How much $$$ do you charge??

M

Milkfaj

New member
I am wondering how much people charge to record at their studios based on how much equiptment/experience they have.
Do you charge hourly or daily?
what is your fanciest Mic?
what recording medium?
how many tracks can you record simultaniously?
Do you record full time or part time?
how long have you been recording music?
how long have you been recording music "professionaly"?
Do you give friends/interesting projects a price break?

Im putting together a studio and I want to get a feel for these things. Ive been recording music for over 10 years, but never professionaly. I have an 8 track 1/2" reel to reel, 16 chanell allen&heath mixer, my 2 best mics are a royer r121 and a KSM44.
I want to record part time. Ill probobly let friends bands record for the price of tape and maybe a couple cases of beer. other bands i was thinking of asking for $200 a day. does this sound fair?
 
200 a day? i hate to start answering questions with questions but the reel tape is seriously on the decline i heard of one of the last companies restructuring and they arent many if any reel tape. i record part time using my computer, usually 2 tracks at a time. i've been recording for about 6 years but shoulda found this site a long time ago. I've been recording professionally (meaning i get paid for what i do) for all of 4 months. lol. yeah friends use it for free because most of the equipment is in their house and thats also where we practice. if your branching out....i would go by the hour...charges go from 25-65 an hour depending on what kind of equipment you have and how good you are. my fanciest mic is the mxl 67g lol. best hundred bucks i've spent yet. as for other bands and your reel to reel.....i'd charge by the reel tape...that aint cheap anymore
 
How long do you consider a day? When I was recording with my old band before I got into all this, we would never record with anyone that charged more than $20 an hour unless that had a truly professional studio (as in, hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment). Truth be told, there are guys out there that have been recording for decades that still charge $20 because the market is so saturate with new producers graduating from fullsail and whatnot.

right now I record bands part time and charge $10 an hour for recording + $25 per song for mixing and mastering.
 
I've been recording for about 15 years, ten of that for cash to the public. I can do 24 tracks at once. I charge generally by the project, whatever that may be. Roughly $100 per tune.
 
For me it depends on the client. Friends usually get $20/hour, but I've charged as much as $50/hour for corporate clients. My band gets to record for free, however!
 
well the studios around here havent caught on to that....they're still pushing for seperate things like 35 for the studio and you have to have an engineer cause they wont let you work on it and it'll be another 35 for the engineer. once i hear that...mixing and mastering dont even factor in.....i just move on to the next studio....but i dont have to do that anymore and it feels really good
 
see thats the thing....blue bear's studio kicks ass...plus you have to count that thats $500CDN not $500 US lol. find studios with package deals....i fear haggling down the price with a studio because i think the lower i can get the price the less good equipment i get to use
 
distortedrumble said:
well the studios around here havent caught on to that....they're still pushing for seperate things like 35 for the studio and you have to have an engineer cause they wont let you work on it and it'll be another 35 for the engineer. once i hear that...mixing and mastering dont even factor in.....i just move on to the next studio....but i dont have to do that anymore and it feels really good
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Actually, 35 is damn good for studio rental ... provided the facility is nice and the place is well-stocked. Do you know how much it cost some of these guys to build and to keep it maintained?

Some of you guys are seriously cheap. :D
 
I am running two adats and a yamaha 24x8x2 mixer plus a well equipped DAW. The "fanciest" mic I have is a Groove Tubes(alesis) AM-62.I have been recording on and off for the better part of 20 years.

My hourly rate is $35 per hour,but I rarely run strictly by the clock.I usually try to get a good estimate going into a project and stick as close to it as I can.

Gear isn't the biggest part of the equation here, it's ability. There are several "trust fund baby" studios around here that have mucho more invested in gear than I have and I have smoked their asses as far as product quality goes. Base your price on your ability to deliver the goods as much as what you are working with.
 
chessrock said:
Actually, 35 is damn good for studio rental ... provided the facility is nice and the place is well-stocked. Do you know how much it cost some of these guys to build and to keep it maintained?

Some of you guys are seriously cheap. :D
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you're right i am cheap...and for that i will go to my boss and tell him i need atleast a 2 dollar raise because he is seriously cheap. sometimes you gotta work with what you got
 
Heck, if I was your boss, I'd probably give you a $2.50 raise and wouldn't even blink.

Now if you were asking for an extra $2.50 an hour on the other hand ....

:D
 
chessrock said:
Heck, if I was your boss, I'd probably give you a $2.50 raise and wouldn't even blink.

Now if you were asking for an extra $2.50 an hour on the other hand ....

:D
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and thats exactly what i meant....but its all good cause I'll tell him "chessrock said i was a cheap bastard for arguing with the studio about paying them $35 an hour. and since i can only afford 20 an hour, i was thinking that if you gave me a raise then i would be able to pay the $35 an hour. shall i just put a surcharge on the products we sell? in small print at the bottom we can put: applicable surcharge taxes are used for studio time." :D
 
Yea, and I suppose when it comes time to pay utilities, the studio asking the outrageous fee of $35/hour can just tell the heating company "Sorry, we can't pay the bill this month because Distortedrumble can only pay $20 because his boss is a cheapskate" ... that'll keep the utility guys happy. Make sure to bring space heaters to your session. :D And some portable generators and kerosene lamps, just to be on the safe side.
 
:D and to avoid situations like that where i would feel the need to blame my boss for my paycheck's short commings, i dont frequent studios too often. i work with what i have and if i dont have it then it doesnt happen. that way the people that can pay the 35 an hour get to have happy engineers and no one has to say "i cant believe i let him in here for 20 an hour."
 
distortedrumble said:
25 a song? is that one take?
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No, I'm just realllllly under-charging. I like doing it and I want to get more experience. Why not charge really cheap and record more bands?

EDIT: It's whatever they need.
 
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