How to make money, or how to make MORE money - with a small / pro home studio

[Jules]

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[Blackwater]

Hi Jules,

I am one who needs to make more money with my project studio.

Project studio owner for 15 years. I do 5-6 full production albums a year and the rest of the year is filled up with demos and small projects of various styles and crazy ideas. No major label work but have gotten some calls. Never landed them though. I eak out a decent living and love doing it.
I have found that all my referrals are word of mouth. I have spent about 15K on advertising in the last 15 years and no-one has ever said that they saw my ad in this magazine or that magazine.

I guess if I had any advice to give it would be to give away a lot of your time to your community, your local schools and anything you think is a worthy cause in your town. I have found that I always get follow up paid work from doing these projects and feel great while doing it .

I am definately not complaining about the amout of money I make but would love to hear advice from other project studio owners on how to take more vacations and save for retirement..

Great topic Jules!

[redroom]

Word of mouth is very powerfull advertising but I have had great success with the internet and have gained many international clients through the net.A big problem for me is people time waisting but I expect bigger studios have this problem as well.

[Blackwater]

redroom,

Could you elaborate a bit more? Are we talking about having a website? Advertising through others websites? Could you list places you go on the internet to drum up business?

Thanks,

Chris

[nukmusic]

one big help with my setup is that my studio is neat and clean, and looks nice with the color skeme i have throughout it. Unlike many other small home setups i have been to, which are normally not neat or clean, wires all over the place, gear here, gear there, no type of color skeme or design.
I also have fake plants throughtout it that I picked up from walmart. When folks walk in and see it, they are like "WOW, THIS IS NICE" some even say "THIS IS PREEEEEEETTY" Kinda makes them feel a bit more relaxed and calm. I picked up the idea from seeing photos of larger commerical studios that have upgraded or redesigned there studios into beautiful rooms.

[hethaerto]

Gustav,
Those are some very good ideas. Sounds like you've got a good head for business.
Allen

[MarkRogers]

Originally posted by djui5
If you can make them more comfortable than the commercial places in town, then you're good to go.

This is so true! I just had a client over yesterday taking a free "test drive" (a great way to get them in your studio to begin with) who mentioned how comfortable it is here. He decided to go with me to record his album.

Lets see... I have found my best internet avertising spot to be Craigslist. Its free and gets a ton of traffic. If you have the List in your city, use it. It will bring you customers.

I would love to hear more excellent advertising ideas that are either free or cheap and produce decent results. Word of mouth referals are the best of course, but building a decent client base to begin can be pretty tough.

May the new year bring a ton of clients to all!

[oudplayer]

Unlike some business advisors, at this point I'm dubious about the "diversify" approach. The studio or engineer who claims to be able to do anything is going to appear to the customer to be able to do little. But if you are dead set on being a country engineer in San Francisco, I'd say that you need to rethink what kind of work is available and broaden your horizons to more "Fertile fields."

What I've found works is acquiring a few niches with consistent work that you do a stellar job at. For example, I got work doing sequencing and pseudo-mastering work for a world music book series. Much of the work wasn't studio recording per se, but I got the job due to communication and people skills first (I had an idea of the sorts of things to say to the authors/editors), speciality knowledge second (world music, ethnomusicology), and technical aspects third (ability to do vinyl, 78, cassette, reel-to-reel transfers, restoration work).

I also developed a rapport with several local labels and do work (of all kinds) consistently for them. It's not a lot of money, but having these clients has gotten me other introductions in the same niche community which will hopefully lead to more work of the same.

I have never gotten desirable work from typical advertising (magazine, newspaper, yellow pages), but have gotten all of my work through word-of-mouth and community message boards (craigslist, etc.). Get talking!

[axtrak]

I´m´a running a small but fine project studio since 1,5 years. Before that i worked as freelance producer/engineer.

When i build the studio, i had a management consulter who worked out a businessplan with me, this helped me knowing how to deal with taxes, investments, the bank and invoicing.

I wanted to have a studio that feels like a big one, so i had a good acoustic designer, who made me a room layout that sounds great and looks good. On the other handside i didn´t invest in expensive furniture or stuff like that.

But it´s important to make the place look nice, that customers feel happy there. Something like an automatic espressomachine and a good selection of drinks, some food and fruits and an internetaccess for the customer are things that don´t cost much, but can make a place comfortable.

