Despite what appears to be a clinical environment inside a recording studio, astounding wonders can happen inside such a room with proper equipment & expertise. It has been a tough year for musicians and studios alike and what better way to uphold them after a year full of hardships than putting out a list of some of the exceptional recording studios in India this year. Where the magic happens if you wish & work for it!
Here below is the list of the best recording studios in India. We realize that we might have missed some but we will try to cover them in our next article. Please note that all the prices are flexible and the studios are responsible for any fluctuations from the below-mentioned quotes. (The list below is in no particular order).
1. Island City Studios, Mumbai
With a wide variety of artists based out in Mumbai, Island City Studios have been a key player in shaping some of the best sounds of the independent talent in city. Musicians ranging from desi hip hop icons – Divine & Naezy to Indie-pop songsters like Raghav Meattle, Prateek Kuhad & Mali, have worked diligently with the studio for recording & producing their tracks. ICS offers 2 studios to facilitate recordings, dubbing & video-shooting an entire set live.
The Press (A) – their flagship studio which is 500 sq ft. in size equipped with the finest gears from Yamaha, Pearl, Fender, etc to accommodate any kind of recording needs comes at a cost of 2600 INR/hour. The Bay (B) is more suitable for dubbing & tracking a band live by keeping the drums in a separate 100 sq ft. room while the rest of the band takes the control room. The Bay can be rented at 1800 INR/hour. Island City Studios also curates a customized package with a discounted price on a project basis.
Website : https://www.islandcitystudios.in/
2. PowerHouse Studios, Delhi
Back in the game after a 4-year hiatus, Powerhouse is a recording studio owned by Rijul Victor, ex-drummer of Delhi-based Colossal figures & the founding member of ‘Corridors’. It offers mixing, mastering, & production for solo artists/bands, Jingles, Background score for films, and more. Powerhouse charges on a per-song basis as below :-
Recording, Mix & Master – Starting @ 15K/song
Recording, Mix & Master with Live drums – Starting @ 20K/song
Mix & Master – Starting @ 10K/song
Apart from the whole package the studio can be booked @1,000/hour & with Live drums @1,800/hour.
3. Hourglass X Audioneers, Noida
Hourglass X Audioneers is a collaborative effort from Paras Khanna, a sound engineer who also is a member of Delhi based band Cha’bi & Celjo John, music producer whose forte is electronic & hip-hop music. Located in Noida, the studios offer full song production including Vocal Production, Mixing and Mastering starting at INR 30,000 & an hourly rent of the studio at 1500 only. Apart from that, the artist can also opt for standalone mixing+mastering services starting at 5K. Some of the established musicians who have recorded here are Cha’bi, Larry Lobo, Rohil Bhatia, The Snake charmer, etc.
Website : https://www.theaudioneers.com/
4. Aalaap factory, Bengaluru
Bengaluru’s indie music scene never ceases to remain lively and illustrious. Aalaap factory is a 1 stop shop for all the requirements ranging from recording, production for artists, jingles, film music to even video & photoshoots for youtube & band portfolios. The studio offers skillful production & recording services but that’s not it, Aalaap factory has branched out to the pool of artist management as well & has been able to develop quite a roster in a short span of time. Sameer Rao, Karthik Mani, Sangeetha Ravindranath, Inchara Rao are some of the established musicians who have recorded here. Pricing for the studio are as below:-
Jam Room – Rs.400/hr, Recording – Rs.650/hr, Mix & Mastering – Rs 3000/- onwards.
Daily Packages : (10hrs) Jam Room- Rs 3000/day recording – Rs 5000/day onwards
5. Kings & Prophets Studio, Mizoram
Situated in the capital of one of the seven sisters of India, is another well-structured recording studio, Kings & Prophets. This studio offers the best deals in terms of recording, mixing & mastering with basic recording starting from 1K/hour & live music recording from 2K/hour. Kings & Prophets consist of 2 studios, Studio A for Band, Choir & Vocal sessions, and all kinds of post-production for movies. And Studio B for mixing & vocal sessions. Many prominent musicians including Avora records, Magdalene, Soulmate, Sonam Sherpa, the Reverse tragedy have recorded & produced their mellifluous tunes over here.
Website : https://www.kingsandprophets.com/
6. Compass Box Studio, Ahmedabad
The Brainchild of Raag Sethi who is the Bassist & producer of Heat Sink, Compass Box is a well established recording studio in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Apart from the regular services which a recording studio delivers, Compass Box also acts as an indie label by assisting artists in music publishing & providing them a platform to exhibit their forte in music through Compass Box live sessions on Youtube. The tariff for recording & mixing sessions depends upon the density of the project and is customised to get a price favourable for the artists. Hourly rates range anywhere from 800-1600 INR. Some of the notable artists who have worked with Compass Box are Meera Desai, Sanjeeta Bhattacharya, Samar Mehdi, Hanita Bhambri, Ramya Pothuri, Fame The Band and Aditi Ramesh, etc.
