Overpriced for live 4 hour gig??

jmorris

jmorris

New member
Hope this isn't only intended for bands???? But heres the deal. I go into clubs with full 24 track protools rig along with 3 HD camcorders. I record/film entire night then mix/edit 14 song dvd for bands promotion. They also get a cd of just audio. All for $750.00 complete, no extras. The anoying parts is I 've had people say " boy that's expensive". You kidding?? I think not but you guys/gals be the judge. Here is link to site,

Thanks,
Jim

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A 14 song DVD, 3 HD camcorders for different angles, and a multi-track recording?

Frick, tell them they're idiots. I'm surprised it's that cheap.

We get tons of bands here in my towns that are like, "hey man, $35 an hour is steep... Can we do like, $20 an hour or something?" They don't realize the cost of your investments in gear or the time spent studying how to use it well enough to get a good product out. Most of the time the bands doing this complaining are the 20 year olds working part time jobs. They also are the ones that come in to my studio with Epiphones and Line 6 combo amps and complain when it doesn't sound like Joey Sturgis produced it. :facepalm:

Just try to explain to them exactly how many hours you're putting into the production and how much your gear costs and how many years experience you have doing it. When they put it all into perspective, maybe THEN they'll realize that you're not expensive, you're practically giving away your product. xD
 
jmorris said:
Hope this isn't only intended for bands???? But heres the deal. I go into clubs with full 24 track protools rig along with 3 HD camcorders. I record/film entire night then mix/edit 14 song dvd for bands promotion. They also get a cd of just audio. All for $750.00 complete, no extras. The anoying parts is I 've had people say " boy that's expensive". You kidding?? I think not but you guys/gals be the judge. Here is link to site,

Thanks,
Jim

click on home for link below
Home
Click to expand...

Let's break it down. 750. We will use $25 for an hourly rate. Hour set up, tear down and packing. 2 hours onsite recording the session, we already ate up $75. Drive time back and forth, easy an hour (if you really put a stop watch to it, 15 miles will take you an hour round trip) Now we are up to $100. I can't imagine doing mixing on this would take less than 8 hours $200 for the mix, we are up to $300. Another 8 for film editing, $500. $250 for equipment usage, gas, odds and ends. (The model assumed only 3 hours on site and 1 hour drive time round trip)

I don't see a get rich quick scheme here. What I saw of your samples, they looked pro.
 
I think that's a great price. People who understand that the music business is a business will find value in your offer.
 
What Henry said! :drunk: Seriously, offer the 'unmixed' tracks (quote both in PT project form and stems in WAV for more $) and the raw video tracks, to let them "do it themselves" for about half the amount. Chances are they are getting paid less than $500 for the gig, they're tryiing to come out of it without money out of pocket. Then, when they get in touch with you after 2 weeks and ask if you can do the mixing and video, ask for $500 for that part of it!
 
Thanks, good points all. The frustrating parts is what the hell do they expect for $750.00?
 
A more than fair price given that the time spent on site is probably less than that spent in post production.
I'd offer the raw version at 2/3rds the rate because a few will be attracted by the 1/2 cost.
Don't offer stems - that's really a lot of work to do properly - project fil plus raw .wavs is the way to go as they'll have to invest in, (or pirate) the program to do anything more - or annoy someone with it.
You probably need some before & afters as well as a break down of cost per hour and the cost of the media you'll give them.
 
It is helpful to remember you are dealing with a clientel that has never bought a CD.

But they want people to buy their music.
 
I took the good advise here. I changed my rates as follows. We'll see what happens.

1) 24 track audio capture, wave files handed over to you, $150.00
2) 24 track audio capture mixed, $250.00
3) 24 track audio capture with 3 HD camcorder video, wave files and video handed over to band, $325.00
4) 24 track audio capture with 3 HD camcorder video, mixed audio and edited video, sync'd together $750.00
 
That's probably not a bad price structure.

Potential sense of entitlement aside, bands don't tend to have a ton of money to invest in anything that seems like a non-essential. (I get bands complaining that they can't afford $20/month for website design and hosting sometimes). Giving them the option to DiY for cheaper is rarely a bad idea.
(Heck, how many of us are here because we can't afford to pay someone else to record our music for us?)
 
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