My studio is very small: 18m2 control room, a second controlroom with 15m2 which a friend runs to produce his own records , a small vocalbooth and 40m2 lounge/kitchen is all we have. I have deals with several bigger studios around, where i record drums etc... When the basic tracking is over, the overdubs, editing & mixing is done at my place.

I have medium rates, so the customer saves a lot of money, not doing editing and overdubs in an A room, and my acoustic is good enough to do some serios mixing.

The whole company is based around me, not the studio, the studio is just the rooms where you have to come to, if you want to work with me, and that suit me right to do my work, i don´t advertise as a studio. nor can somebody rent my room.

I´m doing 50/50 work an engineer& Producer/composer.

I don´t work exclusivly for the recordindustry, i´m also doing filmmusic for imagefilms & independent movies, and produce cd´s which are sold in books..

[mojava]

Hi fellow gear heads:

I have been a "part time engineer/producer" doing music at night and a relatively successful day job. My dilema is that every year i am wondering - is this the year that i go full time (Family responsibilities are always paramount) and so i am coming to a conclusion that I may need to move to be able to adjust my life style to be able to do music full time ( I now live in southern California).

I am debating moving to a place like Nashville/Franklink/Brentwood where the prices of real estate seem soooo much more reasonable. My question to the fellow forum members is how does one plan such a move given that there are so many more studios in the area that i am considering....

Any thoughts from you all would be greately appreciated on taking the plunge to full time and perhaps to Nashville....

Thanks in advance...

[Dave Martin]

Originally posted by mojava


Any thoughts from you all would be greately appreciated on taking the plunge to full time and perhaps to Nashville....

Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that if you can bring work with you (i.e, regular accounts), you'll have a lot better chance of making a living in your chosen field. The second is that if you DON'T have accounts that will follow you to Nashville, you'll likely need to pick up some sort of work that will allow you to survive.

[DirkB]

In this time where every second bandmember has a pc with cubase or a 001 you really have to bring something extra to the party when you have a small project studio (like me).

Meaning: people have to come to you, not the studio.
I work with local bands and try everything in my power to have them leave the studio with a real album, not a demo.

At my place my partner and I really try to focus on the music; with me being an experienced drummer and he a fantastic guitarist, we cover the better part of rock music which is our thing. I do about 2-3 complete albums a year and some stuff in between and I really try to build a relation ship of trust and fun with the bands.

My main goal: I want to make them wanting to come back. If they want to come back, they spread the word and get other bands interested in my studio.
This has succeded in the last three years and I'm now at a level where I'm in a possition where I contact the bands that I know have expressed an interest and that I like (I go to their live shows or listen to the mp3's on their sites; which most have) and invite them for an evening at the studio to see if we could work together.

Of course, being a true slut (and doing this besides my dayjob), I'm putting all the money I earn back into the studio and slowly, even though the bands come to work with us, not our studio, slowly I can start to impress them with some real decent outboard stuff, a solid mic-locker and of course a discography with some cool songs...

Oh, and I have a basic producerscontract with all bands (2points each for my partner and I) and have them pay per song.

The next step would be that one of the bands really get's a major deal and starts selling nationally .
I have one in the running at the moment and the one I'm currently producing has also gotten some label interest from the mini album they recorded at my place.

To summ it up: it's about the music and we really do care for the songs that the bands we work with bring in... And when you do a solid job, the dedication gets noticed and the word will spread .

Greetings,
Dirk

[Brandino221]

I am just now getting my studio up and running. Somethings that are helping me get word around is becoming an active member in the music sceen. One thing I have learned from working in music retail is building repor with people. Becoming that person that people will wait just talk talk or deal with. They won't go to anyone else but you. This happens by getting to know the person, following up with them, keeping your word when you say something (like I'll call you back in 5) and truly caring about thier needs and wants. Another thing is go the extra mile. Is hooking someone up with an extra 30 min or even an hour cuz they really need it but don't have the cash really going to hurt you (of course only if you have that free time to give). It will come back to you later cuz they will come back and also say how great of an experiance they had with you to others (hence word of mouth). We make like $30 or more an hour so let's give them the BEST service we can. Just my 25 cents.