Website : https://www.compassboxstudio.com/
7. Gray Spark Audio, Pune
Gray Spark Audio is a music production & post-production facility located in the city of Pune with a lavish space of 3000 sq ft. Containing 2 studios, one for live recording/mixing & the other for voiceovers, foley and mid-level productions, Gray Spark is soon going to expand by launching a 5.1 preview theatre. The studio is popular among the indie artists for hosting BYOH(Bring your own headphones) live sessions, a kind of in-house series of concerts & also offers acoustic consultation to create recording spaces & live venues. Tariff for the Studio A is 1300/- per hour & Studio B is 800/- per hour. Mixing in Studio B is gonna cost around 7000 INR & Mix+Master in Studio A around 10000/- (Digital Mix). Gray Spark has hosted artists such as Gaurav Topakhane, Aswekeepsearching, Easy Wanderlings, KSHMR & Sanjeev Thomas to name a few.
Website http://gray-spark.com/
8. Ferris Wheels Studios, Gurugram
FWS, Gurgaon needs no special introduction as many established artists from the industry have worked with the team of engineers and composers from this place. The studio comprises 2 separate studio rooms for music production & recording in both analog & digital format, a live room, an isolated booth & an amp room. The hourly rates are different for Studio A and Studio B. Indian Ocean, Midival Punditz, Prabhdep, Shibani Kashyap, Komorebi, Parikrama, Kamakshi Khanna are few big-shot artists who have recorded here.
Website https://www.ferriswheelstudios.com/
9. Shimmr Studios, Chennai
Established in Chennai, Shimmr Studios is a production & recording facility founded by Indian film composer/producer Ashwin Vinayagamoorthy. The studio takes a hybrid approach by amalgamating analog & digital aspects of music production hence creating flawless work for the clients. Shimmr studios take pride in catering variety of services such as Digital Editing, audio restoration, scoring, mixing & beat-making.
Recording starts at 1,500/hr & Mixing starts at ₹15,000 for minimal productions. Audio Editing and Restoration costs around 1,500/hr. Sid Sriram, Shankar Mahadevan, Chinmayi Sripada, Dhanush, etc. have created their music with the team of engineers at Shimmr.
Website : https://shimmrstudios.com/
10. Plug n Play Studios, New Delhi
Located in Chittranjan Park of New Delhi, this studio offers composition, arranging, recording, mixing, live sound engineering, and live gigs recording. This studio was founded by Advaita and Shadow and Light’s Anindo Bose. The cost for a full band to produce one song would be around INR 35,000 including mixing/mastering. The per hourly rate of the studio to record vocals or acoustic songs is around 2K. There’s no fixed cost for the production of a 4 song EP though, the studio helps and guides new artists, to be more efficient and cost-effective. Artists and bands which have recorded their music from Plug ‘N’ Play are, Shubha Mudgal, Mohit Chauhan, Advaita, Shadow and Light, Pakshee, Bipul Chettri, Anirudh Varma Collective, SabCulture, The Busking Man, Naalayak, Swati Bhatt, Hanita Bhambri, Ankur Sabharwal, and many more!
11. Eleven Gauge Recordings, Bengaluru
Thejus Nair is a one-man army for Eleven gauge recordings situated in BEL layout of Bengaluru. Nair has grasped his knowledge by working with the likes of Shankar Ehsan Loy, Blackstrat Blues during his time at the YashRaj film studios. Eleven Gauge recordings solely handle all the production, recording, mixing, mastering & editing demands. Generally, the recording rates are INR 850/hour at the studio & Nair always works out the best deal by going through the client’s demo & deciding on a quote after that. Metal & Rock acts like Godless, Perfect Strangers, Project MishraM have intensively worked with Eleven Guage recordings on some of their projects.
Website : https://www.elevengauge.com/
12. Kintsugi Studios, New Delhi
Last but not the least, Kintsugi Studios located in South Delhi is a stunningly creative audio & video production studio offering a conglomeration of services like music compositions, jingles, voice-over, Background score for films, etc. The studio has worked with media companies like Scoopwhoop & News laundry and has hosted artists such as Tanya Nambiar, Ditty, Bhrigu Sahni, Suraj Mani, Nikhil Swaroop, Pragnya Wakhlu, purplecassettes to name a few.
