Mastering Studio in your home

[aleatoric]

Just wondering.....how many of you have your mastering studio in the same place you live? It has its obvious advantages and disadvantages but I am curious. thanks.

[marcnyc]

what would the obvious advantages be (besides not having to get up from the chair?

[Masterer]

Originally Posted by marcnyc

what would the obvious advantages be (besides not having to get up from the chair?

No commute time.
No commute costs.
No environmental impact from commute.
More time with family.
Downtime between sessions spent at home.
Writing-off part of home as business expense.
Eating home cooked food.
Lower food expenses.
etc, etc.

You will have to get up from the chair on occasion, even if you work from home.

[ed littman]

Originally Posted by Masterer

No commute time.
No commute costs.
No environmental impact from commute.
More time with family.
Downtime between sessions spent at home.
Writing-off part of home as business expense.
Eating home cooked food.
Lower food expenses.
etc, etc.

You will have to get up from the chair on occasion, even if you work from home.

amen....also, no extra rent.
mine is in my backyard.
Ed

[Virtalahde]

I had.. Now I don't.. And some day I will again.

I see nothing but benefits in having the studio at your home!

[DSD_Mastering]

I have... and loving every minute of it! It has ALL the advantages of above. As a bonus, you can knock down walls, make changes, play loud and you won't have to worry about a landlord giving you sh*t.
I even use my crawl space as studio storage and take it off my taxes!
I don't know if I could really SEE a disadvantage.... unless it's when you take a break and go onto your deck for the view....

Regards,
Bruce

[jdg]

mine is in my old attached garage.

big disadvantage is attended sessions, as they often start late and go late, and my wife wants the drunk rockers out of the house.
or the guy who brought his dog that found stuff in other rooms and dragged them about the yard.....

other then that.. i can't complain about the commute.

[Darius van H]

I wouldn't want to have my studio actually in my house (there are some clients you don't want in your house ), but i'd like to have it about a 10 minute cycle ride away.

At the moment I have to travel for an hour to get to the studio (bike-train-bike)

[16/44.1]

Originally Posted by aleatoric

Just wondering.....how many of you have your mastering studio in the same place you live? It has its obvious advantages and disadvantages but I am curious. thanks.

I'm doing it also, though as a great hobby.

[Silvertone]

I got caught in the Dot-Com Bomb in the SF area with a commercial property. Had my rent doubled with 60K worth of improvements into the place. I vowed I'd never let that happen again.

When I moved back to NY state I built a building on my land, it's the best thing ever. No commute time, no gas, no wasted time, no overhead at all so I pass the savings on to my clients in the form of the rate I charge.

As for clients, I set the time 10 to 6 Monday through Friday (weekends are for my family).
For me I find my best work is done in the day time anyway.

[Thomas W. Bethe]

There are lots of good things about having a studio as part of your home. There are also some down sides.

1. People seem to think that because you have your studio as part of your house that you are not professional and this is a part time low budget operation and want to be charged bedroom or basement rates.

2. Some times you get clients that you wonder about and having them in your home may not be the best idea. People who ask a lot of questions about when you will be at home or when you will be taking a vacation or how often you are not around maybe just topics of conversation but always seem strange and they maybe looking for more than just mastering. We have an alarm system just in case.

3. There are times when you would like to "get away" from your job and when the studio is in your home there never seems to be a time when you can't do just "one more thing" where if you studio is located off premises it is always the "barrier" of having to drive or bike there.

4. Sometimes having a studio in your home can be problematic. I had a client who had a seizure. We called the rescue squad and they said they would have to take all the doors off the hinges and that the space for getting their gurney in was too narrow and they would have to "modify the doorway" in order to get it in. Luckily the client was able to walk out to the gurney. I also had a client who brought her 2 month old son to the mastering session (she was the client's business manager) and wanted to be somewhere else while her husband was doing the mastering. I don't have a client's waiting area so I said no. She proceeded to change the two month old baby's diaper in the studio. I have also had people start to wander in to the rest of the house while their band mates are doing the mastering. I had one client that wanted me to fix him dinner while we were mastering and I said I would rather order out. He proceeded to go into the kitchen and started making him self dinner. If my studio was free standing this would probably NOT have occurred to him.

I have been in my studio now for going on 12 years. It was purpose built for mastering and designed as a mastering studio. It is part of the house but has its own entrance and rest room and shares the kitchen with the rest of the house. We also have a video/mastering studio in what use to be my living room and it to was purpose built for its intended use. Weighing the pros and the cons I would not have it any other way - but sometimes the grass looks greener and I think about the idea of having them separate from my home.

Good topic.

[Riccardo]

Originally Posted by Darius van H

I wouldn't want to have my studio actually in my house (there are some clients you don't want in your house ), but i'd like to have it about a 10 minute cycle ride away.

