Professional Recording Studio; How would you set it up?

[rob aylestone]

Studios go bust regularly, and if suspect the real problem is the client base. Most of your clients have no money, but big expectations. The studios that seem to do well are places people really want to go to and the price is not the primary feature. If your client base are price conscious then it's not ever going to be good. Higher prices come from good results and commercial success, and you need to ask if your clients fit that category. I'm not convinced equipment is actually as critical as we think. You sometimes see pictures of studios with very modest kit that recorded a well known commercial track, yet you also see massively equipped studios existing on voice overs using one microphone.

 

[thercman]

After listening to this crap I am not going to bother. I'll do it on the side and do my retail business instead. I am not sure if it's really that hard or people just don't see it feasible for themselves and therefore no one else can accomplish it. Which is a typical mindset for many people. My wife included.

 

[mjbphotos]

It's not "crap", just reality - like any business plan, you have to have all the pieces in place.

 

[Bobbsy]

Sorry you think this thread is crap but it's pretty accurate. There's a big jump between doing something as a hobby or "on the side" and making your living from it. The business plan is merely step one--and something you'd have needed in place before you could even think of approaching a bank or investors for the money you'd have needed to start up.

 

[witzendoz]

After listening to this crap I am not going to bother. I'll do it on the side and do my retail business instead. I am not sure if it's really that hard or people just don't see it feasible for themselves and therefore no one else can accomplish it. Which is a typical mindset for many people. My wife included.

It's not crap, if you don't want advice don't ask for it, the only time my studio made any money was the days before the home recording boom. Now everyone can (or thinks they can) record at home. When I originally set up my studio (the upgrade to 16 track when it got serious) and 1990's prices, I spent $32,000 on the console and $16,000 on the tape machine, (my house only cost $42,000) and this is before I bought any mics, stands, outboard, cables etc etc, lucky I had been in the PA game so I had some other gear. Then I had to build the room, which started at the back of the house, before I moved to a dedicated building, more costs.

The only work I really get nowadays is:

the bands that don't want to stuff around with the recording technical side,
the people that have messed around for years and now realise that they don't know what they are doing,
the bands that track the drums and loud stuff with me and take the tacks home to finish off,
record at home and bring it to me to mix,
Need a sound proof space because there is too much noise at home foe the quiet stuff.

This is the market, so ask your self honestly, can you have a studio without going broke. I still have a part time studio because I have a building (very low bank loan), which i rent part of it out to others, and I own all the gear. So it is like a paying hobby nowadays, not a living.

That is why I now have a day job and run the studio as a part time business with low overheads.

Alan.

 

[Greg_L]

After listening to this crap I am not going to bother. I'll do it on the side and do my retail business instead. I am not sure if it's really that hard or people just don't see it feasible for themselves and therefore no one else can accomplish it. Which is a typical mindset for many people. My wife included.

That's the spirit!

Here are some other ideas you can try that have roughly the same success potential as opening a new studio:
Typewriter salesman
Pager business
Open up a video/DVD rental store
VCR repairman
Install and maintain pay phones
Photo film developing

 

[miroslav]

After listening to this crap I am not going to bother. I'll do it on the side and do my retail business instead. I am not sure if it's really that hard or people just don't see it feasible for themselves and therefore no one else can accomplish it. Which is a typical mindset for many people. My wife included.

Listen to your wife.

Look man....many home rec guys have thought of the same thing as you.
You know, you get a little studio going at home. You fix it up real nice. A couple of your buds come over and maybe cut some tracks with you, and they keep telling you how cool it is, and how it would be great if you had more space and you could then record bands and make it a full time gig....etc...etc...etc.
Somewhere in the back of your head, the light bulb goes on....more like and LED....and all of a sudden the wheels start turning and you're thinking, "Why not? I can setup a studio, bring in some bands, make some money, maybe even get to to do some really good projects with some top local musicians....hey, after that, word gets out, and I got better clients and the biz is rolling along."

Thing is....most of us who've thought of it, or even done it a bit at some point, and some who still do it....all know that it's a wet dream that as was stated earlier, can only survive as a labor of love, and you need to be willing to pour lots of money into it just because you love doing it.
Forget anything about a steady, serious recording biz....unless you can REALLY drop some major cash and set something up where the client base is willing to pay top dollar for the pro studio, where they can be pampered by the best.

