The Mews Productions

The Mews Productions Mobile Recording Unit was set up by Kirsty Hopkins and Dave Clarke to offer musicians of all backgrounds a mobile recording service that is second to none at reasonable prices. We strongly believe that making a truly wonderful recording should not cost the earth.

Kirsty Hopkins works extensively as a soprano soloist and consort singer for groups such as The Monteverdi Choir, The Sixteen, Tallis Scholars, London Voices, BBC Singers, Gabrieli Consort and The Cambridge Singers. She is also in great demand as a session singer and has sung on numerous film and tv soundtracks. She now has a formidable CV as a pop and classical producer with a particular interest in working with singers and vocal groups.

Dave Clarke is head engineer for The Mews Productions. He comes from an incredibly diverse musical background having worked for 5 years in-house at Sony Studios (Whitfield Street) training under Mike Ross Trevor and worked with an enormous range of artists and producers in the fields of film, crossover, classical and pop. He has been head engineer and proprietor of The Mews Recording Studios for 5 years.

Prices always depend upon session circumstances and client requirements but to give you an example of recent mobile recordings we have done here is a breakdown of a standard “demo day” that we currently run for classical singers:

This session is run at Wathen Hall at St. Paul’s Boys School in Barnes, London SW13. The hall is a beautiful purpose-built wooden concert facility overlooking the Thames, with a fantastic transparent acoustic and excellent sound proofing. The hall comes with a new Steinway D concert grand which we have tuned daily on sessions.

The basic package we offer is charged at an hourly recording rate of £175.00 + VAT. There is no additional setup and breakdown charge and accompanists must be arranged by singers/instrumentalists. The rate includes hall hire, grand piano (and tune), recording, editing, mixing, mastering (done at The Mews Recording Studios) and 3x CDR’s of the final product.

Regarding editing, we will edit up to what we think is pretty much the final product (musicians are more than welcome to sit in on this process if they prefer). We will then invite you to The Mews Recording Studios to hear the work-in-progress and will make any further edits there and then (if you wish to be sent a cd of the first edit so that you can ‘sit with it’ for a while before this session we will more than gladly do so). We will then mix and master the finished cd and send it you as soon as possible. (NB. If you require further edits, mixing, or mastering beyond our standard service we will charge a fee of £40 + VAT per hour).

We recommend that you attempt to record no more than 4 pieces (i.e. for a vocalist 4 standard concert arias) per 2 hour session and no more than one per half hour after that. This allows us a decent choice of edits and ensures that you can relax and get the finished product you need. From experience we can recommend that you stick to this guide-line – it is no point spending your hard earned cash on an expensive recording only to rush through the session. We have found time and time again that people who do this rarely get as good a product as those who focus on quality rather than quantity.

duplication, tailored to meet your specific needs.

Prices are dependent on services required and are available on request.