Commericial Studio Owners

[Michael Jones]

I wasn't sure where else to post this.

Questions for those of you that own commericial studios:
1.) Without giving away any "trade secrets", what methods of advertising/marketing do you find have the best return on investment for your studio?
2.) Aside from the obvious "word of mouth" what methods have you employed in the past for promoting your studio services?
3.) Are you leasing your studio space, or buying it?
4.) What do you use to keep your equipment secure when the studio is closed?
5.) And finally, what are your peak hours of operation?

Any info is greatly appreciated.

~Michael~

 

[gec]

Hey Michael,

Answers to your questions (w/o secrets) hahaha


1 & 2) Word of Mouth is the best way - The internet is anotha biggie --- Being a part of your cities music scene.....Networking......Posting flyers at record stores and definately the Guitar center type stores in your area...... Promotional CD's of your work mailed/handed out to artists in your area....... Realistically though once you've done this and providing your a good engineer you won't have to keep this marketing up..... Once you have clients it seems like more just keep coming from the word of mouth thing..............

3.) Guess it depends on your budget for overhead expenses......... I started out of my home's spare bedroom....People will come to you for your skills not how fancy looking your studio is.... Essentially your clients are paying for you

4.) Rotwieller


5.) Hmmmmmmmmmm......... If your studio's purpose is for recording unsigned local artists I would say weeknights 5-11 and all day Saturday & Sunday..........

Most of my work now is geared towards generating income from what my own production staff can do not getting paid hourly by other musicians..........


Hope this helps

 

[Shailat]

Questions for those of you that own commericial studios:
1.) Without giving away any "trade secrets", what methods of advertising/marketing do you find have the best return on investment for your studio?

I dont own but work in....

2.) Aside from the obvious "word of mouth" what methods have you employed in the past for promoting your studio services?

In the places I have worked it has always been one thing. Not advertising defenitly not internet which IMHO is practicly useless,
But investing in every client we get on a personal basis.
From the second he/she walks in they are a king. We cater their needs from coffee to calling them up on holidays and wishing them a happy holiday to giving them freebies like fixing their cables for the guitar....trimming of 15 min here and there of their bill....making sure they understand that their music is the most important thing to us and we never laugh at the quality or the material or the text.
They ALWAYS come back and refer others to us.

3.) Are you leasing your studio space, or buying it?

The current place is leasing and its a serious burden on the budget

4.) What do you use to keep your equipment secure when the studio is closed?

Again the current place is insured and there are 2 sets of bolted metal doors with locks as well as a security service with an alarm system that checks the place with patrols.

5.) And finally, what are your peak hours of operation?
[.quote]
The day NEVER ! starts before 11:00 in the morning thank god !
It changes from project to project but from 12:00 to 24:00 it runs with out a stop other then a client cturnover at around 17:00.

 

[Michael Jones]

Thanks for the great info guys!
I know how important "word of mouth" is, but theres that catch 22 -- you have to have drawn in some clientiel before you build a reputation for people to talk of. Thats the hard part!

 

[mixmkr]

I wasn't sure where else to post this.

Questions for those of you that own commericial studios:
1.) Without giving away any "trade secrets", what methods of advertising/marketing do you find have the best return on investment for your studio?
2.) Aside from the obvious "word of mouth" what methods have you employed in the past for promoting your studio services?
3.) Are you leasing your studio space, or buying it?
4.) What do you use to keep your equipment secure when the studio is closed?
5.) And finally, what are your peak hours of operation?

Any info is greatly appreciated.

~Michael~

Currently, I personally am only doing stuff out of my house, as I've gravitated to wanting to do my own stuff with the little time I seem to have. ...ya know, as you get older..the time just flies by...eh? so...the sessions are limited, and eves and weekends only, on an occasional basis. Soley word of mouth, and I pick and choose what I want to do now.

However...the studios I have worked in, in the past would probably fit your questions better....one studio in particular, in St. Louis
1. there was no advertising...strickly word of mouth, except for a large yellow pages ad, that attracted more business than you would have thought. We did a pile of groups that came in, booked 20 hours, cut an album, we pressed 'em up 2000 (jobbed out) copies...and down the road they went.
2. as the owner of one particular studio, was also a main booking agent in town, that helped a lot in getting groups to come in. The main thing we did, is make sure we got the best sound possible we could do, as it represented what we did..even if we were a little flexible on time...to a limit, of course. Also, we would bring in select bands (we choose) to record for free, and we acted as producers, and hoped that the recordings would get around and be heard in addition to us trying to find the next hit [makers]!
3. the space was leased, but also ended up being the offices for the booking agency too, and was kinda on the out-skirts of town, so rent was CHEAP.
4. Just locks and bars...nothing fancy.
5. peak hours...definately from 6pm on....often until 3am...or more...friday, sat. nights ...the day gig was basically non existant, except of course on weekends....but still nights prevailed.

 

[analog4]

I don't consider myself a commercial studio, but I suppose
I am in the respect that I do recording for hire....

Most of my paying recording jobs are recording recitals for
vocal students. These jobs are fast and simple and are
readily available by contacting your local music teachers.
Quick and easy--pays about 50.00 per recital (1/2 hour)
I do about 3 recitals at a time----try it for some extra dough
in your area.

Graham.

 

[Downside Studio]

One of the biggest buggers is keeping the equipment up to date. Whenever you sit in your studio and think ....'well we have it all pretty much covered now'....that's the time to make the new investments. in other words you have to keep investing in new equipment. if you wait to long, you'll end up having to invest a lot at once, which many studio's can't afford, because the money simply isn't there. From that point on it's a downward spiral.

Budget keeping is one of the most important things. You'd be surpised how much you can buy and invest even on a very low budget.

Some tips:

1. always keep it clean and neat. clients like it that way and it looks professional.
2. make sure that if thair aren't any facilities and clients are asking for them (catering/nintendo etc) you get them.
3. any downtime should be used. Try cleaning the studio of more important ask bands to come in and record for free. only charge direct expenses like tapes etc. Not only does it skill you, you'll be able to work without time/money pressure, and that's the best advertising you can get. Most people i've offered this came back for paid recordings.
4. try to organise events like band contests. Try to get as much people as possible into your studio.
5. offer some local known people you're studio for free. Tell them they can use it for free demo-ing, as long as you can use their names for advertising and promotional use.
6. get a girlfriend with her own income. Only way to survive.