Unfair Studio Prices

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BrettB

BrettB

Well-known member
Hi all,

I have a bit of complaint and a question: Do you guys also suffer from studios that have ridiculous low prices?

I hear some of you say 'what's the problem?'. Unfair competition, that's the problem!!ç I am just investing in a new setup with a Digi 002 rack, extra Adat pre-amps, and a lot of other equipment to buy myself a decent home studio. It was my plan do some work for demos and local bands. But how can I compete to a larger studio that asks 150€ a day with a technician (some promo of another studio I read)?

The studio has a better setup than me, but if I go under that price I am practically working for free! Over here, about 40% of the money goes to taxes (I can live with that tough, we have a great social security system over here and it has to be paid), so when asking 150€ I keep about 80 or 90 for workin g10 hours, which leaves me with a low wages, and it doesn't even give any options for investing and repaying equipment.

The only thing I can do is to prove with my first projects in my new studio that I have goood mixing/recording qualities, so that maybe potential customers see that the money is also invested in 'knowledge'.

Sorry about my complaining, but I had to get this out :)


Any similar experiences with you guys?
 
Then don't sell clients on your "studio/hourly rate" - sell them on YOU... your engineering skills and your ability to make their projects happen for them.

Your studio then just becomes the place YOU do your work from (ie - your workshop).

This way, clients are buying into you and your skills, not your studio per se....
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
Then don't sell clients on your "studio/hourly rate" - sell them on YOU...
Click to expand...

oooh, good advice. if you have a website, I'd make two divisions: one for your studio and one for you as the engineer. Even offer to work in others studios as the engineer of their musical vision!

There's a book by Jeff Fisher called, "Profiting from your Music and Sound Project Studio" that goes into detail about tailoring your marketing to what you have to offer.

Find something substantial to differentiate yourself if you're in the middle of the pack in terms of gear, space, experience, price, etc.

What Bruce here does so well is establish his image as an expert by offering sagacious advice through his posts and his online articles. Do something like that!

Also, Fisher discusses ways to diversify your products and services in order to attain more business. Have you thought about setting up business relationships with companies doing CD duplication, packaging, promotions? Have you thought about using your setup to do media transfers (LP to mp3 data CDS for non-musicians)? It may not all be super exciting but you might pick up the extra cash to get you by...

just some thoughts...
 
thanks for the book tip i found it at wal-mart for 12 bux :)
 
there are some other studios in my town that charge less than i do an may or may not have better stuff at thier project studio.

funny thing is, i hear this type of comment alot "wow you really know what youre doing" or " man this sounds way better than over at blah blah studio"

so you gotta build your name up. get some local repore ya know.

trust me when i first started, i dumped my ass into this place, and i was eating pb and j or less sometimes, but if you convince your clients your the man for all thier audio needs and ADVERTISE your studio effectively....
youll be a-ok man.

take care and good luck to you.
 
zekthedeadcow

yeah... the whole reason I built a home studio is because the $50hr guys sucked. Had one engineer spend an hour trouble shooting a problem beofre he realized he forgot to plug in the mic :P Fortunatly he wasn't dumb enough to charge us for that hour....and the mix wasn't much better. So... it's very easy to make a million dollar facility on 2" tape to sound like crap.
 
I would like to point out that some of the reason why the big studios have come down in price is because everybody and there brother can invest very little and call themselves a studio. then they charge ridiculously low rates and drive the market down.
 
blue bear, and farview,

amen to both points.

It's a weird place this industry is in now... consumers are truly driving the audio gear market, and big beautiful custom installations are quickly going the way of the dodo... anyone can setup a phat studio with a minimum investment (in business investment terms) talent is the only thing that matters. Being an engineer is exactly like being a musician, and regardless of what studio guys charge, they're not being hired for their gear... well, let me correct, they shouldn't be hired for their gear, and with engineering as with musicians, if that's what you're basing your hiring on, then you deserve what you get.

(folds arms, stomps foot.)
 
thanks guys with your help.

I have got my first recording job with a local band, and one of the band members gave me a demo tape of his other band recorded in a large studio: the mix sucked bigtime, and I am convinced I can do a better job with my project studio gear. The guy told me that if I could get his band a good demo, he would give some other recording jobs for other bands.

I really hope I can build a name, and ppl will hire me for my engineering skills. Thx all!
 
Like Blue Bear said you have to sell on 'quality ' not 'price'.

Make a feature of it on your site saying 'I am NOT the cheapest, but I am the best!' so if you're choosing your studio on price alone you might as well read no further, still reading, good...

You know, that kind of angle.
 