Agreed thumbsup 15 mins walk or 5/10 cycle ride away is the right balance for me!

[dsteve]

After leasing rooms around Nashville's Music Row for 17 years, I am very happy to work at home. The savings in overhead are tremendous! I have a dedicated space (800 sq ft) downstairs, purpose built, with windows looking out into the woods. I too, set my attended session times between 10 & 6, but most of my sessions are unattended. Being your own landlord is a blessing!

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by Masterer

No commute time.
No commute costs.
No environmental impact from commute.
More time with family.
Downtime between sessions spent at home.
Writing-off part of home as business expense.
Eating home cooked food.
Lower food expenses.
etc, etc.

Don't forget kitty (or doggie) on the lap!

--Ethan

[Paul Gold]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

Don't forget kitty (or doggie) on the lap!

--Ethan

In the case of doggie and especially terrier doggies, the mayhem that ensues when the front door opens is sometimes the best part of the day.

[ed littman]

Originally Posted by Paul Gold

In the case of doggie and especially terrier doggies, the mayhem that ensues when the front door opens is sometimes the best part of the day.

Some of you have met my dog( my wifes dog) colonel Klink would have been proud.

That leads to my only down side.....the toilet is in the house with no plumming out in the studio. one day i may have to get one of these
BioLet Composting Toilets

ed

[Masterer]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

Don't forget kitty (or doggie) on the lap!

--Ethan

Absolutely!!

[Silvertone]

Here's our faithful companion (now doesn't he look guilty of something?)...

[carlsaff]

Home based here, too. Only downside is that if I want a larger room someday (and I probably will), I'll either have to buy a new house or buy/rent a space.

Everything else is a complete upside! I have two kids, one of whom is autistic, so more time with the family is pure gold.

[glassmaster]

I've never figured out how a mastering studio (or any craft service company) can make a serious go of it with just one person working. Eventually you'll need an office person and probably an assistant. If you have a life, that just doesn't work in a home-based business, not to mention the hassle of accomodating clients and not pissing off your neighbors.

[jdg]

good point david, i just changed my sig file

[Cellotron]

Originally Posted by glassmaster

I've never figured out how a mastering studio (or any craft service company) can make a serious go of it with just one person working.

Respectfully - I strongly disagree. Having the lowest possible overhead by doing all the work myself, eliminating the great expense of additional payroll - is what actually allows me to make a go of it in the first place, instead of having to have a boss and/or work outside of the audio engineering field.

After having worked for a large company with some 70 employees in a high overhead building that went out of business mainly due to the crippling costs of maintaining such a large venture - I can say the Robert Fripp-ian philosophy of keeping things "small, mobile, and intelligent" is truly the way to go these days.

Eventually you'll need an office person and probably an assistant.

And when that eventually happens and the cash flow seems right - I'd say that's a good time to think of expansion into a larger facility that can accomodate employees. Until then I think it makes more sense to keep running as is and count my blessings that by dealing with things I mildly dislike (i.e. book keeping, preparing shipments, scrubbing the toilet) for a few hours a week I can do work that I truly love for the rest of it.

If you have a life, that just doesn't work in a home-based business,

I'm sorry - but it simply is a fact that if you want a successful small business then for a good or even great period of time you are going to have to devote every possible second to it. I'm sure that was the case for even Airshow when it first opened! As my Dad always says "if it was easy, then everyone would be already be doing it."

not to mention the hassle of accomodating clients and not pissing off your neighbors.

Well, considering that my neighbors are a sheet metal shop two floors below and a multi-room rehearsal studio on the floor below, it's kind of a non-issue for me.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Bob Yordan]

I am building up a mastering room in my home and I have a separate recording & mixing room.

Kind of expensive to build up 2 separate studio's but I am gearslutz, so
...

Last investement went into the recording room, a Neumann U87 mic.
Second last investement was a Lynx Aurora 16 to the mastering room.

and so on...


Could probably have one room, but I am into the idea to have different listening systems in both rooms. And now the stuff dont fit into one room
anymore.

[Paul Gold]

This is an old picture. I have another one in brown. I'm not into having work at home.

[Thomas W. Bethe]

Originally Posted by Paul Gold

In the case of doggie and especially terrier doggies, the mayhem that ensues when the front door opens is sometimes the best part of the day.

I love terriers. We had an Austrailian and a West Highland, NICE - NICE DOGS!

[inlinenl]

I'm all the way up in the house ... always dry feet .... it's okay ...for sure it's an
economic way ... still would like to go on and off somewhere .. ang now when it's busy/mastering/rebuilding .. I just don't get out off the house enough .. need some air .... get a bike ride in the forest in the morning to calm my ears ... take a nap at 15:00 .. survive my three kids and girl .. eat .. and work until 24:00 .. and watch some Tour de france ..

only have clients in from 10:30 until 17:00 ...

seems like a lot off the other guys are doing the same ... surpise to me !!!