Sure, there are smaller, commercial studios, but many have been around for a long time, and spent years building up their local client base.
I know of at least 4-5 of those studios in my general area. They don't make money, they get jobs occasionally, but far and few in between.

No one is stopping you...but man, you sure gave up on it quick....so much for *commitment*....or maybe, deep down you know what we're telling you, and you just needed to hear from a few other people besides your wife.

You have your home studio....why not use that as your test bed?
That way, at most you spend a little $$$ to just beef up your rig and get some necessities for recording more than just yourself. Do some solo artists who need track and basic production support...that way, you don't even need to think about entire bands coming to your home studio.
If it starts working out....then it will be easy to take the next step, and even your wife will see that it's working for you.

 

[b00n]

After listening to this crap I am not going to bother. I'll do it on the side and do my retail business instead. I am not sure if it's really that hard or people just don't see it feasible for themselves and therefore no one else can accomplish it. Which is a typical mindset for many people. My wife included.

Just because a mindset or opinion is mainstream it does not mean it is entirely wrong.
I mean, I totally get your vision. I really do.
Everyone in here does.
But as long you don't get the idea of internships and as long as you don't think of your client base instead of your facilities I really think you are making fundamental errors.
You should care about getting your s**t together to beat your hobbyist competitors on a day to day base.
Otherwise there is no reason to call on your services.
And you should look at your income stream before you think about spending.
You want your biz to sustain,
and not just attack and decay.

 

[thercman]

Listen to your wife.

Look man....many home rec guys have thought of the same thing as you.
You know, you get a little studio going at home. You fix it up real nice. A couple of your buds come over and maybe cut some tracks with you, and they keep telling you how cool it is, and how it would be great if you had more space and you could then record bands and make it a full time gig....etc...etc...etc.
Somewhere in the back of your head, the light bulb goes on....more like and LED....and all of a sudden the wheels start turning and you're thinking, "Why not? I can setup a studio, bring in some bands, make some money, maybe even get to to do some really good projects with some top local musicians....hey, after that, word gets out, and I got better clients and the biz is rolling along."

Thing is....most of us who've thought of it, or even done it a bit at some point, and some who still do it....all know that it's a wet dream that as was stated earlier, can only survive as a labor of love, and you need to be willing to pour lots of money into it just because you love doing it.
Forget anything about a steady, serious recording biz....unless you can REALLY drop some major cash and set something up where the client base is willing to pay top dollar for the pro studio, where they can be pampered by the best.

Sure, there are smaller, commercial studios, but many have been around for a long time, and spent years building up their local client base.
I know of at least 4-5 of those studios in my general area. They don't make money, they get jobs occasionally, but far and few in between.

No one is stopping you...but man, you sure gave up on it quick....so much for *commitment*....or maybe, deep down you know what we're telling you, and you just needed to hear from a few other people besides your wife.

You have your home studio....why not use that as your test bed?
That way, at most you spend a little $$$ to just beef up your rig and get some necessities for recording more than just yourself. Do some solo artists who need track and basic production support...that way, you don't even need to think about entire bands coming to your home studio.
If it starts working out....then it will be easy to take the next step, and even your wife will see that it's working for you.

^^^^^^^^^^^
YAP YAP AND YAP!

After some research and checking around it is probably better to do something else. I am a quick learner and smart enough to know that *commitment* only goes so far.

I just enrolled in the school and will start next month. At least it will be a technical education unlike the boring stuff I am in now.

BTW: Some of the info provided in this thread was informative and I appreciate that.

 

[radi0j0hn]

I am trying to develop the business plan and was hoping for some help in the "correct combination of gear to attract clients" department that you mentioned. The CC degree is going to give me a lot of hands on knowledge with gear and DAWs beyond the little stuff I am doing now. I will probably get the chance to intern as well which is more hands on.

My definition of "professional" would be a place you go to have your music recorded by a knowledgeable tech in a sound treated studio for which you pay a fee.

My home studio image is just that my home studio, it wasn't meant be to a representation as a professional studio. Stop taking things out of context.

Don't know your local or town size, but you may have to donate some time to unlikely clients: church choirs for a Christmas CD Polka Bands, community (school) groups. Get established that you can create a good "sound" that works well on (gasp!) CDs, iTunes, etc.

