Charging people to record

N

Noah Nelson

New member
if you charge for mixing and mastering (out of your home) how have you attracted people to go through you? What were big "game changers"? was it quality? looks? price? flyers? in person networking?

..and how much do you charge?
 
Noah Nelson said:
if you charge for mixing and mastering (out of your home) how have you attracted people to go through you? What were big "game changers"? was it quality? looks? price? flyers? in person networking?

..and how much do you charge?
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99.9% of it is personal relationships and social skills, not social networking skills but real social skills.
 
1) How about making good recordings? Just because you get paid doesn't mean you have a good product.
2) How much do you charge? See #1.
 
My professors always told me straight out of college that $15 an hour is a good place to start if you're confident in your ability to mix something decent. That's where most of them started and now they've got some nice studios in legit spaces and are earning closer to $50-100 an hour as a hobby doing it.

A good place to start if you were wanting to charge could always be a Facebook page for your home studio. Take some photos of the space and post up some audio samples so people can hear what you can do, then just promote it a ton on Facebook and ask your friends to share it. That's how a couple of my buddies did it in town to get the ball rolling.

As has been stated, you'll need good social skills to be able to make sure the musicians feel at home and comfortable working with you. You'll also have to be able to adapt, considering some artists can be very introverted and the next day you can have some sort of party band coming in.
 
Interesting thread. I'd be curious to know what people on here are charging and for what kind of set-up. I was a bit shocked last year to learn that some of my friends with small-sized studios in the area were charging $20 - $25 / per hour for the studio *and* their own time.

I just have a project studio at home and have only once charged someone for using it.
 
Its very easy to charge too little. All too often I see studios that charge ridiculously cheap rates, like under $20 an hour for a commercial studio. Because audio engineering is a trained skill (as opposed to untrained) you need to make more from it than you would from a typical job, that and you're probably not working 40 hour weeks, that and you also have to compensate for the gear and overhead that you purchase. I make a little under $15 an hour working at a bank, and that's a steady gig, and while it isn't fun, it makes me the monies, thus I would never record audio for $15....$20 at the minimum.

So with that being said, if you don't think you're worth more than what typical wages go for in your area, don't even bother being a commercial engineer yet. Build up gear, space, and experience first. No point to just start up and charge $10/hour, you can't live on that with the studio overhead.
 
As an aside, there's a big difference between entering it as a full time business and earning a bit of beer money on the side. With the former, there are all sorts of considerations that will inevitably drive the price up...and a higher price also increases customer expectations. They'll want it to look like a pro studio and certainly expect it to sound like one. It also won't be long until you hit complications with things like taxes, zoning regulations and so on.

If it's a bit of beer money, frankly I would set a rate per job based on how much you want to do that job.

...and, when starting out, word of mouth is your most valuable asset.
 
For me, a big part of it was having a professional looking website and a portfolio. People want to know you are serious about what you do and hear what you can put out before they pay. I only offer online mixing and mastering services and I charge a flat rate, $100 to $150 per song.
 
Pinky said:
This ^^^
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This, this...
If it's a bit of beer money, frankly I would set a rate per job based on how much you want to do that job.
...and, when starting out, word of mouth is your most valuable asset.
Click to expand...

It also won't be long until you hit complications with things like taxes, zoning regulations and so on.
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And that. Bet Cities are only going to get better and better at zooming in on thi$ $tuff.
 
I charge $25 per hour, which includes all my equipment and myself as an engineer (and co-producer if the client is interested). I may offer a discount for a block of time - and candidly, I often spend some of my own time trying to tweak mixes or try differnet processing effects etc (simply because I want anything I work on/with to sound it's best.) I can also help the client with bulk reproduction, packaging, etc. - but I prefer for the client to do that on their own (too many headaches when the client is not satisfied wth what others have done).

Almost all my work comes from local word of mouth - however, I also have a decent web site, so once people are referred to me, they can go on the web site, see pictures of the studio, a gear list and hear some audio files.

My studio is in my home - and I do not depend on the studio for my sole income (it's basically a hobby which pays for itself) - so I am very selective about which projects I choose to work on and which people I trust to enter my home (this limits my earning potential, but also reduces risk and concerns).

As someone esle said - having gracious social skills (basically being a decent person), and acting in a progfessional and dependable way gets more work than an impressive gear lists etc. I've also gigged alot over the years - and I know being easy to work with and dependable has gotten my many more gigs than simply having chops.
 
I agree - things like zoning, taxes - and something people often overlook - liability - should always be a concern.

I am not zoned commercial (but I limit how much recording for pay I do).

I claim taxes for my music income (recording, gigging, a for teaching session and some small royalty checks) and offset most of that income with "expenses" (I just make sure to show a small profit in 2 out of 5 years to keep the IRS off my back) - and I carry Inland Marine coverage for the gear - and a fairly sizable umbrella policy which sits over my liability coverage). I treat it like a business - and in turn my clients expect a professional level of service.
 
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