A new studio just opened up a few miles from myne!

[wjgypsy]

There's this guy that opened up him a studio down the road from me, for people to come and record in. Ok. I have had a studio for 4 years and he has just had his not quite a year. He charges $25/hour, i charge $15/hour, yet ever time i talk to him (where friends) he's got a new band coming to record soon. and me? can't see one for miles. I know that this studio is stealing bizz from me and i want to know how to compete and stay in the game.I would love Any good tips.


thanks

zeke

 

[Richie Woods]

Got a gas can? ...JUST KIDDING!

Do you advertise? Is your studio as good as his? You should find out why he gets the biz and you don't. How about experience and demos of your previous work...these play a factor. Seems to me with such a difference in price there has to be something he is doing that you are not.

 

[wjgypsy]

Got a gas can?

Hmmmmmmm........... I do place ads. i placed an ad in the a free newspaper and got 2 calls from it, but the people never came. I think i'll start printing flyers and posting them up all over town.

zeke

 

[Richie Woods]

I used to own a small store. It is all about competition. You got the right idea about having the lower price. You now need to tell people that you can do the same job as your competitor but at a much better price. Compete!!! Advertise!!!

 

[wjgypsy]

well his studio is 24trk and myne is 16trk but i do have a computer editing system with acid pro 4.0 He donsn't have a computer in his whole studio. He records on adat tapes and mixes on a 24ch behringer board.

 

[Richie Woods]

I love your ambition. How much experience has he had and have you had? Word of mouth can hurt ya as well.

 

[wjgypsy]

Well for a few years he had a tascam 4-track tape recorder and a few mics in a room in his barn out back. He would just record himself. But he does pluming/electric for a living. But i guess he came into some money or something and he bought new mics, a 24ch mixing board,ect,ect and set it up in a trailor. I got a trilor too. i think it's bigger than his. i got 4 rooms and he has 3. All together he's been in the studio bizz for about a year. I've been in it for 4 years come this august.

 

[Wireneck]

zeke man,

im not knocking your lifestyle (i myself live in the deep south in the country) but this whole bit about studios being setup inside of trailers ( i assume you mean a trailer like a mobile home?) sounds like it jumped right out of a jeff foxworthy joke. Any chance that we can see any pics of these mobile home studios? I think ive seen yours before but i would def be interested in seeing your competitions.

 

[wjgypsy]

I don't think that he has a website but i've seen it. it's like:

3 rooms (live,drum and control room) high carpet, so on. I don't have any desent photos of myne but i'm not moved in yet but when i do, i'll let you see them.

 

[muzakal]

I think I've pin pointed the problem. Air conditioning. Do you know how blazing hot it gets in those double wides?

I don't want to discourage you by any means, but here are a few thoughts.

He's got better equipment
He has more friends that record music
He's a better engineer than you are
He lets his clients finance
He's doing a lot of free work
He speaks and writes English better than you do
He doesn't have any cars parked out front
You just plain suck as an engineer

These are just some thoughts to ramble about. Don't take anything personal.

-muzakal

 

[MemoGtr]

english has nothing to do, man.

hey, if you're not doing it for a living thats cool. ok my recording its not good as others, i have a friend my age (16) with a lot of equipment and ability but no clients. at leat i have recorded 5 bands in 2 bands

just be friendly, patient, friendly and hummm friendly? lol
hehe. really, just let people know you can do it and they'll come to you

 

[Richie Woods]

Put a neon billboard on top of the trailer...

"Best Dang Studio In The Freakin' Town!"
and
" Free Beer!"

 

[MemoGtr]

hehehe
nice idea

 

[wjgypsy]

You just plain suck as an engineer

Dude, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

 

[Richie Woods]

Don't sweat it, man. I think he is just messin' with ya.

 

[ds21]

If that's a current pic of your setup, I'd say get a big board and a big 21" monitor some mood lighting, acoustic treatments... you got to keep in mind that people are used to seeing big boards in magazines and such, even if your stuff would sound better his stuff might be cooler, and I doubt he's telling them he's only been in it for a year...

They say people makeup their minds about people in the first 30 seconds or something like that, the same goes with the look of your setup.

 

[wjgypsy]

No. that is not my total set up. I'm still working on the other rooms. The Control Room with be painted either a lite white or a brownish/red color with either red or purple/blue acoustic tile. I'm going to build a wood console for my equipment too. Put up some track lights and a few lava lamps

 

[muzakal]

Dude, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

Whoa - and you completely took it personal. Not a good business practice, *dude*.

What I was talking about were simply things to think about. Not everybody's a good engineer. Me? I'm no engineer. I just write and produce the music.

To be good at anything in life, we have to be honest about our weaknesses in order to make them strengths. You could be a fantastic engineer, but if that were true, you'd have so many word of mouth clients you wouldn't have to worry about the other guy, right?

But, you don't worry. Keep your chin up. Get that trailer on bricks and off the wheels. It'll all come together.

-muzakal

 

[Slackmaster2K]

Definately take C7's advice!!!!

Also, setting a really low rate might sound like a great idea at first...but if your rate is too low, people are going to think it's because you suck. Really, $15 an hour is chump change. That means that after considering expenses and taxes (+self employment tax) you'd be putting about $4-6 per hour into the bank. If you then consider equipment upgrades you're basically going to be panhandling for food. Nothing screams "I'm a kid" than setting a price that's too low to survive on.

P.S. I'm not in the studio business, but I've tried my hand in other pursuits and I know exactly what you're going through.

Slackmaster 2000

 

[wjgypsy]

And how can he be "stealing" business from you if the best you can do is run an ad in a freebie flyer for garage sales and cars that need to be towed away and the folks that call on your ad don't even show???

Good luck.

we both place ads in the same place.