[Silvertone]

Originally Posted by glassmaster

I've never figured out how a mastering studio (or any craft service company) can make a serious go of it with just one person working. Eventually you'll need an office person and probably an assistant. If you have a life, that just doesn't work in a home-based business, not to mention the hassle of accomodating clients and not pissing off your neighbors.

Hmmm, the word "serious" has several implications!?!?

David, I've been doing the one man shop for 14 years now. It's easier to do then you think and I find there is no "hassle" in accommodating any of my clients needs. Sure I have to call them back if the machine picks up but so what. I've never lost a client because of this. I also don't think I've ever "pissed off" one of my neighbors, fact is they get a thrill at what I do for a living.

I've found over the years I've gotten a lot of work that use to go to the bigger mastering houses because people love the personal touch I can give them (not to mention the incredible price I can afford to give them without all that overhead). They talk to me, deal with me, sit with me and we learn together. In fact I've gotten a slew of Hollywood business this way as the clients were tired of paying for the top name only to have another in-house ME do the work.

As for "having a life", I have a better life now then ever before living here in the Adirondack mountains. Time is no longer an issue. It beats the hell out of my old commercial studio in SF with the rents, commutes, traffic, noise, employees (baby sitting), BAD neighbors (who would rob you), etc... besides my family loves having me around, imagine that.

So serious, yeah you can make a "serious go" of this business in the comfort of your own back yard. Comfort being the key word here (both for the client and for me).

best regards,
Larry

[Thomas W. Bethe]

Originally Posted by glassmaster

I've never figured out how a mastering studio (or any craft service company) can make a serious go of it with just one person working. Eventually you'll need an office person and probably an assistant. If you have a life, that just doesn't work in a home-based business, not to mention the hassle of accommodating clients and not pissing off your neighbors.

All good points as I would expect from you. I just thought I would jot down some reason why I decided to do it myself.

Yes it is hard to do it all yourself and I have a couple of interns from local colleges that do help out a lot. I do all my own bookkeeping, I do all my own wiring and interfacing, I personally clean the rest rooms and what I can't do myself I hire done. I helped a good friend, who is the best carpenter in town, do all the remodeling and wall building when we built the two studios so I know where every stud is and every electrical box. I takes a lot of my time but I really enjoy what I do.

I live in a small college town (POP 7500) in the middle of Ohio. This would not have been my first choice of where to open a mastering studio but I worked for the local college and had my home here. Lately we have had to become very lean and very flexible and have branched off into other fields like Video production and on location audio recording in order to pay the bills. I basically work 6 to 7 days a week and most days put in between 10 to 12 hours per day. It does not leave much time for "a life" but when you love to do what you are doing your life is basically your profession.

As to pissing off the neighbors. When I started my studio I went to each of my six neighbors told them what I was going to be doing. I told them that I would be doing only mastering and no in studio recording and asked them if they had any problems with what I was proposing. So far no problem except with my next door neighbor who loves outdoor power tools and loves to run them for long periods of time but we were able to block out the noise with sound proofing and it has become a non issue.

If I had this all to do over again I would probably try to be closer to a large city and if I could find a combination house and commercial property locate there. The idea of moving into a commercial building here in town looked like a good idea UNTIL I started checking into the rents and found that for a 1200 square foot space the monthly rent would be around $2400 to $2800 per month and that would be for an open space and no acoustical treatment with no room dividers and no quiet A/C unit (and summers in Ohio can be very hot and very humid) So that quickly became a big NO on my decision list.

I am not too sure with commercial rents going through the roof how long mastering studios in large cities will be able to keep their doors open. I already am seeing a lot of the recording studios that use to be in downtown Cleveland moving out to the suburbs to get away from the rents and the high crime rate that seem to be getting worse all the time. Maybe this is the start of a great migration. Only time will tell.

FWIW and MTCW.

[Riccardo]

Originally Posted by Thomas W. Bethe

I am not too sure with commercial rents going through the roof how long mastering studios in large cities will be able to keep their doors open.

FWIW and MTCW.

A handful of larger facilities with extremely good reputation that are booked up months in advance.

Probably less than a hundred worldwide..................

[musicmann]

I think the benefits would outweigh the hardships.. I am basically one step away from that situation. I am freelance in an existing recording studio. I do everything myself.. book the sessions, do 'em, make labels, messenger calls., call or got Fedex.. etc.. So I think if I could swing it at home i might try, but this Manhattan, so the costs may just be too prohibitive for me all alone.. If I lived elsewhere, I think it would be liberating,,, (Though I do enjoy and appreciate having other engineers around for moral/technical support!)