If you are unfamiliar with us and especially if you are considering your first recording, we suggest you request our “Eagles Nest Crash-course” CD. Ask about it. It’s free! And it walks you through everything from Pre-recorded to Custom tracks, MIDI vs. live tracks, royalties, licensing and all the steps in recording. It even includes a section of sound-bites in about 8 different styles.

Using PRE-RECORDED Tracks –

Before reading further, you may need to know that many, and perhaps most, of the tracks you’ve already purchased, cannot be used for recording – at any price, mainly because they are major artist tracks and are licensed only for live performance. However, all of our tracks are available for recording. Keep reading…

Recording with pre-recorded tracks is not only the fastest and the most economical, but also the most predictable, because ‘what you hear is what you get’ before you commit to spending the money – and there is no sacrifice in quality. We’ve made recording as affordable and as easy as falling off a cliff (or is it a log). Here’s how we’ve done it:

1) The most incredible preview system in the world. All of our tracks, with demo voice, are on an I-Pod which we loan you free of charge. All you pay is shipping and the refundable deposit which can be applied to your recording project. The I-Pod is also a library allowing you to search by style, topic (Christmas, hope, etc.) or by recording artist. Along with the I-Pod comes the “Lyrics Library” – lyrics for all songs in printed form.
2) Test-driving specific tracks – You may select tracks for trial; you may purchase any number of tracks with demonstration voice (or instrument, if you are a player) at half price while preparing to record.
3) Studio – You may fly or drive to Eagles Nest and, for example, enjoy a family retreat, since Eagles Nest is located in the remote Colorado mountains and includes full amenities such as kitchen, king / queen beds, hot tub, four sun decks, pool table and lots more. Our engineers take you from start to finish. If distance or cost is an obstacle, we can ship you the masters and you may record in any studio in the world, including one in your hometown.
4) Basic Costs – There are four basic costs to any recording project. All costs are charges you would incur wherever you may record.

a) Leasing the tracks. A one-time per-track fee of $145-165 (depending on the number of tracks leased), allows you to manufacture one copy or a million copies.

b) Royalties – This is very important. Some production houses have offered “royalty-free” tracks. If the song is copyrighted, there is no such thing as
“royalty-free.” However, if a song is in “Public Domain” (generally meaning it was written in 1922 or prior) there are no royalties. We have over 150 Public Domain tracks available through our storefront.
The “Royalty Rate” for copyrighted songs increases about every two years. As of January 2006, that rate was 9.1 cents per song for each copy manufactured. Example: If four songs are Public Domain and six are Copyrighted, you would pay 6 x 9.1 cents, or 54.6 cents per CD.
Licensing – Before you record, you must secure a license to record each ‘Copyrighted’ (non-Public Domain) song. Ask us how we can simplify that routine process for you. What if a publisher won’t license a song to you? Won’t happen. The “Compulsory Licensing Act” requires a publisher or song owner to license anyone to record it if the song has been recorded at least once prior. That includes all of our songs – even the “original, unpublished” titles.

c) Studio – Most studios charge by the hour so the total cost will depend #1, on how ready you are to record and #2, how picky you are. Typical recording time, allowing for “punch-ins,” edits, playbacks, 2d-3d takes, etc., is about ½ hour to
1 ½ hours per song. Some perfectionists (and major label artists) take even more
time. If comparing studio rates, be sure quotes include engineer and materials
costs.
Mixdown and Mastering are the final steps in the studio. Our hourly rate is the same for recording as for mixdown; however, mixdown time, when using pre-recorded tracks, is much less than the time to record your solo.

d) Replication – Replicating cassettes may well be a thing of the past. We are in the CD era – and that will change someday also. CD plants typically have minimums of 500 with a good price break at 1,000. Our replication costs, include art design, typeset and layout, 4-page booklet, full color on two pages and tray card, plus printing. Contact us for the most current pricing brochure. As with most products, you may incur minimal add-ons such as additional pages, specialized design requirements. Yes, you may handle your own replication, artwork, etc. However, you then bear the responsibility of dealing with mistakes, lost masters, booklet not matching the CD case size, and other quality control issues. If comparing costs, bear in mind that plants typically do not include all costs in their quotes. They may even exclude the major costs of the booklet itself.

Full “CUSTOM” Recording –

While using Pre-Recorded Tracks is the most economical, you may be a writer of original songs or for some other reason need to have your tracks “custom-produced.” The cost is likely four to eight times the cost of simply “leasing” a track. There is no single quote for all custom-produced tracks. The many variables include size of orchestra, length of song, MIDI instruments vs. “live,” detail required such as one global layer of strings vs. upper / mid / lower strings played independently for realism. That’s one reason producer Ralph Carmichael called our tracks “the most convincing” he’s ever heard. Style of song enters in; for example, styles in which the tempos vary, require considerably more production time. Original songs often require more creative effort and time than “sound-alike” tracks. After dialog with our producer, we can typically provide you with a precise cost quote for producing your tracks. Our custom-production pricing has remained the same for many years; rather than impose increases, we’ve decided to reserve the right to use your tracks in our catalog after you have released your project and thus pass some savings on to you. You still retain ownership of the tracks. This provision is subject to a client’s approval, of course.

Other Costs – All other costs for custom-produced projects are the same as the costs shown under “Using Pre-recorded Tracks” with one exception: Mixdown. A soloist working with prerecorded tracks involves only the pre-mixed orchestra and the singer (a total of 3 tracks). However, in the case of full “Custom-produced tracks”, there may be as many as 15 to 20 tracks which have to be mixed, equalized, independent effects (reverb, etc.) applied to each track, and so forth. Thus, typically, it takes 1½ to 2 hours to mix those tracks down to 2-track stereo.