What's a reasonable price to record local bands?

[FattMusiek]

I'll be recording local bands (mostly high school students) and I want to know what you think is a reasonable price for me to charge for individual songs, demos, and full length CDs.

Any ideas would be great.

http://members.cox.net/fattmusiek/EmoSong.mp3

(Just to get an idea of what my recordings sound like. This recording is a few months old, I have made lots of progress since then.)

[Jeyan]

It depends on the gears you use and the studio space you have and more than that the quality you will bring. For a little home studio you can ask from $15-$30, since you are going to do for High School students, go easy on them fix them, fix a price for the whole CD and get it done in a single weekend.

[Jeyan]

that $15-$30 is for an hour, not for a whole day I usually charge $35 an hour.

[shackrock]

ha...i list4ened to that song - and thought that the intro was what i was your recording...

anyway, your recording sounds good - way better then mine...ha...very warm. i'd still like to hear some vocals though.


i dont know - i record local bands all the time (i'm still in highschool too though! haha). I charge most people 100 per day, and if they want me to do the whole cd, etc...usually a little more.

but you could charge a lot more easy. remember, mine dont sound this good, and i'm in it for the kids. ha
yeah i'm sure my post didnt help you at all...haha

but anyway, you got me interested in your gear - how'd you record these drums (mics, board, pres, comp?, etc.) - and mostly those distorted guitars.

[donkeystyle]

that's a pretty good recording.........i'm not really digging the snare sound......it sounds over eq'd..................but the guitars are pretty awesome.........and the toms are real cool............

i think you could charge all the way up to 30 or 35 bucks per hour.........but considering that most of the people u'll record are highschool kids.......i think you should keep it about 25 bucks an hour..........and maybe make a deal for a full day or something.......just my opinion.... cause not too long ago i was one of those kids that would have had trouble paying even 25 bucks an hour.

[FattMusiek]

Thanks for the kind reply, I have to agree with you on the snare; it sucks. The heads died long ago, I only just got the go ahead to re-head them from the owner. I have been renting them for some time, I paid out their worth now...) I think I accidently messed with the Behringer EQ knobs, bad idea.

I don't know, two bands have already asked if they could record over here since I my original post. I'll talk it over with them. If they are unreasonable about the price I will drop em' from the demand list. My songs take anywhere from an hour to 6 hours to mix properly, god knows how long it would take to record some strange band.

Anyway, maybe now that this topic was bumped again people will offer their ideas for recording prices!

[darnold]

Personally, i dont think you should start as high as 20-35 dollars. Ask yourself how long it took for you to get the sounds you got from that recording i heard. If it took you hours and much trial and error to get some of those then you are not ready to record professionally. Recording someone else is a totally different thing, and charging that high could cause some serious problems. Being unexperienced can cause you to have problems with some of the things and somebody who is paying that much for hour will not want to put up with anything. However, $10 an hour starting out is definately not unreasonable, and if you end up having a few glitches or stability problems they wont have alot of room to complain being at only $10 an hour. If there are problems, in the end they will be satisfied because they only paid $10 an hour. You need to remember that the main thing is to make your clients happy, make sure you give them what they want until you get alot of trust. After the trust and a little more experience with working with other people, then you can start to raise it. Most of the pricing with things is based on your clients trust. One reason why the top engineers can charge $200 an hour for their recordings is because the client KNOWS for sure they will get a good recording.

Danny

[FattMusiek]

Thanks for your opinion, darnold. In reality, the recording I posted wasn't as much of a time killer as lots of my other recordings, I'd say 2-3 hours stop and go.

Also, I have had some previous experience with recording bands, nothin' big though.

[bleyrad]

i started out recording the local high school bands about 6-7 months ago, and my rate ever since has been $10/hour (CDN).

