Terms and conditions

1. Scope and how a contract is formed

These terms apply to every quotation and contract of Soapwoodcoreco B.V. for studio and production work in Amsterdam. They are general terms within the meaning of article 6:231 of the Dutch Civil Code. By accepting a quotation you confirm that you have received them and agree to them.

The contract is, in this order: (1) the special terms in the accepted quotation, (2) these terms, and (3) where you entrust us with other people’s personal data, the data-processing agreement, which prevails on that subject. The privacy policy explains processing; it does not change the contract. Visiting the site or sending the contact form does not bind you.

If a clause conflicts with mandatory consumer law, that law replaces it. A clause that is unreasonably onerous for a consumer is voidable under articles 6:233 and 6:236–6:237 of the Civil Code. If you do not accept these terms, do not accept the quotation.

2. Definitions

3. Identity of the studio

The contracting studio is:

• Soapwoodcoreco B.V., private limited company (B.V.)
• Grote Bickersstraat 74, 1013 KS Amsterdam, the Netherlands
• KvK 80976101 — VAT NL803193270B01
• Director: Maarten van der Berg
• Telephone 020-737 4821 — e-mail [email protected]

Full legal particulars sit in the legal notice. The studio has 3 rooms, 2 isolation booths and a live room of 42 m². No more than 6 musicians play in the live room at once.

4. Quotations and booking

A request by form, phone or e-mail is answered within 2 working days with a written quotation or a request for clarification. A quotation stays valid for 21 days unless it states another period. The slot is reserved only once we have both the acceptance and the deposit. Until then the block can go to someone else.

If you contract at a distance (form, e-mail or phone), we confirm the booking on a durable medium — in practice e-mail — restating the core of the quotation. That matches the pre-contract information duties for distance contracts. We may refuse a request if the project does not fit the room, the 24 microphones, safety or house rules. Service pages are listed under services.

5. Prices and VAT

Site and quotation rates are in euros, including 21% VAT, unless the quotation says otherwise. For business clients we also show the amount excluding VAT. The accepted quotation prevails over the website. Site rates, for orientation:

Net examples for your books: vocals €78.51 per hour, mix €152.89 per track. Time beyond the reserved block is billed only if you ask for it, per half-hour started, at the hourly rate in the quotation. Options that are not in the quotation are invoiced only after your written request. How a mix budget grows is sketched in the mixing-budget guide.

6. Deposit and payment

On booking you pay a deposit of 30% of the price including VAT. That is a part-payment, not a security retainer. We set it off against the final invoice. Consumers pay the balance on the session day, or — for work we deliver remotely, such as mixing and mastering — on delivery of the agreed version.

Business clients pay within 14 days of the invoice date. Late payment attracts the statutory commercial interest of article 6:119a of the Civil Code, plus the statutory allowance for extrajudicial collection costs. Consumers who pay late owe the statutory interest of article 6:119 after we have sent a reminder.

Payment methods: bank transfer, and in the studio debit card or cash for the balance of a consumer session. While an invoice is unpaid we may hold the final files. Working sessions stay archived as article 10 describes.

7. Moving or cancelling by the client

Moves and cancellations go by e-mail or phone, then in writing. Arriving late shortens the session; we extend only if the next block is free. This house rule does not limit the withdrawal right in article 8. For a consumer, a fixed cancellation sum may not exceed the loss we reasonably suffer; if it would, we reduce it to that amount (article 6:237, opening words and under i, of the Civil Code).

8. Right of withdrawal

If the contract was concluded at a distance or off-premises, the consumer has 14 days to withdraw, counted from the day the contract is formed, without giving reasons (article 6:230o of the Civil Code). That right does not apply to a contract you sign at the studio itself.

If you want the session or the production work to start during those 14 days, you must ask for that expressly. If you later withdraw, you pay a proportionate amount for what was supplied up to withdrawal. The right ends when the service has been fully performed before the period expires, after your prior express consent and your acknowledgement that you lose the right once performance is complete (article 6:230p of the Civil Code). The same applies to work made to your specifications, such as a mix or master on your stems.

Withdraw with an unambiguous statement to [email protected] or to Grote Bickersstraat 74, 1013 KS Amsterdam, for example with the model below. We refund within 14 days of receiving the withdrawal, by the same means of payment, unless you agree otherwise.

Model withdrawal form

To Soapwoodcoreco B.V., Grote Bickersstraat 74, 1013 KS Amsterdam, [email protected]:

I/we hereby give notice that I/we withdraw from the contract for the following service:

• Ordered on:
• Name of consumer(s):
• Address of consumer(s):
• Signature (only if notified on paper):
• Date:

9. How sessions run

Opening hours: Closed Monday. Tuesday through Friday 10:00–22:00, Saturday 11:00–18:00. Sunday by appointment only.. Sunday by appointment only. At most 6 people play in the live room at once. We welcome you from age 16. If you are 16 or 17, a legal representative books and pays, or gives prior written consent; an adult stays for the session if the representative asks or if the nature of the session requires it.

You treat the rooms and the kit with care and follow the engineer. Smoking and vaping indoors are not allowed. If conduct threatens people or equipment, we may stop the session; the reserved block then remains payable, unless the stop is our fault. Damage to studio kit caused by fault or neglect is on you. Instruments and laptops you bring stay in your care; your own insurance is wise.

