Small Commercial Studios

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Spelling Bee

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I was just wondering how many of you out there use your studios for commercial use? I only ask because where I live the music scene is growing rapidly and the few recording outlets that are floating around are higher priced than the average 18-25 year old guy can afford. Ive toyed with the idea of opening my doors to small local groups for a minimal fee. Not so much for the purpose of making profit but as an opporotunity for me to continue honing my skills and also to help the music scene grow. I dont want anyone in my house so the obvious choice is finding a commercial space to set up shop. Im business minded and the idea of mixing music and business is exciting. I also dabble a bit in art and photography (so naturally ive merged that into artwork for cd covers and such). Would it be worthwhile to offer those services to groups as well? Basically offer the services that a group needs to record and package and move the product. Im not talking a label here but instead maybe a website. Ive also considered offering to come and record live shows for people which for some reason nobody seems to be offering in my corner of the world. All I know is when I started playing music I would have killed for a cheap place to get some decent songs recorded. So the real questions are...
1. Do you use your studio for commercial use.
2. Do you charge by hour or album or song or what.
3. Are you making any money.
4. Would you consider it valuable to offer those addition services? (artwork, website design, etc.) add some more ideas if you can.
4. And if anyone knows, how does one go about getting a business license to use their studio for small commercial use.

Thanks for reading and sorry if it didnt all come out as clear as it is in my mind. Conceptualizing seems to be a problem for some people. Im one of them. Thanks again, Spelling Bee.
 
I dont personally do it, i have thought about it, but my studio is only small and it wouldnt fit a full band, especially drums. My friend does it and he makes quite a bit of cash from it. The last thing he did was advertised in the newspaper 2 weeks before Valentines day "Record a song for your loved ones" and he had over 10 people ring him and record a romantic song for valentines day. He made alot of money from that, but hes more into that side of things, i would rather sit in my studio on my own and work on my own track. Although if i ever run out of ideas or get skint, i think i may have to do this idea :)
 
I'm VERY small time but definately open to the public. As far as charging goes it depends. I try to talk with a potential client about what they're trying to do. If it's a bar band doing a demo of covers to get gigs with, I'll charge by the hour. If they want to do an album of original material, I'll make them a deal on dayly or weekly lockout. That would include full editing of the multitrack and laying out the CD (cross fades, sound effects, whatever). I do offer artwork and layout for the CD (book, tray and CD). If they're a song writer and they need backing tracks, I offer to be chief studio musician and of course charge accordingly. I don't have time to do website stuff.
 
There are lots of small studios that started off at ground-floor level, got known for being a hub for indie/punk bands because they "get" that particular sound and did very nicely for themselves. Here in Austin, we have one called Sweatbox that started off as a private demo studio, attracted the bands of the owner's friends and then took off from there. Now there are bands from Europe who come there to record and - believe me - "Sweatbox" aptly describes the cramped, smelly facilities. Still, bands come there to record.

The extra services like artwork and graphic design are often where you will make your money on a project, so the more small markups you can add into the revenue stream, the better your chances of making enough money to keep the lights on.

Here in Austin, the alleged "Live Music Capital of the World," studio owners are beating each other to death on prices to compete for all the bands. If your music scene is just taking off, I'd strongly suggest this is the time to get your turf marked and become *the* studio in your area. Make friends with the local music store owner and make sure you have a flier posted in the store advertising your services. Also, make the acquaintance of any promoters in your area as well as the Artistic Director at any ad agencies in your area.

Best of luck,

Tio Ed
Austin, Texas
Land O' 10,000 Guitar Players
 
I use my home studio for Voice-Over work. It's my main income earner these days. I used to work in radio, but had an accident. Luckily I had my investment to fall back on! :D
 
Where I live the music scene is growing and has been for a long time. The genre that is growing the quickest is mostly indie stuff. Naturally theyre younger groups looking for places to record that wont make them or their parents broke. Like I mentioned earlier, Im more in it for the opporotunity than the money but hey, someone has to pay the rent and the light bill and Im a full time student and have a job. I liked the comment about marking my turf out. That turf has been marked for a long while but that particular studio I believe has now grown out of the reach of the general population. So I see a once guarded door opening and Im hoping to put my foot in it. Thanks for the responses and keep them coming. Spelling Bee
 
well I'm only 19, but for the past year (esp. june-sept. of 2004) I was really advertising myself to the local highschool/young college scene.
It seemed easy to advertise because I was in some fairly popular bands at the time.

anyway, for aquaintences/kinda-friends I'd charge 15/hr, for random people I'd charge 20. And, only charged for the recording session - mixing was on me.

