• Hourly Rehearsals & Recording
w/ Video & Streaming •
This is it! You've found your favorite music studio in the greater Philadelphia area, perfect for band rehearsals, offering great quality and affordable multi-track recordings, as well as videography, livestreaming and post-production services.
The hourly room rates range from $14/hr to $20/hr, depending on the time booked and room selection. Each room includes a full backline, but we also have many Add-ons for bookings, like instruments, guitar pedals, drum cymbals, as well as practical things like extra cables.
Pickle is a space that's built and maintained for you to enjoy being here, from detailed aesthetics, to practical accomodations and conscientious service. The experience you have here is important to us.
The return of the suggestion box
Remember those things? I vaguely do. They existed normally in the heart of beaurocracies and were largely percieved to be ignored. Well, it's back, sans the beaurocracy and the apathy, solely in digital form, here, at your disposal. Who knows, I may even get crazy and provide an actual physical box. But for now, enjoy a default-anonymous channel to voice the changes you'd like to see for your rehearsal/recording experience. I can't promise every suggestion will be followed, but each one will, at the very least, be considered.
With that said, if you like the studio and want to support it...
It helps a ton and your support is very much appreciated! Okay, enough words, more forms.
PICKLE ROOMS
Room I — $20/hr
Off-peak Discount! -$4/hr Weekdays 12-6pm
Our main practice/recording room is approximately 15x20ft* with soundproofing and sound treatment in a climate controlled environment. We did our best to make the room inviting with attention to detail in the arrangement of equipment for aesthetics and efficient use of space, as well as colored lighting that you can control.
*actual room dimensions are 21'5" x 14'7" with an area of 308ft2.
Full Backline
Everything listed below is already in the room and included with all bookings.
- 3 x Shure SM48 vocal mics with cables & stands
- Yamaha EMX5 12-channel 1000-Watt Powered Mixer with passive stereo speakers
- 2 x Electro-Voice ELX200-12SP 12" powered subwoofers
- Vox AC15 Custom 2-Channel 15-Watt 1x12" guitar combo tube amp
- Marshall DSL40CR 2-Channel 40-Watt 1x12" guitar combo tube amp w/ footswitch
- Fender Rumble 100 V3 100-watt 1x10" bass combo amp (additional boost from PA/subs in room)
- Yamaha Stage Custom Birch 5-pc drum kit (SBP-0F5 version) with Aquarian heads and studio rings
- 10" and 12" Rack Toms, 14" Floor Tom, 14" Snare Drum, and 20" Kick Drum. Cymbals & sticks not included.
- 3 x music stands and 2 x keyboard stands
Room Recording [+$20]
- Only pay if you decide to keep the recording!
- Receive a lossless stereo wav file of rehearsal.
- You can opt in during the booking process.
Extra Add-ons
There's a wide array of instruments and accessories available to include with your booking.
You can rent a guitar, bass, keyboard, as well as an upright piano, which is mic'd and ready to record with.
We also have guitar/bass pedals, drum sticks and cymbals, extra cables and various accessories useful for recording, if you're going setting up a DIY recording session.
See add-ons in the booking form below for prices and details.
Hours: open everyday, 12am-12pm, by appointment
Address: 5213 Grays Ave. Philadelphia, PA
Room II — $18/hr
Off-peak Discount! -$4/hr Weekdays 12-6pm
Our second practice room opened in 2023 is approximately 14x20ft.* It also has soundproofing and sound treatment as well as heat/AC. All the amps are stacks, which you can swap out with your own heads.
*actual room dimensions are 19'10" x 13'6" with an area of 268ft2.
UPDATE 10/23: We're still finishing the room! All the backline/necessities are there. Here is everything left to finish the room...
Make fridge with drinks & snacks available- Get colored/smart lights in the room (researching options)
Make wifi available in this roomInstall guitar hangers on the wallAdd an extra music standGet rid of that leftover drywall in the corner!
Full Backline
Everything listed below is already in the room and included with all bookings.
- 2 x PGA48 vocal mics with cables & stands
- 2 x Samson RS110A powered speakers (170w RMS) mounted on the wall
- Yamaha MG10/2 Mixer with four XLR / ¼" TRS inputs & two stereo ¼" TRS / RCA inputs, connected to Samson speakers
- Marshall MG100HDFX 2-Channel 100w 4Ω solid state guitar amp head w/ footswitch
- Marshall AVT412 4x12" 200w 4Ω speaker cabinet connected to the Marshall head
- Orange CR120 2-Channel 120w 8-16Ω solid state guitar amp head
- Carvin 212V 2x12" 200w 8Ω speaker cabinet with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers, connected to the Orange head
- Gallien-Krueger 700RB-II 320w 8Ω or 480w 4Ω, 1x10" solid state bass amp head
- Peavey 410 TX 4x10" 350-Watt 8Ω speaker cabinet connected to the GK bass head
- Legion 4-pc Drum Set with Evans heads and studio rings
- 12" and 13" Rack Toms, 16" Floor Tom, 22" Kick Drum and Yamaha Rydeen 14" Snare. Cymbals & sticks not included.
