ideas on charging for my pro home studio

[jazzyt]

I am just about to open my home studio for business, I run an Apple Mac G5 2.5Ghz Dual with a MOTU 828MKII and Logic Pro 7. Along with quite a few synths/Guitars/Mics etc

What should I charge for a session? I dont record live kits, just vocals/Guitars/Bass along with Logic Plug-ins and other synths.

Its not a fully sound proofed room or anything amazingly special, but I do have a pro sound and I do know my gear....

I have a guy who wants to spend 50 -100 hours on an album......

Any Ideas appreciated!

cheers.....

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

There's no way for anyone here to answer that...... it all depends on the prices of studios in your area, your level of skill & experience compared to theirs, as well as what your facilty has to offer compared to others around you.

Its not a fully sound proofed room or anything amazingly special, but I do have a pro sound and I do know my gear....

You may know your gear, but if you don't have a good acoustic environment for both recording AND monitoring, then you definitely DON'T have a pro sound - sorry...

 

[Neeps]

As much as the guy is willing to pay!

 

[mrbowes]

if you feel like you know your stuff, then i'd start out at $20/hour or so, and work your way up depending on the demand.

 

[scottboyher]

home pro studio

Isn't that an oxymoron?

 

[jazzyt]

Hi again

I want to be modest when I describe the studio. I mean to say it is by no means a fully kitted out SSL desk with abby road studio sound proofing! But all recording is done in a professional way using my experience, equipment and resources.....

"home pro studio" - you dont need to be a comercial studio to get pro results.

The customer who has been enquiring about recording has said that money isnt a problem but as I am starting off - I dont want to get off on the wrong foot!

Look forward to your replies!

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Look forward to your replies!

Not sure what other answers you're looking for... what I said earlier about "...it all depends on the prices of studios in your area, your level of skill & experience compared to theirs, as well as what your facilty has to offer compared to others around you..." can only be determined by you!

 

[giraffe]

pick a high price and go.
if you suck, no one will bother useing you to f up a project
if you're worth it, you're worth it.

 

[Bartman]

If you have to ask....

I'd say this....if you have to ask how much to charge, you're probably not worth as much as you think.

Not trying to be ugly here but my definition of "pro" would include an understanding of the current local market and your status relative to that market.

That's pricing 101 stuff.

 

[jpfour23]

I started off at $35 an hour for "decent" sound. I say "decent" because I was learning still and I'm highly critical of my work. So far have finished 4 complete CD's and am doing some MAJOR upgrades to my frontend & completely changing my method of recording. I previously had a vs2480, but am now going computer based.

Although I completely agree on Blue Bear's comments. It does highly depend on what other studios around you charge as well as what they are capable of vs. what you are capable of.

 

[shiatzu]

I've paid $35 an hour to go to "pro" studios who were unable to match recordings that I've done at home on a maudio 2496 (spending an equal amount of time tracking).. so as long as you feel that your clients will see their investment reflected in the quality of the finished product it doesn't matter how "home" or "pro" you call your setup.. it's all in the results.

 

[grn]

well sometimes people just suck at playing, so you could get a high quality record of crap. I don't know what that has to do with this, but I'd say based on what you said you can either charge $15 to $20 an hour or for each song you could charge like $100 for unlimited time. then let them choose. obviously you won't be mastering it, but you may charge for mixing too.

 

[jpfour23]

I've paid $35 an hour to go to "pro" studios

$35 an hour for pro??? What is your definition of pro? I don't know, maybe in Canada studios are that cheap. Most of the studios in Louisville are $60-$100/hr and they are dumps.

 

[volltreffer]

Why does everyone wanna have that 'pro' sound???

I always think of the status of the studio owner as the pro or amateur status. If the owner makes his income majority with the studio, I'd say, it is a pro studio. That of course does not say too much about the studio's quality.

A similar thing with the software developers I worked with. There were students that were much better than the 'pros' from consultants...

I know guys who had a 'pro' studio (well they simply were rich and did not have to care about making enough money - but nevertheless they indeed HAD clients) some years ago and their sound definitely was worse than mine now (and I'm way far from having a major production sound ).

aXel

P.S.: Don't get me wrong - I don't wanna disrespect any professional studio owner (you should know by know)... But IMHO it's the sound and not the 'pro' status...

 

[acorec]

I am just about to open my home studio for business, I run an Apple Mac G5 2.5Ghz Dual with a MOTU 828MKII and Logic Pro 7. Along with quite a few synths/Guitars/Mics etc

What should I charge for a session? I dont record live kits, just vocals/Guitars/Bass along with Logic Plug-ins and other synths.

Its not a fully sound proofed room or anything amazingly special, but I do have a pro sound and I do know my gear....

I have a guy who wants to spend 50 -100 hours on an album......

Any Ideas appreciated!

cheers.....

I started at $100/hr and worked my way down. Although I currently make about $0/hr, it has been a long strange trip.


Cool man.

 

[shiatzu]

$35 an hour for pro??? What is your definition of pro? I don't know, maybe in Canada studios are that cheap. Most of the studios in Louisville are $60-$100/hr and they are dumps.

Yeah, most of the studios around here are from 20-40 dollars and hour.. there's just so many studios in this city that there's sort of a price-war going on. Anyhoo, the studio i was referring to in my previous post was run by the bassist from a famous local band so it was highly regarded but not necessarily a good studio; thus my using quotation marks when describing it as "pro". here's their website: http://www.dependentmusic.com/ultra/rates.htm

For comparison, here's a studio that's an hour drive from me that's $30 an hour.
http://www.redfishaudio.com/ check out the photos, it's a gorgeous studio.

 

[jazzyt]

Hi again, thanks for all the help!

I am a sound designer/musician, I work from japan but am British. Someone said I needed a huge mixer etc but I have always used the Logic pro 7 with its 256trk mixer on screen!
Is it nessesary to have that stereotype studio??? Full of outboard gear and SSL desk!?

Oh check out the website and give me your opinions.

www.themusicstation.net

If your looking for sound design then Im the man and get in touch, but just wanted to start opening up to recording.

 

[amra]

Speaking strictly from a general business perspective, start out a bit low, and then you can adjust your rate as you get a feel for the market, gain experience and gain clientele. You should also use your rate as means of keeping your workflow such that you are able to produce products of a quality that you are comfortable with...


Amra

 

[sweetnubs]

If your studio was professional and you were a professional engineer you wouldn't really have to ask this quesiton.

 

[jazzyt]

Hello

"If your studio was professional and you were a professional engineer you wouldn't really have to ask this quesiton."

Sweetnobbs, dont be a, mmm, nobb! Who ever said I was a pro engineer? I am a professional sound designer/musician. I want to open my studio to punters as I got a few enquiries through my work as a sounddesigner.