Do youse guys price by project or by studio hours?

[jnorman]

when you are approached by a band who wants to make a CD, do you normally give them a package price, or do you just give them a price per hour in the studio? whenever i have done a "package deal" i always seem to spend a million more hours than i thought i would need to, and the group is always looking for endless small tweaks or remixes. seems like charging by the hour would give them incentive to come in ready to go, and not ask for tons of additional time later...

[dan p]

I have done it both ways and hate doing freebies.Qualify your clients first and set your own goal within that.

P

[JPeters86]

I basically always use a project rate, except when the customer wants an hour rate.

[Cheech]

I usually go per song. Give the client an all in price for 1 song, see how it goes, and how long it takes for them to be happy with that tune, then base the price of of the rest of the tunes on the first song.

So that way, you dont under-quote for picky clients as you described.


I usually quote per song, unless they feel like they will save money by the hour.
Im usually right though...... as usual they always go over the time they thought they could make it in.

[mu6gr8]

Always set your rate per project, on a fixed timeline. Pre-negotiated day rates apply beyond the project rate. Everybody has incentive to finish on schedule because the client would prefer to not go over budget, and you (presumably) already have the next job booked within a day or two of the scheduled end date, so you don't want to deal with the headache of rescheduling anybody.

[kittonian]

I did the per hour thing for a long time and a couple years ago decided to move to a day rate instead. I was sick of people booking an hour or two when I had prep time, cleanup time, etc. involved. I also found that it was harder to book multiple clients per day because you never know when someone is actually going to finish up (even if they want to stay longer and pay for more time you can't book another client when they expected to finish because then you'd have to kick them out for your next client).

So, I charge by the day and only book one client per day. It's worked out much better this way and the clients end up being happier because they no longer have to watch the clock constantly worrying about their budget.

[Jay Kahrs]

Originally Posted by mu6gr8

Always set your rate per project, on a fixed timeline. Pre-negotiated day rates apply beyond the project rate. Everybody has incentive to finish on schedule because the client would prefer to not go over budget, and you (presumably) already have the next job booked within a day or two of the scheduled end date, so you don't want to deal with the headache of rescheduling anybody.

Ditto.

I don't really have an "hourly" anymore... just day & project rates. Never been 'open-ended' on the time thing EVER as it's a sure way to get pinched... Same goes for a "per-song" rate. Only time I do hourly is for DAW stuff, editing...cleaning...importing/exporting etc. that's above and beyond the call of duty.

[blackwatch5805]

depends on the project. i like to quote per song. if you get the money that you want up front, you usually are more motivated to nail the songs (i know i am)

[ryst]

Originally Posted by jnorman

when you are approached by a band who wants to make a CD, do you normally give them a package price, or do you just give them a price per hour in the studio? whenever i have done a "package deal" i always seem to spend a million more hours than i thought i would need to, and the group is always looking for endless small tweaks or remixes. seems like charging by the hour would give them incentive to come in ready to go, and not ask for tons of additional time later...

I REFUSE to waste time with a band or solo artist who isn't prepared. So I ALWAYS charge hourly for recording and editing. If they still aren't prepared, that's ok because I am still getting paid. Mixing is ALWAYS per song unless they just want a bunch of rough mixes.

[dokushoka]

If your goal is to make money, work hourly. With fixed rates even nice people are going to squeeze you dry (hey, its human nature.) If you work fast and work well, no one will complain about you going hourly and in the end, its more fair to you.

Does your mechanic work at a set rate?

A plumber?

Graphic Designer?

Lawyer?

Etc, etc. I like to eat, just like the rest of those guys...

[pootkao]

Originally Posted by dokushoka

If your goal is to make money, work hourly. With fixed rates even nice people are going to squeeze you dry (hey, its human nature.) If you work fast and work well, no one will complain about you going hourly and in the end, its more fair to you.

My thoughts exactly.

I've felt burnt too many times on project rates.
I do hourly, daily and weekly rates.

The only project rates I do now are demo's where I'm pitching my work for a larger project and am willing bite the bullet a bit more on the front end in hope of landing the larger fish. It should also be noted that these are projects that aren't just potentially financially rewarding, but creatively as well -- projects that inspire me.

[EJW]

I do hourly. If someone wants a whole CD I may give them a deal ($5 every couple hours or something), something small, but nice. Last time I did pricing by the project I got had in the end.

