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I had planned on keeping the rates low because there are guys in town that definately have more experience. While I relalize it's harder to raise the price too much at once down the road, (this is a 15-20 year plan), is this how most of you got things going?
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One thing you might consider is charging by the song instead of by the hour, at least in the early stages. This has several advantages: 1) the band knows the exact cost before they start, 2) you have flexibility on how much time you put in, and 3) as you progress it's easy to raise your rates.
I decided when I started that I would charge something for each project, even if it was ridiculously low like $25 per song. There's just a different relationship and expectation when money changes hands.I put in way more time into those early projects than the price would justify but I was doing it because I was learning and because it was very important to me that they turn out well. I charge more per song now and I'm much faster at mixing so the equation is balancing out much better.
So that's a suggestion that you might consider. I've found that a fixed price per song is a very important factor to many bands because each member can commit to pitching in the money up front - they know exactly what they are getting into. As you move up the food chain and record bands with record deals and more money, an hourly rate would make more sense.
A quick additional comment - I won't relate the full story here but I had an opportunity to record a demo for a band that was on the verge of getting a record deal (two members came from a band that had done well on the label). The problem was they had two other studios that had offered to do it for free. They were getting a lot of buzz and it would have looked good on my resume but I told them to go ahead and have another studio do the project. A couple of the members didn't get along very well and the recording process turned into a pissing match. The band broke up before the demo was even finished. I don't know how much time the studio invested but it had to have been a lot. I was so glad I didn't take on that project.