Vocal recording

Booths and monitoring

Nephilimrivo maintains 2 vocal booths beside the 42 m² live room in Oud-West. Treatment keeps reflections controlled while the space still feels open. You see the engineer through the window; talkback plus your custom cue mix replace hand signals.

8 studio headphones are on hand, or use your own if you tour with them. Joint decisions happen on 4 nearfield pairs in the control room. Need a finished balance? Book mixing separately — vocal time covers capture and stem export.

Microphone and placement

Mic choice follows the song, not a studio default. Early in the session we loop a few bars through different capsules — condenser, dynamic or ribbon — until timbre and sibilance sit where you want. Decisions happen with monitors, not guesswork from the other side of the glass.

Standoff distance and angle to the pop filter matter as much as the model name. Lars Bakker and Charlotte de Vries handle most vocal bookings; Noor van Dijk may support when podcast or band sessions run parallel, always with engineer oversight.

How the session runs

Some singers stack dozens of passes; others nail a verse in three. We book buffer for water breaks because fatigue shows up in pitch before you feel it. Notes after each pass capture what to revisit so you are not auditioning every file at midnight.

Harmony and ad-lib tracks get explicit names in the session — lead, double, adlib1 — so an external mixer or our mixing desk sees the intent immediately. Rap sessions with freestyle lanes stay on isolated tracks for easier edits.

Comping, tuning and edits

Assembling the best phrases across takes fits inside booked hours when we plan for it; otherwise schedule a short follow-up. Melodyne-style correction is opt-in and kept transparent unless you ask for an obvious effect on a duplicate track.

Light breath editing is normal; reconstructing timing bar-by-bar or heavy vocoder design belongs to mixing or a dedicated editing quote. We state limits before you commit so invoices stay predictable.

Delivery formats

Exports default to 24-bit WAV at 48 kHz, lined up with your instrumental. Other sample rates work if you flag them when booking. Delivery is via secure link or your drive; include a comped lead only if we agreed time for it in the slot.

Archive retention is 24 months, described in our privacy policy. After that, files rotate off our servers — keep backups locally. Heading to mastering? Read master delivery formats for headroom targets.

Who it is for

Independent artists finishing a single, MCs tracking an EP, band vocalists overdubbing after band recording, and writers pitching a polished demo all use the booths. Short spoken intros for releases fit here when they are part of a music workflow.

Participants must be 16 or older to attend alone; younger talent needs a guardian on site and written consent. We do not share lyrics or audio without permission; filming in the booth requires a quick OK from staff.

What to prepare

Bounce instrumentals without guide vocals when possible, or export stems with clear labels. Bring lyrics on paper or tablet, humming through difficult consonants beforehand. References should describe tone and space, not ask us to clone another artist.

Hydration beats last-minute ice coffee for most voices — details in vocal session checklist. Reach us through contact or [email protected]; expect a reply within 2 business days for non-urgent planning.

Rates, VAT and booking

Hourly vocal time is €115; a consecutive four-hour block is €420. Listed prices include 21% VAT. Confirmations need a 40% deposit; reschedule without penalty until 7 days before the slot (terms and conditions).

Studio hours: Tue–Fri 11–22, Sat 12–18 — Tuesday to Friday 11:00–22:00, Saturday 12:00–18:00. Closed on Monday. Sessions by appointment. The studio is on Overtoom in Oud-West. Tram 1 stops at Overtoom (Overtoom / Vondelpark); from there it is about a six-minute walk. You can park bicycles at the entrance; cars use paid street parking or Q-Park Byzantium on Vondelstraat, roughly a ten-minute walk. Approved business accounts may use 14-day terms per terms.

Not included by default

Finished mixing, mastering, beat making, instrument overdubs in the live room and video shoots are billed separately. Raw vocal files do not include mix-style revision rounds; punch-ins can be booked hourly if you return weeks later.

Planning two songs in four hours? Send a track list so we can warn you if vocals plus setup need a longer block. Service overview: services; quick answers: FAQ.

Included

• Engineer for booked time
• Microphone selected by shoot-out
• Custom headphone mix
• Comping when the schedule allows
• Timeline-aligned WAV export (24-bit, 48 kHz default)
• Session archive for 24 months
• Water and lyric stand in the booth