How to make money doing this?

W

williamconifer

New member
Greetings.

This is not spam. I've been on this board for almost a year and I got this thought in my mind: "How can I make some money doing this?" By "this" I mean I have a nice computer audio rig with Sonar 2/Acid 3/ SF6/Fruityloops/butload of plugins and tons of samples and loops. My Hardware is simple, clean and efficient. Currently I only have a 2 in/out audio card so recording beyond 2 tracks at once is not possibe as is. My studio is a 9'x12' control room in my house. No sound booth. I live 100 west of Chicago in a semi rural town.

I basically write and perform my own material in addition to remixing and creating looped compostions. How are people making money doing what we all discuss here?

I was thinking about trying to find some projects creating sound beds or sound tracks/commercials for radio/cable tv and offering audio services to the video houses around me. What do I need to look out for in dealing with these types of projects? Is there demand video houses and radio for a freelance audio producer?

It's a bit awkward for me to ask these kind of questions. I've been recording and writing music as a hobby for 20 years and it's what I truely love to do. I just have no experience in a "pro" settings (other than as a musician in a studio). My product is clean and profesional and well written.

Any thought are greatly appreciated
thanks!
jack
 
In recent years more ad agencies (or as they are now known "Multi Media Marketing Groups") and video production houses have gone back to in house audio production (the same low cost recording gear that lets you get quality sound in your home - also lets them get quality sound "in house". Most radio stations can produce jingles in house and offer discounted rates for blocks of air time.

This basically means as more of us have the ability to provide quality audio services, there are less people who need to hire us.

That being said, you can contact the various agencies and production houses to see if they out source. I normally send a mailing and then follow with a phone call. If you do get your foot in the door be prepared to present your work, in various musical styles. A good way to do this is to either produce some dummy jingles for "nonexistant" companies or actually create "spec" jingles for local companies (car dealerships, retail stores, etc.) if you get lucky you can shop the spec work - at very least you have them as part of your "resume".

Other options are "Music on Hold" for phone systems, music production for local theater groups and possibly industrial videos for local companies (I've actually approached Safety Directors at local factories to see if they ever produce "in house" safety videos.

Keep in mind there are some really, really talented people doing this - your competition will be fierce. In addition, you need to be a very savvy business person who can market your services and negotiate your deals.

Lastly, keep in mind - your will be dealing with professional business people. Often they want to meet during normal business hours - and in the case of markerting agencies, they often want to be present during part or all of the recording sessions. This means if your day job compromises your ability to meet, you will loss credibility. It also means that even if it's in your house - your studio better look professional.
 
The business side is no problem for me. I've been in business/sales for 13 years and have owned my own company for 6 years so I know how the Dog and Pony show happens. Luckily working for myself gives me business cred and flexible work hours.

For video work, is there any special hardware or software considerations I should keep in mind? Acid and Vegas seen pretty video friendly. Sonar unfortunately is not (only saves to AVI). How is data typically exchanged? by seperate wav files or a re-rendered mpg with the new audio? Would offering 5.1 mixing something that would be value added?

Thanks
jack
 
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