Musician Vs. Hobbyist

[mentalattica]

I would like to know where yall draw the line between a serious musician and a hobbyist?

I have a few people who want to record here, which I normally don't to unless I know you, something about bringing strangers into my home bothers me a little.

One of the dudes seems serious, he's a college student down here. He records at a local "home/basement" studio here. A friend of mine showed him my website and he heard a few of my songs and saw my pics and gearlist, which compares to the studio he records at (I know because I have recorded there before myself), so he asked through my friend how much I would charge for him to record here. The going rate at the local place he records is $55/hr, but with a very experienced engineer who's worked with big named acts. When she asked, I told her if I did record him I'd probably charge about $20-25/hr but explained I am not as experienced as the engineer, I don't have a booth (but track and mix in an acoustically treated bedroom) and being I'm in a residential area noise (both outside leaking in and inside leaking out) would probably be a problem.

After a couple of days, she got back to me and said the dude doesn't mind any of that and has dealt with not recording a booth and noise issues, he's just trying to save a couple of dollars and get about the same quality recordings. I've A/B'd my mixes to the ones I recorded at the other studio and can get MY mixes just as good, but I know how I want my stuff to sound.

So while I've been debating on this one here, the same friend, same situation (she's like my college publicist...lol) but with another dude who doesn't seem like he's serious, wants to record here. He's never recorded at a studio before (not saying I have a "studio", but I do have a decent home studio), and quoting him through my friend "...yeah just tell him to throw on any beat and I'll rip it". He's not interested in paying, he wants to record his demo here for free and "... when I make it tell him I won't forget about him."...lol

I know I'm not gonna work with him, but that to me showed me the difference between a serious musician and a hobbyist. What do yall think about the first scenario? Would you bring a stranger through a mutual friend to your home studio if they were paying and understood you weren't a professional engineer? I'm considering that one but would like to hear some input from others with home studio's.

 

[BeatsBuY]

Ya, situations like this happen all the time to me. I don't like to deal with hobbyists. I don't mean I just shut them out, but I run a business and have clients who will pay good money for big projects.

Now, the word "hobbyists" aint bad. You can be a serious hobbyists and may be going to school and perfecting your craft. As long as you are devoted and respect my efforts, that's good...

I've noticed that serious artists don't really mind paying for good quality and experience. They are very serious about their projects and want only the best. So if they pay well, I will give my all.

On the other hand, artists who are not serious shy away from the high prices. I used to record people who were not serious and it just made me work harder. They were never ready, wrote ALL their lyrics during the session and then would record. Didn't have a direction for the song... Then when I gave the bill, they would say, "Why are you charging time we didn't record? We were writing". Hey, now they don't understand that it's up to them how they use their studio time. That kind of look on my time and efforts really got to me. So, I don't deal with that anymore. You pay for your hours upfront. No questions...

So I raised my prices from $20 an hour to $40 an hour. This helps keep only serious artists and they respect the time and efforts I put out on their project. I want to put big efforts out on projects that people will hear and buy. Not songs that will be recorded and left in a bedroom. You need good projects to build your portfolio...

I also do whole album deals. I'll do a whole album for a flat rate and give my full efforts and expertise. These kind of projects are better because I will also produce cuts on it and will get points. And becuse my name is on it, I have to make sure it's a hot and quality album...