Hourly rate
$65per hour
2 hour minimum. Engineer at setup and teardown included.
Rooms and rates
Rooms, by the hour
Two rooms tuned for speech and a kit that travels the island. Every rate is on this page, so you can price a booking before you write. The engineer is there for setup and teardown on every booking at no charge.
Choose a space
Two rooms and a kit that travels
The Teak Room
The main room, in use since the first week in 2020.
Capacity
4 voices
Plus one remote guest by browser link, recorded on their own track. No live audiences, and never more than 5 people in the room.
Longer days
- Half day, 4 hours
- $230
- Full day, 8 hours
- $420
On the desk
- Four dynamic broadcast microphones on sprung arms
- Closed-back headphones at every seat
- An eight-input multitrack recorder
- Three fixed cameras, as an add-on at $40 an hour
Best for
- Interviews and panels of two to four people
- Bilingual shows, French and English in one take
- A host in the room and a guest on the link
- Video episodes with a synced multicam edit
The desk
Why the desk stays
The desk came from an office clearance in my first week, in 2020, when I had two microphones, a lease on a former dental lab and no furniture at all. It was under a pile of filing trays and someone had used it for at least a decade as a place to put hot mugs down, so I sanded it twice, once badly and once properly, and oiled it on a Sunday with every window open. I kept it because of the front edge. It curves in one long shallow arc, and when four people sit around it they all end up the same distance from their microphones without anybody being told where to sit: about a hand's width, which is exactly where a dynamic broadcast microphone sounds its best. Guests rest their elbows on the curve instead of leaning into the microphone, and the levels stay steady for the whole hour, even when the conversation gets lively. A modern desk with a laminate top would be easier to clean, and I have been told so, kindly, more than once. But a hard flat surface rings, and teak does not; it takes the edge off a cup set down too firmly or a pen tapped in excitement, and in all these years it has never once made a recording worse. It gets oiled again every July while the studio is closed. It is staying.
Odile
The Booth
Built in 2023 out of what had been the storeroom.
Hourly rate
$45per hour
1 hour minimum. Engineer at setup and teardown included.
Capacity
1 to 2 voices
Two microphones at a smaller desk, closed-back headphones for both.
Half day
$160
Four hours, for a run of solo episodes or a batch of course recordings in one sitting.
Best for
- Solo episodes
- Voice notes and lessons for courses
- Short narration
- A two-person check-in show
The room
The same acoustic treatment as the Teak Room in a space about a third of the size, so a single voice sounds close and dry without the room joining in. Remote guests and the cameras are set up in the Teak Room; if you need either, book that one.
On location
The portable kit, with the engineer, on the island of Montreal and in Laval.
Call-out
$120
Once per booking, covers travel and setting up the kit.
On site
$55per hour
2 hour minimum. Two hours on site comes to $230 with the call-out.
Where
Montreal and Laval
The island of Montreal and Laval only. Nothing further out, however nicely asked.
The kit
- Covers 2 to 4 voices
- The engineer travels with it and runs it
- Raw files per voice handed over the same day
- Editing available at the usual rates
What your room needs
A door that closes and no espresso machine. Curtains, a rug and a bookshelf all help; a boardroom with a glass wall and a fridge that hums does not. If you are unsure, describe the room when you write and we will tell you honestly whether it will work.
The rate card
Every rate, in one table
A 50 percent deposit holds the booking. The balance is paid at the end of the session by card or bank transfer.
| Item | Detail | Rate | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rooms | |||
| The Teak Room | Up to 4 voices, 2 hour minimum | $65 | per hour |
| The Booth | 1 to 2 voices, 1 hour minimum | $45 | per hour |
| Half day, Teak Room | 4 hours | $230 | per session |
| Half day, Booth | 4 hours | $160 | per session |
| Full day, Teak Room | 8 hours | $420 | per session |
| Add-ons | |||
| Engineer, setup and teardown | Every booking, either room | Included | no charge |
| Dedicated engineer | Riding levels for the whole session | $25 | per hour |
| Video, three fixed cameras | Teak Room only | $40 | per hour |
| Synced multicam edit | Episodes up to 60 minutes | $150 | per episode |
| Rush turnaround | Any edit, back in 48 hours | +50% | on the edit |
| On location | |||
| Call-out | Island of Montreal and Laval | $120 | per booking |
| On site | 2 to 4 voices, 2 hour minimum | $55 | per hour |
| Editing | |||
| Basic edit | Up to 60 finished minutes, 3 business days | $95 | per episode |
| Basic, beyond 60 minutes | Each extra finished minute | $1.50 | per minute |
| Full edit | Up to 60 finished minutes, 5 business days | $190 | per episode |
| Full, beyond 60 minutes | Each extra finished minute | $3 | per minute |
| Extra revision round | The first round is included | $30 | per round |
Worked through
Four bookings, priced
An interview, edited
$225
Two hours in the Teak Room at $65, then a Basic edit at $95. Raw files the same afternoon, the episode three business days later.
What a Basic edit includesA solo hour
$45
One hour in the Booth, raw files only. You edit it yourself, or send it back to us later.
A video half day
$540
Half day in the Teak Room at $230, four hours of cameras at $40, and one synced multicam edit at $150.
A visit to your office
$230
The $120 call-out plus two hours on site at $55, anywhere on the island of Montreal or in Laval.
In the rooms
House rules, briefly
Water
Fine at the desk
There is a jug in each room. Lids on, please, near the recorder.
Food
In the kitchenette
Crumbs and crisp packets are louder on a microphone than you would think.
Dogs
Quiet ones welcome
A dog asleep under the teak desk has never ruined a take.
Phones
On silent, not off
Off phones get forgotten on the desk. Silent ones go home with their owners.
Time
Sessions end on time
Nothing runs past 21:00 on weekdays or 17:00 on Saturday, because someone else may be waiting, or the engineer would like dinner.
Priced it?
Write with the date, the room and how many voices; a 50 percent deposit holds it.
Write to book a roomBefore you write
Hours, the deposit and cancellation terms, the late July closure and access details.
Booking and visiting