FAQ

James Walsh is the builder, owner, and proprietor of Threshold Studios NYC. He built the studio from scratch over 20 years ago and has been in direct contact with every project ever since.

When recording a demo, we focus on the song’s chord structure, arrangement, lyrics and melody. The instrumentation of the demo tends to be minimal, either a guitar or piano and a vocal, sometimes percussion. Taking that demo into the production stage is where the artist and producer get to focus on individual parts, harmony, vocal layers, and anything else the artist wants to include into the song.

Everybody’s project is different. Call us today to start the conversation!

James Walsh hand picks his staff engineers for each project. He works together with the client to find the right producer for the job. You are welcome to bring in outside engineers or producers but a staff engineer will always be present to make sure the technical end of the session runs smoothly.

A recording engineer manages the technical end of your session, ensuring it is captured properly. They are aware of the specific room’s subtleties and will keep the technology running smoothly while you are busy being creative. A music producer is a creative guide for your project and can be helpful if you’re unsure about making critical decisions about performance quality or stylistic direction.

A music producer is an experienced professional there to help you see your music from different perspectives, provide guidance, organize and facilitate your goals and keep the session on track. The record producer will schedule all session details and remove the technical barriers from the creative process. At Threshold, our producers are songwriters, multi-instrumentalist musicians, engineers and educators with honed skills and an eye toward the big picture. We’ve crafted a family-style team to consult with on projects in every genre, with direct oversight from studio owner & executive producer James Walsh who has recorded, produced and overseen over one thousand singer, songwriter and band sessions over the last 20 years.

We begin with working out the arrangement, making sure all the right parts and chord changes are in place are before the song gets recorded. Once we’ve recorded the music we move into the overdubbing process, layering extra tracks as needed or fixing small mistakes made during the initial recording. Once all the tracks are finished, we move into the mixing stage. Mixing is the blending and balancing of all the tracks in the song. Once mixing is completed and has been reviewed by the client, we move into mastering – the final step in the process for commercial release. Mastering your tracks ensures that your songs play back at the appropriate commercial level and that you don’t have to touch the volume knob while listening to the record.

Once you’ve recorded your song, or, if you are bringing in a song that’s already been recorded elsewhere, we begin the discussion about mixing. Mixing is the blending and enhancing of all your recorded instruments and voices, ending up in a stereo file for you to listen to and review at home.

During mixing we blend, equalize and compress the tracks in your recording. Effects are added and all the final levels are set before the song is bounced down to a stereo (two-track) file. In the mixing stage, you have the option to change the relationships and levels of the individual components of the song. Mastering is the last step in the process where only the overall sound, shape, and levels of the song are finalized so that your song will be as loud and balanced as everything you hear on the radio. If the budget allows for it, we have several great relationships with world class mastering engineers who can provide this service as well.

Once the song is mixed and mastered and has been approved by the client, it’s up to you, the artist to promote and spread the word about the music you just created!

The studio can be booked hourly or as a per-project package. Please call us to discuss what works best for your project.

Most calls we get start with “what is your hourly rate”.  It’s a good question and a great place to start.  Understanding the cost structure of the relationship is important.  It is, however a loaded question since the answer is more often than not almost irrelevant to what is usually a lead in to figuring out how much it will cost to produce a full song.   At that point I try to take the time to address the question with a series of my own questions geared toward figuring out your goals.  Do you actually need an hourly studio? or do you really want to work with a music producer who will take the time to work with you to craft your song from beginning to end and help you develop your sound and style.  

Knowing what the studio charges per hour is useful if what you would like to do is come in for a couple of hours, or even a day, to track something very specific (a vocal, etc)- which we do- but that, does not, a production make.  Depending on the specifics of your instrumentation, songwriting, depth of production, song references, etc.

During mixing we blend, equalize and compress the tracks in your recording. Effects are added and all the final levels are set before the song is bounced down to a stereo (two-track) file. In the mixing stage, you have the option to change the relationships and levels of the individual components of the song. Mastering is the last step in the process where only the overall sound, shape, and levels of the song are finalized so that your song will be as loud and balanced as everything you hear on the radio. If the budget allows for it, we have several great relationships with world class mastering engineers who can provide this service as well.