SERVICES
At Theta Sound Studio, service and technical expertise go hand-in-hand. We provide a comfortable work environment that allows you to do your best, regardless of the project (large or small). With that in mind, here is a description of our major services:
ALBUM PROJECTS
Since our humble beginnings in 1977, thousands of projects in various genres — Jazz, Pop, R&B, Classical, Hip Hop, Country, Ragtime, Gospel, Ballet, Alternative, Film Score and Spoken Word — have been recorded and mastered at Theta Sound Studio. Theta Sound is a comfortable, low-pressure place to track and mix. And we love Live-to-Stereo projects that capture the spontaneity and magic of the moment.
SCORING for FILM and TELEVISION
For the times when a small ensemble or band is right for a project, why pay top dollar for too large a space? Theta Sound is just right for such projects, with its main room, drum booth and vocal/iso booth. Our Yamaha C5 Conservatory Grand Piano is a favorite of many singers, songwriters and composers.
ARRANGEMENT / PRODUCTION
Artists and songwriters need a place where they can take their ideas to the next level. This is where our production and arrangement expertise comes into play. Whether you have a lyric and/or melody in need of additional elements to complete the picture, or you need co-writing to finish the work, our resident composer / songwriter / producer, Randall Michael Tobin, can provide all the necessary creative parts. Over the years, Randy has written or co-written dozens of compositions/songs for and with clients. Additionally, for songwriters with completed material in need of production, Randy has acted as producer, assembling musicians, arranging the charts, tracking and editing the vocals, as well as mixing and mastering. The results adorn the walls in our facility!
BACKING TRACKS / SOURCE MUSIC / RE-CREATIONS
One of our specialties over the years has been recreating songs from scratch without the vocals so that singers and comedians could use these in live performances or for demo reels. For television and film, if you need background or foreground music to sound like a particular artist but that hefty sync license is out of the budget, we can create sound-alike tracks for a reasonable fee.
AUDIO RESTORATION
Do you have vintage/family heirloom records or tapes that you wish to transfer to CD? Audio restoration processing reduces and/or removes noise, pops, clicks, crackle, hiss and hum, from those recordings. We then master the result to CD. If you have any photographs or album artwork from the original, we can scan those and make all the packaging elements for your finished CD as well.
CD MASTERING
At Theta Sound, we have three sets of speakers that are representative of the more common listening environments such as a home stereo or car system. If it sounds great here, it will sound great out there (and it will sound even better on an expensive system, too!). Our CD mastering capabilities include track-by-track Precision Equalization, Volume Automation, Console and Tape Simulations, Multi-band Compression, Sonnox and BBE plugins, Indexing, Track Arrangement and Crossfades. The finished product is a fully compliant Red Book Audio master ready for the Glass Master process, or for conversion to LAME MP3 files. Of course, it takes an experienced ear to hear exactly what is needed in the mastering process and fortunately, Randy has two of them!
DIGITAL EDITING / COMPOSITING
With plenty of of CD-quality digital editing tracks we have the capability to create composite music / voice tracks with speed and accuracy. This is suited particularly well for Music Production, Voice-over Demo Reels, Music Samplers, Radio Ads, Live Performance Tracks, Dance Remixes and Audio Sales Aids. We use the same digital audio core technology as the BBC and we know it inside and out!
CD / DVD DUPLICATION
We can produce limited run CDs/DVDs with custom graphics in-house, or we can create your CD/DVD master and graphic inserts and have our CD/DVD duplication partners manufacture the larger quantities.
VOCAL REDUCTION
This process is designed to reduce the lead vocal from a stereo CD, leaving a track which can be used for putting a new vocal on or for practice. The success of this technique varies with the material, especially how much reverb, echo and effects have been applied to the vocal. The more instruments on the track, the better the chance of success. Background vocals usually remain unchanged. Vocal Reduction is usually attempted when a suitable karaoke track cannot be found.
VIDEO PRODUCTION / EDITING / DVD AUTHORING
We have broadcast-quality HD video production and editing capabilities with our Premiere CS6/CC (Creative Cloud) non-linear editor, and Randy Tobin who has over 6000 hours of use and experience with the system. Now in its seventh generation, this system has enabled us to produce captivating projects in both short and long form. And with our focus equally on the audio as well as the video, we can create the total video experience and output to DVD and streaming web file formats compatible with YouTube and Vimeo. (click here to see how this cool music video turned out!) DVD Authoring is a cutting-edge technology that requires equal parts artistic and technical skill. Motion menus, special features and user navigation options are all addressed during the DVD authoring phase.
ART DEPARTMENT / GRAPHICS
Parallel to our growth in the audio sector has been our art department. Originally created to offer custom cassette labels, Theta Sound’s graphics services now encompass complete packaging design, film and printing for your CDs and DVDs. Whether it’s limited run black & white or color inserts which we do on the premises, or Hi-Res PDF files for commercial offset printing and packaging, we do it all. We also build custom Web sites (like this one!) including video, graphics and sounds.
MARKETING & PROMOTION
Although creating one’s own recording projects may seem a monumental task, the marketing and promotion of your project is the part that requires the most time and effort. One of the best ways to announce your new creation to the world is with an online Press Release strategy. This is a new service we’ve been delivering and the results show up on search engines within a few hours. Whether you recorded your project at Theta Sound or not, this service is available to you. We’re also proud to have a long association with CDBaby.com, the largest independent CD distribution network in the world. Not only is this a great web site to sell your CD and establish digital distribution with iTunes and other stores, it’s a good place to get all the marketing and promotion advice you’ll need to make your CD a success! We also highly recommend you visit Derek Sivers’ web site (CD Baby’s founder) and get your hands on his free Music Marketing eBook. I also highly recommend you purchase Derek’s awesome can-be-read-in-about-an-hour book, “Anything You Want.” Check out a free preview and some cool animations over Derek’s audiobook narration here.
WEB SITE DESIGN and MAINTENANCE
We’ve been creating web sites since 1994. In fact, Randy got so good at this that he toured North America for three years delivering seminars on how to use computer-based tools to create graphics, images, 3D, animations and web sites. The web has evolved since the mid 90s and Randy has kept pace with responsive designs that rearrange themselves to display correctly on mobile devices, yet spread out on larger displays. The inclusion of multimedia content is also a skill borne from years of audio and video conversions in the studio. After your studio project is completed, an engaging web site is a must. It’s also a good place to post your press releases. Click the web site image on the right and you’ll see what we’re talking about. For this site, the 12 tiles take you on a tour of the album, track by track. The navigation bars on the left provide plenty of engaging material to give the visitor a personal glimpse into the artist’s life, fan feedback, song lyrics, marketing partnerships, and a place to purchase the album (to give to someone special…).
Whatever audio, video, graphic or web design services you require. Randy Tobin and Theta Sound can deliver exactly what you need to realize your creative vision! Call 818-9-555-888 today and schedule a free consultation for your next project.