Anyone make the transition from Music to Post?

[Nu Mixer]

I run a small recording studio. Work has been very slow and we're trying to figure out how to offer our services for the post industry.

Any suggestions as to where to start? We have PT HD, nice outboard and mics. No video capabilities though.

We really need to generate a new revenue stream.

I would love to hear from any music guys that have made this transition.

Thanks in advance!

[nathand]

What market are you in?

[soundguydave]

Definitely need video capabilities, as well as very comfortable client areas. Depending on your market, you would probably need an engineer that knows the industry to bring you clients.

[Henchman]

Originally Posted by nathand

What market are you in?

Yeah. Location is everything.

[Nu Mixer]

We are in Miami.

We have a comfortable (albeit small) client area. Studio is rock-solid. Looks nice as well.

Again, no background in video. Recorded plenty of VO's, mixed some regional radio spots. Composed a few jingles. Looking for steady work though.

Thanks for any ideas.

[ggegan]

The first thing I would do is to partner up with someone who knows either editorial or mixing. If you start out without a knowledge base and experience, you're likely to acquire a bad reputation, plus you won't be able to service clients well. This is foremost a service industry, after all.

Try offering some sort of mutually beneficial deal to a reputable supervising sound editor that allows them to make package deals for both editorial and mixing. You will learn the ropes, benefit from contact with their clientele and hopefully make some money on the jobs that flow through them.

You could try to do it on your own, but it would probably be messy at first and it's worth considering that 50% of something is a lot better than 100% of nothing.

[nathand]

I would focus on Radio production.

Figure out what advertisers are in Miami (Crispin Porter used to be there) and let your presence known to them. A broadcast coordinator is a good starting point but the key is having a writer or producer that wants to work with you. Although most ad people travel to LA, NY or CHI to finish TV spots they much prefer staying at home for radio.

ISDN capabilities are a requirement so you can record "A" list talent from the above mentioned cities.

N8

[philper]

The best advice so far is to find a free-lance sound editor/mixer with a client base and bring them in and listen to what he or she says. The studio setup and attitudes are bit different in post--for one thing your "music rooms" won't help you much and you need a CR than can accomodate several people. The rule is generally that the higher the budget, the more people at the mix. You need to deal with surround and video and file transfer issues immediately, and today all of those are big barrels of worms. Your ears and aesthetics will help you a lot, but there is a lot of niggling detail stuff that is exclusive to post that you have to master before you do any real jobs. Next best advice: read ALL of Georgia's stickies at the top of this forum if you haven't already.

Philip Perkins

[nathand]

My bad, I assumed from the OP's name, Nu Mixer, that he/she is the principal at the facility and is looking to expand his/her own client base.

Nathan Dubin

BTW - I composed music for TV and Radio commercials for over 5 years before I made the transition to being a TV and Radio commercial mixer. So not exactly the transition mentioned in the OP as I was already exposed to the particular needs of advertising clients.

[jahtao]

Make connections with video editors / video production people in your area