Starting own studio

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Gear_Junky

Gear_Junky

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I can get pretty good results in my home studio now and I have many mics, guitars, basses, a drumset, effects and an 8-track recorder (Tascam 488 mkII). I know this will not compete with pro digital studios, but I'd like to open my own studio business. I'm pretty sure I could record local bands for less, even if it's just a demo tape or a small circulation CD. I do believe, there'd be a niche for this in the market.

Any advice on this? Legal side/financial/advertising, etc.? Should I register at all? Or should I just put up posters and ads? When people come to record, how much to charge them to stay competitive, but to make money? Etc., etc.

I apreciate all the help and advice!

Another thing: I have a pretty decent live sound setup so I thought I could also help bands organize shows. You know how they have a moving company "2 men and a truck". Well I thought I could do something like "2 men and PA equipment" to help bands setup, soundcheck and perform.

I'm tired of going to work, sitting all day doing what I dislike. I don't need to make a fortune, just a stable decent income.
 
Hey G.J., I'm basically doing the same thing. At the present moment I'm basically recording some suck-ass singers, a small 3-piece band and 2(ugh!)rappers. I also provide live sound and amplification for a church and their choir. At first the singers were paying me $50 an hour just to record and provide decent demos but after a while I cut it down to 75 a session as I TRULY felt that I was robbing them! The church gives me a nominal fee,transportaion costs and food. After I re-finish my basement,I'm going to try and do some project work. Now,I have not got into the legal aspects of starting a business nor am I am in any way,shape or form ready to quit my job to do this full time as the small business crumbs I get is basically from word of mouth.
I do intend to see how far I can get and how well my recording skills develop (along with playing bass in a new jazz band) as I,like you hate the 9-5 routine. EVENTUALLY, in the near future I do intend to make this a full time gig
after honing not just the technical aspect but the business aspect of this enjoyable career. G.J..... Go for it.
(BTW there's tons of info, in regards to what you want to do just by accessing the "SEARCH" function of this BBS.
Good Luck!
 
Thanks, MisterQ. I needed to hear some encouragement. What should I search for, looking for this info?

Another question: do people (and do you) that used your service so far like the results (and what equipment do you use). How long does it usually take you to produce a complete demo for a "client" like that, so that they like it? And how long is a $75 session usually? All these information crumbs can help me.
 
well, I am in the same situation & busines.
we know that the most important thing, is the job we can do with our gear, but there are another very important things like the REPUTATION & the PUBLICITY we gave to our studios.

here are some of the things I have though about it:

- the most important thing in the studio, is the comfornt of the musician.
- there are some rules in my homestudio: no smoke, you can drink only water, in a bottle with ->tapon (the thing that close the bottle), you CAN'T bring your guirlfriend or friends to the sessions, etc.
- I gave some recomendations to the newbies musicians in the studio like: come in shortpants, with a towell, rested and with some lunch.
- also, I tell them BUY NEW STRINGS!!!

- about the: And how long is a $75 session usually?
there are different bands, with different budgets and different expectatives: I rec to the poor and medium ones.
there are more bands with less money then bands or groups who can pay $100 for an hour.

well, at the begining I ask the band to bring me everything on paper: solos, FX, how many musicians, samples, ideas, the song, etc. I ask them to pay me for everything, all the project or production, not the session. this way I plan the sessions and I already know what technic I am gonna apply in every situation, so I tell them when they gonna rec a particular instrument, and if they need or want more days, I ask them for some extra bucks.

Maybe this is for me, cause I have a limited gear, just the escencial for a GOOD CD demo.

I make all the recording including the MIX! (%6$#$%) in about 4 weeks.

let me know what do you think.
I am very interested in this thread.
 
Proveras,I like your rules and the fact that the client needs to put everything on paper is the only way you will get anything done.Otherwise they will be bitching about how they "thought" everything was included.People like to act stupid if it will save a dollar.
Ginzoo
 
Thanks, folks, let's keep this subject going. It's very helpful.

I definitely agree with the "no smoking, no food or drink policy". Also the idea of having them specify on paper what they want.

