Do You Make Money off ur Studios?? Hop In

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young_digital

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I'm trying to setup a home studio and begin charging artists to record....I'm in Toronto, Canada....just want a few tips of advice...like things i need to watch out for...how to get started and keep attracting customers to come back to record...just setting up a small place for now and as the business grows....i invest in a larger place..with more mics, plugins, and accessories.
 
What have you got so far? And what experience have you?
 
If making money is your goal, you're going into the wrong business.
 
TelePaul said:
What have you got so far? And what experience have you?
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i have $1500 to invest in equipment right now..and i plan to employ a junior sound engineer who i will pay a percentage of wat he engineers
 
young_digital said:
i have $1500 to invest in equipment right now..and i plan to employ a junior sound engineer who i will pay a percentage of wat he engineers
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Now look, I don't wanna piss on your bonfire, but firstly, $1500 isn't enough capital to put into this business, or any business. Also, you really have to know something about it. The problem is that for throwaway money, any Joe Soap can start putting together a recording studio. Most bands I know have some sort of recording set-up. I do, it's cost me over 1500, I've been practicing for 3 years and I plain suck.

To be successful, you' have to differentiate yourslef from other people. You'd have to be better than every other home recording enthusiast but cheaper than the big name studios. That's tough. It requires alot of experience, not just tech based, but you'll have to sell yourself and do a shit load of networking.

If you're serious about this, you're gonna have to target musicians who have no desire whatsoever to pursue recording themselves. That'll be your only target market.

I really don't wanna put you off the idea, because being motivated and ambitious are two great traits. I just don't think that home rec is the business you wanna put your money into.
 
Everything TelePaul says is right on the money. however, that's not a reason to get discouraged.

Start small and build up. That's what you plan on doing anyway. Just know that $1,500 barely gets you going.

If you can start by recording friends, or people that will be friendly to a startup, you'll be able to get some experience.

I don't know about the hiring an assistant part though. You won't even have neough gear to need an assistant to run. Do it all yourself to start out, and hire an assistant later when you get better paying gigs.

Be realistic in what you can do with your gear and charge accordingly. This may be sort of in the hobby category for a while until you build it up. Good luck!
 
young_digital said:
i have $1500 to invest in equipment right now..and i plan to employ a junior sound engineer who i will pay a percentage of wat he engineers
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Are your rooms treated?
 
SonicAlbert said:
Everything TelePaul says is right on the money. however, that's not a reason to get discouraged.

Start small and build up. That's what you plan on doing anyway. Just know that $1,500 barely gets you going.

If you can start by recording friends, or people that will be friendly to a startup, you'll be able to get some experience.

I don't know about the hiring an assistant part though. You won't even have neough gear to need an assistant to run. Do it all yourself to start out, and hire an assistant later when you get better paying gigs.

Be realistic in what you can do with your gear and charge accordingly. This may be sort of in the hobby category for a while until you build it up. Good luck!
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thanks guys......i love music and i want to invest in soemthing that i love doing....apparently thats the best way to get me more motivated...but the thing is ..with my work schedule...it wont give me enough time to work and learn engineering fully at the same time.....thats the reason i want to hire an engineer that can take care of the recording stuff and we split the profit ...so i can do the networking and he handles the recording...at the same time, i am picking up skills from him gradually and vice versa...bcos im sure most engineers hope to have they own studio some day....sounds like a not too bad idea for me..just thought about it....i've come accorss some young good engineers...definitely not the best but ok to record with good equipment...now my main worry is...can i get some good equipment with 1500? if not what amount can i look to get good recording equipment and what mics, monitors, preamps, soundcards do u guys recommend? i have an almost new dell computer which i plan to use...(1gb ram, p4, 3.2ghz) i think i just need to upgrade the ram and i should be good to go
 
Dude. I just honestly don't know how to reply to this. Who in their right mind would pay someone with $1500 in gear to record anything for them? Im not trying to be a jerk, just a reality check.
 
Hard2Hear said:
Dude. I just honestly don't know how to reply to this. Who in their right mind would pay someone with $1500 in gear to record anything for them? Im not trying to be a jerk, just a reality check.
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I've been paid before. I'm not saying my work is good, because it's not. But there isn't much on offer here, recording wise. Sometimes supply vs demand will apply.
 
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It really depends on what type of music you are planning on recording and what you already have.

If you plan on doing bands, you need a room for the drums (that isn't the control room) and at least 8 channels of mics, preamps and I/O. Not to mention monitors, headphones, headphone amps, mic cables, etc...

$1500 might get you going with vst instruments and maybe a vocal chain. But that's about it.
 
Farview said:
It really depends on what type of music you are planning on recording and what you already have.

If you plan on doing bands, you need a room for the drums (that isn't the control room) and at least 8 channels of mics, preamps and I/O. Not to mention monitors, headphones, headphone amps, mic cables, etc...

$1500 might get you going with vst instruments and maybe a vocal chain. But that's about it.
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Farview has a really good point...you could start with singer-songwriters who only require a few tracks and go from there.
 
TelePaul said:
I've been paid before. I'm not saying my work is good, because it's not. But there isn't much on offer here, recording wise. Sometimes supply vs demand will apply.
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i'm not sure i understand what u are saying here...can u pls explain more wat u mean by the terms i edited wit bold
 
TelePaul said:
Farview has a really good point...you could start with singer-songwriters who only require a few tracks and go from there.
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i love this forum....u guys are very responsive and helpful...
anyways yea..thats what i failed to mention..thats my target group for now...i plan to record mostly vocals...no instruments for now....i have a target genre of mostly hiphop, r&b, soul to begin with

once i generate some funds, i will invest in a bigger place and more instrument...for now...here is the list of gear i am about to get

a condenser mic
studio monitors
preamp
soundcard

im on my research as to figure out what brands i will get..and i will post once i get them for opinions.......is there anything else i am missing in here??
 
young_digital said:
i love this forum....u guys are very responsive and helpful...
anyways yea..thats what i failed to mention..thats my target group for now...i plan to record mostly vocals...no instruments for now....i have a target genre of mostly hiphop, r&b, soul to begin with

once i generate some funds, i will invest in a bigger place and more instrument...for now...here is the list of gear i am about to get

a condenser mic
studio monitors
preamp
soundcard

im on my research as to figure out what brands i will get..and i will post once i get them for opinions.......is there anything else i am missing in here??
Click to expand...


well, $1500 should get you some decent monitors. :D
 
young_digital said:
i love this forum....u guys are very responsive and helpful...
anyways yea..thats what i failed to mention..thats my target group for now...i plan to record mostly vocals...no instruments for now....i have a target genre of mostly hiphop, r&b, soul to begin with

once i generate some funds, i will invest in a bigger place and more instrument...for now...here is the list of gear i am about to get

a condenser mic
studio monitors
preamp
soundcard

im on my research as to figure out what brands i will get..and i will post once i get them for opinions.......is there anything else i am missing in here??
Click to expand...

If you're using software instruments, there's a ton (and I mean a ton) of freebies out there. There's also a laod of plug ins and demo versions for download.
 
i see pipelineaudio is reading this thread....maybe i'll jump in and say "buy REAPER" before he does. it really kicks the other DAW softwares' asses and is incredibly budget friendly. :cool:
 
zed32 said:
i see pipelineaudio is reading this thread....maybe i'll jump in and say "buy REAPER" before he does. it really kicks the other DAW softwares' asses and is incredibly budget friendly. :cool:
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oh please, this guy doesn't even seem to have a clue what hes getting himself into and you're already shoving your choice of software down his throat?
 
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