a job in sound engeneering

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This thread makes me tired...

Anyone else wanna take a nap?




SoMm
 
Han said:
First off, I dont feel like a victim whatsoever.

Then stop talking like one.

Han said:
You have a pretty big mouth bro, the band was recorded in 1995 and my place was booked almost 100% day and night that time.
These days my place is still booked more than other studios in my part of the country, for $60 per hour, not bad huh?

I'm happy for your success. But successful 10 years ago isn't successful today--you have to modify your business paradigm to keep abreast of change.

It isn't important where you are today, but where you will be 5 years from today, or 10 years, and what you are doing NOW to insure your continued business survival.

It sounds like you are doing well, so I applaud you. I'm just tired of people crying because it's competitive nowadays. Of course, I'm the type of guy that is hurting the larger studios so technically I'm 'the enemy'.
 
Yeah, thanks anyway cloneboy, the thing is I don't have to work anymore, I can retire, but I love recording and music.
 
Son of Mixerman said:
This thread makes me tired...

Anyone else wanna take a nap?




SoMm
Yawn... yeah.

I think it's a good thing recording is a hard busniess to get into... it helps separate those who are not willing from the hard working. ;)
 
At $20 an hour, I'm cheaper than the other 2 places and I'm producing better results.

That's funny cuz 20 dollars an hour does not cover equipment depreciation or a building or an employee or most everything else to make a real business. $20 and hour is ok for hobbie money or an ok wage if your working for someone else who covers the overhead.

It's good that you are producing quality results and you care about your clients' projects. But $20 an hour is not real money in business terms. It's merely an ok wage. In my area carpenters, electricians, plumbers, sewer pipe cleaners and many more occupations make more than $20 an hour and they have benefits and steady work. My 21 year old son was making more than that being a cable guy without any equipment investment.

Heck just one of my mics costs $5000 how can you run a business, feed yourself and expand into good gear and replace broken, worn out or out of date stuff at $20 an hour?
 
slobbermonster said:
Heck just one of my mics costs $5000 how can you run a business, feed yourself and expand into good gear and replace broken, worn out or out of date stuff at $20 an hour?

Because truth is, nobody needs a 5000 dollar mic.
 
Son of Mixerman said:
This thread makes me tired...

Anyone else wanna take a nap?




SoMm
Maybe you and DJL should start your own thread. I'm sure politics and cheap studio mics would be much more interesting than all this silly recording nonsense.
Or cheap politics and political Mics. (China) mmmmm intrusting play on words ahh.
Are you bored yet?

C
 
The only thing more boring than me and a few others saying--yes you CAN succeed if you adapt to your times are a bunch of whiners saying NO you can't succeed because [insert excuse].

I don't like or use Chinese mics with the exception of a few experiments with the SP B1.

It's just asserting that having a 5000 dollar mic leads me to believe why some people go broke. 95% of the standard pro mics are in the 500-1100 dollar range: MD421, AKG 414, C451, SM81, AT4060, R121, RE20... and so forth. Heck,there are a lot of sub-500 dollar mics that are great: older NT1's, D112's, SM7's...

It's nice to have a few pricey mics like a C12 or Neumann, but by no means is it *necessary* to have one. Anyone that thinks so is just a little bit spoiled.
 
Cloneboy Studio said:
Because truth is, nobody needs a 5000 dollar mic.

I wonder, I've recorded a very well known saxophone player a while back with a $5k+ microphone. He said he was very happy with the sound and in fact he'd never had a sound like that.

Next week he's coming to record a CD with his band, a well known Hammond player, him with the sax and the drummer who is a famous guy here.

Is this because of me, the $5k mic or both?

This 5k mic is the most used mic in my studio, so I guess I need it.
 
Cloneboy Studio said:
The only thing more boring than me and a few others saying--yes you CAN succeed if you adapt to your times are a bunch of whiners saying NO you can't succeed because [insert excuse].
Well first of all as you can see my reply was not directed at you.
But as long as we’re on the subject, maybe if everybody was the little tugboat and buried their head in the sand like an ostridge everything would just be peachy.

OK now I'm getting bored.

C
 
The only thing more boring than me and a few others saying--yes you CAN succeed if you adapt to your times are a bunch of whiners saying NO you can't succeed because [insert excuse].

No one is saying you can't suceed, of course you can. Anecdotal evidence, which is all you have shared so far does not change the statistical facts of the industry as a whole. You may be doing well in your area, I may be doing well in my area, but that does not change the trend of the entire industry. It is foolish to judge things based on our little microcosm of the world.

Heck,there are a lot of sub-500 dollar mics that are great: older NT1's, D112's, SM7's...

not great, they are good there is difference. on some types of instruments they would do a good job. I also own low priced mics and use them on occasion and during remote recording and live shows.

It's nice to have a few pricey mics like a C12 or Neumann, but by no means is it *necessary* to have one. Anyone that thinks so is just a little bit spoiled.

Not spoiled, it's just hard to settle for mediocrity. Once you've used higher end gear you start realizing the difference between good and great.

$20 dollars an hour still does not make for a real business income. It's not even good self employment wages. It's just hobbie money and if your working out of your basement or garage it's ok but it's not a business income. You can go mow lawns and make more than $20 an hour.
 
slobbermonster said:
That's funny cuz 20 dollars an hour does not cover equipment depreciation or a building or an employee or most everything else to make a real business. $20 and hour is ok for hobbie money or an ok wage if your working for someone else who covers the overhead.