Proveras, can you share with us how much money it's realistic to make on this for you. Also, how much time you devote per session (just a range or average "from and to") and how many sessions a week or a month (on average).

How do people like the end-results?

Another concern of mine: I'd hope to avoid clients with satanic influences and other nasty things like that. But that's just thinking aloud.

Also, isn't there a concern that people who come to record to your home will see all equipment and eventually by word of mouth someone will break in and steal it all? Let's talk about insurance and also about renting a space, like a commercial spot.

Real nice, guys.
 
My friends, x-bandmates and I (4 of us) rent a space in a part of town where there is no sound ordinance. The room is an old fall-out shelter from the 40's. Its about 16'x40' or so, I've never actually measured it. By January, I hope to be in a small recording business. Many of you have heard me gripe that I'm in grad school and have little time (boo hoo) so I'm mostly gonna do it for fun, rent and equipment suppliments. We've got or are getting all of the usual stuff: 16 track digital, variety of mics, drums, guitars, amps, etc. and advertising with flyers and word of mouth.

With the local competition I cannot see how I could dare charge anymore than $15/hr. I'm not THAT experienced. THe 2 bigger studios in the area charge from about $45-85/hr. and another friend does great work for $25/hr. I'm fully aware that my niche is going to be high school and college bands with little money. Most of the time these are probably gonna be the sucky bottom-feeder bands, but I want to give them a good product. Maybe when the degree is over (English) and I have my summers off, I'll try to move it up a notch. With the current plan though, I don't see myself making anymore than about 2k per year from the little venture. I just want to do it.

Now, to be a wet blanket: Gear Junky, I cut a few 4 track demos before and charged $50. With 8 track cassette for recording medium, I'm skeptical that you'll find many people willing to shell out any substantial amount of cash for your services. The live sound gig may pay better and more consistently, but music is generally not thought of as a "stable" business. I realize I'm being cynical, so I look forward to further discussion. It could be that I'm underestimating things. Anybody?
 
Take the suck-ass singers for example; Since they were my first recording project and I was their FIRST recordist and this was their closet to being in a studio in any way, shape or form,THEY offered me $50 hour. After 3 sessions at 2 hours per session,I realized that not even Geroge Massenburg and all his $100,000,000 equipment could make these guys sing in key.I eventually just charged them 75.00 per session to 1) Teach them how to sing THEIR song in key
2)Provide accompanying music and 3)Record thier song.
From this 1st time experience I have as far as charging rates are concerned: A)My time is Valuable and to charge accordingly.
B)My electric bill sometimes is high and it MUST be paid!
C)If the session can be totally completed within 1-2 hrs I'll give a discount.
D)NO ALCHOHOL (unless it's mine)NO CIGS(unless their mine)NO DRUGS (hate 'em) NO BULLSHIT.

I now settled on a flat rate of 75.00 per session with a session lasting from 2-3 hours(extra for use of keys, gits basses;bring your own drums)
Of course these are negotiable prices and I basically have just 3 "clients" at the present moment and so far no complaints about the sessions, but as I have said before upon completion of my basement studio, addtl gear acquisiton and the like who knows what I will realistically charge.
But I'm gonna take my time and throw my hat in the ring and see what happens!
Peace


P.S... Hey Prov, Que Pasa?
 
the more I know men, the more I love dogs

Yeah, people will gripe and go crazy to save a dollar.

Anyhow, I know this dude that has a recording/live gig business.

On the recording side, he has a roland xp-80, a roland vs1680, a rode nt1 and some eq's and a dat recorder and a bass, an electric and an acoustic

He charges /35 an hour or $90 a session regardless of how ling it takes.

Between that and his live gigs, he is pretty much booked half the month, basically cause he is the only guy in town, and he services the two colleges here etc.

Anyhow, his method of advertising was posters, with his equpment and telephone number( no address)

he has a pretty mean dog at home to deter those who want to break in.