- 2 x music stand and 1 x keyboard stand
Extra Add-ons
There's a wide array of instruments and accessories available to include with your booking.
You can rent a guitar, bass, keyboard as well as a digital drum sample pad.
We also have guitar/bass pedals, drum sticks and cymbals, extra cables and various accessories useful for recording, if you're going setting up a DIY recording session.
See add-ons in the booking form below for prices and details.
Hours: open everyday, 12am-12pm, by appointment
Address: 5213 Grays Ave. Philadelphia, PA
Room III — That'd be cool
Room IV — Stranger things have happened
PICKLE SERVICES
Live Multi-track Recording [+$20/hr]
The room is set up to quickly/easily connect any instruments or vocals to the recording interface in the other room. Just as accessible are output mixes for all of your band members to have their own headphone monitor mix. All relevant details below.
Recording equipment
- Same full backline already included with rehearsals
- Total of 32 input channels and 9 unique headphone monitor mixes available (5 stereo, 4 mono) with the equipment below
- Allen & Heath Qu-Pac 22 in / 12 out Digital Wireless Interface
- Allen & Heath AB-168 16 in / 8 out extension for Qu-Pac
- 2021 Macbook Pro with M1 Max chip and 32 GB memory, running Ableton Live 11
Included microphones
- Shure SM57 Dynamic Instument Mics for guitar amps
- Shure SM7B Dynamic Vocal Mics
- Audio-Technica AT2020 Large-Diaphragm Condenser Mics for vocals or room mics
- RØDE NT5 Small-Diaphragm Condenser Mics for specific instruments
- Shure PGADRUMKIT7 Drum Mic's, adding SM57's & NT5's for snares/cymbals respectively
Choose your recording setup
When booking recording with us, you're saving on engineering costs, while still getting a quality stems that are ready for mixing. You can choose how you want to record with the following options.
"hands-off"
- We set you up, test levels, press record, and leave you be. No punch-ins.Punching in is a recording technique that lets you record new material within a previously recorded track. or listening back during the recording session.
- All tracks recorded onto our software.
- We can adjust levels or troubleshoot any problems.
- Download link for stems sent within 24 hours.
"self-engineer"
- You bring your own engineer with computer/DAW and plug into our interface.
- Have full control over audio routing, and be able to do punch-insPunching in is a recording technique that lets you record new material within a previously recorded track. or listen back to what you've recorded.
- No transfer of audio needed after the session.
- Previous recording experience is recommended.
- We will still be here to troubleshoot if any issues come up
Choose your monitoring set-up
"Monitoring" is refering to how you, the musicians, are hearing what you're playing as it's being recorded. You can choose between monitoring your music with headphones or out-loud.
"with headphones"
- Less "bleed"Bleed in audio recording is unwanted sounds that seep into the microphone recordings along with the desired sound. between different tracks.
- Less chance of feedbackFeedback is a phenomenon that occurs when a microphone picks up sound from a speaker while that speaker is playing sound from the microphone, thus creating a loop..
- We can provide over-ear headphones or in-ear monitors, or you can use your own.
"out-loud"
- Same experience playing and hearing everything as a normal rehearsal.
- Less set-up time involved.
- More potential "bleed"Bleed in audio recording is unwanted sounds that seep into the microphone recordings along with the desired sound. or feedbackFeedback is a phenomenon that occurs when a microphone picks up sound from a speaker while that speaker is playing sound from the microphone, thus creating a loop..
Isolation shields
Vocal isolation mic-enclosures are included, as well as plexiglass shields for drums and amps to reduce "bleed"Bleed in audio recording is unwanted sounds that seep into the microphone recordings along with the desired sound. across channels. This may add to the set-up time, but will improve isolation between mic'd instruments.
Quiet Music Not Recommended ⚠️
While we've constructed soundproofing between other adjacent practice rooms that serves our needs for rehearsal and most recording sessions, we cannot always guarantee that the room will be completely silent from extranneous noise.
Any setup with drums or amplified sound should get a clean recording with zero problems. This has been our experience.
However, we do not recommend recording with us if your project is like the following...
- Acoustic guitar or piano only
- A cappella group
- Classical or folk with no drums
Our apologies for the inconvenience.
Multi-angle Video Recording [+$10/hr]
We offer up to 6 angles of high quality still-shot footage, available for any rehearsal or recording booking. You can direct the placement of each camera angle, or leave it us to capture your bands playing, from wide-shots that cover the band in its entirety to more up-close shots highlighting what the different musicians bring.
Flexible Arrangement
We offer this service as separate, and not reliant on our recording service, in order to meet varying needs of different musical groups. However, they still can go hand-in-hand if you want the full A/V recording service — just hit both Recording & Videography checkboxes when booking.
If you're on a budget and already have your music recorded, but just need video content, or you've got your own equipment to record yourself, or you'd like to use our room recording service ($20 flat fee), these are all work-arounds that are welcome and by no means exclusive. We're here so that you can produce the content that you need without breaking the bank.
