Terms and Conditions

References to Pop Star Parties and all types of Gift Experience Cards purchased from  www.recording.gifts and associated websites (whether a Singer experience, a Player experience, a Band experience, a Songwriter experience, a Drummer experience or one of our Specialist experiences) will be referred to from this point within these terms and conditions as the ‘Recording Session’.

1) Recording Sessions

  1. a) We allow an approximate time of half an hour per song (each song of duration no longer than 4 minutes) per session plus an additional half hour to complete formalities including creating your personal music web page and making the audio CD – except in the case of Pop Star Parties where the duration for recording a chosen song, eating birthday cake etc can take approximately 2 hours. Thus a Singer Silver "Recording Session" with 1 song choice is 1 hour long, a Singer Gold with 3 song choices is 2 hours and a Singer Platinum with 5 song choices is 3 hours. Within this half hour per song we generally record 2 separate takes of a singers performance and then use a combination of these takes to mix the track down before mastering. However, should the singer(s) take more than three takes to perfect their vocal performance, this may reduce the total number of chosen songs that the recipient can perform during their session. Longer songs can reduce the overall amount of songs performed for the length of your session.
  2. b) Be sure to bring printed lyric sheets with a good sized font for reading from approximately 2 feet away. Failure to do this may result in delays while we print them for you. Alternatively, use our favourites list on the Backing Tracks page of our website to choose your songs and link to the Lyrics on Google for fast access - handy for bringing the lyrics in on your mobile or tablet.
  3. c) We cannot display 'karaoke style' lyrics on a screen. Lyrics can either be read from paper or from a mobile/tablet device that you bring to the studio.
  4. d) Recipients are welcome to bring their own backing track(s) on USB stick or CD. We cannot however remove vocals from commercial recordings so your backing track(s) must not be the original track.
  5. e) Please note that for 2 participants singing a duet we sometimes use two microphones, away from one another, so that two copies of the lyrics are advisable.
  6. f) Please be sure to rehearse well before arriving for your session!

2) Music CDs & HD Video

  1. a) We are licensed by the MCPS for copyright control and use only pro quality backing tracks.
  2. b) Any CDs and HD Video given to recipients at the end of their session are for personal use only and should not be duplicated or distributed for commercial gain.

3) The "Recording Session"

  1. a) All "Recording Sessions" are currently sold with validity for 24 months from the date of purchase.
  2. b) recording.gifts are able to offer a validity extension to an existing "Recording Session" when you log in to our website (under the tab 'Redeem') providing this is done within the valid period stated on your "Recording Session". A proportional cost to the current retail price will be charged to extend the validity of your "Recording Session".
  3. c) "Recording Sessions" must be redeemed (scheduled booking) within the period that the "Recording Session" is valid. The expiry date is shown clearly on your "Recording Session". To schedule a booking, log into our website (under the tab 'Redeem').  Providing you log in before the expiry date our system will offer an additional grace period of 4 weeks from your expiry date - ideal for those making a last minute booking. From thereafter dates on our online booking system are crossed off in red and can only be view - you'll need to extend your "Recording Session" accordingly to be able to book one of these dates.
  4. d) "Recording Sessions" are non-transferable unless under prior agreement and written notice by the recording.gifts management team (see section 8).
  5. e) Once a "Recording Session" has passed its expiry date you will not be able to book a session. Our online booking system (under the tab 'Redeem') will allow you to 'reinstate' your expired "Recording Session" for either 3 or 6 months at a proportional cost of the current experience retail price. Up to 24 hours is required to process your order, and the reinstated "Recording Session" will be valid from that time onwards for that period chosen when re-instating. Upon booking your session after re-instating your experience, the validity of your "Recording Session" will be set to end on the day of the booking, meaning a cancellation will require the "Recording Session" to be re-instated again. Please be aware of weekend availability (see 5d).
  6. f) Activation or de-activation of 'Weekends' (ie. enabling a Saturday or Sunday on our booking system) is a surcharge currently set at 25% and can be adjusted to suit your needs/budget in the shopping basket before purchase. De-activating 'Weekends' can mean saving money upon initial purchase, however re-activation (and paying the surcharge) would required at the time of booking should the experience goer desire a weekend date. The surcharge can fluctuate from time to time and the price of activation can vary depending on this. Logging in with your "Recording Session" will give you the necessary options to complete activation of 'Weekends' if not currently present on your "Recording Session" experience. Rescheduling your "Recording Session" booking may mean you lose your weekends option.

