not marketing your music, but your ability to record it

[Jeff_B]

so, my basement project studio is growing and soon i hope to feel pretty confident in my ability to record a pretty decent demo.
While I have always recorded myself ( on drums, guitar, bass, vocals --- tiring to do everything ) I would love to be able to record other peoples stuff too.

soooooo: how do you market yourself ?
what has worked for you ?
what would be a reasonable fee?

i would potentially record people for free, but i fear this would make people think the end quality would be so poor it isnt worth their time. plus, a little money would be nice


any input welcome!!
thanks,

jeff

 

[doulos24]

how do you premote yourself without a band uh you don't. you mix for free and you mix the best you can. you do that for a lil while getting as many people as you can. You say ill mix you for free but i get to use the songs to build a mixing portfolio they agree then you mix demos you start a website you post demos of your best work. You post flyers in music stores andgo find talent. You obtain good gear and get a mixing desk of any kind to look flashy for people comming to you to mix with. I use mine as a big mouse with moving faders it looks impressive and people go Ooooo and I go yea like my 2,400 dollar mouse or if i was at work it was a 8k mouse "control 24." Then bands come cause they hear your work and know your good and that's called grass roots promotions or try it the other way. The first no name band who sucks comes to you. You put out a mix of there supreme suckage and you can kiss any business goodbye cause it's your fault they suck and you couldn't make them sound like they had talent and could play there instruments on time or sing on pitch

 

[eeb]

how do you premote yourself without a band uh you don't. you mix for free and you mix the best you can. you do that for a lil while getting as many people as you can. You say ill mix you for free but i get to use the songs to build a mixing portfolio they agree then you mix demos you start a website you post demos of your best work. You post flyers in music stores andgo find talent. You obtain good gear and get a mixing desk of any kind to look flashy for people comming to you to mix with. I use mine as a big mouse with moving faders it looks impressive and people go Ooooo and I go yea like my 2,400 dollar mouse or if i was at work it was a 8k mouse "control 24." Then bands come cause they hear your work and know your good and that's called grass roots promotions or try it the other way. The first no name band who sucks comes to you. You put out a mix of there supreme suckage and you can kiss any business goodbye cause it's your fault they suck and you couldn't make them sound like they had talent and could play there instruments on time or sing on pitch

holy FUCK

did anyone understand a word of this?


first thing is disregard what this guy is saying.

This question really depends on how serious you want to take it.

There's a few essentials.
Come up with a name for the studio.
At the very least make a myspace page to showcase some of your work. Put up those demo's you did
If you can make a website.
Recording few bands for free is ok but you're right alot of people will have the reaction (oh it's free? must be shitty then)

Maybe you can say it's a limited time promotion.
Another thing that works is going up to a band after they play and tell them that you were blown away by their set and would love to record a song for free. (appeal to their ego hahaha)

Go to shows, all ages shows, bar shows. Go talk to bands. Get involved in the music community. Maybe even try putting on a few shows. Get to know as many bands as you can, get to know what other studios are in your area.

Alot of times, studios can get really busy and don't have time to record every little project. If they have your number they can refer clients to you.

Try some of that stuff to start.

If you get more serious about it pm me.. i'm a graphic designer/web designer and am always looking for work

 

[Jeff_B]

thanks for your helpful reply eeb....
yea i was a little put off by the first response i got.

i was just thinking yesterday that i may have a good idea in regards to the money side of things.
similar to what you said about recording a song for free or it being a limited thing, i would say first song is free with me, if you like it and want to continue then i can work with you, if you are satisfied with only having one song recorded, then thats cool too.

i mostly want the experience recording without having to be on the music side of things so i can really focus on the recording aspect.

i also like the idea of going to shows and offering to record bands there.

i suppose as any of this goes down i will update the thread to let people know of my experience.

 

[eeb]

thanks for your helpful reply eeb....
yea i was a little put off by the first response i got.

i was just thinking yesterday that i may have a good idea in regards to the money side of things.
similar to what you said about recording a song for free or it being a limited thing, i would say first song is free with me, if you like it and want to continue then i can work with you, if you are satisfied with only having one song recorded, then thats cool too.

i mostly want the experience recording without having to be on the music side of things so i can really focus on the recording aspect.

i also like the idea of going to shows and offering to record bands there.

i suppose as any of this goes down i will update the thread to let people know of my experience.

definately a good idea.. fist song is free then $x amount after that.

I think it's absolutely crutial that people start to recognize you. which is why you really should be trying to meet as many bands, promoters, other engineers as you can. I forgot to mention to make business cards and give them out

 

[doulos24]

alright I will try to say this clearer. It depends on your goals. Do you want to be a good mix engineer a producer or just a guy who can record for a fixed hourly rate? If all you want to do is be a demo studio and never go anywhere else sure do what that guy said. here are a few things to think about

reasons why demo studios suck ​

1 people with no talent can pay
2 people force you to mix bad I want more reverb delay etc.
3. no budget to mix songs 30 mins a song sometimes an hr tops
4. abandened projects
5. people come years later expecting files 3 to 5 years old
6. people who have no direction guitar + vocal does not = record
7. people expect you to produce as part of the engineering service
8. your reputation is on the line when people play there demo when they
only could budget 30 mins a song for mixing.

now lets try my way

find talent record for free a few times

more creative control
talent you picked
mixing has no budget
better end product
people hear product
better portfolio

later you record entire albums for a flat rate which = more finished projects. Working off of contracts if they breach it I.e the band quits on you etc. The balance is do in a reasonable time frame. Since there is no hourly rate they are more relaxed in the studio and give better preformances. The more albums you do the more your reputation builds the more you can charge. All of a sudden labels want to work with you cause of the sound you put out The spin you have devolped that is your mix style. At least it's how it worked for me. Then you can pick and choose who you work with and what you do I.E a career

I've got a friend in the demo studio world and I can tell you several times where they went in for a 3 song demo with him and later did a full album with me. That got them a thing called a studio showcase in nashville, Or the real sucky time when a very famous producer drove down after hearing my song I mixed on local radio and snached them away to nashville. If you can see this monroe I forgive you and congradulations on the new label can't wait to hear your new protege's record

 

[doulos24]

whats a reasonable rate?
what do you have?

i get a pro studio for 50 an hr with engineer
pro tools hd and 2 inch tape all the bells and whistles and 5 rooms

i get a great b room without engineer for 25 an hr
32 track pro tools great mics good room etc

but its talent thats important
this dick is close to me has 1.4 million in his studio, but listen to these tracks
he has no clue what hes doing or they have no budget to mix


http://www.soundcell.com/listening_soundtracks.htm

 

[Jeff_B]

It depends on your goals. Do you want to be a good mix engineer a producer or just a guy who can record for a fixed hourly rate?

doulos, i agree. what i do from here on out depends on where i want to end up being. and i would love to be a good engineer or producer and have music as my career...
but
i dont feel as though i can jump straight to that.
so a starting point would to be to just record demos.

now lets try my way

find talent record for free a few times

this is essentially what eeb pointed out.
the idea that approaching bands after shows to offer recording services would be a great way to get some talent in the studio.

i think that is what i will end up doing, but only after getting a little bit more experience under my belt.

i appreciate both of your suggestions!