Where would you build a studio in the US?

[Tibbon]

So if you were given a chance to build (or move your existing studio) to anywhere in the US, where would you put it as a 'hotspot' that is good for studio business?

I see places like Nashville at being good (tons of music happening, lots of paying gigs for musicians (meaning musicians have money to record, record/publishing company presence, and a relative (to the northeast) abundance of cheap realestate) , but places like Boston being poor (Boston due to many people in arts/music but few opportunities to make money, and few record companies having presence along with the massive cost of real estate).

Any other ideas of places that would be awesome, or suck for a studio to be built? I've been pondering starting a Mid-Sized studio somewhere and truthfully i'm free to do so anywhere and would like for the area to not kill me for various reasons.

[Gravity8058]

In the loftspace recently bought by million selling artist with a lead singer who thinks he might want to start producing.

[max cooper]

In a low-overhead building.

[Tibbon]

Originally Posted by max cooper

In a low-overhead building.

Yea, but I have the greater chance of finding the Multimillion dollar space with the singer (almost put musician) who thinks he can produce, than I do of finding that in Boston (unless i'm looking in the wrong places). Got any ideas?

[jomo1234]

Larger cities will provide you with a larger client base, but obviously there will be higher overhead/cost of living issues. The inverse is true for smaller cities. Any metropolitan area with a population over 500K will invariably have multiple pro and project facilities. To beat a dead horse....dwindling record label budgets and home studios are driving down day rates and making competition fierce even in major markets.

Instead of focusing geographically, I think the real key to attracting business in this climate is the producer/studio model based around a certain sound or genre. Guys like Mike Mogus (Lincoln, Nebraska), Peter Katis (Bridgeport, CT), Trent Bell (Oklahoma City, OK) & Dave Fridman (Fredonia, NY) are doing well in smaller cities as they are known for a certain sound and attract clients worldwide due to their uniqueness.

[Audio1420]

It's been a dream of mine to have a studio faclitey on the side of a mountain that just caters to V.I.P. Clients... None of these clients that say Oh yeah I can Sing or I can RAP...

[Tibbon]

Originally Posted by jomo1234

Larger cities will provide you with a larger client base, but obviously there will be higher overhead/cost of living issues. The inverse is true for smaller cities. Any metropolitan area with a population over 500K will invariably have multiple pro and project facilities. To beat a dead horse....dwindling record label budgets and home studios are driving down day rates and making competition fierce even in major markets.

Instead of focusing geographically, I think the real key to attracting business in this climate is the producer/studio model based around a certain sound or genre. Guys like Mike Mogus (Lincoln, Nebraska), Peter Katis (Bridgeport, CT), Trent Bell (Oklahoma City, OK) & Dave Fridman (Fredonia, NY) are doing well in smaller cities as they are known for a certain sound and attract clients worldwide due to their uniqueness.

Excellent points.

Addressing the first one, i guess it is like any other job, but you need to find where the maximum of the curve is. Let's say the overhead on Manhattan (NYC) would be 10,000/month for a 3,500 sq ft facility in a decent building, and you could charge $75/hr and you could book 200 hours a month (bringing in 15K/month). If you were in Tulsa, you may only be able to charge $50/hr and book for 160 hours/month (less clients) and bring in 8,000/month but your rent is only $2,000 for a similar sized facility. In NYC you have 5,000 after rent, but in Tulsa you have 6,000. Those numbers were just off the top of my head and totally made up, but perhaps a decent representation of the costs.

And remember in NYC you'll have to pay another 300/month for a parking spot for customers or yourself if you are crazy enough to drive there daily.

Of course with the competition the key is to find a niche, many of which have already been filled in major areas like NYC, LA, Nashville, Boston, Miami, London, etc.. Perhaps Tulsa doesn't have a room to mix surround in, or a decent post room. Perhaps there isn't a good all analogue room in Kansas. Or perhaps there aren't any places that specialize in jazz recording in Michigan. Finding that niche will be important. In some areas near the southern border of the US that Niche could be speaking Spanish or such to fill a market.