To protect hearing we work at moderate monitor levels, plan breaks and keep earplugs available. Practical vocal prep is in prepare for a vocal session.

10. Files, delivery and archive

Unless the quotation says otherwise, we deliver WAV 24-bit, via a download link or on a drive you bring. Mix and master deadlines run from the moment we have complete, playable files, and are counted in working days. The stems and names we expect are described in stems and file formats.

We keep a copy of the session for 12 months after the last working day on the project, then delete it. In that window you collect your files and make your own backup. Longer storage only if we agree it in writing. Podcast episodes follow the same archive period, even if you later add a light edit (Podcast recording).

11. Revisions

Mixing and Mastering include 2 revision rounds, unless the quotation states another number. One round is one bundled list of notes that we handle in a single pass. Extra rounds, or a new artistic direction after you have signed off a version, go on a fresh quotation.

A basic edit on Vocal recording (comping, light timing) is inside the track rate €165. A light edit on a podcast episode is €55 and does not cover a full rebuild of the cut. Requests that leave the original brief are treated as extra work.

12. Intellectual property

Your works. Compositions, lyrics and arrangements you bring remain yours or the rightholders’. You warrant the permissions needed for works, samples and covers, and you make the filings with collective-management organisations. The studio claims no copyright in your works.

The recording. The phonogram producer is the person who initiates the first fixation and bears the cost. If you book and pay for the session, that status is yours. To the extent the studio could claim neighbouring rights in the fixation made for you, it assigns them once the invoice is paid in full.

Performers. Fixing and exploiting a performance needs the performer’s consent. You obtain that from musicians, singers and guests you bring. For a podcast that uses music, read podcast music rights; the studio supplies the engineering and acquires no rights in the content.

Voice and automated systems. We do not use your recordings to train artificial-intelligence systems and we do not clone a voice without a separate written authorisation from the person concerned.

Credits. We name you or the project as a reference only after your written go-ahead.

13. Liability

We deploy the means that belong with a careful studio: 3 rooms, 24 microphones, an engineer on the session. The artistic outcome also depends on your preparation, arrangement and choices; that outcome is not a results obligation. Our liability for an attributable failure (article 6:74 of the Civil Code) is limited to direct loss that was foreseeable when the contract was formed.

That cap does not apply in cases of intent or deliberate recklessness, not to injury or death, and not where mandatory law forbids a limit. It does not take statutory rights away from a consumer. Toward a business client, and outside intent or deliberate recklessness, our total liability per job is capped at the price including VAT of that quotation; consequential loss, lost turnover or lost chance is excluded. The website disclaimer does not cut back contractual rights under these terms.

14. Conformity

When we supply audio files to a consumer, they must match the contract: the agreed format, the agreed version, and a file that opens and plays. If they do not, you tell us; we repair or re-deliver, at no extra charge, within a reasonable time.

Artistic taste — louder, darker, more reverb — is not a defect so long as the file is technically sound and the brief was followed. That is what the revision rounds in article 11 are for. A business client inspects within 10 working days of delivery; without a reasoned rejection the delivery is treated as accepted.

15. Force majeure

Neither party must perform what force majeure makes impossible (article 6:75 of the Civil Code). Examples include a long power cut, the building becoming unusable after an incident, or illness of the only available engineer when a substitute cannot reasonably be arranged. The prevented party gives notice as soon as it can.

The session moves to a new date chosen together. If the impediment lasts more than 28 days, or no new date works, either party may end the contract. Sums paid for work not performed are refunded. Work already delivered remains payable.

16. Personal data

We process contact and project data as the privacy policy describes. The contact form runs through FormSubmit in the United States; that transfer and its safeguards are set out in the legal notice and in the privacy policy.

If you are a business client and you give us data about guests, musicians or listeners, the data-processing agreement applies. Cookies and the life of your choice (spwd_consent_v1, 182 days) are in the cookie policy. You can change preferences via cookie preferences.

17. Complaints

A complaint about a quotation, session or delivery goes in writing to [email protected] or to Grote Bickersstraat 74, 1013 KS Amsterdam. We reply within 2 working days, and on the substance as soon as the file allows.

We are not affiliated with a recognised dispute committee or any other ADR body. We say so in so many words: there is no mediator in our records, and we do not invent one. If the dispute remains, a consumer may go to the sub-district court or another competent court; a business client follows article 18. The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets supervises consumer law in general (acm.nl).

18. Governing law and forum

Dutch law governs these terms and the contract. Mandatory rules of the country where the consumer lives continue to apply alongside or instead of that choice where EU law or Dutch private international law so requires.

A consumer may, at their option, sue in the court of the place of residence that applied when the contract was formed or when the harm occurred, or in another court allowed by the Dutch Code of Civil Procedure or the Brussels I bis Regulation. Disputes between the studio and a business client go to the District Court of Amsterdam, unless mandatory law points to another court.

19. Final provisions

If a clause is void or avoided, the others remain and the parties replace it with a valid provision closest to the intended meaning. Not relying on a clause is not a waiver. We may change these terms; a contract is governed by the version in force on the day you accepted the quotation. The Dutch text is authentic; translations are for information.

This version applies from 1 October 2026 and was updated on 1 October 2026. Questions about a quotation go through contact or 020-737 4821. Company identity: legal notice. Limits of the site copy: disclaimer.