Post-production is also available from us in the form if audio mixing and video editing, for the affordable cost of $30/hr. Click the post-production tab above for more info.
The Environment
In addition to being a nice environment to practice in, our room is designed to serve as an excellent setting for shooting music videos or general content for bands. With colored spot-lights that you can customize, the placement of all of the equipment, to the rugs and chandelier, juxtaposed with the industrial build of the room.
The Technicals
- 6 x Sony ZV-1F 4K cameras available
- We're flexible with placement of different angles, from close-ups to wide shots, including from the ceiling.
- We typically shoot in 4K at 24fps, but we can customize resolution and framerate to accommodate for filesize constraints or other preferences.
- Bring an external hard drive to transfer files, or receive a download link within 48 hours.
Stream from Pickle! [+$10/hr]*
*Livestream requires recording+videography services, totalling +$40/hr on-top of room costs.
4-Angle Livestream
We use OBS Studio with the ATEM Mini Pro live video switcher, while passing audio through Ableton Live 11 so that we're able to add on-the-fly mixing and any audio effects you'd like to hear and stream live.
You have the option of switching angles yourself. Otherwise, we're more than happy to do that as part of the livestream service.
We also can add any logos or other custom overlays on-top of your feed and stream to the account of your choosing.
Platform Agnostic
We can stream to Facebook Live, Mixcloud, Twitch, Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube, to name a few. Streams can be from your account or ours, whichever you prefer!
Receive Stems
Since we'll have a full audio + video routed setup in order to facilitate the stream, we might as well hit the record button. This way you have the option of producing your own final version of your performance, post-stream. Totally optional, but very easy to do.
Future Shows
We're just getting our streaming operations started so stay tuned for streaming shows in the near future!
Audio Mixing & Video Editing [$30/hr]
Getting started in music from the ground up can be tough! We're trying to make it a little bit easier.
We set our rates for audio/video post-production at $30/hr (tax included) to bridge between quality and affordability, so that it's accessible to the widest possible scope of people. With every project, we aim to match your desired level of detail, so as to produce a final product that's as close as possible to your desired outcome, while minimizing costs.
While working on your project, we'll do our best to maintain clear communication so that your expectations are understood and adhered to throughout the process. This way, there is little-to-no backtracking ever needed and you're given the maximum flexibility to take your project in the direction you want.
You can request any of the specific mixers/editors below, or from whoever is most available by emailing pickle@picklerehearsal.com or calling (215) 201-2958.
Audio Mixing
Our mixing engineers are John Bogansky , a self-taught drummer, musician producer and video editor, and Joe Baldacci , a bloke who does drum lessons/sessions and mixing, and is the drummer for the futuristic funk fusion band Muscle Tough .
For examples of their work, see Joe Baldacci's mixing portfolio on Spotify , & John Bogansky's Mixing Reel on YouTube .
Video Editing
We can take on aspects of your project, like syncing audio with video angles, cropping/framing, angle switching, or the entirety of your video project. The same $30/hr rate applies.
Available for this services are Soren Wagner, owner/manager of Pickle and creator/producer of Derivative Sessions , with years of experience editing multi-angle videos in Final Cut Pro.
John Bogansky , mentioned above for mixing, is also available for video editing. Check out his sizzle reel on Vimeo!
BOOK PICKLE
Check the calendar just below here for availability and use the form below it to book.
All bookings include a free 10 minutes, prior to the bookings start to account for load-in time — this may overlap slightly sometimes when booking back-to-back with another band. You can play up until the end of your booking time and breakdown doesn't need to be paid for, with any type of booking. If there's nobody booked after you, you always have the option of going longer for the same hourly rate.
You can reach us by phone at 215.201.2958 or email pickle@picklerehearsal.com with any questions.
Cancellation Policy
- 1-hour charge of the room/services booked if cancelled with less than 24 hours notice
- Full charge if less than 2 hours notice or a no-show
This policy also applies to being late; you are responsible for paying for the time booked and any extra time that you wish to stay after the original reservation.
ROOM I ◼ ROOM II ◼ 15 minute buffer needed between bookings in the same room
ABOUT PICKLE
So, what is Pickle? Who are we? What's the story?
Well, Pickle is just a name. Sorry to dispel the myth, but the river doesn't run much deeper than this. You have to call a business something and in a pinch, this seemed like a pretty good option.
The studio is built and run by Soren Wagner, a late 2010's California emmigrant. Born Westward and looking to branch out from his hometown, Santa Cruz, there was nowhere else to go but East. Drawn in by the old-style aesthetics, as well as the friendly and down-to-earth nature of many of the people here, it was in the promised land of Philadelphia, PA that something music related was going to happen.
Whilst still in the early days of this Philadelphia experiment, a sister-project called Derivative Sessions came into existence. It's purpose is to curate, record and publish live instrumental improv sessions, innovating new styles of music in doing so.
All was going well, but in the Fall of 2018, the savings started to run dry and the bills still had to be paid.
So, out of necessity, a Pickle was born... 🥒