4) Upgrade

  1. a) A "Recording Session" can be upgraded online to a different experience. Log in to www.recoridng.gifts (under the tab 'Redeem') and select the upgrade tab. A selection of upgrade choices will appear. Use the PayPal link to purchase. Please note that upgrades can take 24 hours to process. If you have already scheduled your "Recording Session" session and we can't fit in your upgrade (because of time constraints) then we will find an alternative booking date and time for you.
  2. b) Upgrading a "Recording Session" does not extend the validity of the "Recording Session" expiry date (to do this see 3b).
  3. c) A "Recording Session" cannot be downgraded, and no partial refunds can be offered outside of the first 28 days after purchase (see 5a).

5) Refunds, Sickness and Cancellations

  1. a) We are happy to offer a refund on a "Recording Session" providing you contact us within 28 days of purchase, and a booking has not yet been made or a "Recording Session" session not yet undertaken. There is an administration cost of 25% (to a maximum of £39) that is deducted when a refund is given. the refunded money will be credited to the original purchases card. Should this "Recording Session" have expired then we ask to be notified in writing with the up-to-date credit card details so that we can refund successfully. A Refund cancels the "Recording Session" and makes it invalid immediately.
  2. b) If you cancel/reschedule within 48 hours of your current scheduled booking for any reason including sickness then we will charge a minimum fee of £20 plus 25% of the experience RRP for rebooking of your experience on a future date. This cost covers loss of business over the duration of your cancelled booking as it is unlikely that we could fill the slot at such short notice. Last minute cancellations must be called into our office immediately on 01892 752117 (weekdays 9am to 7pm) or anytime directly to Paul Midcalf on 07876 313838. An email is not an acceptable form of communication for last minute cancellation notification (especially as the office is shut during weekends). Failure to notify us could render your experience invalid.
  3. c) If recipients fail to attend their booked session with little or no prior notice then this will render the "Recording Session" invalid and no further dates may be offered (for exceptions see Force Majeure under section 6).
  4. d) If a "Recording Session" session has been booked and the recipient wishes to reschedule their appointment then they can log in to www.recording.gifts (under the tab 'Redeem') and then click on 'Reschedule'. Cancelling a weekend appointment with less than approximately 6 months of validity remaining on your "Recording Session" may mean you will not be able to book an alternative weekend slot without first using the 'Weekends' option in the booking area. You cannot reschedule a "Recording Session" booking within 48 hours of your scheduled booking.
  5. e) Cancelling a scheduled "Recording Session" booking once the expiry date has passed will require you to reinstate your "Recording Session" at a proportional cost of the experience RRP before another booking can be made.
  6. f) Rescheduling a booking over the phone will incur a minimum additional administration cost of 25% of the experience RRP (to a maximum of £39). This cost does not include a "Recording Session" upgrade (see section 4), nor a "Recording Session" extension (see 3b), nor the reinstating of an expired "Recording Session" (see 3e).
  7. g) You may cancel and reschedule your "Recording Session" booking online as many times as you wish free of charge (under the tab 'booking') providing you do so within the original validity period of the "Recording Session" and not closer than 48 hours to any one particular scheduled booking. Costs & other conditions may apply regarding availability for weekend slots (see 5d) and cancellations made within 48 hours of the scheduled booking date (see 5b). Rescheduling an "Recording Session" booking with a validity period that has already been extended/re-instated will require the "Recording Session" to be re-instated before a new booking can be made (see 3e),
  8. h) The 'Weekend Booking Surcharge' cannot be refunded should you decide to book your "Recording Session" session on a week day. See 3f on how to activate or de-activate this surcharge before your initial purchase.

6) Force Majeure

  1. a) A "Recording Session" booking may be cancelled as a result of conditions beyond its control such as, but not limited to, war, strike, fire, flood, epidemic, pandemic, act of God, governmental restriction, power failure, or damage, DDos (distributed denial-of-service) Attack or destruction of any network facility or server. recording.gifts will not be liable for any costs resulting in the rescheduling of any "Recording Session" booking cancelled, nor will they be under any obligation to offer a refund (see clause 5a for our standard refund policy) due to Force Majeure (greater forces).

