[Fletcher]

I have friends that make between $2k a week [club / small soft seat with a "Jazz" act, mixes FOH and tour manages] to $2500- a week for a "carries own console, new stacks and racks daily" for the next 6 weeks of "tune up tour"... then bumps to $4k/wk when the band does arenas and sheds for the next year and a half... then there is a very old friend who makes $8k/week [that's right $8,000 USD per week!! + per diem $150/day, which drops down to $4k/week when the band is on break w/no per diem... AND he can take other gigs as long as he is available the second the band snaps their fingers] on a show that did fewer than 150 shows in the last 15 months. I have other friends that are happy to pull down $150/night doing 12 channel club gigs and another friend that gets $1,250 per show with a symphony orchestra [he gets a ton of outside work and consulting stuff as well but his main gig is the orchestra].

In the studio I see ads for places for like $15/hr. "fully equipped" studios which tells me that the engineer ain't making "bank"... most of my other engineer friends are in the $500-$1,250/day range [14 hr. days, 6 days a week with 'overtime' at 'double rate' when applicable]... and another bro who will be more than happy to record for $2,500/day and mix for $5k/song [$7k for a single] but he is far more the exception than the rule.

If the purpose of your question was trying to figure out if you'll make more money on the road than in the studio the answer is generally "yes". However, the romance of living in a bus and traveling the world wears very thin after a while... even when it was all drugs and pussy all the time [which it most certainly is NOT these days] it was always a tough way to make a living.

The studio thing is in such disarray that it will be difficult to chose between building your own rig, hanging out your own shingle and starting your very own small studio while swimming with the rest of the Siamese Fighting Fish or sucking it up and cleaning toilets while you wait for someone to die so you can move up a bump.

If I had it to do all over again... I wouldn't fvcking do it!! Not in this environment, not with the level of politicing and bullshit that is out there these days... I'd probably be an auto mechanic where the money is no where near as good... the "prestige factor" is no where near as cool, but the money is constant and for the most part the work is steady [during the great work slow down of 2002-2003 I had friends that used to be able to book themselves 280-300 gigs a year sitting home watching "Days of our Lives" for months between gigs!!].

If you're hell bent on going on the road I would suggest you submit a resume to Clair Channel [Clair Bros./ShowCo] and in a few years you'll be a regular touring kinda guy... probably something of a system tech, possibly even with the genius job description of "Stage Left Fly" which means you get the stage left speaker array off the truck and into the air before the show and out of the air and back into the truck after the show... hardly the great mixer gig you had hoped for but you do get a laminate and can use it to bolster your lack of confidence while chatting up the ladies in the bar closest to the hotel on your day off... if you're hell bent on getting into the studio apply to be a tea boy/piss boy/runner at any of the 17 real studios that remain in the world and be content to watch and learn for the next few years as staff turnover moves you up the food chain via social promotion until you reach the glass ceiling imposed by "The Peter Principle".

Best of luck... BTW, ever consider farming? It's seriously necessary as everyone needs food and it's way harder to download off the internet.