7-days notice for a session or job is preferred. Sessions must be booked by appointment.
Availability is currently limited to select projects negotiated by contract in advance.
A $100 deposit is required to reserve a recording date, or before I begin work on any remote editing, mixing, or production project. Project rate work may require a percentage of the project fee requested as deposit upfront (to be negotiated in contract). This deposit is credited to your first invoice, but is otherwise NON-REFUNDABLE. If you need to reschedule, I will re-apply your existing deposit to a new date if you give at least 24 hours notice. No-shows, last minute changes and/or cancellations under 24-hours will result in LOSS OF DEPOSIT.
Invoices are sent via QuickBooks and can be paid directly online. I also accept Venmo, PayPal, or cash. No personal checks. Clients are billed immediately after first episode or project. After this first payment, any ongoing clients are billed on or around the 1st of every month with payment expected within 7-days of invoice receipt. Unpaid invoices will result in stoppage of work delivery.
Any client booking recurring work (such as a weekly or monthly podcast production) will sign a standard independent contractor agreement before master files are delivered.
Billing begins when I arrive on site to set up, or at the scheduled start time, whichever is earlier.
For hourly clients, all work time is billable after the free initial email consultation, including calls, video meetings, and ongoing email correspondence. This also includes time my hardware is dedicated to processing, downloading, or exporting your files. Time is billed in 15-minute increments.
For any on-site, travel will be charged at .50/mile beyond 15 miles. (I’m centrally located in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio.)
Edits and mixes requested in a turnaround of 2 business days or less will be charged an additional rush service rate of $30 per file/project, unless a recurring schedule has been agreed to in writing. This includes works in progress in which client assets are delivered to me with less than 2 business days’ notice. Files received after 5pm ET are considered received the next business day. (Typical turnaround is 7-days from receipt of files or one episode per week for recurring podcast production.)
Outstanding balances may result in deliverable media (mixes, files, etc.) being withheld until paid. One proof of mix, editing, or creative projects may be sent to clients with an outstanding balance for review, but files will include "digital watermarks" until full payment is received.
Clients are responsible for paying any additional hours worked for requested changes on each draft of a project unless a flat project rate or retainer has been set in writing prior to the beginning of your project. Flat-rate and retainer projects include one round of revisions. Additional rounds are billed hourly.
Computer files are uninsured. Elstro Production assumes no responsibility for master recordings, computer files and/or any other items lost. Any items or files left in my care for more than 30 days after delivery of final project may be disposed of at my discretion.
Obviously, it’s in my best interest to protect your files. However, hard drives and servers are not 100% reliable. Accidents can and do happen. The best way to safeguard your project is to make sure you make your own separate backups of anything shared with Elstro Production remotely. Elstro Production accepts no liability for data stored on our computers, servers, or personal cloud accounts at any time.
For clients hoping to work remotely it is strongly recommended you have regular access to a computer and email and are competent with a file sharing service. DropBox (preferred), Google Drive, or We Transfer. If I am directly accessing your files via a remote recording service (RiversideFM, Streamyard, etc.) it is recommended I have direct login access.
When recording to hard disk (computer files), your session files will remain on my server until your project is finished. Once you are satisfied with your final mixes, you have the option of receiving an archive copy of your session files; a digital “master tape”. These are all the individual tracks that you recorded during the session: individual guest or, instruments tracks, etc. Request for archives more than 30-days after delivery will be charged $50.