I doesn't matter so much "how" you get there, as long as you get there. I've heard some amazing cuts recorded on minimal gear. I've also heard complete crap recorded with top notch equipment. The difference was completely the engineer. It's all about the final SOUND, not what gear you used!

The best to you!
 
If someone says they can go to joe blows studio and get cheaper rates....tell them
"I made a decision a long time ago, I have decided that explaining "price" once, is easier than explaining poor quality forever"

Then ask them "Do you want your demo to be of the finest quality, so that your music will be presented with the premium sound it deserves?

(whos going to say "no" to that?)

if you are charging $50 an hour more, for example, you could follow up with:

Is it worth $50 to you? .... To have the recording you WANT, not the recording you have to settle for?

make price a non-issue.
I use this method for handling "price" objections, in my career, all the time...it works beautifully.
you will have to be a good enough engineer, to back all that up with a primo finished job though.

my 2 cents
 
...Don't forget, if you're damn good on particular genres, that would be + point also :cool: Ask them...

"Why would you record your stuff in that hip-hop studio anyway?! We ARE punk specialist!!! Don't you see my hair, eh?!!!"

..., something like that ;) :D

;)
Jaymz
 
in the lovely boring town of greensboro, north carolina, hourly rates go between $25 and $65. other places have deals where its like $400 for an 8 hour block but they dont tell you the engineer is a seperate fee. and you "have to have an engineer" because the owners dont trust bands mixing their own stuff. and speaking of which
i had a fun talk with a guitar player from one of the bands i know. he told the owner of the studio that he just wanted it all recorded and not mixed because he had a friend (me) that would do the mixing from his house. the owner said, "well bring him in as the engineer and I'll talk with him about his rates". Josh (the guitar player) said "dont worry about that we have him ready to do it at his place and all he needs is the omf files". owner asked what did i charge for it and josh told him I'd mix for $50. the owner thought that was $50 an hour and said thats almost pretty standard and hes giving you a pretty good deal. then josh told him it was $50 period. the guy went into this rant on how people go to school and get a legitimate education to do this and people like me disrespect and undermine the business by doing what i do. needless to say josh and the rest of the guys are looking at other studios. the only reason i said $50 is because I'll be showing him how to mix his own stuff. i guess i can kinda see the owners poing of view but browbeating potential customers with $400 in cash ready and waiting isnt smart
 
People never like it when their livelihood is being undermined, basicaly by the march of technology. Happens all the time, jobs that seemed safe become obsolete as new technology makes it possible for others to do it themselves, or far more cheaply.

Yeh, that guy was silly, his attitude lost him ALL of the business because he was annoyed about not getting a PART of the business.
 
Why don't we start a Union. That way we have to get paid X amount of $$
 
glynb said:
Happens all the time, jobs that seemed safe become obsolete as new technology makes it possible for others to do it themselves, or far more cheaply.
Click to expand...
Yeah - but it's a bit of a myth that they can "do it themselves"....... I had a great discussion with Mark McQuilken at FMR AUdio last week - we both seemed to notice a trend starting back towards using professional studios again. Seems people ARE starting to realize their limitations with regards to DIY and acknowledging that engineering and making the final result sound professional does take more than simply buying newly-affordable gear.
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
we both seemed to notice a trend starting back towards using professional studios again.
Click to expand...

If I were owner of a "pro studio" like BB, I would make a point of telling the cautionary tale of so many young musicians that bought into building their home studio to record their music.

When you finally finish your ideal studio, you realize you haven't written a song in four months, the songs you did write last year aren't worth recording anymore and you're so out of practice on your instrument that you'd rather hire a better player come in and do your parts for you.

You're no longer a musician or songwriter. You're an engineer.

The lesson is:

If you want to record others for a living, go build yourself a studio.

If you want to be a musician or a songwriter, pay someone to record you.
 
thats true. my mixes sound pretty good but i know the music could sound better if i put down the money to go into a pro studio. but for bands who are broke beyond belief, the cheap way may not be the best but they are happy to have a little demo to pass around to clubs. as for a good mix for cds and all, i havent met many engineers around here that are any better than me for under $35 an hour. and some of the $55 an hour engineer mixes are questionable too.
 
stonepiano said:
The lesson is:

If you want to record others for a living, go build yourself a studio.

If you want to be a musician or a songwriter, pay someone to record you.
Click to expand...

I'm going to disagree with that....I never started building my studio in a way where i couldnt use it while i was amassing equipment. I still wrote songs, i still did shows and i still laid ideas down on the computer. the mixes sounded shitty before i got the studio monitors. i think you can be an engineer and a musician. i just dont plan on being an engineer and charging for the reason of recouping what i put into the studio. i bought this stuff for me and my own enjoyment. but if i was counting how much i put into it then I'm only out $300 bucks at this point.
 
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