Has anyone opened their own Studio?

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Clintage

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Who owns their own studio??

I'm expecting to open a recording/media studio possibly as early as the beginning of next year to service mainly christian bands and school functions.

Has anyone here opened their own studio and would you mind sharing a little insight as to possibly how well it went at first, what sorts of things did you do to drum up business?

I'd appreciate any input you'd have. Thanks!

Clintage

http://www.r463studios.com
 
Although i dont have one of those studio thingys yet i would say;

1) Do market research to see if there is much demand in your area.
2) Get a BIG nasty loan.
3) Advertise to f**k.
4) Be able to provide a good service.
 
Adding to ecktronic's four good points:

5) Network yourself into the local music scene and get a lot of contacts and friends among the local musicians, bands, club managers and promoters.

G.
 
And have a free sausage sizzle on opening day
 
First thing you need is talent.... if your recording skills are mediocre, forget about it - you won't last 6 months....

Second thing you need is a good understanding of the market in your area -- does it need (or can it support) another studio business...

Third thing you need is capital (ie - money) -- lots of it.... you need to get some serious tools, and a serious enough facility to accommodate a wide variety of projects and client needs. You also need enough working capital to sustain yourself for several years as the business grows. Many businesses (of all types) fail because they simply don't have enough money to stay running long enough for the business to grow successfully. It takes time, but if you're good at what you do, and stay around long enough (as a business) for people to take notice (and start spreading the critical word-of-mouth advertising), then you'll likely have a successful business. (Note - "successful" doesn't mean "rolling in dough" - at the very least it means you're making enough to support your lifestyle - whatever that may be...)
 
talent isn't that important. not in nyc, at least. first project i had tracked by a "pro" was very, very sad....and the guy's still doing well (financially). i think the most important factor is capital, which blue balls astutely mentioned. money opens a hell of a lot of doors. or "heck" since it's christian music.
 
tryptophan said:
talent isn't that important.
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Well, it certainly has nothing to do with one's ability to post a ridiculous idea in this thread, apparently.

G.
 
I've recently started my studio, though I've worked as a freelance engineer for years, as a sideline. I started another busniess with a partner, which was successful enough for me to finance my studio gear and put away some rainy day funds to get started with.

I'd say:

Understand business principles. This is important no matter what business you're in. If you don't understand basic accounting, you may have some troubles. You need to know how to track your advertising success rates, figure out where you're having success, etc.

Make sure any partners you take on share your vision and expectations, and be sure you've agreed to a shotgun clause, in case one of you wants out at some point.

Read "The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding " by Al and Laura Ries. Probably the most important business book I've ever read, and one that made a world of difference in my previous business.

As to specifics of the studio biz, I can tell what's worked so far for me, and for studios I've worked at.

Try to be narrow. Be the guy for whatever genre/application. If people say "Who records christian music?" anyone in your town should know "Oh, that's this guy here (you!)"

Too many studios advertise with "We can record anything! Rap, Hardcore, country, jazz, metal!" Which just tells the consumer that they aren't very good at any of these.

Be very realistic about your goals, and DO THE MATH! If your goal is to make $40,000 a year after expenses, and you're going to charge $15 an hour, and your "nut" is $2000 a month(ads, electric, loan payments, etc), you're going to be working a hell of a lot of hours! And most likely, your town won't have that much business for you (unless you're the only guy doing your genre in a major metro area.) In this example, you'd need to book 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, with no vacations.

On the other hand, if you can charge $40 an hour, you only need 6.2 hours 5 days a week, with a 2 week vacation!

I don't know how much of a business education you have, but more is better. Read everything you can about recording, practice it, get gigs. But also dedicate a large part of your free time to learning about business. Those skills will always be with you, and will help avoid some of the pitfalls we all run into.

You may be better off nurturing a good relationship with a local studio, and working freelance. Your overhead then is almost nothing, you get to work with great gear, and if something breaks, it's not your problem.

Anyway, lots to think about! :)
 
Yeah... Unless you can hack the "lag time" financially, you'd be in better shape getting an interested client base before you even open up. It can take a lot of time to establish a name. And once it's established, you continuously need to pound it in unless you're really on the top.

There's a studio I get a bunch of stuff from - He's busy all the time. He told me he was going to start advertising every other month instead of every month.

He went from turning business away to being on the edge of a panic in less than six weeks.

Now he continues to advertise every month, of course.

