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Studio Bookings - Policies/Help/Advice/Terms/Conditions
When there are adverse weather conditions affecting the roads & public transport, sessions may be disrupted due to circumstances beyond our control. We cannot accept liability for any costs incurred due to sessions not taking place in these circumstances.
Most of our sessions are 1-2 hrs, so we have to be strict about session times. We can keep our rates at a realistic level
only by strict management of sold studio
time - so we have to charge for time
booked & confirmed - whether or not you use it all – plus any over-runs
used. However, over-runs are often not possible unless you want to
pay the extra voice fees & other costs incurred by ourselves and those
clients with following sessions who have been delayed! However, a "provisional" 1/2 hr (max)
over-run can be booked in advance if the time is available - but we may grab this back if the time is needed for another client! So please be
realistic when estimating the time you need - otherwise you may be walking away
with an unfinished job.
Minimum
booking period is one hour.
Sessions start at the top or bottom of the hour and are booked in 1/2 hr blocks after
the first hour. Sessions may not be booked starting/finishing on the quarter
hour. Please,
always confirm your session by email or fax (+44 (0)207 580 6454)Outline EXACTLY what you need to do, facilities required
(Wild record/ISDN/Digi Beta/MOV etc) and what you need to
walk away with. Please detail deadlines, delivery requirements, people attending and a schedule of voice artists. Our
bookings people, are NOT trained sound engineers. If
in doubt, please ask to speak to an engineer.
When
you arrive, explain to your engineer exactly what you need to do - and what
you need to walk away with. If somebody has booked on your behalf, they may
not have passed on your instructions correctly - or may have skipped the most
vital part!
FTP/DigiDelivery/Email: In the UK, fast UPLOAD circuits are VERY expensive - a reliable non-contended line costs about the same as employing a junior runner! If over 20MB, we therefore charge £10 per 500MB for files downloaded, uploaded or received/sent by email/FTP/DigiDelivery.
Incoming phone patches and incoming ISDN calls are not charged. Outgoing calls however are charged out at BT Business Rates + 20%. Please note that thanks to BT, outgoing overseas ISDN calls can be VERY costly as they are charged at data rates not normal voice rates. ISDN link-ups can use 1-6 ISDN lines. It's usually much cheaper to get overseas studios/voices to dial into us - or to use Source Connect.
Digitisation. Working to MOV makes for a faster and smoother sound-to-picture session as there's no waiting time for mechanical shuttling & locking. If you are planning to provide DigiBeta tapes, and they arrive well in advance, we will give you the opportunity to decide which way you'd like to work. Picture digitisation and/or laying-off of audio has to be carried out in real time. Depending on how busy we are at the time, the rate may vary between £100 & £150 p/h chargable in 1/4 hr blocks. Any resultant MOV's may be the smallest/quickest files that are suitable for the purpose. They will not be suitable for any other use.
Out-of-hours fees. Our staff work long days. It's only fair they get paid overtime. For insurance reasons we normally have two members of staff covering out of hours work (outside of Mon-Fri 9-6), an engineer and a runner. So the fee we charge for Out of Hours on weekdays (£40 p/h) covers overtime payments for two people.
For early morning starts we may have to charge staff cab costs. Ditto for late finishes and weekends. Evenings - out of hours fees will be charged from 18.00 to the end of the session. Higher weekend charges are explained at www.sound.co.uk/otime.htm.
Because our studio engineers work long hours, for early/late sessions, or if you are working through the lunch period – we do ask that you fuel your engineer, especially if you are ordering food for yourselves and your clients.
We
don't build in a margin on our studio rates to cover lavish free meals - we provide refreshments (including 18 different teas),
fruit & scrumptious biscuits - meals can be ordered from our local restaurants & will be
charged on your invoice at cost.
We
have to assume that anybody attending a session on behalf of the client will
be acting as producer/director and will have full authorization by the client
to agree changes to technical facilities provided, budgetary changes and
creative concerns - should the situation so demand. If
you are planning not to physically attend the session, or to produce/direct via a 'phone
patch, then the recording session and any consequent over-runs, edits and
re-records for anything other than technical reasons - must be at your risk
I'm afraid. Obviously, we will use our best endeavours
to ensure your script is recorded as received - but, although very capable,
our engineers are not paid to be producers or voice directors.
Production/voice direction is available as an extra production charge.All
deliveries are charged - whether we use a courier company or our runners. Normally we are pretty fully booked which generally means we will have turned other work away to accept your confirmation. So, if
a confirmed booking is cancelled with less than 48 hours to go, we will charge a 50% cancellation fee. Less than 24 hours - 100%.
Agency voices will usually always charge 100%. If you are planning to stop work for a 1 hr lunch break and don't wished to be charged - please detail that in your booking request so that it can be "sold" to other clients. You must vacate the studio during that period.With
the best will in the world, engineers sometimes fall ill or have accidents.
If we are unable to go ahead with a session, we
cannot accept liability or consequential liabilities in these situations.
Similarly, if someone in an adjoining building decides to start heavy
building work, we cannot guarantee that there won’t be interruptions or
disruption to your session. We will, of course, attempt to contact you just
as soon as we have an inkling that there might be a
problem.Payment.
New Clients must pay in full at the end of the session unless an account
application has been approved. We can invoice in UK pounds sterling, Euros or US
dollars. Credit cards accepted. Our terms for account clients are "strictly 30 days net". This is
a legal definition - not to be confused with "thirty days". "30 days net" means 30 days
after the invoice date. "30 days" can mean 30 days after the end of
the month in which the job was invoiced. So, 30 days net!!
Whilst
we strive to use our best endeavours at all times,
lack of information / preparation - or changes by clients are the most common
causes of things not going according to plan! We can only work with the
information you give us. We cannot be held responsible for
circumstances outside of our control such as performance of voices, script
readability, technically sub-standard material provided or changed deadlines
/ job parameters. Unless we have control over all elements of a job, an
estimate can only ever be an informed guesstimate. Till full payment is
cleared, the mechanical rights and physical stock of all recorded material
remains the property of The Sound Company Ltd. Our payment terms are full
payment within 30 days net of invoice date unless agreed in writing in
advance. Punitive interest charges may be levied for late payment! We cannot be held responsible for session
disturbances/cancellations due to circumstances outside our control - power
cuts, lightning strikes, storms, public transport disruption, staff illness
or accidents, nearby building demolition or building works etc etc.
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E & O E. © Geoff Oliver/The Sound Company Ltd 1993-2010
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The Sound Company Ltd
23 Gosfield Street
London W1W 6HG, UK
T: +44 (0)20 7580 5880
F: +44 (0)20 7580 6454
www.sound.co.uk
The Sound Company Ltd
Seven studios for voice-overs
& audio post-production
7 x Pro Tools studios. Studio 5 also has Sadie
750 sq ft studio for TV media training or 4-waller hire
*****
Sessions MUST be confirmed by email
Minimum booking 1 hr
Sessions are charged as confirmed plus any over-runs
£40 p/h out-of-hours fee outside of Mon-Fri 9-6, higher costs at w/ends and Public Holidays.
Early/late transport costs and/or meals may be charged.
Deliveries are charged
Meals charged at cost
FTP/EMAIL file uploads/downloads £10 per 500MB
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