I figured, with a rate that low, my studio should advertise itself
I've had bands been telling me, especially lately, that I should be charging more, perhaps $20/hour, but quite frankly, I still don't have the demand for that kind of rate. I could potentially lose half my customer base... high school kids don't have a whole lot of dough

Here are some recent recordings:

Jazz (live): here - 1 of 11 songs recorded for a full album that ended up costing them $300 total.

Rock: here - I can't give a recording of the current rock bands I'm recording (still mixing), but this is a recording I made of my band a while ago. My current rock recordings sound a bit better and generally take about 9-10 hours per song when all is said and done (recording, mixing, makeshift mastering)

[donkeystyle]

good point darnold..........

also....if you wanted to charge 25 bucks an hour for tracking and then do mixing for real cheap or free, that might work well.......i dunno

[The Garage]

i charge em according to how much i like the music. if i don't like it, they can expect to pay me more. that way, if they DON'T want to pay the price, i don't have to sit through their crap and if they DO want to pay the price, atleast i get a good chunk of change out of it.

[wedsr1]

You've got a great sound. How'd you record that jazz piece? The rock group recording is top notch also.

[scottboyher]

Originally posted by RecTechMin
i charge em according to how much i like the music. if i don't like it, they can expect to pay me more. that way, if they DON'T want to pay the price, i don't have to sit through their crap and if they DO want to pay the price, atleast i get a good chunk of change out of it.

Cool.

[bleyrad]

Thanks. The jazz group was recorded live in my studio using:

D112 Kick
SM57 Snare
MXL603s Overheads
SM57 Guitar
Passive DI Bass
Unknown AKG clip-on sax mic

running through a Mackie 1604 VLZ (not Pro) into MOTU 1224. my monitors are YSM1p's.

i don't mean this to sound at all cocky (I have the smallest ego and self-confidence you will ever find), but it's been my opinion of late, especially after hearing a lot of poor recordings using way better gear, that it's the ear that counts the most. i certainly don't consider myself to have an awesome, experienced set of ears (I'm 18, been recording for less than 2 years), it's just that I don't understand a lot of the decisions that so many recording engineers make. Like, how could FattMusiek not hear that terribly honky snare sound he had, and if he did, how could he not fix it? this isn't a bash against him, by the way, it's just that I see the exact same thing in so many home recordists, even those with plenty of experience and top-notch gear.

[wedsr1]

You're right! Use what you've got to it's potential! Sounds like you've got a good set of young ears.

Not to flatter but it sounds to me like you've got a gift.

Keep up the good work.

[malcolm123]

Originally posted by darnold
Personally, i dont think you should start as high as 20-35 dollars. Ask yourself how long it took for you to get the sounds you got from that recording i heard. If it took you hours and much trial and error to get some of those then you are not ready to record professionally. Recording someone else is a totally different thing, and charging that high could cause some serious problems. Being unexperienced can cause you to have problems with some of the things and somebody who is paying that much for hour will not want to put up with anything. However, $10 an hour starting out is definately not unreasonable, and if you end up having a few glitches or stability problems they wont have alot of room to complain being at only $10 an hour. If there are problems, in the end they will be satisfied because they only paid $10 an hour. You need to remember that the main thing is to make your clients happy, make sure you give them what they want until you get alot of trust. After the trust and a little more experience with working with other people, then you can start to raise it. Most of the pricing with things is based on your clients trust. One reason why the top engineers can charge $200 an hour for their recordings is because the client KNOWS for sure they will get a good recording.

Danny

D@mn Danny, Now Ive got to change my Gumby. Since you have been around longer than me. Sorry !

Malcolm824

[FattMusiek]

Bleyrad! I've had "If You Want Me" on my computer for a while now, I couldn't find where I found the link to it on homerecording.com/bbs!

Such a good recording, great song too. If you're charging a mere 10 bucks an hour for this quality, I might as well drop to $5!

[FattMusiek]

Also, I agree with what you say. I am obviously an amatuer, but I can hear how shitty the snare indeed is. Just to make excuses (like I always do ), I only JUST got the go-ahead to re-head the kit you hear in the recording from the owner of the drums. I've paid out the worth of the kit so he's letting me re-head em'. About time I say. The heads are a year old!

