Finally got pics of my studio.

when i was your age... wait. i'm not your age yet. heh. anyways, i like the studio and hope for the best and can only wish that in 2 years my baby studio turns into that... have a nice day
 
A Reel Person said:
I missed it. :eek:

I estimated $100K-$200K. [MO]. ;)
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darnold said:
The nice thing was, i could still show Records of what Rockhouse was. The bank that finally actually did the loan was very familiar with Trent. I was honest with everything, but they knew that it was possible to bring it back up. Besides that, with a Co Sign, it almost doesnt matter. As long as its backed up with collateral. $15,000 is alot of money, but not that much for a business. Not much at all. Especially a recording studio. It was basically treated more like taking out a loan for a car.
Danny
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....................................
 
I don't like to beat a dead horse, but could someone PUUUUUUUUULLEESE clue me in to where "homerecording" fits in to this scenario. Unless they changed the name to PRO SOUND WEB lately, or the definition of "homerecording" is a COMMERCIAL VENTURE BACKED BY BANK LOANS, I seem to have a different viewpoint of the purpose of this forum. IF this is what its come down to, then so be it. I don't want anything to do with it anylonger. FUCK this shit. In that case, every tom dick and harry who owns a commercial venture might as well post here, which makes absolutely NO SENSE, as the point is to HELP the little guy whos tryin to BUILD IT HIMSELF, as people with access to those kind of resourse DON"T FUCKING NEED IT!!! :mad:
 
How does homerecording play into this, you ask?

Well, he did state that he started in homerecording and that he feels like this is where his "education" has come from, so he wanted to share his current digs. He is probably, also, in the learning process point where a lot of the people on this forum are at, so it is natural to hang out here. Sure, it may be a commercial studio, but if you are just learning the ropes it makes sense to me to hang out with people who can relate to you in a way you understand.

And I would surely miss Blue Bear and Massive Master, for instance, if they left this board just because they run commercial studios. They can relate to us AND provide insight into why or why not it pays to do this full time.

I do it mostly for fun, but I sure would like to make money doing it :D That would make my day.....

Darryl.....
 
If i am correct, Bruce hired John Sayers to design his studio, and contractors built it, so EXACTLY what portion of "homestudio building" does Bruce have experience that he shares, at least in that regard. Yea, maybe the recording equipment end, but that really isn't part of designing and building it yourself. Now Michael Jones is a different scenario entirely. At LEAST he is doing it himself. Point is Darryl, I really don't give a knats ass anymore who posts here, but frankly, if they didn't do it themself, then I don't have much respect for them. ANYONE, with enough money can build a WORLD CLASS studio. So what the fuck is the point of this forum then.
 
The thing is, what really more impressive is the facility. But if you really take into true price of the equipment in there youll find that it rounds out pretty close. I had about 5,000 worth of equipment before i started Rockhouse, then the 15,000 that i put in from the new loan, then what i have put into it with extra funds. One thing that was in the big post and full explanation was the point that alot of the vintage gear like the compressors and the tape machine is not fully mine. To really understand why i have it would require me to explain the whole situation. I do have the chance to start making payments on them and keep them and have made arrangements to manage the sell of them. But after a big long discussion today with Xstatic (i went over to his studio today and chatted to him for like 4 hours) i decided im probably not going to invest in them. It would be better at this point to upgrade in a few other things that would use more often. My biggest whole in the system right now is my preamps. I would rather have some good preamps then have a rack full of cool vintage compressors that i hardly ever use anyway. Im sure they will stay there for a while because theres not rush in getting rid of them. But if there is a chance to sell i probably will.

But another thing i realized is the value of the equipment you see is blown out of perspective. Check into the real price of those compressors. The DBX 165As can be had on ebay for aroun 350-400 dollars each. LA4s are around 200-250. The spectra sonics are up more in the 1000 each. But its not 10,000 dollars in that rack alone. Its more like 3-4000. The Lexicon PCM60s go for around 300 each if your lucky. The tape machine could go for alot also. But it still doesnt run the studio into the 100,000 range. Another thing to consider that was in my big explenation was that what i didnt buy used i bought for a discount price. It was kind of my favor for helping keep the studio alive. It wasnt a huge discount, but im sure i saved close to 1000-2000 dollars on the whole packaged studio. So if you calculate it up, im probably in the range of 25,000 without the vintage gear. I dont own the outboard CD player and DAT machine (same situation as the vintage stuff) so that cuts it down by a few hundred.

And the fact that i started out making 10 an hour in my basement studio let me build quite a bit before i started. So the equipment really shouldnt be the issue. The facility however is the main thing. I dont own it though. I pay lease for the property. And i promise its not cheap. And i pay rent on it every month. So technically i dont own the facility but it is mine by lease.

I still plan on making alot of changes to the studio too. Which is always fun. It has gone through alot of changes with equipment. Which is why ive had the oppurtunity to try out alot of things. Protools HD2, control 24. Etc. Which is why i have been able to make alot of recommendations on the board. Im not extremely expertise and i dont fully consider myself a pro yet. I right in the middle. Ive gotten a taste of both worlds. Im a professional home recordist and ive said that before.

