Thinking of starting a business.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jim Lad
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Jim Lad

Jim Lad

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So I'm looking at opening my space up to small projects. Singer/songwriter, soloists. Basically, the kind of stuff that I'm doing.
I'm doing one project for free right now (just to see if I can) and so far, everything seems to be going well.
I'm thinking $35/hr but much of the work is being done after the artist goes home. Mixing, mastering mixing down to .wav., MP3 and audio files etc..
How do you go about billing those hours or do you keep the client around for all of it?
Actually........... I could use a whole bunch of advice.
 
Sounds like a good project and very resonable rates too!

Most studio's that I've recorded in and paid for have given me a recording at the end of the day included in the price. You do your song / songs and the engineer / owner gives you a basic mix on your way out the door (with a bit of hanging about)
These are at "demo" quality I guess if you wanted a mastered copy you would maybe order it as an extra?
Not sure how it works in bigger or pro set ups this is just my experience.
I must say, thinking about it and now that I potter about with my own set up, these guys were pretty slick to mix the stuff down there and then? That's quite a bit of pressure...
 
I usually charge for song, not for hour. The only problem with that is that the band could goof off with recording, not get anything done, and leave wasting my time and using my equipment without paying. That has never happened yet though.
 
I have three pricing methods that I use. I charge by the hour, by the song or by the project. Which I use depends on the discussion I have with the person before I do anything.

If they are new to recording, and I'm charging by the song or the hour, I will usually let them have the first session for free so that they can get used to the process and see how it all works.

The key is that whatever method you use, sort it out and get agreement beforehand.
 
CrowsofFritz said:
The only problem with that is that the band could goof off with recording, not get anything done, and leave wasting my time and using my equipment without paying. That has never happened yet though.
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It will happen, happened to me the other day again, band did nothing, goofed around for hours, did not know the song, were a bunch of talentless useless waste of times, ended up with no product, then had no money to pay (we'll pay you later man) coz they had sent it on the burgers and case of beer that they turned up with (always a bad sign), and I had nothing worth while to hold on to. Lucky I only wasted a few hours.

Charge by the hour, do not let any mixes or files leave the studio without payment, if after 2 hours it looks like a waste of time wrap it up and tell them to come back when they have it together (be nice as I have had bands come back better prepared). I only bend the rules when I work with regular clients, i.e. run an account that they can pay off, give some free time to help them out, etc.

Alan
 
Thanks folks:
That's all good advice. I was going to charge by the song but as all of you have noted, it's risky and my wife said "No". So that's that. Here's what I posted in the two local music shops.



Recording Studio

I have a Recording facility in my home, which is ideal for singer songwriters interested in recording acoustic albums.
Sorry; No bands or electrics.
I have used this studio to produce three of my own albums and am now recording for outside clients.
I am using state of the art equipment and software and producing a very nice sound.
This studio is best suited to the solo folk artist and is priced at $35/hr.
Artist must know his/her material well in advance of entering the studio.
Call me at 555 555 5455
 
witzendoz said:
It will happen, happened to me the other day again, band did nothing, goofed around for hours, did not know the song, were a bunch of talentless useless waste of times, ended up with no product, then had no money to pay (we'll pay you later man) coz they had sent it on the burgers and case of beer that they turned up with (always a bad sign), and I had nothing worth while to hold on to. Lucky I only wasted a few hours.

Charge by the hour, do not let any mixes or files leave the studio without payment, if after 2 hours it looks like a waste of time wrap it up and tell them to come back when they have it together (be nice as I have had bands come back better prepared). I only bend the rules when I work with regular clients, i.e. run an account that they can pay off, give some free time to help them out, etc.

Alan
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I haven't done too many sessions nor have as much experience as some people on here but I do a upfront payment, nonrefundable. $100 to book your session, if they goof and waste my time, I keep the money. If you complete the project that $100 just goes to what you owe. That way at least I get something for the time and it will most likely drive the less "serious" clients away.

I charge by the hour, there's to many variables in what a song is. If somebody wanted me to mix a song, I could get stuck there working 10+ hours on a mix with 40+ different tracks and not finish in a day and feel like I'm not getting paid for the amount of work. By hour works great if you have set hours of work. You just have to set your hours and anything during "work" hours gets charged. That way the customer has a little extra peace of mind that they're not getting charged all sorts of extra hours if there's only say, 12 hours in a "work" day.


I would also go to venues and shows of the type of clients you want, bring an MP3 player with some samples and let them listen and give them a card. No point in waiting around for a call, get out there and find the people that are actively playing in the music community and who are the type of people that will want to record their music.
 
