FAQ

We are situated in Downtown Lafayette, CA, in the San Francisco Bay Area, near Oakland and Walnut Creek.

Sessions are available 7 days a week from 10 AM to 6 PM. We can also arrange evening or night sessions upon request.

Submit an inquiry on the contact page
Call or text (925) 297-5336

We are less than a mile from Lafayette BART, making it convenient for walking or cycling to your sessions.

Yes! We love working on remote projects. If you have a remote project in mind, please fill out the recording inquiry form and our production team will get back to you to guide you through the process.

We provide a free 15-minute video or phone consultation for recording projects.

After a video or phone consultation with our production manager, we’re happy to schedule a studio tour.

Begin by completing our recording inquiry form. Providing song demos is helpful but not mandatory. Our team will be in contact to schedule a consultation to determine your project’s scope, budget, and schedule.

We want to ensure that ModernTone is a good fit for your project so we require consultation with all of our new clients. We create unique production plans for every project so that we can achieve great results for you.

Our typical minimum for booking is a full day (8 hours), however, we do book half-days (4 hours) at our discretion. We do not provide hourly sessions.

Prices vary based on project scope. A full day at the studio is $700, and a half day is $400. Both rates include an experienced engineer / producer and full access to the facility and our handpicked collection of instruments, microphones, and recording equipment.

Contact the production manager at least 48 hours in advance to reschedule. Certain conditions apply.

A 50% deposit of the total amount due is required for all sessions and must be made within 24 hours of reserving studio time and services. Deposits are nonrefundable, but sessions may be rescheduled within 48 hours notice at no penalty. Sessions canceled or rescheduled with less than 48 hours notice may forfeit full or partial deposit.

You can pay by cash, check, or credit card. Please note that cash needs to be delivered to the studio and checks need to be cleared before we can book your sessions.

Yes! We love working on narration projects such as podcasts and audiobooks. Learn more about it on the narration page of the website. Submit an inquiry and we will be in touch about your project shortly.

Every project is unique and we treat it as such. More often than not, bigger projects have a production plan and schedule. We plan out the sessions and order of tracking based on the outcome we’re looking for. For example, if we spent five days working on an EP, day three might be working on guitars, and day five could be tracking vocal overdubs. Generally speaking, we have a plan going into the day.

When you, the artist or band, show up in the morning, everything is set up and ready to go. After you are settled in, we start working immediately on establishing unique tones and coming up with a sound that is inspiring and original. After that, we dig into recording with the goal of making music that everyone in the room feels excited about.

We usually take a lunch break of 15-20 minutes, so we suggest either bringing food. There are also a number of nearby restaurants.

Yes, an experienced audio engineer / producer is included in the studio’s rate. We match producers and artists based on artistic and genre compatibility.

Bringing in outside engineers is at the studio’s discretion. A house engineer is required to be at every session.

Producers enhance your music by providing creative direction, technical expertise, and collaboration.

Pre-production is beneficial though not mandatory. Working with our producers to ensure your music is ready for recording helps streamline the process through clarifying your vision, fine-tuning the music, and pre-recording scratch tracks as needed.

Absolutely! We can coordinate with them to make sure they have everything they need. Note that a house engineer is required at each session.

Yes, of course. Submit an inquiry and we will get in touch to move forward with your project.

We have a team of engineers and producers with experience in a variety of genres, including but not limited to rock, indie, punk, metal, folk, singer-songwriters, country, world, pop, electronic, R&B, hip-hop, jazz, classical, etc. We carefully match like minded engineers / producers with our clients. The idea is that if you have a folk project, we won’t pair you with a metal producer… it’s just not going to be a good fit, unless folk-metal is your thing… which we can work with!

Artist development is a hands-on process of helping musicians develop their skills, talent, and overall brand in order to pave a path to a career in the music industry. It can involve a variety of activities, such as songwriting lessons, vocal training, music production, live performance coaching, marketing, and branding. The goal of artist development is to help musicians create a unique and marketable sound, build a strong fan base, and gain the confidence to develop a life in music.

We offer a variety of services at ModernTone Studios to get you started on your artist development path. By taking the time to develop your musical chops, your unique sound, and your business skills, you can increase your chances of success in the music industry.

Mixing enhances the overall sound and balance of your recordings, creates a polished and professional tone to your songs, and “glues” all of the layers together. Our engineers craft the final sound of your recorded tracks to ensure your music sounds its best.

Mastering is a process that finalizes your mixes and prepares your music to be consumed by your fans on the medium of their choice – streaming, vinyl, etc. This is especially important for music that is going to be released commercially. While some artists elect to take their projects to a separate mastering engineer, we offer mastering services as part of the scope of the project.

Certainly! We will guide you through your recording journey. Submit an inquiry on the contact page and we will take it from there.

Session musicians are skilled performers who contribute to recordings. We have an extensive network of local and remote professionals with experience in various genres. Musicians are selected based on your project’s needs and genre.

Session musicians can be considered for live performances, though arrangements vary. You are welcome to reach out to the session musicians after the sessions to discuss.

We have three main recording spaces decked out with high-end new and vintage music equipment handpicked to capture your unique sound.

Our control room is the hub of our studio and a place for you to connect with your music, fellow collaborators, and producers to create your best work. The live room is designed for capturing drum performances, vocals, and full-band set-ups. Our vocal booth is the intimate space singers can use to deliver performances that truly capture their voice.

The entire studio is designed and set up for maximum flexibility, versatility, and convenience so that you can focus on your creativity.

The building we’re in has been around since the 1950’s. We gutted it in early 2017, creating our warm, creative full-service production house and recording studio, designed by Jacob Light, the studio’s founder and owner. All in one space, we designed each of our rooms to inspire you to make your best music.

We combine classic recording techniques with modern workflows so every record that comes out of ModernTone sounds timeless and stands out in today’s competitive musical landscape.

We have a massive collection of handpicked hi-end microphones, guitars, amps, drums, and recording equipment. You can view the full gear list here.