How much should I be charging with recordings like these?

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Steve Henningsgard

Steve Henningsgard

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I know this might not technically fit into the mixing clinic forum, but as it very much involves a critique of my work and my skills as a producer/engineer, I figured it might be a decent fit!

My most recent work is posted on my myspace: http://www.myspace.com/stevehenningsgard

The first song is my most recent work: my first full-length! The second is a song I've posted on here before. It's from pre-production work I did for a friend's band.

I'm not going to say what I have been charging, but in your opinion how much should I be charging hourly? I appreciate any and all comments, positive or negative, as I plan on doing this as my primary career for the foreseeable future!
 
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if your recording out of your house its better to charge by song in my opinion. It guarentees the artist enough time to work on his song and not have to worry about time constraints like in a professional studio. Theres got to be some benefit to using a studio in a house. Ive seen people charge 45 when you can find decently equipped professional studios for less.

Just my two cents I dont really wnat to tell you what to charge but 120 a song is a norm for some good home studios around me. Your songs seem to be well recorded so maybe do packages like 3 songs for 500. or 200 a song regularly. 1000 for a full-length. Im going on the fact that this isnt your only form of income and you havent invested 50,000-100,000 dollars in your studio.
 
DAS19 said:
if your recording out of your house its better to charge by song in my opinion. It guarentees the artist enough time to work on his song and not have to worry about time constraints like in a professional studio. Theres got to be some benefit to using a studio in a house. Ive seen people charge 45 when you can find decently equipped professional studios for less.

Just my two cents I dont really wnat to tell you what to charge but 120 a song is a norm for some good home studios around me. Your songs seem to be well recorded so maybe do packages like 3 songs for 500. or 200 a song regularly. 1000 for a full-length. Im going on the fact that this isnt your only form of income and you havent invested 50,000-100,000 dollars in your studio.
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Thanks for the input! Would you suppose that, were my quality the same (or less) but my facilities more 'professional', that I would be more justified in charging more?

This is my primary source of income btw.
 
steve.h said:
Thanks for the input! Would you suppose that, were my quality the same (or less) but my facilities more 'professional', that I would be more justified in charging more?

This is my primary source of income btw.
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I don't think the facility matters that much. I've been in "pro" studios that were ran like crap and had constant interruptions, and I've seen "home" studios that were ran well, and put out pretty pro recordings. Also, if you're just doing demo work, the added benefits of a pro studio are probably not needed......
 
NL5 said:
I don't think the facility matters that much. I've been in "pro" studios that were ran like crap and had constant interruptions, and I've seen "home" studios that were ran well, and put out pretty pro recordings. Also, if you're just doing demo work, the added benefits of a pro studio are probably not needed......
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I'm doing EP's and full-lengths now actually! I've recently begun to take projects to my buddy's nice home studio instead of using practice spaces & wherever else we could find. Hopefully the jump in audio quality will be noticeable, as the dip in profit will most assuredly be :p
 
NL5 said:
Did you record the song "Cake eater" by Four Letter Lie?
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I did the pre-production for it! The version on their myspace was recorded by Matt Goldman. I'm not a fan of his production style to be honest, but the quality is good!
 
The quality of the recordings you did is very good, you did a very nice job.:)

How much should I be charging with recordings like these
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Whatever is the norm in your local market.
 
I think the quality is awesome although the kick seems a little to in your face on that first song. almost like it doesnt blend into the song?:confused: but great quality. i would pay 150$ a song for that quality if its not time restricted!:)
 
steve.h said:
I did the pre-production for it! The version on their myspace was recorded by Matt Goldman. I'm not a fan of his production style to be honest, but the quality is good!
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Yeah, I thought that was a pretty good recording - definitely an "indie" level recording. I break up studio's into three general categories - demo, indie, and commercial. The lines between are blurry, but it gives you an idea of what to compare yourself too. I live in a fairly competitive market, so if a studio isn't doing at least indie level work, they are charging little or nothing and fighting for work. It seems like everybody with a GC chargecard has opened a "studio" in this town. CL is always good for a laugh though.....

I don't know what things are like in your market, but here indie studios are charging about $25 to $45 an hour, but usually cut pretty good deals. For a bit more you can get a studio with Platinum albums on the wall......
 