I would also go to venues and shows of the type of clients you want
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Good tip.
I have approached a few performers in recent months but no real takers.
Here's a question though.
What do you do with the guy who just can't sing?
The guy I'm recording right now is getting something for nothing so that's fine but if he was paying me money, I'd feel guilty.
 
Jim Lad said:
Good tip.
I have approached a few performers in recent months but no real takers.
Here's a question though.
What do you do with the guy who just can't sing?
The guy I'm recording right now is getting something for nothing so that's fine but if he was paying me money, I'd feel guilty.
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Problems are best met at the source...aka the guy needs to get singing lessons, there is no compensation for raw talent and vocal practice. If he's happy with the product though there isn't really a problem. Realistically, the voice is an instrument just like any other, a singer should be able to play their instrument.

OR!!!.....make him sound like T-pain lol. :p
 
He's happy enough.
I like the idea of the "First session free" though.
Try the person out with a song or two and see if it will work for both of us.
 
Capt Hair said:
I haven't done too many sessions nor have as much experience as some people on here but I do a upfront payment, nonrefundable. $100 to book your session, if they goof and waste my time, I keep the money. If you complete the project that $100 just goes to what you owe. That way at least I get something for the time and it will most likely drive the less "serious" clients away.
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That's a really good idea.
 
I had a studio owner who also duplicated CDs.
During my busy season he'd run as many as 2, 3 or even 4 hundred CDs for me every two weeks.
I was his busiest client but he always insisted on cash.
Artists are well meaning but pretty poor at paying up.
 
Well things have been going along quite nicely.
I'm doing this one for free because it's my first and the guy says he's broke.
He did a fairly sloppy job on all of his first takes. That's back when I was asking
how to handle a guy who just can't sing.
Well I cut him a rough CD and suggested that he let a friend hear it.
He did. Problem solved.
His friend basically reamed him out and now he's back, working to a click track and singing much better.
He's talking now about paying an accordion player, a banjo player and an electric guitarist to sit in on some of his songs.
WAIT A MINUTE!
Next time he brings it up I'll explain that since he can now afford musicians he can afford to pay me too.
$35 per hour with a $50 minimum.
You try and help some people, they play you for a fool.
 
Jim Lad said:
Call me at 555 555 5455
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Soooooo obviously this isn't your number Jim. When I called it I got some Madame insisting on my credit card number while asking me some every embarrassing preference questions.
 
moresound said:
Soooooo obviously this isn't your number Jim. When I called it I got some Madame insisting on my credit card number while asking me some every embarrassing preference questions.
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Hahahaha. I laughed. Epic!

This was a very interesting thread. For when I'm done with my education I really want to start a studio, hopefully combine it with electronic workshop and make some amps and effect-pedals (well, let's see how this works out..). So this thread really open my eyes;) The last year I really been thinking of how to do stuffs like payment, and how much. Keep continuing posting!
 
Well I got my response.
"Look forward to talking...."
He got the message.
If you keep within the guidelines I've laid out for you, you can have a very good album for free.
But as soon as you add more artists than that, the fee structure kicks in and stays for every session.
I just can't imagine a scenario where you bring a musician into my studio and pay him while I work for free.
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Can't put it more plainly than that.
Henry: My phonetic phone no. is FI FI FI FI FI FI FI FO FI FI
Hang up on the fourth ring and I'll call you back.
Hope that clears it up for you.
 
This is a very interesting thread. I'm thinking about starting up a studio similar to the one Jim made in around a year (as in it's meant for 1 person), but with a different take than most other people. My style of payment will differ. I'll ask $10 at the door for new customers, and from there, I'll ask money per piece of equipment they use and for how long they want to use it. My main deal will be MIDI software and electronics. So I'll have all the best MIDI software (Komplete Ultimate, Ivory II etc...) and very nice tools to use them with. I'll also own a couple of super high-end instruments (like a Roland Fantom G8) over time to attract customers who don't want to use MIDI. I will also have a selection of DAWs, maybe Pro Tools, Logic and Reaper, which I will charge different prices for. (For an example, using Reaper would be drastically cheaper than using Pro Tools.)

So basically, I'd charge them to hook up, say, an Axiom Pro 61 to my Pro Tools for 3 hours, and I'll charge to use Komplete 8 for those hours. I don't know the exact prices I'd ask for but that's the idea. So it's basically an hourly rate but I charge by what equipment they use and not overall time. So if they're okay with using the lower end equipment in my studio, they could still leave with a good sounding recording without spending much. But the people with enough cash to use my higher end equipment would be using some of the best stuff out there for the kind of music they're good for. It would open the studio up to people who are virtually broke as well as those with serious money and they could all leave happy.

This is possibly around a year away from actually happening, probably longer, but does anyone have any opinions or thoughts on this? Does anyone think it could work?
 
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