Schwobtech Studio Policies

Events Presented by the Schwob School of Music

All public student, faculty, ensemble, and guest artist performances are automatically added to the studio calendar, providing they are scheduled through the School of Music. You can confirm recording and live streaming of your event by sending an email to recordingstudio@columbusstate.edu.

Official Schwob School of Music events, including student, faculty, ensemble, and guest artist performances incur no charges for recording, live streaming, or standard post-production tasks. These tasks include basic track separation, fades, nominal level adjustments, and basic mastering.

In 2019, the Recording Studio ceased making physical copies of concert recordings. All concert recordings are now delivered electronically in CD-quality WAV format via the studio’s Google Drive account. These recordings will remain available for one semester and will be shared with each participant when post-production has been completed. If you need to share the link with other individuals, such as composers, professors, etc., please notify us. We will not respond to Google share requests from email addresses that are unfamiliar, so please don’t copy the link and send it to others – it will not work.

Physical copies on Compact Disc may be obtained for a small fee, but we highly encourage all performers, composers, etc. to maintain digital copies of their own portfolios using any of the widely available online music or cloud storage services, or by downloading their files to a safe location.

Visiting artist performances will be automatically recorded unless we are notified of the artist's desire to not record. When guest artists sign and return the independent contractor form and letter of agreement, this document contains language that allows CSU to use all recorded performances however it wishes – however, we will honor requests not to record, especially from visiting artists. If your guest artist does not want to record, please communicate with us as quickly as possible and describe how you would like your event recorded, live streamed, saved, shared, etc. We are happy to communicate with artist management, or the artists themselves and abide by their wishes.

Private Recording Sessions

Private audio and video recording sessions with our engineers are also available. Our staff can handle a variety of project types, and can record in several locations, including Legacy Hall, the Studio Theatre, large ensemble rehearsal rooms, and other locations using portable equipment.

The first step in planning a private recording session is to schedule the space first. This is done through Mr. Tao Ge in the front office. Confirm availability of the desired space with Mr. Ge, then contact recordingstudio@columbusstate.edu to schedule an engineer. It is important that the space is booked before attempting to schedule an engineer for a session.

While we make every effort to accommodate scheduling requests, sometimes it is simply not possible to schedule an engineer during your booked time. Please be flexible and work one-on-one with us to ensure things are planned well in advance.

All private recording sessions must be scheduled 10 calendar days in advance at an absolute minimum. There are no exceptions to this policy.

Please see the SchwobTech Equipment page if you wish to familiarize yourself with the equipment available for use in private recording sessions.

Private Session Costs

Private Sessions for Schwob/CSU students are charged at $30/hr + 10% Equipment Fee. This rate applies to session setup, recording time, session teardown, and post-production. Sessions will be invoiced and payable through the front office upon completion of the project. Produced files will not be delivered until payment of the invoice.

Faculty/Staff/Guest Artist rates are subject to variation, please contact the recording studio to discuss details of your project.

Contact Dr. McCabe or recordingstudio@columbusstate.edu if your recording project has a limited budget, it is a good idea to plan in advance. This is to ensure efficient production, availability of engineers, and to prevent “creeping sessionitis.”

Amplification & Live Sound Reinforcement

All events requiring amplification or live sound reinforcement must be scheduled fourteen (14) days in advance. All events requiring amplification must have a designated setup time of at least 1 (one) hour where the venue is empty so we can ensure correct setup. Expecting the technology to work effectively and the engineer to create a quality product when the concert hall is full of people making noise is nearly impossible. Please plan accordingly and provide stage plots and channel lists to the recording studio well before the event. If the PA system needs to be turned on for your event, this 14-day policy applies – including simple speaking microphones. This is because we need to schedule additional engineers to operate the PA system, and we are limited by our number of employees, student worker schedules, and part-time staff hourly limits.

Equipment Checkout

The Music Library at Schwob has several portable video and audio recorders available for checkout. Equipment in the recording studio is generally not available for checkout and may only be used within the Schwob School of Music building or One Arsenal Place Audio Lab by studio staff members.

Deadlines

All events not on the master recording calendar (official Schwob events) must be scheduled 7 days in advance, preferably longer.

Under no circumstances will recording sessions take place, or additional technical needs met on short notice. Please note this policy: We will not fulfill requests unless they are scheduled outside of the 7-day advance deadline.

Obtaining Copies of your Media

Standard production time for our recording services (recital performances, ensemble concerts, etc) is 3–4 weeks. Please do not expect to receive files at the end of the concert or recording session. This is to ensure both the quality of the recording and to keep pace with our busy production schedule of more than 300 projects per academic year.

Access to the SchwobTech Studios

Students, faculty, and staff members are welcome to make use of our recording facilities when accompanied by a staff member. Unaccompanied access and equipment use must first be approved by Dr. McCabe.

Non-SchwobTech users of the SchwobTech Studios are encouraged to bring their own external hard disks or USB flash drives to store data. Since our primary mission is to record official Schwob events, we cannot be responsible for data left on our machines from projects that fall outside that mission.

All of the engineers and technicians who work in our studio spaces must agree to the studio-use regulations before using any of the equipment for projects. This includes student employees, faculty members, and students enrolled in classes taught in the studio spaces. Please see Dr. McCabe for a copy of the regulations and to receive authorization for studio access.

Individuals who have not agreed to the studio regulations are not permitted to enter the studio spaces unless escorted by a staff member. Students who have been granted access to the studio spaces may not, under any circumstances, allow their computer accounts, scan cards, or other access devices to be used by anyone other than themselves. Students who violate this policy will permanently lose their studio privileges and may be referred to Information Security, the CSU Police, or the Dean of Students for violating university policies.

This document is current as of October 27, 2022 and is subject to change at any time. Please contact us for the most recent version of these policies.