7) Bookings

  1. a) Weekend slots are subject to availability and only available to those whom have a "Recording Session" with 'Weekends' activated (a payable surcharge - see 3f). This is an option present at the time of purchase in the shopping basket (see 3f)  www.recording.gifts cannot be held responsible if the recipients desired redemption date is unavailable.
  2. b) If a recipient is late for their studio booking please note that it is not possible for the session to over-run. In some circumstances late arrivals may be turned away due to insufficient time to complete an experience.
  3. c) recording.gifts has the right to move the studio location at any given time. "Recording Session" holders that are booked in prior to any studio move will be informed either by telephone, email or in writing.
  4. d) It is always advisable to check our web site (under "Contact us" at the top of each web page) for our current location. We are presently situated at Audio Sorcery, Unit 1, Knowle Farm Business Centre, Wadhurst Road, Frant, Tunbridge Wells, KENT TN3 9EJ.
  5. e) We advise all session goers to plan their route well in advance, and don't take your sat nav for granted! We advise anyone to avoid the neighbouring town of Tunbridge Wells as it can suffer from heavy congestion often making experience goers late for their session. We recommend the sat nav app "Waze", and typing Audio Sorcery in to this will bring you to our door - plenty of free parking!
  6. f) recording.gifts reserves the right to cancel and re-arrange any "Recording Session" booking at any time and will not offer any refund or compensation for travel bookings, accommodation bookings, and time away from your workplace that may have been organised for your booking with us. An alternative date shall be offered in its place unless we are forced to temporarily close (see clause 6 - Force Majeure).
  7. g) Plan your route and allow plenty of time for your journey. You are advised not to turn up more than 15 minutes before the start of your session. If you arrive late we are not able to over run at the end of your session.
  8. h) Bookings are confirmed by an automated "electronic-diary" email (providing you offer a correct email address at the time of booking in our live booking system). A confirmation email is not necessarily proof of a current and valid booking date.
  9. i) Log in to our website (under the tab 'Redeem') to make/check bookings, reschedule, add weekend bookings upgrade, upgrade an experience, extend your expiry date and reinstate your gift voucher card if it has already expired.
  10. j) Providing we have the correct email address for you in our live booking system, you will also be sent a reminder email approximately 4 days before your session date. We recommend you "allow" emails from bookings@giftdaze.co.uk so that this email confirmation of your booking date does not get spammed by your mail system. We are not responsible for you forgetting your booking!

8) Transferring ownership of a gift experience

  1. a) The existing owner of the "Recording Session" must obtain written permission from recording.gifts before the sale or transfer of a "Recording Session" to another owner, and this together with the original "Recording Session" should be passed on to the new owner.
  2. b) The new owner of an existing "Recording Session" must have the original "Recording Session" (a print-out is not valid), and must have a written confirmation of transfer from www.recording.gifts.
  3. c) Buyers (on eBay etc.) are solely responsible for purchasing a valid and unused "Recording Session" recording.gifts cannot be held responsible or liable for purchases of expired or used gift experiences.

9) Age & behaviour

  1. a) If a "Recording Session" recipient(s) behaviour causes concern in any way for recording.gifts staff whilst they are on www.recording.gifts premises we reserve the right to ask them to leave immediately thus terminating their session and invalidating the gift voucher card.
  2. b) We ask that all children under the age of 14 must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

10) Confidentiality and Privacy

  1. a) The information we gather here on this web site is kept secure and strictly confidential. We use your details solely for the purpose of presenting, delivering and receiving payment for "Recording Sessions". We do not sell information to any third party companies thus you can be assured your details are safe with us.

11) Promotion codes

  1. a) From time to time we release promotional codes, that can be entered into the shopping basket (to the left of the price total) and give a discount.
  2. b) A promotion code is only valid for new "Recording Session" purchases and cannot be back-dated for any previous purchases you may have made.
  3. c) Each promotion code we issue has a valid until date, and after midnight on the date specified the promotion ends and no further purchases can be made with the promotion code.
  4. d) You may receive the promotional code within a link. When clicked, a cookie will activate on our Special Promotions page so that the promotional code is remembered for its duration. The cookie is destroy when the valid until date is met (see 11c).
  5. e) Only one promotion code can be used for each purchase.
  6. f) Payment must have been received within the promotion code valid until date (see 11c) to qualify for the discount being offered.
  7. g) You may share the promotion code amongst family and friends where stated unless this code has been generated uniquely for you.
  8. h) A promotional code can be used in conjunction with any on-site offers which are not promotional code based ie. particular discounts on certain experiences, and our usual expiry extension offer for the months of November and December each year.

12) Copyright infringement

Please remember that if you publicly share your music and/or video containing copyrighted and/or published artists music then you may be infringing said copyright and you may be liable and thus prosecuted. Audio Sorcery cannot be held responsible for any copyright infringement as a result of you sharing your recordings and/or video publicly. For more information about copyright infringement take a look here at Wikipedia. It is an intricate subject indeed, that sometimes can lead to more than 'a slap on the wrist'. Please seek the correct legal advice for detailed information.