But at $35/ hour, with posters etc, he keeps pretty busy.

ps. He still has a day job though
 
Que tranza MR. Q!! (whats up!) cheers from México.

well,

-> HOW much money can I make, its very dificult to talk about it, because the dolars - pesos convertion. but as for me, I choose the right gear; I will not buy something that I can't rent.

we know whats the best gear out there, and of course we want it, but the bands can NOT afford it.

following this concept, I am making good money, cause I am recovering the invest of the gear in very quikly time, but if I invest in more expensive gear, people can´t aford it and I will go down...
keeping prices low, I get more jobs then with expensive gear and expensive rates.

-> how much time you devote per session: https://homerecording.com/session.html

somebody wrote that if the execution of the song is 3:45 min, thats the time you are gonna spend. (I agree)
ok, a little more realistic: practice, practice, practice, thats what I tell the bands before going to the studio.
(of course)

If they tell me they are already and they already give me all the papers I ask them, I tell them, ok, tomorrow we are gonna rec drums,
but if they are "making shit out of the hole" in the studio, I stop the session, charge them (just for some hamburger), and continue another day, and :mad: and tell them whats wrong.

also: how to make your session run more smoothly. (basic)
http://homerecording.about.com/musicperform/homerecording/library/weekly/aa090198.htm

so, the sessions are between 3:00 or 3:30 hrs,
2:30 to micing and testing,
and :40 to rec five or six songs.

-> and how many sessions a week or a month:
DONT mix anything the same day you record it. (rule 1)

well, 2 or 3 days for drums, 2 for bass, 3 for guitars, 2 or 3 for vocals, 2 days for keys and samples just the recording with no mistakes and nothing of "we'll fix it in the mix", no mixes and others.... everithing is in it respective track.

I always take a rest of 1 or 2 days after drums; rest 1 day after strings, kepping my ears rested. then, whe I have everithing rec, I start working in the computer, alone with the represent person (like the producer) of the band, this is the leader, or the person who wrote the song. again the sessions are about 3:00 hrs for each instruments.

everything is already on paper, so no mistakes are aceppted. minor inconvenient can be presented, but nothing you can't handlet.

we finish all the work in about a month.

:) please, tell me what do you think about it.
also, I am thinking in ask them to pay me for song...
 
YANKIS VS METS!!

forget to mention...

I work with just one or maybe two bands at a time,
(if I am finish with one and starting with other one)
and I have time to my other job (radio station),
and for the school (college).

hey N.Y. guy, will you go to the world series???
whats your team???
 
Hey Proveras! Go N.Y. METS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can't afford the tickets. The only way to get them is to buy them from the scalpers on the street @ $1000.00 a piece just for the BLEACHERS!!!!
 
If you want to be elitest as to who you record, do what I plan on doing when I plan on recording bands...Scout local shows, go up to bands and ask if they want to record with you. That way, you don't have 5000 people knocking at your door, and you don't have to worry about music you're less experienced with. For me, I'm 100% for rock and roll music. So I know how I'm aiming to sound for everything, and that'll help in recording others.
 
Hey El Barto, suppose some 3-4 piece jazz band,asked you to record them and offered you a decent amount of $$$. Would you turn them down or give it a try?
 
Mr.QQ,I almost sent my response to your ? B4 you fixed it.I was confused{as usual}.
Ginzoo
 
I think the more styles of music you get to record, the better recordist you become. I'd record Jazz at the regular rate (if I had one) even if I were a Rock guy.

I DO think that Jazz would be easier to record. Just an in-line setup (8 track between instrument and amp), and a stereo setup running back into the remaining tracks. If they're good enough to be paying for a studio, then use the stereo tracks. If not, fix up the independent tracks with different takes, musicians, or yourself.

Good luck to Gear Junky, BTW. Hope it works for you...
 