Danny
 
Rick,

You have a serious problem. The problem is, is that you really need a vacation from your "holier than tho and I know it all attitude". I am so sick and tired of reading your friggin rants, your criticism of others, and your whining about the hurdles you have faced during the course of your lifetime.

BTW, AutoCad expert! I've forgotten more about AutoCad than you've ever learned. Wanna dance? :)
 
darnold - I want to congratulate you on your studio. It doesn't matter to me how you got it...the fact that you're business savy enough to run it, own it and have it make money says that you're working your ass off. And at twenty years old! I hope your parents are proud.

I wonder though (not concerning you, darnold, and sorry for highjacking your thread)- regarding "home recording" - I just got through building my studio, with a lot of help from this board, and Fitz in particular, but it is a commercial facility. That fact was known when I first started posting on this forum and I received an incredible amount of encouragement during the process. It wasn't done with bank loans, acoustic engineers, or any of the so-called "correct" ways of starting a business. I did build it myself...with help from friends... after researching for years on how to do construction correctly. It was a huge gamble that I'm hoping will pay enough to become my reitrement. I'm not a kid anymore...I'm 52, I left my job of 20 years to pursue this, I have the support of a great wife, I've raised my kids and they have families...so I had to go for my dream. Isn't that what life is about? I don't take "vacations" either, because I can't afford to. But it was my choice and it's OK. If I want, My wife and I can hop in the car and drive a few states to visit friends for a few days. Isn't that a vacation?

Home recording is where I started. It's how I learned. This board is the only one I visit with any regularity. The "pro" boards are a bit snobby and only talk about equipment that most of us can't afford. Even though I'm a commercial studio (and I don't have the equipment that darnold has), I find more help in this board because the people seem more "real".

So, Fitz...what happened, man? I don't think I've ever read posts like this from you before. I'm actually kind of surprised. You're usually helpful and informative and these posts are a complete turnaround for you. I'm hoping you were just in the wrong frame of mind when you read the posts because they seemed to hit a nerve. Hope things look up for you soon.
 
RICK FITZPATRICK said:
...getting that level of gear for most of us is a lifetime "dream" as, at least myself, I have no one to give me a loan.
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Nobody "gives" you a loan. You have to go out there and GET it. It's not hard, not hard at all.

I'm getting about 50k to start a studio from scratch from a bank loan. All you need is the business planning and collatoral and you're good to go.

It's all financials man. EVERYONE gets startup capital if they're smart... even if you could afford to open your doors 100% with some left over. It's just common business sense these days.
 
Danny is only 20!

I think as we get older we forget that opportunity and risk are much easier to ignore. The guy I bought my ATR60 from is only 24. He started as a teenager in his parents house and worked his butt of.

At the ripe old age of 23 he was able to finance an expansion from a studio like mine, to a SSL, 2", PT-HD3 Sony APR 1/2 Mastering deck etc..etc...

While I'm incredibly jealous, they took risks I cannot even conceive of with kids, house, and a 56 hr weeks as a design engineer. When I was 25 I was on the brink of working at places like Bad Animals and had a few studios wanting me to freelance before it was the thing to do. I blew it. I ticked off the studio manager where I worked and everything just slipped away. Opportunity, reputation etc... I have tried several time since getting married but the time and the money already invested just isn't as liquid as it used to be. I have more in my 401K than Danny has invested in his studio :)

Loans for recording studios at all the banks I looked at started at $50,000 and went up to the $X,000,000.

To me it's like Climbing Mt. Everest. While people die every year trying to summit with all that they have... recently a disabled man summited with less than most people.

You have to keep working with what you have.

SoMm
 
Yesterday, in a fit of annoyance, I removed all my replies to this thead mostly to avoid agruing (which I am genetically predetermined to do!) but apparently I can't help myself, so here I am typing. Maybe this will come out "softer" than what I removed.

First, Rick, not all 20-somethings flip burgers or work at a car wash for a living. As we've discussed before on other threads, I started my "career" off as an electrical contractor. I started at about 20, with a rusty $50 Ford Econoline and a small bag of tools. After six months of barely scraping by, I bid on a huge commercial construction project that was open for bid, as listed in the local newspaper. Went to all the bidders meetings, prepared all the paperwork, priced everything out, and submitted my bid, somewhere in the $8mil range. Scary thing is I won the bid, I was the lowest bidder.

So I took my winning bid notification, went to two local banks, and one floated me a business loan which enabled me to acquire the materials, trained labor, a few additional trucks (3 or 4, I forget), and various machines that would be necessary for the job. Gas-powered cable pullers, core drillers, trench cutters. Then I did the job over 8 months. I finished on time, with minimal re-works, and my contracting business was born, and I paid off the loan. By the end of the following year (I was 22ish), I had 30 trucks, and 55-60 employees, including a small three person accounting department.