I like your second point.

[Brad Lunde]

Las Vegas!

[jomo1234]

Keep in mind that your "overhead" isn't only for your business, but also for your living costs (rents / home prices / general costs of living). More importantly, you're going to want to be in a part of the country you really enjoy. There might be a massive need for a studio that specializes in polka music in Minneapolis...but do you like polka and will you enjoy 7 months of bitter cold weather? There's no point in going somewhere that you don't want to live.

I would approach it in this manner:

Firstly, investigate the cities you are thinking about (take a weekend trip, ask friends, study online, etc.) and see if it is a place you would enjoy living in.

Secondly, I would check out the musical scene in those cities. Is there a thriving music scene? Are there good live venues and record stores? How many other pro studios are there? It is very easy to find out these facts.

I brought up the aforementioned producers because they are perfect examples of producers in smaller markets who are getting work that is non-local. As I had mentioned before...pretty much any decent sized city will have multiple facilities and I don't think any market in this country has a shortage of facilities whereby moving there will fill a real need of the musical community.

Good luck!!!

Originally Posted by Tibbon

Excellent points.

Addressing the first one, i guess it is like any other job, but you need to find where the maximum of the curve is. Let's say the overhead on Manhattan (NYC) would be 10,000/month for a 3,500 sq ft facility in a decent building, and you could charge $75/hr and you could book 200 hours a month (bringing in 15K/month). If you were in Tulsa, you may only be able to charge $50/hr and book for 160 hours/month (less clients) and bring in 8,000/month but your rent is only $2,000 for a similar sized facility. In NYC you have 5,000 after rent, but in Tulsa you have 6,000. Those numbers were just off the top of my head and totally made up, but perhaps a decent representation of the costs.

And remember in NYC you'll have to pay another 300/month for a parking spot for customers or yourself if you are crazy enough to drive there daily.

Of course with the competition the key is to find a niche, many of which have already been filled in major areas like NYC, LA, Nashville, Boston, Miami, London, etc.. Perhaps Tulsa doesn't have a room to mix surround in, or a decent post room. Perhaps there isn't a good all analogue room in Kansas. Or perhaps there aren't any places that specialize in jazz recording in Michigan. Finding that niche will be important. In some areas near the southern border of the US that Niche could be speaking Spanish or such to fill a market.

I like your second point.

[djui5]

Originally Posted by Brad Lunde

Las Vegas!

Yeah, then you can compete with Digital Insight


I'm not sure where I'd put one. The side of a mountain thing is a great idea! I wanted to put one in here, blasted out of the side of Camelback mountain, but it never went through.

LA would be good, but there's a gazillion studios in LA. Same with Nashville and NYC.

Find somewhere you like to live, put one there and build your client base from there.

[rickrock305]

Originally Posted by Brad Lunde

Las Vegas!

sorry for the OT, but anyone checked out the Sessions at the Palms yet?

[mixerguy]

I WOULD NOT open a commercial studio. Anywhere.

Owning a recording studio is like standing in a cold shower, tearing up $20 bills.

[jomo1234]

LOL...brilliant analogy!!!


"Owning a recording studio is like standing in a cold shower, tearing up $20 bills."

[Audio1420]

Pirvite VIP is the way to go... Let all the NO $$$$ or TALENT MO****ERS go some where else... Cause I dont Need them!!!

[Tibbon]

Originally Posted by mixerguy

I WOULD NOT open a commercial studio. Anywhere.

Owning a recording studio is like standing in a cold shower, tearing up $20 bills.

A studio guy around here once told me this,

"Do you want to know how to make a small fortune with a recording studio?...."
...
(I nod)...
"Start with a large fortune"

[dillweed]

colorado springs
that seems like a great place to be. does'nt seem to be a music scene there, but what a beautiful place.

ohhh i gave away my big plans.....