Kelly Holdridge:
I think the more styles of music you get to record, the better recordist you become.

yes, I agree with you,
you will have more knowledge about how music sound in all styles and you will be more CREATIVE.

but in the other hand, if you are a only ROCK $ ROLL guy, or another style, you can be like a SPECIALIST in determinated kind of music, so this way you will know for example how guitars HAVE to sound to get the felling you want, so, if you rec country and then death metal, maybe you will be a little confused about how to mix things and the most important:

do you want to make a general studio for big $$$$$?????
or a leyend studio of determinied kind of music????

this is very important for the REPUTATION & PUBLICITY of your studio. (IMHO):)

as for me, I rec any kind of style right now, learning of everything, making really good music... and some money.
but the goal is make a brand company like the little brothers of ELECTRA, :D thats gonna be C O O L ! !
and get some reputation in the style and kind of music I like.

cheers, keep the thread going.
 
Proveras and all - I agree with the session rave that Proveras gave and wish him the best of luck . Those a reasonable session times to make a decent recording.

The main task in having a studio is getting a reputation, then you can charge a reasonable rate for your work. The best way to get a good reputation is to record people and have them go out and sing your praises. The best way to get those people is to record them for as close to free as you can get without them feeling they are ripping you off cos they won't respect you if you do.

So I recommend that you get the good local musos and give them a whirl in your studio at a cheap rate and record them really well, tune them in antares if you have to etc and they will go out and be the best advertisement you could ever get and soon everyone will think you are the best in town :)

Your greatest asset is your enthusiasm

I've seen it work time and time again.

Cheers
John ....:D
 
I probably would record the jazz band...I should have been a little more specific. I wouldn't go record a rap band, techno, metal, pop...I have strong likes and dislikes when it comes to music, and those are some great dislikes in my eyes. Go ahead and call me closeminded, I'm just specific in my tastes.
 
John Sayers said:
The main task in having a studio is getting a reputation, then you can charge a reasonable rate for your work. The best way to get a good reputation is to record people and have them go out and sing your praises. The best way to get those people is to record them for as close to free as you can get without them feeling they are ripping you off cos they won't respect you if you do.

So I recommend that you get the good local musos and give them a whirl in your studio at a cheap rate and record them really well, tune them in antares if you have to etc and they will go out and be the best advertisement you could ever get and soon everyone will think you are the best in town :)

Your greatest asset is your enthusiasm
I've seen it work time and time again.

Cheers
John ....:D
Click to expand...


Hi John,

This is EXACTLY what I did. I gathered some of my friends who play different styles, and did tapes for them.
So I could show that I could do several styles equally well.

That's how I hooked up with my Bass player. He was one of the first bands to call me.
I did a demo for his band in the early 90's as a pre-production tool for them. They were going into a studio to cut a CD, and he was the only one who had previously been in a studio... They went to a 32-track didtal studio here in Florida (a MitsubishiX80 I think is what they had) and spent $7,000 in studio time (Digital in 1990 was expensive herein Florida!). When all was said and done, they called me up, and said they liked my $300 Demo better than what they paid $7,000 for! hahahaha

Now, that REALLY boosted my ego-and they told everybody they knew about it-and that helped alot.
Hell, The Demo I did for them was done on an old 24 channel Kelsey mixer (which I modified by adding inserts for gates and compression) and a 4 track. I just kept it really simple, and as clean as I could-and the record I was trying to get it to sound the closest to as far as sound and EQing, was Moving Pictures by RUSH.
That's kind of what they were after-and heck that was easy-There's almost no effects on that album, a little reverb, and I just Compressed and EQ'd the hell out of everything.
The drummer let me tune his kit for him, and it was a huge singleheaded kit. 5 mics on the drumkit (1 in each kick, a snare mic, and stereo overheads). Sounded awesome.
I charged them $300 for a weekend (They brought out the gear on Friday night, and Their Drummer and I set up his kit WITH new heads, and I tuned it up), then they let ME set the EQ and gain on their Amps.(this was a MAJOR help!)

I have to give it to those guys-they went out of their way to accomodate ME, and in turn, it made their recordings one of my shining examples-because there were no Ego's involved; it was all about doing what was best for the recordings.
Several days efter we recorded it, Thei Bass player and I got together and mixed it, and we must have played it on 5 millions different tape decks (3 car stereos, and a couple of Boomboxes, and my Home stereo) to make sure everything sounded good.

Tim
 
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