[dokushoka]

The only project rates I do now are demo's where I'm pitching my work for a larger project and am willing bite the bullet a bit more on the front end in hope of landing the larger fish. It should also be noted that these are projects that aren't just potentially financially rewarding, but creatively as well -- projects that inspire me.

Great point!

That reminds me that I also will do lots of "free" work upfront in order to get the bigger gigs. This can include lots of "free" pre-production meetings, going into someone's place to help them prep files for mixing, phone consultations, etc. But I generally limit these types of freebies to things that will lead to me getting a project in a timely fashion. Again, I think this is sort of analogous to a mechanic driving your car around for 20 minutes to figure out what the hell is wrong with it.

[DNR]

i've tried all sorts of different methods over the past 6 years of doing this full time. best thing for me: day rates.

soon as I switched to a daily fixed amount (for approximately 8 hour blocks, sometimes less sometimes more) my business more than doubled and my girlfriend has had to remind me I need a day off once in a while.

no fussing, no watching the clock, pay is easy to understand for everyone, etc...

That goes for the engineering half. Producer role is different and negotiated on a project basis.

[henryrobinett]

I haven't completely settled on a method. It varies. I try to charge hourly, and end up cutting all kinds of slack because I work at home and am sometimes not fully on the clock and it takes longer than I want to bill them for. These kinds of sessions if it was actually 5 hours I might charge for 3.

But I also have done it for X amount because that's what they had. But I hate doing a rate per song because they can come back and come back and come back, -- and I can feel ripped off.

[dokushoka]

But I also have done it for X amount because that's what they had. But I hate doing a rate per song because they can come back and come back and come back, -- and I can feel ripped off.

I have a friend who is a very successful graphic designer, and IF he does a set fee, he sets a fixed number of revisions, usually two. This apparently works well for him.

[JDN]

when tracking, I charge either hourly or day rate, when mixing, per song

[aaronsternke]

When I'm producing, I do a per song thing, because it encompasses so much stuff... If I'm strictly engineering, I like to do hourly but usually end up just doing a day rate. That usually makes everyone happy.

Aaron

[emrr]

hourly or daily. After 15 years I still can't even begin to guess how long someone will spend on a project. It's really unknowable, and trying to mold the project to an arbitrary quote always does a disservice. Of course I can always say 'your record will probably cost between $600 and $13K, it's up to you'.

[James Meeker]

Hourly or day rate. If you go by spec you can anticipate they'll abuse the privilege, waste your time and make your life a living hell. Unless you charge like 5k per song.

[soupking]

The rate thing in any freelance (or job) related equation seems to be to me a matter of distance.

If you do a job for a friend, then you'll cut them something flat. If it's a clock, well then it's "bizness".

I don't think there's any complete answer to the question of payment.

[TheRealRoach]

A project rate is used unless it's an ongoing (i.e. no real "end") and/or small project.

[samwinston123]

Hourly rate for tracking, because they are paying for every single "Just one more take, I swear!"

Flat rate for mixing, because I like to take my time and do it right.

[Protools Guy]

by the hour. <--- that's a period.

[The dman]

by the hour. <--- that's a period.

What he said

[strewnshank]

It depends on the artist for me...if I'm engineering, I go hourly. Producing, daily, and mixing is per song. If the song needs editing, tuning, etc, then I charge an hourly editing fee. Since some of my artists want the same vibe for each track, once I nail the first track, the basics transfer pretty well to the rest of the project. So while I spend a lot of time mixing the first few tracks, the last few don't take as long, so I figure it evens out. I've never mixed just one song for a client, so I'll cross that bridge when it comes.

[MickeySmid]

A day-fee... esp. also for mixing, cause clients (esp. beginners) will want to come back and change things a 100 times.

"Can I have a mix to take home with the lead vocal using a plate and a spring reverb..."

[Midiguy]

Anything that's my time I charge fixed rates (mixing, MIDI sequencing, etc.). Anything that is the client's time (recording, editing, etc.) is charged hourly. Even on the fixed rate charges, it depends on the length of the song.

[Tony Shepperd]

I do a day rate for tracking and a song rate for mixing.
Anything over 6 hours is considered a day.
Anything over 12 hours goes into a 2nd day.

For mixing I have an indie rate and a major label rate.

[Musiclab]

either a day rate or an hourly rate are the way to go. Per project is complete insanity if you want to earn a living. If I'm producing and it's a singer songwriter rather than a band and I'm hiring the musicians, I can do a per project fee, but it usually entails my incorporating my hourly rate for the studio into it. If it's a band, it's by the hour period.