All these people have kids or know people who know people who are in bands. Also, see if any historical societies are doing audio projects.

 

[Johnny Don't!]

Wow, I freakin' LOVE this forum. My very first thought when I read the OP was, "He didn't say anything about a business plan/model; I'm gonna have to bring that up." But nope: the first 8 or 10 responses were nearly ALL about the business side.

There's a TON of good advice here, and I hate to see ya get discouraged so easily. But, that being said, there's not much room in the market anymore. Hell, there's barely even a market for it. However, your home studio space looks really nice, and I think you could make a go of opening a pro studio, but you have to think about doing it in a totally non-traditional way (at least in terms of how businesses normally begin & operate).

Building the studio up slowly over time is a great idea, because then you'll also build a client base of sorts and you can grow along with the clientele. However, as so many have already pointed out on this thread, it'll be a money pit for a long time. But, if it's something you love to do, that shouldn't be an issue, assuming it doesn't affect other aspects of your life negatively.

Also, maybe you should consider partnering with another studio looking to expand. You know, combine resources & time to build a great studio and share the load of expenses. That way you could eliminate the interning part, as you'll be able to learn from the guys at the studio you partner with.

Lastly, if you do go out on yer own, I would SERIOUSLY think about the renting idea: yer gonna dump a lot of money, time, & hard work into building out a studio space; what if yer landlord decides he doesn't want to renew yer lease after two years? What if the building gets sold in 6 months and all of a sudden yer rent has doubled? I would seriously consider owning the building you house the studio in. It's pretty much the only way you can even remotely guarantee the space's stability.

Good luck, man. I admire the passion you have for yer dreams. I truly believe where there's a will, there's a way. You just have to figger out what will work in your market.

 

[witzendoz]

Just going back to the original OP for a moment, If in your heart you really want to set up a recording studio, go back and read my answer #25. With the negatives there were positives.

The reason I still have a studio is the way I set it up with low overheads. Get a building, buy or lease. Personally if you have the money buy it, property aways ends up going up in price eventually. Have a space for your studio, but also have space that you can rent out to another business, friends for storage, anything really, even have another business of your own there that actually makes money LOL. I have 3 people renting space at my building, I have someone living there in a large room that we converted into a flat (effectively a caretaker on site too), A friends part time business has an office, and another person rents storage space while they are travelling the world.

This way you have an income from the building that keeps the studio space effectively a free space. The building itself is the business. There are ways to achieve the dream you sometimes have to think outside the box.

Alan.

 

[Johnny Don't!]

I agree with Alan: think outside the box. As cliche as that saying is, it exists for a reason. (Maybe as audio dudes we should come up with a different way of saying that, something to do with ITB, as doing things ITB was the renegade way for a while there when ProTools first hit the scene...)

Anyway, a good example of what Alan suggests comes from what my new band is looking into doing: we're gonna buy a warehouse space and convert it into rehearsal rooms to rent to local bands, using a large portion of it as our rehearsal/demoing studio. We figger the rent from the other spaces will pay the bills, and we'll basically have a nice, comfortable space to rehearse & demo in. There are quite a few places like this in Chicago, but almost NONE in the suburbs, where teens from affluent families are rehearsing in their parents' basements or garages; I know MY parents would've shelled out a few hundred bucks a month to get my band out of their basement. Hahahaha.

Another good point to raise (even though you probably already know this based on yer past business experience) is that there's always gonna be costs you don't think about until you really start doing the research. For example, we knew we'd have to have insurance on the building and whatnot, but we completely underestimated how much that insurance would be. By a factor of 4.

 

[RonniePistons]

I'm still waiting to see a professional studio that is comfortable. They all seem rather sterile and lifeless to me. Not much for fueling my creativity. Just my opinion.

 

[witzendoz]

I'm still waiting to see a professional studio that is comfortable. They all seem rather sterile and lifeless to me. Not much for fueling my creativity. Just my opinion.

Just wondering how many professional studios you have been into? Also if it's the professionalism you feel uncomfortable with or the decor.

Alan.

 

[TimOBrien]

Yeah guys my plan was originally to re-open The R/C Connection locally....

I dont want to stomp on your dream but I hate to see you jump into TWO dying industries. I've been flying r/c for nearly 40 years and the hobby shop industry is dead unless you're an internet catalog house. I go to several of the big trade shows every year and it's murder out there.