This is one of those situations where 'art' is involved so the opinions may be considered 'subjective'. I consider myself a fair-minded person, even if I am involved. Many friends of mine would support that claim.
What is good quality sound recording and mixing? Is it in the eye of the beholder?
In this instance, the sound quality should have matched current Hip Hop genre styles. I.E. Very electronic with high reverb effects, etc. Akon and Kanye West are a good examples of this current popular style. Henceforth it gets on the radio and people request it.
This was what I wanted from Colorado Sound Recording Studio and did not receive it for the money I paid.
The other side is that, as the artist in this case, it should be noted, that my own musical skills are moderate at best. However, I wasn't paying the studio for 'my' skills. I was paying for their skills as sound engineers to enhance mine with great production at $85 per hour.
My first complaint when the 4 Song EP,(cost $11,781) was that the Mastering Session made it sound like classical music. The volume was too low compared to a Tupac CD my friend played next to it at the same volume. It had to be redone again. Still not even close to correct.
This was the SPECIFIC SOUND QUALITY COMPLAINT. It was DRY and PLAIN. Nothing hip, new, or current about the effects at all.
I tried to meet with the owner, but he kept directing me to have a meeting with the Sound Engineer(named anonymous) and the Mastering Engineer(named anonymous). I was not interested in meeting with them. They were the ones who had done the poor quality engineering work. I wanted to meet with the owner.
Then, on June 4th, 2008 I requested the sound files be burned onto a DVD so I could take them somewhere else. I emailed the the request to the studio and they said they would get back to me.
The COLORADO SOUND engineer didn't reply for about 5 weeks. I called again TWICE to set up the burn session. Finally, on July 28th, the engineer returned my call.....
What did he say? "Sorry man, two weeks ago our back up drive died and we lost all your files." So, in actuality, they had a month to at least get me the files and they blew me off and lost them instead.
Poor customer service and poor technology.
I had called and the receptionist said the Sound Engineer would get back to me.
As it happens, by the time the engineer got back to me 7 weeks later to talk about, burning the session files onto a DVD, their Hard Drive had crashed and lost all my music and session files.
At this point, the owner finally wanted to meet with me and I said no. I said that I wanted a refund of my money and wanted to go somewhere else for any production work I did.
At this point, I have all the receipts, emails and phone call logs to prove communication in the matter. I am going to file a Small Claims Case within the month.
As time went on and I talked to other musicians in the Denver area, they also supported the poor reputation that Colorado Sound Recording Studio had. Other musicians had also heard or been part of poor quality service or recording when it came to studio recording work.
This is a warning to other Denver musicians who may be debating about paying $85 an hour for mediocre hip hip studio recording work. I cannot speak for other genres of music there, but it would fair to say ......Be Warned!!!
Denver musician
Denver, Colorado
U.S.A.