[Dave Martin]

I'm surprised that all of those responding have mentioned that they are, in effect, trying to operate 'recording studios' out of their homes. Why haven't y'all given any thought (or at least spoken about) alternatives? Instead of trying to coerce local musicians into recording at your studios (in your basements), why not creat and sell products on your own? Here are some examples:

1: Create jingles for your local market, with you composing, playing all of the instruments, and selling the jingle package to the customers?

2: Make contacts in the local gymnastic or ice skating community and create tracks for their routices?

3: Write songs. A Top 10 record (on any of the charts) will make the writer a heck of a lot more money than recording bands for $25 an hour.

4: Record music/efx/ whatever for local theater companies.

5: Develop the skill to do film and television work - or at least product which can be pitched to the music library companies.

6:Market yourself as a musician rather than as an engineer - more and more people are sending incomplete tracks to other musicians to be completed.

These are just a few possibilities that come to mind. Even as I type this sentence, I've thought of some more things - all are potentially more lucrative than simply being another home studio, and all give you the possibility of selling products rather than services.

Remember - a home studio should be the means, not the end.

[axtrak]

Originally posted by Dave Martin
I'm surprised that all of those responding have mentioned that they are, in effect, trying to operate 'recording studios' out of their homes. Why haven't y'all given any thought (or at least spoken about) alternatives?

Thats a good point, for any studio of any size. I´m doing a lot of filmmusic, Jingles etc... I have also the only professional 5.1 Monitoring with a controlroom with great acoustics in my region which is cool for filmmusic

[Dizzlano]

I believe most of you have said this,,,,,,but to wrap it up in a nutshell,,,,,,,,

Most people in this industry forget that you are providing a "Service". Besides all of your godliness in audio manipulation and recording,,,,,,,,,,,,,you are in essence "providing" for your clients.

So besides audio in general, remember the next time you have a client or are consulting a client, it is your job to give them everything from a great and professional recording, but also make sure they have all the comforts they are used to and they have an enjoyable time creating their art.

My basic point as well is,,,,,,,,,the fact that I've gone way out of the way for some clients to insure they were happy,,,,,has definitely increased my word of mouth and increase in business in the last year.

-dano

[JohnMcD]

I definately agree with Dave Martin. If you can't take whats already given, by all mean, create your own damn market!

It is so true with us here in Portland. We figure, most stray musicians/artists/bands who aren't the normal known "recording crowd" obviously want to break it nationally. Or at least get signed to an indie and distributed nationally. So what we offer is a way to get their ideas and concepts into a "finished" commercial form.

I know that sounds hokey in every sense of the way I described it. But the look or excitement from them when they hear the product near or at the end is when they realize how much bigger things can get.

Distinguishing yourself from the big players in the area is a must. Think positive within this aspect. Note the negatives on what they can do better. Sit down and brainstorm what you can fill or do better in a different way.

What I have personally done with our project studio is basically come up with a certain sound. Not overtly obvious, but something that you can always tell that came from a certain place.

After that, I spent time with the team in coming up with ways to make some turd material into a very passable fudge chocolate.

Which brings up our realm of expertise in project studio land: no one artist/band always has their act together. Push comes to shove and they will break. Producers for these artists/bands are hard to come by, which is why we staff a few here. Most are self producing because they don't know anyone they can trust with their vision. This comes to a point of project engineers I've heard criticizing flaws out and lecturing. Some even go as far as telling them what to do and how to do their own music! I've heard many horror stories from bands and other artists who feel like they just spent money on American Idol critics and walking away saying WTF after being told to go back to the drawing board.

So what we did was cater to their need in what they want within our area. More than once, I have been complimented with how I treat their ideas if no producer has been commissioned. It may not work, the material may sound cheesey, but if they really like it, who is in the wrong?

Anyways, I'll get off my rambling high horse.

Thanks for the time in reading this.

-John

[chris-melchior]

<<
I'm surprised that all of those responding have mentioned that they are, in effect, trying to operate 'recording studios' out of their homes. Why haven't y'all given any thought (or at least spoken about) alternatives? Instead of trying to coerce local musicians into recording at your studios (in your basements), why not creat and sell products on your own?
>>

Talking of which . . . does anyone know how to make money doing remixes? I've just done a couple of remixes for an online remix competition, and will put them up an a page on my website. What do I do then??

Any suggestions and comments will be appreciated :))

Chris
( http://www.chris-melchior.com/strings.htm )