| I've almost always used a per-project flat rate, as I like to really take my time and do things right. I've never been one to do "demos;" I've always tried to give clients the maximum quality that I can offer for them at a rate that's affordable for most serious bands. I also do a lot of hard rock and metal, and tend to spend a lot of time editing drums and vocals to get the type of sound my clients are after, as well as being very lenient about things like mix revisions and other small details. I do this because I want to exceed the bands' expectations and because I can remember being unsatisfied with recordings that other engineers had made for bands I used to play in. There's nothing worse than selling someone your CD and not being proud of it.
Well, the more I do the math, the more I realize that I might as well be working at Subway.
I've decided to move to a hybrid pricing plan : a flat rate to cover mixing and editing (per song) and an hourly rate for all other studio time (pre production, setup, tracking, and alternate mixes/backups). By my estimates I'll probably earn an extra 33-50% by actually being paid for ALL of the work I'm doing (gasp). All that extra money comes after the bills are paid too, so I might be able to get cheese on my Whopper and maybe finally get those Josephson mics I've been eyeing.
We'll see how it goes.
Cory |