But this guy has 20+ years of a solid client base and *still* it only took skipping one month of advertising to be overlooked.
 
johnsuitcase said:
Try to be narrow. Be the guy for whatever genre/application. If people say "Who records christian music?" anyone in your town should know "Oh, that's this guy here (you!)"
...
And most likely, your town won't have that much business for you (unless you're the only guy doing your genre in a major metro area.) In this example, you'd need to book 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, with no vacations.
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It seems to me that those points kind of butt heads. How can one fill up their appointment book by advertising that they specialize in a single genre? You'll be turning away a lot of business before they even call you from rock groups, student vocalists (college music majors are a great relatively un-approached source for business for a starter studio), etc. Plus, while everybody may not react this way, if I saw an ad for a studio that said they specialized in a certain genre, unless it were some special recording sitution (e.g. mobile/location recording, orchestral recordings, foley work, etc.) I'd immediately think these guys were amateurs in that they could only work with one kind of music style, even if it were the style I wanted to lay down. And the chances of somebody not already having a reputation for a particular genre in a major metro area is pretty slim.

I agree that advertising that one does all genres of music looks and sounds amateurish. A real pro takes music genres for granted; it's like a barber advertising that they can cut all colors of hair. But advertising that one specializes in a particular genre of music is equally amateurish-sounding in my book (like the barber that specializes in cutting blonde hair.)

That doesn't mean you can't specialize in one particular genre. Of course you can. I just would not suggest that you put it on your business card or website in terms as direct as that. At the outset you need to take whatever work you can get just to pay the bills, and turning away potential customers before even saying "Hello" by in your advertising implicitly discouraging non-Christian-themed artists from even calling you is not the way to get started, in my book.

Regardless of whatever chips Tryptophan may carry on his shoulders, most studios live and die by their reputation. Reputation can only be "bought" by hiring a ringer engineer who carries a reputation with him already. Otherwise, reputation has to be built and earned. First you need to get at least some reputation as a good studio to work with; one that not only does a good technical job, but one who treats their clients well. The fastest way to build this rep is with as many satisfied clients as possible. Especially if you are in or near a major metro area, the networking and gossip tree amongst the musician community is tight and wide-spread. Get in good with a few of them and they'll start unwittingly doing free targeted advertising for you.

As that rep is building, you can and should of course advertise yourself. Here's where you can start targeting your preferred genre. Not by being specific about it in your ads, but rather by targeting where the ads will be seen. Advertise in community bulletins, donate some time or sponsership to church social events, meet with christian rock bands at their live gigs and let them know of your special skills and interests during their set breaks, get Reverend Smith to hand out your business cards with the communion wafers. Ok, maybe not that last one ;), but I think you get the idea. While you're letting your general rep as a quality studio build among the musicians (and paying the bills), specifically targeting the Christian artist community with your (generic) advertising will help you tune that rep in the way you want to go.

G.
 
Really good points from SouthSIDE Glen, as usuall. Give the guy a choclate biscuit! :)
 
I agree that being very narrow can be a bit of a difficult path in the beginning, but I also think that there's more to being a competent engineer than the technical abilities involved. I guess it goes to the question of what kind of business you're building, really. If I was building a studio, a physical studio, with gear and rooms, etc., I would probably want to get set up in a way that could handle multiple contract engineers. Now, I may have an engineer who's brilliant at Jazz. And that guy will build a rep in the jazz community. He should be able to talk Miles, Getz, Blue Note, etc. I'd be looking for someone who has good skills, and a fierce interest in that genre of music. I think anyone who's moved by passion will improve over time. Their reputation will grow naturally. But they have to have that fundamental love of the music. The way you mic, compress, mix a drumset for an acoustic jazz band is SOOO different from the way it's done in Nu Metal, it's barely even the same skill.

I may be able to record a country act, but I'm not going to get the flavor right. I know it, because I don't like country. I would probably end up with something closer to Palace than Ricky Skaggs, and that may be completely inappropriate.

So, my point is, if you have loads of capital, build a great room, with killer gear. But be prepared to have several contract engineers, so you can keep that room booked.

If, on the other hand, you want to specialize in a genre (Christian, Mobile, Punk Rock, etc), you're better off working as a contract engineer, especially at first. Build a great mic locker, put together a rack of boutique stuff that you can take into any studio. You'll be much better off as the engineer with 3 killer vocal mics, 3 great mic pre's, and 3 amazing compressors, walking into a really well built room.

I'm not sure if I'm making sense to you all, but it's clear to me. There are two career paths here. One is a studio operator/owner. Success is defined by being a great place, that makes you money (it's a business, not a hobby).

The other is as an engineer. Success is defined by being in demand by producers and artists, to the point that you're busy and well compensated. I think this is much more likely to happen if you specialize. Even someone like Steve Albini does both, successfully. But he has a "genre", that being his sound. His studio, Electrical Audio, has several engineers.

But he got where he is, primarily, by focusing on the punk/indie world that he knows intimately.

Of course, I'm no world famous engineer, yet! :)
 
johnsuitcase said:
So, my point is, if you have loads of capital, build a great room, with killer gear. But be prepared to have several contract engineers, so you can keep that room booked.

If, on the other hand, you want to specialize in a genre (Christian, Mobile, Punk Rock, etc), you're better off working as a contract engineer.
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Bingo! I'll back that advice all the way. :)

G.
 