[FattMusiek]

Reading through this topic, I realized I didn't answer questions that were asked of me, so here they are:

"how'd you record these drums (mics, board, pres, comp?, etc.) - and mostly those distorted guitars."

The drums were recorded with two Oktava MK012 condensers, a Beta 52 on kick, and a 57 on snare running through my Behringer Eurorack MX1604A mixer which is plugged into my Delta 44 audio interface which is connected to a Gateway Pentium 4 512 mb ram (run on sentences rock, don't they?). I'm using an Ibanez RG (don't know the model number, I'm really sick of this guitar and its tone...) through a 30 watt Marshall combo (little combos have a way of sounding cool in the context of the mix). I have a Line 6 Spyder 212 100 watt amp but now I prefer micing (SM57) the little Marshall instead. I use Cool Edit Pro 2.0 and have grown quite fond of it.

[darnold]

Ok, heres some more for yah. Price also depends alot on competition. You need to find out what other engineers are charging and figuring out what equipment they are on. You say oh yah but equipment doesnt always acount for the sound. Thats true, but it does account for the looks. If you are charging $25 an hour with the equipment you have and the guy next door is charging $35 an hour but he has a full protools system with all the bells and wistles. Even you swear that you get a better recording than him people will not believe you until you prove it to them. It takes time. Thats why i said start about $10 to get their "TRUST". This protects you from alot of things. If you end up having stability problems (your sequencer keeps dropping out) they wont care as much. Also, if they walk out of there paying only $10 an hour and they love their recording, and can swear by their ears you are better then the next door neighboor then they will tell their friends, and will get you more business. Little by little as you get a little better gear, bring your price up $5 or $10 at a time. Once you have word of mouth proof you have them no matter what.

Ive done this through experience. I was competing against a big guy in the recording industry. Im talking a quarter million dollar studio with the nicest mics i had ever seen. True his recordings still sounded like shit he was very well known in he area. I started out with more equipment then you did and i still had to charge $10 an hour for a long time. Now things are great and my studio is building huge and im charging $35.

Also, think about what a client looks at when he goes into a studio. Theres the obvious he looks at the big mixers and stuff and whatever. But what happens when he goes into a studio like yours and realizes "Hes charging $25 an hour? Ill end up paying $400 for this whole project. With that much money i can buy all the equipment he has and do the recording myself, then i can also keep the equipment and charge other people $20 to record."

That might be a little extreme, but it could happen. People think that the equipment is everything. They arnt people like us that spend 12 hours a day on homerecording.com to find these things out.

danny

p.s. Malcolm, its all good dood. we can both be gumby! har har

[ahuimanu]

Hey Bley,

wanted to give you a thumbs up for both of your recordings.

The Jazz sounds great.

Appleton has a great sound (hear the Weez influence) and I think that is a well-composed song (and well-recorded).

Thanks for sharing man.

After the MOTU 1224, what were you recording into? Is that 24/96? Curious...

Describe the process that went into the Rock piece if you don't mind. I agree what you say about the ear, but I am also wondering about the GEAR! I am nearly twice your age, yet I still strive to get a home recording on the par of what I am hearing from yours.

Thanks!

J-

[bleyrad]

I forgot to metion the Appleton song was recorded before I got the MOTU, on a Delta44 at 24/48.

Jazz piece recorded on MOTU at 24/48.

I use Cubase with Waves and Ultrafunk plugins, but for reverb I tend to almost always use Timeworks' 4080L.
I don't own any hardware effects, compressors, or EQs.


I'm not sure what else I can tell you. I've listed pretty much every piece of gear I own (and consequently, ever piece of gear used to make those recordings.) Let me know what you want to hear about though...

[James Argo]

So you guys make some money already...? Then please consider Pre-ordering Homerecording.Comp CD's Vol 2