It's good that you are producing quality results and you care about your clients' projects. But $20 an hour is not real money in business terms. It's merely an ok wage. In my area carpenters, electricians, plumbers, sewer pipe cleaners and many more occupations make more than $20 an hour and they have benefits and steady work. My 21 year old son was making more than that being a cable guy without any equipment investment.

Heck just one of my mics costs $5000 how can you run a business, feed yourself and expand into good gear and replace broken, worn out or out of date stuff at $20 an hour?



I'm not talking about a business. I'm talking about making money with stuff that I would have anyway because I use it for myself. If people are willing to pay me to come and have me record them, and I can pay for my gear habit, that's great for me. If I'm taking away business from the "Real Studios", then too freakin bad. I guess they better do something to keep their clients.

I could see where a studio owner might get pissed because guys like me are putting out garbage but it's the other way around. They come to me because I'm kicking their asses.
 
The original discussion was about getting a JOB in the recording industry therefore leading to the discussion of why jobs are scarce. If someone wants to open and operate a studio, that's a different discussion than jobs at studios.

HangDawg you should go kick their ass and get all the business you can do. That is free interprise. BTW i like the way your website looks. The people you work with might be content with the sound you can produce and it may be you're easier to work with than the other studios in your area, that's a good thing. If you could work a thousand hours a week you might start making some money at $20 an hour.
 
I had stated that I'm more about the music than making money. Then I get stupid comments like JLM and his Puhleeze crap. Seems I can't win. If I don't charge anything, I'm part of the problem and I'm taking business away from real studios. If I charge what I feel my services are worth (about $20/hr right now) then I get the, "Well your a stupid businessman and you'll never afford that $5000 mic.

All I can say is I'm providing a good service/value in my local area. People are happy, I'm buying gear with the money I make. Fuck all you naysayers.



Slobber,
Thanks for the site compliment.



Good Day
 
slobbermonster said:
Not spoiled, it's just hard to settle for mediocrity. Once you've used higher end gear you start realizing the difference between good and great.

But this becomes a slippery slope... once you have the C12 you *gotta* have that GML eq, and then before you know it your API pre is just 'amazing' and 'stupendous' so you are dropping big money on some rackmounted Neve modules... which later aren't pure enough for you so heck... time to drop a few thousand grand on an SSL console because you want some automation too.

And then you wonder why one goes out of business.

Truth is that most of us aren't recording Aerosmith, Metallica or Celine Dion and don't need the Lambourghini of audio tools to do our jobs. In fact I have more respect for someone that can get superior results with home recording equipment than some big name producer recording amazing bands in amazing studios... with amazing mastering engineers and mixers helping to clean everything up.

The audio world is going thru a change that will hit the film world in a few years: the rise of the independent guerilla producer working outside of the system. That's good, because the industry had became an overbloated corporate machine that was out of control.

I would blame flagging sales on major labels as a major factor for the damage on the top end audio world... not homerecording dudes. C'mon, I highly doubt that joe blow in his basement is exactly cutting into Electric Ladyland's biz... ya' know? :)
 
Cloneboy Studio said:
That's funny, it only took me one year to command that.

If they are paying $25/hour for first year engineers in Ohio then I am moving.
 
Um.....I've been doing live recordings for my school and local musicians for about $20/hr and I'm just a college student with some basic equipment. I don't even do much mixing...I usually just set up an ORTF pair, throw a few spot mics in and go through a Yamaha mixer straight to DAT, then from DAT to PT, normalize, maybe a little compression and some editing then to CD...


If you're getting a lot less than $20/hr you're getting seriously screwed man...or maybe people just love my recordings and are willing to pay for my immense talent :rolleyes: I doubt it though.

Or maybe the going rate is just a lot different from place to place (this is outside of Philly btw).
 
OneRoomStudios said:
Um.....I've been doing live recordings for my school and local musicians for about $20/hr and I'm just a college student with some basic equipment. I don't even do much mixing...I usually just set up an ORTF pair, throw a few spot mics in and go through a Yamaha mixer straight to DAT, then from DAT to PT, normalize, maybe a little compression and some editing then to CD...


If you're getting a lot less than $20/hr you're getting seriously screwed man...or maybe people just love my recordings and are willing to pay for my immense talent :rolleyes: I doubt it though.

Or maybe the going rate is just a lot different from place to place (this is outside of Philly btw).

Just so we are on the same page. Charging $25 an hour for you and all your gear is nowhere near the same thing as getting paid $25/hour to just show up and do a job. The original post is about "getting a job" in the recording business not "starting a business".

If I only charged $25/hour to record in my studio then I could never afford to do it full time. It would take a year or so just to pay for the gear before I could even see a dime.

If you guys can walk into any production company and get a steady $25/hour gig as a beginner then you have my immense respect.
 
Um.....I've been doing live recordings for my school and local musicians for about $20/hr and I'm just a college student

and you do this 40-45 hours per week fulltime right?
 
Everybody needs to stop, take a deep breath, and relax. To answer the original question to this post... Yes, it is possible to get a good paying job in the recording industry. Try to stay near the major cities and dedicate you heart and soul to what you love and believe in. It may be tough at the beginning, but if you trully want it, you will be able to make it in the business. Don't give up.
 
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