During that summer, I recorded 1-3 groups a week, really. I was almost in over my head. haha. Anyway I got loads of experience, and still get emails about recording. I just having to keep put them off until I'm home for the summer from school though.

anyway, I paid for my studio and even made a bit of cash. However, it wasn't enough to take the place of a job - so I had a small lawn cutting business on the side, 40 lawns in 2 days every week (and combined with studio work the rest of the week...it was awesome! haha).

point being: my studio was pretty cheap in comparison - and there aren't a ton of people like me in Cincinnati who want to record punk rock kids' bands, so I did what I could, and had a great time doing it.

holla!
 
I'm trying to do exactly what you're trying to do: Offering a studio and graphic design servies as well. My girlfriend's a photographer (she's got a darkroom in her house, I have a recording studio at mine; we talk about the same things, only in different fields, ie. what's the best lens under $200? How can I get professionally developed results at budget studio prices? etc.)

So far, I haven't been so successful, but that's only because I haven't advertised very well. I did start a website, but that's about it. I really hope to one day do this as a living, starting my own business, etc, but for now, graphic design will have to do (which I love anyways). Here's my crappy website:

http://www.artcrossrecording.com

Best of luck to you, and let us know if it works out for you.
 
I'm trying to work a niche with solo artist/small ensembles doing mostly sacred music, but I've had a very slow time getting started due to my two real jobs :( I've got a big show to do in the summer, and I'm producing a CD from an earlier show by the same band for sale at this show, so hopefully things will start to happen soon :)

Definitely gotta find a niche here, because there are plenty of studios around. I'm anticipating only doing a few projects a year, based on relationships, and taking a cut of the finished product. I'm planning on producing a full-service, turnkey product: finished, reproduced, packaged CDs with artwork.
 
Shackrock, thats exactly what Im trying to do. I have a ton of friends that have groups, I have my own stuff and marketing isnt going to be a problem. I just would like to be able to pay for my gear and get some more experience. artCross. I dig the homepage. Who did the tree design on the left side of the page. Very cool. Sounds like there are plenty of people out there who do decently well doing small projects on the side. Exactly what I was hoping for. Thanks, Spelling Bee.
 
For many people...having a place other than somewhere in your house trumps experience. Since I moved the studio into a suite a while back I don't have to explain much...they just see it and immediately want to record. My studio has a lounge area with a huge mirror running along the wall. The mirror serves no purpose at all but people LOVE it. There is a Vocal Room treated with wedgies and then there is a huge room for bands and drums. Between those two rooms is the control room. The money I make from this studio pays the rent and pays me...in fact...it's all I do now! I'll put up some pics soon on the website...hopefully today. Hope this gives any people some ideas! One more thing...having a studio in your house...you are just asking for it. It's only a matter of time. There is a certain security to having the studio (work) outside of your home.
 
It deppends on the client (segmentation). I do alot voice over, movie background music & overdub, radio adds, demo with backing tracks production for idols competition stuff, "Record a song for your loved ones" type, etc. My rather small studio consists of three room. MIDI sequencing room, Booth room, and mixing/control room. Due to room limitation, I don't do drum recording but MIDI sequencing. The rest of instruments & voxs are fine as long as it fits my ~3X5m booth room :)

Since I got dayjob, I open my studio only at night. I charged flat ~$25 per shift (7PM to 2~3AM). Usualy one regular 3~4 minutes song can be done within one shift. Scetch, record, mix. I make money running it and most of them spent back for the studio (instruments, gears, softwares, etc). Average, I can work 4~5 nights per week, and my clients are regular.

Though I have graphic design degree, I don't do artwork stuff at all. My younger brother's wife does it on extra charge if client wanted. She's damn good on it.

No, here in Indoland, I don't need bussines license whatsoever to run recording studio, unless you run recording company.

;)
Jaymz
 
yeah man, I say go for it.

only thing is, if you get a commercial spot - renting out a spot, you know - you're gonna have a lot more going into it, so make sure you advertise your studio a lot and maybe even get some people lined up ahead of time.

my site: www.shackrockrecordings.com - as you can see I have no special gear, just a lot of heart, HA!
 
Spellingbee, I took a picture of that tree and thought it looked cool, so I vectorized it (traced bitmap? not sure what the terminology is), and fit it in there. thanks for looking btw.

I think one day, I want to start a commercial studio. Nothign really big, but something where I don't have to have an outside job and live "comfortably"...just record the local talent...maybe one day...
 
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