for the time differences that may occur if you're doing multiple versions of the same spot (time each version)
• prepared a list of words and phrases that can be removed from or added to the script if it comes in at the wrong time
• verified all the proper pronunciations
• listened to your script (you may want to record it with your own voice so that you can accurately judge the pace, flow, style, word choices, and rhythm)
• typed your script in an easily readable font, at a readable size, using double-spacing for ease of marking and navigation (for the benefit of your voice-over talent, we recommend 12 point Arial)
• checked all the phone numbers, names, addresses, and Web site addresses in your script for accuracy
• run your script by your legal department

Consider what style of music you might want to use for your project and be sure to communicate your music direction to your engineer ahead of time. You may want to send us a sample of the style of music that you'd like to use or mimic.

Although we have plenty of stock music at Babble-On, some styles may be difficult to match exactly. But, with our long list of vendors and our affiliation with facilities that specialize in creating original compositions, we can usually get just about anything you might need expediently. However, having ample lead time is always a big help in obtaining the best results.

We can help you budget for a music search and music licensing fees for your project. In order to help you estimate costs for music, we’d need to know:

• how the music will be used (in broadcast commercials, a corporate project, something for sale or promotion, etc.)
• the media buy (local, regional or national for a broadcast commercial)
• how many copies will be made or distributed (for corporate, sales or promotional audio or video presentation)
• what time-frame the music license needs to cover (one-time usage, 13-week or annual run, or, in-perpetuity usage)

If you decide to do a music search in advance of your session, our rule of thumb is to budget two hours per genre of music. For example, if you intend to produce three radio spots, and you need country music in one, techno music in another, and salsa music in the third (we'd be extremely interested in knowing what kind of campaign you're working on!) but that aside, we'd recommend budgeting for up to six hours of search time.

Accurate music search budgets allow our engineers to really comb through our extensive music libraries to find numerous, good options for each style of music that you need. See our rate sheet for details.

Have you considered the benefits of original music versus stock music?

One of the benefits of original music is that you own that piece of music; so, you won't ever hear it on other advertisers' spots. You can't guarantee this kind of exclusivity with stock music.

Typically, original music is more expensive than using and licensing a piece of stock music from an existing music library. However, that's not always the case. You may wish to check out a company that specializes in custom scoring for TV, radio, video and film.

If you want to explore the option of original music for your project, the staff at Babble-On Recording Studios can help you find a custom music facility that will be a good fit for your project.

For more information, e-mail us or call us at 612.375.0533.

Consider what sound effects you may want to use and be sure to communicate your sound design direction to your engineer ahead of time.

We carry an extensive number of sound effects and music libraries that are constantly expanding. Additionally, given the relationships that we have with our music and sound effects partners, we're able to quickly get on demand unique and obscure sounds and music.

We’ve also made a significant investment in on-location recording equipment. If you need on-location recording or natural sound (from an on-location site), we have the means to do it.

Be sure that you budget accordingly for the sound effects in your spot(s). See our rate sheet for details.

Sometimes seemingly simple sound effects can be complicated. Bear in mind when budgeting that some sound effects, such as backgrounds, are composed of many layers and can be more expensive than the cost of just one sound effect. In addition, some sounds may require on-location recording, natural sound, or custom effects created in-studio or on-site.

To find out what your script may need, please send us your script ahead of time via e-mail, post it to our website ftp, fax it (to 612.375.0536), or mail it (to Babble-On Recording Studios, 12 South Sixth Street, Suite 1221, Minneapolis, MN 55402).

Once you’ve booked your voice-over talent, be sure that you have talent contracts to bring with you to the session (if you’re using union voice talent).

Pass along to your voice actors a map or directions to Babble-On.

If you conducted talent auditions for your script(s), it’s often helpful to e-mail, or post those auditions (to our website ftp) ahead of time for Babble-On. We've found that writers and producers will frequently reference talent auditions either when directing the talent or for clueing in the engineer on the direction of an ad. It's much more efficient to do this, if you've sent the talent auditions to our studio ahead of time. Our engineers can then re-play them when necessary.

DigiPatching, also known as connecting via ISDN, digital patch, digital land patch or Source-Connect, allows studios to connect digitally in real time. This allows you to select voice talent from virtually anywhere to record your spot while you produce it from Babble-On Recording Studios in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Babble-On can recommend studios in other cities across the globe if you need to record talent outside of the Twin Cities market. We can also make the studio arrangements in the other city for you (as we’ll need to talk with the studio to get all of the technical details for connecting with them for the session). We can arrange to have the connecting studio bill their charges to us, so that all of the charges to you come on just one invoice from Babble-On.

