schools

Have you ever considered recording a CD at your school? 

I would love the chance to provide my professional recording services to your school and offer a comprehensive recording package to produce CD’s that your school will be proud of.  I bring the digital recording equipment to your school and together we can create a unique CD that you can sell to parents, grandparents, friends, relatives etc. to generate funds for the school.

Why Record a CD at your School?

• To raise funds.  – There is no up-front financial outlay for the school.  You use money from the CD sales to pay for the CDs you sell.  The more you buy, the cheaper each CD becomes and the more money you can raise.

• To complement your children's music curriculum with little additional effort required from teachers.

• To give the children an exciting and fun educational project.  They discover what it is like to be recorded, the disciplines required, and the sense of achievement when they have finished.

• For parents, friends & family to celebrate the children's work in lasting way

• To have a permanent record of children's performances, e.g. GCSE compositions.

• To provide an opportunity for press or radio coverage for your school, either of which could help fundraising.

What could you record?

• School Choir, recorder group or orchestra, individuals, small groups, or the whole school,
  alone or with teacher or school musicians or CD backing track to accompany them.

• Christmas Carols (great for Christmas presents) or pieces from the repertoire of your school
  choir or orchestra.  Readings of poems or prose.

• Live recording of your school concert or play (subject to copyright) or songs from them.

• Anything you want – I am very flexible

How does it work?

• We agree to proceed with the project and the dates, details, etc.

• You get the children to practice the items you want to record.

• You contact the parents to secure advance orders.

• I come to the school at the agreed time and set up my equipment.  We then record the children performing over a 2-3 hour (max) period.

• You provide any text / artwork required for the CD cover.

• I mix, edit, master, and produce the production master CD for your final approval.

• You submit the final order and I send you my invoice.

• The CDs are produced and despatched to your school as soon as they are ready.  (Short runs are done entirely in-house and I have full control over lead time.  Larger quantities may be produced externally and will be subject to the current lead time at the production facility - often 2-3 weeks).

• You collect moneys from parents and settle my invoice within 21 days.

• You undertake not to produce any other copies of the CD.

What Will It Cost?

For Schools packages, there is no up-front payment required.  You fund the project through CD sales.  I charge an agreed price per CD ordered from me.  The more you order, the lower the unit price.  The following table gives some examples for illustration purposes only.

My prices are fully inclusive (recording, mixing, editing, mastering, duplication, artwork printing, MCPS licence fees, postage, mileage up to 50 miles round trip).  I do not charge VAT.

Up to £10 could be a practical selling price for a CD.  To sell 500 CDs for a larger school is not difficult and, as you can see above, you could generate £1000 in profit. 

Please contact me now to get an individual quote or discuss any recording requirements you have.

CD covers and artwork

CDs are delivered in a standard jewel case with front (2-sided) and back (single side) inlay.  I also print directly onto the CD.  (Please contact me if you need something different).

Why not get the children from your school to provide the artwork for the CD cover and jewel casing?  Run a graphics project or a picture competition for the front cover.  I can take photographs if needed then add any text required (subject to space limitations).  You could also include school photographs, logo, biography, contact details etc.

Keeping it safe and legal

For your peace of mind, I hold a clean CRB Enhanced Disclosure as a voluntary church youth worker.

All my equipment is checked regularly for electrical safety (PAT Tested).

I hold relevant Health & Safety Qualifications (NEBOSH General Certificate in Occupational Safety & Health, Working at Heights) and I have company H&S policies & procedures in place.

For music recording, I will secure a licence from the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) to make sure the recording does not break any copyright laws.  For other material, you will need to check the source carefully and secure any required recording permissions before we proceed.  For public domain / non-copyright items there is no problem.  For quantities up to 1000 total CDs, the MCPS process is very straightforward and requires little paperwork.  Production of more than 1000 CDs in total requires details of items recorded, composer, playing time etc to be supplied and becomes more expensive.

Other things to discuss and agree

• Where to record to make the best sounding CD (e.g. Room Acoustics)?  I could visit the school in advance if required.

• What date you want to record?

• How long the recording session will be?  The actual recording should take a half day max (2-3 hours).  I will arrive early to set up the equipment so that the students can turn up, warm up, and get straight into the recording.  I will fit the recording around your timetable, as the school obviously has to keep running on the day.

• How long should the CD be?  The CD should be 30-60 minutes in length; this could include 12 to 16 songs of your choice. 

• When do you need the CD’s delivered to you?  I can usually edit and mix the recording within 2 weeks for final approval by you before production.  I can give an indication of production times closer to the date when the production facility will know its current workload.

Please contact me now to discuss any recording requirements you have.