Bridge City Sessions FAQ

Q: Where are you located?

A: 1440 SE Powell BLVD. Portland OR, 97202.(near the old twilight, which is now called Mano Oculta.

Q: What does it cost? 

A: Sessions are $500 for 4 songs, each additional song is $100 per song. We accept PayPal, Venmo, and cash. $200 will be required as a deposit to book your session and the remaining $300 the day of session. We do not offer refunds, if you have to cancel or move your date we will hold your deposit with no extra charge.

We also do instrument play-throughs, interviews, Bridge City Fest, and live shows email us for more info.

Q: What's included in the package?

A: You'll get 4 songs, mixed, mastered, and the video editing included. The audio well be available in our dropbox. We'll take some group photos upon request and we'll promote your videos on Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram.

Q: Can i have a copy of the session for my youtube channel or preferred platform?

A: We offer the band/artist the finished songs to upload to their youtube, facebook, instagram etc. Feel free to share our links and upload our teasers and why not put our session on your bandcamp as well!

Q: Do you have a backline of gear? What do i bring?

A: Yes we have a full backline, here is our gear list: 2 Orange 412 guitar cabs, Orange 212 guitar cab, Orange 410 bass cab, Vintage Ampeg 8x10 square back bass cab, Marshal 1960a lead guitar cab, 2 Orange Crush Pro guitar heads, Dark Terror guitar head, Tiny Terror bass head. We have a brand new custom Öqvist 5 piece drum kit, 7 piece Pacific cx series drum kit and a Wail City Snare. We have stands but you need to bring your own cymbals and a kick pedal.

Q: What can I expect the day of my session:

A: We typically have bands/artists load in at noon on Saturday and Sundays to start tracking within an hour or so. Weekdays we will have you load in 330 pm to start tracking shortly after 5pm. Let’s us know ahead of time if you are interested in our backline and we can be set up upon your arrival or take a quick look when you get here. This will save everyone time and energy lugging gear upstairs and you can pack a lighter load in your vehicles. Once everything is set up and levels are good and the band is happy we are ready to record, sessions typically take about an hour. We’ll have you play each song 2x for the best tracks to pick from. We ask that you say the song title into the mic before the 1st take of each song so we can mark the tracks as we go. After your session we will record a short promo teaser which takes as long as it takes you to say “Hi, we are “Band” and you’re watching Bridge City Sessions”. Feel free to get creative with these. We also have an option to create your own audio intro for your videos as well. Intro’s are typically 4-8 seconds of a song with vocal melody singing “Bridge City Sessions”. We have plenty of stock audio so too if you’d rather choose one, feel free to ask.

Things to keep in mind:

-Recommended fresh strings, no broken drum heads, if you have broken cymbals just know that wont be sounding as good for the recording, so if at all possible try to leave the cracked ones behind.

-Be as prepared as you can before coming in. We are as patient as we can be but typically we have other bands recording the same day and don’t want to keep others waiting too long.

-Tune your instruments between takes please, we will do our best to remind you as well. Don’t ruin a good take because you forgot to tune.

-If you play a stand up bass, violin, or acoustic please bring in a DI(Direct input). We are trying to avoid bleed from other instruments and prefer to have more options to get the best capture possible. We like to get both DI and a mic depending on the instrument/session.

-We are going to be mixing these to bring out the best of your performance and sound, if you make tons of mistakes they will not be edited out of each take. Practice, practice, practice! We are looking for the best solid takes of each song, not splicing and making edits, were trying to keep a true live performance and the videos need to match the audio we choose.

-Look up the weather and check to see if its going to be too hot or cold, our building is old and doesn’t have much insulation. When its hot out its going to be just as hot inside, same for the winter. Just be prepared as you can, we hate to see folks suffering when paying for a performance.