If Babble-On will not be arranging the DigiPatch, you’ll need to take care of the booking and billing with the other studio directly.

If your spot calls for dialogue using multiple voice-over talent from another city, we recommend doing a stereo patch. Although there is an added cost in doing so, you'll save yourself much frustration (and the potential cost of additional studio time) during the editing process. Why? In a nutshell, if you record dialogue with local talent at Babble-On, we record each talent on their own discrete track to allow for greater flexibility during editing and processing. The same approach applies when doing a DigiPatch. However, if your voice talent will not be interacting, then a mono patch should be more than adequate.

We've found that $1,000/hr to $1,200/hr is an average “rule-of-thumb” for budgeting a mono digital patch between two studios. This generally covers the costs of both facilities' studio time and the cost of the patch. The cost of a stereo digital patch is roughly 1.5 times that of a mono digital patch. Of course, there will always be exceptions to any rule. If you need exact figures prior to booking your session, you should provide us with enough advance notice so that the studios involved can put together an actual estimate for you.

See our rate sheet for details on DigiPatch pricing to help you estimate and budget accordingly.

And lastly, be aware of the time zone differences in booking your session and your patch.

Think about what materials you will need to walk away with at the end of your session (an audio CD, a data CD or CD-ROM of the audio files, a DVD, electronic deliveries of MP3 files, or maybe .WAV/.AIF files posted to our website ftp). Your answer to this question will help us determine what types of gear or accessories we’ll need to have set up for you. Please let us know what you need before your session, and we'll be sure to have everything ready to go for you.

If your session is for a TV commercial, or it requires us to lock-to-picture, please provide Babble-On with a picture ahead of time. We encourage you to upload the picture to our website FTP as a QuickTime movie (dimensions: 720 x 480, compression: DV/DVCPRO-NTSC). It’s also always best for us to have an OMF file of the audio.

Other options for getting the picture to our engineers include:

• Mailing a 3/4” or 1/2" videocassette or a QuickTime movie (dimensions: 720 x 480, compression: DV/DVCPRO-NTSC) on data CD or DVD-ROM to:
  
  Babble-On Recording Studios
  12 South Sixth Street, Suite 1221
  Minneapolis, MN 55402

We understand that there are times when clients or agency people can’t be present at the session and you need to rely on other methods for approval.

We use Source-Live at Babble-On. Because of the four to five second latency from transmission to reception, though, we use Source-Live mostly for mix approval. It's a huge improvement over approving mixes over a phone patch, especially if you have headphones or good speakers connected to your computer.

Other options we have for “approvals in absentia” are for us to post your spot(s) or project audio to our website FTP or e-mail the spot(s) or project audio (if the recipient's mailbox will accept files larger than two megabytes).

Judging a mix over the phone is not an ideal way to have your spot(s) approved. The phone can only pass a limited range of audio, so critical assessments (e.g., the ratio of voice to music) can't really be made over the phone. However, if this is your only option, we’re happy to provide a phone patch with the agency or client in order to obtain approval using this method.

If your session is taking place over the lunch hour Babble-On Recording Studios offers a wide-range of lunch options from restaurants in Minneapolis and the Twin Cities.

We're happy to accommodate lunch requests for sessions lasting 3 hours (or longer) that take place during the lunch hours of 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. It's best to arrange your lunch order the day before your session, if possible. Arranging for lunch ahead of time allows you to select from a greater number of menus, and it helps us to secure a food delivery time that best suits your needs and wishes.

Lunch is typically provided for the agency personnel and clients present at the session. Talent is usually not included in the lunch order as they are often recording in the studio only for a short period of time.

Even if you are at the studio outside of our lunch hours, you'll find plenty to eat and drink. Babble-On is well stocked in the snacks and beverages department and has a generous “help yourself” policy that tends to keep most people happily hovering around the fridge and snack bowls.

If your voice-over talent, client or agency personnel need a map or directions, please send them to our web site. On our Directions & Parking page, we have instructions for people arriving via air, car, light rail or skyway. (Sorry, helicopter pad not yet available, but we'll keep you posted).

Babble-On validates parking tickets for agency personnel and clients only in designated parking areas. Like other studios, we do not offer validated parking for voice-over talent.

Check out (and print, if you’d like) our Rates.