I had at that time a lot of strengths that kep it all together, which is why it grew the way it did, but I had a lot of weaknesses which ultimately tanked me, and while I ended up selling out to a competitor. While the money was amazing looking back at it, the learning experience was even more important, I've carried that knowledge with me throughout my wife, whether I was owning a pro studio or three, owning my racing team, owning a dot-com (and getting out before that market evaporated) or working in corporate America, which I've also done.

There are many paths we all can take in our lives relating to money, power, and family, and each of us prioritize these things differently. I, at a young age, was significantly more motivated towards money and power, at the expense of healthy, serious relationships and starting a family. My wife was the same way actually, and we married 2 years ago, and just now having our first child this coming feb. I'm 37 and she's 45. We're both unemployed, and its not necessary for either of us to work until about 2011 (assuming I stay out of Home Depot and Sam Ash :D). We live on dividends. I do realize the "Average American" lives differently, but uiltimately that comes down to choices in life. We all choose our own paths, influenced by upbringing, market, skillsets, religion, politics, and what we perceive as expected behavior, among other things. This is the land of opportunity, even in this nasty bull market. A lot of Americans get themselves into a financial pickle by spending more than they have. While a lot of us have mortgages and other financial responsibilities, many of us overspend and overbuy under the guise of "survival".

Case in point, I have a friend who is in outside sales, and makes an okay living based on standards in NJ. He doesn't live in the worst neighborhood, but he doesn't own a $5mil estate either. His "sales car" got up there in age, so he went out and leased himself an E-Class to impress clients. Why? I personally don't think a potential client would be so impressed with a ride in a Benz that they'd rush to the desk to sign a purchase order. What's wrong with a $25K Ford Explorer instead of a $65K benz? He now has monthly payments to deal with, which if he loses his job will tank him financially. Ahh, the American Way.

Anyway, while there is nothing wrong with working for a large, corporate entity your entire life building your achievements is smaller, spaced out steps as my father had done for the 47 years he spent at a fortune 100 financial institution (went from teller, to SVP in those 47 years!), not all of us choose that path. Some of us take wild chances based on opportunities we find, walk into, or make for ourselves. Some of my successes in my life can be attributed to my behavior, attitude etc, and some of it has to be attributed to pure luck. It's all about taking chances, and being willing to take risks. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we fail. And "fail" is not necessarily the worst thing in the world either, as that is an opportunity to reflect and learn from one's mistakes, and sharpen the tools and skills in our brains.

As far as pro/home studios and this forum, well, the forum is really slanted towards home studio construction, but at the same time learning from the pro's is not a bad thing. There are a lot of crossovers between "home" and "pro" in both construction and certainly technique, so I don't really see anything but good associated with pro-folks with pro-facilities being here and participating. Maybe we come from different places and have a different view on all this Rick, but I view this as a good thing overall. A year ago I was posting "How to run a studio as a business" type posts, and if I recall, you were very supportive of such posts. I stopped, BTW, because I was getting the impression no one was interested, as very few were engaged in the thread which suprised me.

Everyone here brings something to the table, and as a collective we can learn from one other regardless of where we are from, what we do, and our life experiences. For example, my knowledge of two-leaf construction and such things is about as sparce as it gets, I grasp the bare minimum, if that. But obviously I bring other things to the table.

And on-topic in regards to Danny's space, I'll freely admit I'm jealous of his acquisition as it reminds me of what I had, and lost, three times now. But that is my issue, now isn't it, not his. I say more power to him, and congratulations!

So... I guess I can't participate in this forum anymore, as this past Monday I signed my first "Midimonkey" contract to do a soundtrack for a small independent film as well as master the film's audio.

Cheers.
 
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frederic said:
So... I guess I can't participate in this forum anymore, as this past Monday I signed my first "Midimonkey" contract to do a soundtrack for a small independent film as well as master the film's audio.
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Hogwash!

I'm still here and I've been working on two soundtracks and was offered a position as Sound Dept Manager for a Indie film Company. I took it because the hours don't interfere with my 9to5.

I mastered 2 indie discs this year...


SoMm
 
In brief,...

Darnold is obviously way out of the ordinary, but I respect him for what he's done, where he's placed himself, and I'd never begrudge him his success. The time to take the big risks is when you're young, and he did what he wanted to do. Apparently, he's moderately successful at it, too.

When I was 18, I didn't have as much as a second hand shit guitar with 5 strings, as it was still a year or so before I could afford that 6th tuning peg and string. Laugh if you want, it's true. By the time I was 21, I moved to a quality guitar, and a Tascam 244 4-track cassette. I was ecstatic. About a year later, I got the Tascam 38 and M30 mixer, and I thought I was on top of the world,... the biggest recording mogul on my block.

Kids just start bigger these days, and what I achieved at that young age is my set point, but it's just the starting point for the following generation. The new generation can take for granted my puny 1/2" 8-track, like it's nothing, and it's common for Newbies to look at 2"-24-tracks as "starter systems" for home recording.

So, more power to Darnold. He's laid it all on the table. It's legit. He's the studio mogul, not me. I can accept that./DA
 
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