Pro Mixing for home recordists

  • Thread starter Thread starter JSX
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JSX

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Hello All,

I'm considering specializing my studio to do mixes or remixes for musicians who are recording at home on DAWs and 4 tracks etc...

Since this is a part time venture, and I won't have to pay the mortgage out of what my studio makes, I think I can charge quite affordable rates for musicians on a tight budget, who want to do the recording at home, but have their material mixed on pro equipment and by someone with experience.

So my question is: Would any of you utilize such a service? If so, what kind of formats are you recording on...(4 track, Sonar, Digi, etc...) so I would know what I need to be compatible with.
Also, what kind of rate would you expect to pay for this kind of service?

I appreciate all of your comments, advice, or questions
Thanks

Jim
 
It's not a bad idea.

Another element I would consider that could bring in even more cash for you . . . perhaps you could rent out some nice microphones, preamps, and accoustic panels/baffles. That way, people could come to you with the idea for their project . . . you could rent them the gear they'll need (maybe even sell some of it for profit), and act as a consultant on the micing/tracking techniques . . . they bring you the basic tracks when they're done and you mix and master it all.

(I've talked to some of the guys at the local music store before, asking them if they'd be interested in selling some of their used rental equipment. They're reply: "Nooo Waay. We make way too much money from rentals.")

I'd just charge by the hour for your time - whatever your normal studio rates would be. Maybe tack on a little extra for the consulting fee.

As far as the formats go, it would depend on what each client would be using. Most people should be able to give you .wav files. But the key to your success will be in your flexibility to be able to deal with multiple files and formats, because that's what you'll likely be faced with. So I'd make sure I was compatible for whatever someone might throw at me.

. . . Even if it's someone who throws a bunch of cassette tapes at you. "Here's my bass track on this one . . . and my drum tracks are over here on the VCR tape . . . oh, and the vocals are on this .wav file, and . . . :) :) :)"
 
I was curious about this also but I think there are 3 main hurdles.

1. Anybody who is good enough at tracking at home can probably handle the mix on their own.

2. Those who need mix help would probably give you a bunch of crappy tracks that no mix can save.

3. Anybody who is good enough at tracking and smart enough to know their mixing limitations would probably just go to a local studio.

So chances are you would end up with a lot of #2 people being pissed off because you couldnt make their shit shine.

I hope I am wrong and would like to hear if anybody is willing to pay. If so I'm sure there will be some heavy competition ;)

Chess, gear rental is huge if you can get the stuff at cost like a retailer can. I worked for a really large AV company and we would usually pay something off with a couple weeks of rentals. The rest was gravy.

I wish I know more people in my area with some good gear so I could trade stuff that was needed for a project.
 
If somebody owned some kick ass processors like a distressor or a lexicon verb it would be cool to send over a file and get back the compressed track or a wet verb file.

It would add a whole new meaning to the term "outboard processing."
 
JSX said:
So my question is: Would any of you utilize such a service?
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No... for myself I wouldn't... I know of many who do, though! ;)


JSX said:
If so, what kind of formats are you recording on...(4 track, Sonar, Digi, etc...) so I would know what I need to be compatible with.
Click to expand...
ADATs (both 16 and 20-bit).... computer files, as well as 4-track stuff......


JSX said:
Also, what kind of rate would you expect to pay for this kind of service?
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My rates are posted at my site! :p
;)

:D :D
 
TexRoadkill said:
If somebody owned some kick ass processors like a distressor or a lexicon verb it would be cool to send over a file and get back the compressed track or a wet verb file.

It would add a whole new meaning to the term "outboard processing."
Click to expand...

When processing speeds get faster and badwidth wider, I can see this becoming a very regular thing done over the net.

And I'm sure a lot of scam services would pop up; teenagers that would just run the files through their waves plugins and say it was a distressor. :)

I hope I didn't give anyone any ideas.

I think you bring up some good points, Tex, but a lot of those #2 people (fitting number :) ) probably wouldn't have good enough ears to know a good sound from a bad one, anyway. Plus, the number 2's are as much of a problem for the regular studio sessions, anyway. Crappy guitarists who wonder why you can't make them sound like Eric Clapton, or tone-deaf teenage girls who wonder why you can't make them sound like Celine Dion. :)

I still think the gear rental would be a big money-maker, if nothing else.
 
I've been trying to come up with as many making scenarios as I can before I go all out on some new stuff.

I should look into the studio equipment rental market around here. A few Avalons and Distressor's might pay for themselves pretty well.

One thing I was thinking about was offering 5.1 mixing for low budget films. There is a pretty good indie film community here. I'm assuming that the actual encoding hardware is out of my budget range but I could have the 6 tracks mastered to the right format. Anybody know the rates for something like that?
 
Thanks for the responses so far. Lots of great advice and ideas. I really appreciate it.

I'm finding (so far) with what I've been doing for a few people, that the tracks themselves arent that bad...a good mic and a DAW, usually something workable gets put down...but its the mixing where they are inexperienced, or they don't have access to the best outboard gear. But on the other hand, I got the idea from myself...when I was younger and recording stuff I really should have let somebody mix it who knew what they were doing... Because I certainly didn't. :) Unfortunately at the time I was too proud and stubborn to admit it.

Thanks again for your comments, I welcome more if you have them.

Jim
 
Just some of my thoughts. If you wanted to offer such a service, it seems to me a major selling point would be compatability. I mean if someone tracks ons ADATs, then you should have ADATs. I someone tracked on a computer, you should have most of the most common PC and Mac platforms (the Cakewalks, Sonars, Cubase, Digi001, Digital Performer, etc).
 
JSX said:
Unfortunately at the time I was too proud and stubborn to admit it.
Jim
Click to expand...

Me too, so it kept doing it myself, and kept doing it and kept doing it and kept doing it, and suddenly I looked around and I had this pro studio up and running.

;)
 
I wouldn't really send my stuff off for mixing - half the reason i do it is to mix it myself! As you say, you mix it, it sounds bad, you try again.....eventually you get good (not that i have yet...)!

However, i can see a lot of people being up for a pro-mix - just to get the polish on their tracks - especially if they're sending it off to a record company or whatever (the premise being that you've saved on studio time, had a laugh, but want the best for your demo).
 
JSX, actually I really like your idea. In fact, I've been looking for someone to do just this for a long time. I really like the basic tracks I'm able to lay down, but when it comes to mixing, EQ-ing and adding final FX I think I'm too close to the music. I'd love for soemone else to mix this, and I would pay for it.

Problem being, I have a Roland 1680 which cannot do wav files. So if you ever do get this business up and running and can handle the Roland format (where I send you the CD data), let me know!
 
octoruss said:
JSX, actually I really like your idea. In fact, I've been looking for someone to do just this for a long time.
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I have heard of such a place a while ago. I think they called it something like STUDIO !!!!

:D
 
I dont think I can help much here but I CAN say that I know of a local studio that was losing some money due to many of it's "regulars" getting into home recording.

So they picked up a few different formats of recording software and started offering this service you speak of.

Turns out, they are making more dough than before because of this. It's the best thing they could have done. Once in a while few tracks will be junk and a guy can come in and recut like a bass track or whatever for cheap. A lot of folks (ones friendly with the engineers) will even send stuff in and have it mixed without the client even being there!

I dunno...it's working for them though!


heylow
 
The outsourced processing is something interesting, but like it was said before...a lot of room for scams to compete and destroy the business.
 
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