I'm going throught the same thing right now. I charge $150 per song. I don't like the idea of having "unlimited" time though... I could go to work at Mc D's fer $8 an hour.... so I gotta do better than that, or I get nasty... ;-)
 
steve.h said:
I know this might not technically fit into the mixing clinic forum, but as it very much involves a critique of my work and my skills as a producer/engineer, I figured it might be a decent fit!

My most recent work is posted on my myspace: http://www.myspace.com/stevehenningsgard
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The recordings sound good!
The hats and cymbals are a bit nasty in the highs/high mids, I know myspace conversion feks with the high end a lot though.

Did you just record this or did you mix it also?

On prices for recording it all depends on how much time it took you if you are looking to make a career from recording. If you are just wanting to do it for some extra money then maybe charge per song.

Eck
 
ecktronic said:
On prices for recording it all depends on how much time it took you if you are looking to make a career from recording.
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Ultimately, what matters is the going rate in any given market. Just like any other product, people will shop around and go with the lowest price they can at a similiar level. Unfortunately, the way most people judge studios is their equipment list. I fell into this trap last year and had a horrible experience with a tone-deaf, incompetent idiot who had the cool toys.:rolleyes:
 
DavidK said:
Ultimately, what matters is the going rate in any given market. Just like any other product, people will shop around and go with the lowest price they can at a similiar level. Unfortunately, the way most people judge studios is their equipment list. I fell into this trap last year and had a horrible experience with a tone-deaf, incompetent idiot who had the cool toys.:rolleyes:
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i've never met you! i have no idea what you're talking about. :eek:

Mike
 
NL5 said:
I don't know what things are like in your market, but here indie studios are charging about $25 to $45 an hour, but usually cut pretty good deals. For a bit more you can get a studio with Platinum albums on the wall......
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Holy crap! Where are you? Is the cost of living that low?
 
Farview said:
Holy crap! Where are you? Is the cost of living that low?
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Portland, Oregon.

I've seen L.A., San Francisco, and Nashville studios in the same ballpark. ($500-600 a day for a commercial studio)

Aren't you doing Indie label quality work? Your site says $50 an hour. I said $25-45, so you are at the upper end plus a few bucks, but aren't you in Chicago? Sounds about right to me if you compare the two markets.
 
Where I'm from there is a semi-decent studio, with not bad gear.
NT2s, D112s, SM57s/58s, Sennheiser drum mics, and Mackie pre amps.

It costs about $30 an hour. Which is pretty dang cheap I'd say.

They also have a load of practice rooms though so this will help them keep costs down.

Eck
 
ecktronic said:
Where I'm from there is a semi-decent studio, with not bad gear.
NT2s, D112s, SM57s/58s, Sennheiser drum mics, and Mackie pre amps.

It costs about $30 an hour. Which is pretty dang cheap I'd say.

They also have a load of practice rooms though so this will help them keep costs down.

Eck
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No offense, but that sounds like a "demo" studio around here, and there are a MILLION of them. The indie studios are mostly running SSL's, with pretty nice collections of gear. Not that gear means everything - as DavidK pointed out, gear doesn't guarantee a good sound. One of the bigger indie producers in town works with fairly modest gear, in fact. In general though, the GC chargecard studios that "advertise" their rates at $25 an hour or so, are not getting work,except from their own band, or their bandmembers other bands. That's not really "getting work". :)

edit - and by "indie" I don't mean the millions of "record labels" that bands start and they are the only ones signed to them.... :)
 
NL5 said:
No offense, but that sounds like a "demo" studio around here, and there are a MILLION of them. The indie studios are mostly running SSL's, with pretty nice collections of gear. Not that gear means everything - as DavidK pointed out, gear doesn't guarantee a good sound. One of the bigger indie producers in town works with fairly modest gear, in fact. In general though, the GC chargecard studios that "advertise" their rates at $25 an hour or so, are not getting work,except from their own band, or their bandmembers other bands. That's not really "getting work". :)

edit - and by "indie" I don't mean the millions of "record labels" that bands start and they are the only ones signed to them.... :)
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So not knowing my gear, how close would you say my sound is to "indie" studios? I know I'm not there, but I'd like to think I'm getting closer :)
 
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