[djui5]

Originally Posted by rickrock305

sorry for the OT, but anyone checked out the Sessions at the Palms yet?

The studio?

It's not built yet. Not finished anyway

[Bounce]

Originally Posted by mixerguy

I WOULD NOT open a commercial studio. Anywhere.

Owning a recording studio is like standing in a cold shower, tearing up $20 bills.

th-th-that is b-b-b-b-b-eautif-f-f-f-f-ul!! rrripppppppp!

[robmix]

Two places come to mind - Las Vegas, one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S; and New Oreans. Seems like everyone is moving out.

[themaidsroom]

i would build a beautiful facility somewhere in the past............
the only thing i would bring with me is GP9..........



- jack

[r0ck1r0ck2]

side of a mountain feh!
had this fantasy about a dome city built beneath the waves...

and then there's this thing......

but do you like polka and will you enjoy 7 months of bitter cold weather?

hey it's snowing in milwaukee...i love it....but i have free heat.

to state the obvious.
it helps to have a contact in the town you wanna move to....
my friend owns a hotel off the shore of ft lauderdale...

what about an oil rig?
this is 2005

[GYMusic]

Bed and breakfast and studio. Never a problem keeping it booked.

[r0ck1r0ck2]

GAH!!!!
someone did it!

now where's that dome studio????

[Mark Warren]

Not in Boston, run away.

There's no money flowing there for creative stuff. Boston's a wealthy and expensive city, but the money is old school money, going for old school stuff.

I spent some time in LA and was blown away by the amount of money being thrown into artistic projects such as making films, music, theatre productions.

You'd need to find a place where a good percentage of money is flowing towards creative endeavors, and I'm not even saying LA is that place, but just saying it's not Boston.

I'm currently in Austin and there's a big creative scene here, and TX has got to be one of the damn cheapest places to live/eat/rent in the country. Having lived in Boston and LA I had reverse sticker shock seeing what stuff costs down here.

I've been pondering the idea of doing a studio down here, if you'd like to consider Austin give me a buzz.

-Mark

[jomo1234]

Austin is a great town with an impressive music scene, but there are PLENTY of studios there already and there is a lot of competition. As I had mentioned before...any city with at least several hundred thousand people with have some sort of studio infrastructure. If the goal is a mid-sized facility in a smaller media market, (as was stated in the first post of the thread), you need to bring something unique to the table. The small / mid-sized facilities that seem the busiest to me are the ones that are owned and operated by producers, which leads me to believe that location means much less than the services they provide. If you can make a go of it in Austin, by all means do it. Just be prepared to have something unique to provide to the community that sets yourself apart from the already established studios.

[Curtis Franklin]

its not like anyone will be able to set off into the great frontier and find some virgin territory that doesnt have any studios in it.

the solution is simple. you must have and market a better skill set than any of your competitors.

your business is a new species, and you must be as fit as you can in order to survive. you and your competitors are all competing for the same resources.

or you could offer prices $5 per hour below all of your competitors and churn out a bunch of crap. thats what everyone does in my town.

[tubehead]

Don't come to San Diego! Stay Out! hahaha

[Tibbon]

Originally Posted by pumadrum

or you could offer prices $5 per hour below all of your competitors and churn out a bunch of crap. thats what everyone does in my town.

That is the business model in Boston currently, and it dribbles all the way down to the "I'll do it for free" that a ton of nearly decent students pull off and disolve the market.

Thanks for all of the suggestions so far!

I like the New Orleans, Austin, and Las Vegas ideas so far. Thanks again!

[Sounds Great]

Santa Fe NM? I dunno if there is any business, but it is a beautiful place and very artsy.

[NoiseToys]

Bed and breakfast is a great idea...

I have always thought it would be cool to do a live-in studio in a cool place... have people come and stay for the project and focus on the music instead of the local strip bars...