Cant you own the studio and be an engineer ALSO...MULTI-TASK lol :D I totally agree with Johnsuitcase and SouthSIDE Glen though... you've gotta be able to spread yourself over genre's
 
I ran my own place for about 6 years, part time mostly and full time for a while. Don't just up and quit the day gig for sure.

I had a lot of success by taking on a lot of stuff that nobody else seemed to be interested in. People that were in bands years ago that had old demos on cassette that they wanted put to cd. Someone's dad cut a record back in the '50s they wanted on CD. A local modeling school sending their modeling students over to do their voiceover demos (that was always a great gig!). Local radio spots and jingles (did a shitload and a half of them).

Songwriters demos were a staple. I always said if you wanted to find my recordings, the best place to look was in the dupmsters behind the record companies. Lots of church groups, cutting choirs on location, kids groups and the like. Foley staging sound effects for some local film guys. Talking books. You name it. Basically anything and everything you can think of doing in a recording studio I did to turn a buck.

When I added a 7 burner cd duplication tower I bought second handand added short-run cd duplication to my services I saw a nice bump in revenue for my little operation. After while, I realized I was doing anything and everything in my studio except making albums most of the time. Those projects were always few and far between.

If you want to make money with a studio, don't ever limit yourself with what you take in. Even then, it doesn't hurt to acquire a taste for "5 for a dollar "ramen noodles. :D
 
applejax said:
Cant you own the studio and be an engineer ALSO...MULTI-TASK lol :D
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Of course! :) I don;t think either one of us were advocation just becoming a studio owner and not actually working in the studio as well. The point was that by being just a gunslinger engineer for hire and not a studio owner, you don't have any of the costs and headaches involved with owning a bricks-and-mortar business like paying utility bills, rent (if not at home), taxes (if at home or not), advertising, maintenance, etc.

While being a freelance engineer is no walk in the park either, it's a lot easier to keep the overhead down (and to concentrate on the actual fun stuff, the engineering ;) ) when you'r using someone else's studio.

G.

P.S. gtrman, I am extremely familiar with Raman noodles :p :o . 5 for a buck is way too expensive for those :D. I often get them on sale at half that price and stock up.
 
Clintage said:
I'm expecting to open a recording/media studio possibly as early as the beginning of next year to service mainly christian bands and school functions.
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I think focusing on christian bands/school functions is self-defeating. You have to focus on getting BUSINESS regardless of genre. If you think you can subsist on one type of music in the recording biz you are sorely mistaken.

Also, if you are known for doing one type of music other musicians may bypass your studio altogether because you only do "that" type of music.

Granted, it's cool to penetrate one niche market to gain a wider market... but if you don't do it right it will backfire.

The other piece of advice is find good people to do business with. You'd be amazed at what you can accomplish with 2 or 3 good people....
 
Cloneboy Studio said:
Also, if you are known for doing one type of music other musicians may bypass your studio altogether because you only do "that" type of music.
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I think limiting yourself to one type of music a drawback also, one thing to keep in mind when recording a band that isn't normaly your cup of tea... when tracking mixing mastering a band your FAVORATE type of music is the kind your working on right now, if the band doesn't feel your enthusiasm they won't be back.
 
I think it's just two ways of thinking about your business and where you want to go with it. If you want to own and operate a local studio/recording service, yes, you need to be prepared to record anything, especially if you live in a small market.

However, if you are aspiring to be a producer/engineer who works with well-known bands, I think you need to build a reputation within that genre. People do hire producer/engineers from other genres, but places like Westbeach Recorders got where they are because of (possibly unintentional) focus on punk and underground genres.

It's like this: If I'm in a band and we do ska, I need to record. Am I more likely to call up the guy who does voice-overs and country singers, or the guy who does all the ska and reggae stuff?

And if there are no ska/reggae guys in town, I'll look for the guy who does all the cool punk stuff. Still no one? Then I expand my search a little to the guy who does really great rock stuff.

But if you establish yourself as the go-to guy for a genre, two things happen.

1. You'll start to attract more of that genre's performers
2. You'll get better at producing/engineering that genre

This is of course, a self-reinforcing loop. The more Ska bands you record, the more ska bands call you. The more ska records that are out there, the more other ska bands hear about you, and want to work with you.

I remember being in a punk band in the early 90's and wanting to go to Westbeach Recorders, because they'd recorded so many of the punk bands I loved.

But yes, in a small market, focusing on a niche is much more difficult.

It's like Wal-Mart. It works in a small town because they bring so much stuff to town, and they do it cheaply. On the other hand, a city like New York has thousands of boutique stores, which are not cheap.


If you live in a big city, with a large christian population, you can do very well focusing on that group. If you live in a town fo 30,000 people, I'd say that's career suicide.
 
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