A rather "remote" business venture. Thoughts?

[seaneldon]

Hey Remote-sters. Long post. Be patient with me.

With the whole home studio craze of the 2000's and ever-falling recording budgets from independent labels and bands, I've spent much of the last 4 months putting together my latest "scheme" for a recording business, and how I would fit into whatever market there may be. Please take a few minutes to hear me out and drop some feedback my way.

More and more, I'm seeing bands from all walks of life completely abandoning the idea of recording in traditional studios. They're buying Pro Tools LE setups and making albums in their homes, rehearsal spaces, short term lofts and warehouses, barns, etc. I know this because I've made a number of records for these bands under these very circumstances. To take it one exaggerated step forward, there's the major label Metallicas and Jimmy Eat Worlds and Red Hot Chili Peppers and Straylight Runs who are doing the exact same thing, but on a larger scale.

This kind of recording situation excites me being that it breaks the standard "pay for the Hit Factory and run with it" practices of the past, and excitement is what makes the world go 'round. I figure this might be an interesting thing for me to investigate.

Since November of last year, I've been in semi-late planning stages of just opening a traditional (wonderful, but traditional) recording studio in the NYC vicinity. Big problem: Real estate is -- way. too. expensive. Enormous overhead for rent, electric, HVAC, escalations, 5 month security deposits just to move in...it's all really scary when you're talking about a business with such a relatively small market. Not that many people need to have music recorded when compared to say...people who need food or cars or whatever the hell else. Covering rent/breaking even monthly is absolutely possible out here, and some folks even make a decent chunk of change somehow, but it's still scary to think that I would drop my (and 4 other peoples') life savings with hopes of just being able to continue to operate every month and maybe feed myself along the way.

Also, every single day of my life, I beat around the idea of going on tour again for a little while. However, if I'm trying to run a fully-fledged studio in New York, that really just isn't a possibility at all, and it's something I'd like to keep open as an option. The travel, the different music every night, it's a good thing for my head. I love touring. Always have, always will. And it's been a good year and change since I've done it, after spending nearly 4 years straight on the road.

IS THERE NO HAPPY MEDIUM? Sure there is...I think.

What if my monthly overhead was simply gas and insurance for a van and trailer?

So what's inside this van and trailer? A completely mobile, modular system consiting of 10 roadcases...full of 32 i/o Pro Tools HD, a microphone collection that shakes it's own stick, top-notch mic pres, compressors, equalizers, digital effects, 90% pre-wired and ready to "assemble" patchbays, 40 or so portable/non-permanent absorption panels, bass traps, and gobos, and a desirable 24 channel analog desk (SSL AWS900, Wunderbar, 8036) that can all be unloaded and completely wired in a matter of hours. Theoretically, this "control room" could take up just one small corner of a small to medium sized space. I've gone over the ergonomics of the whole thing a million times before in my head, on paper, on the computer, whatever.

I act as a scout with the band I'm working with to find/secure/rent a short term space like I mentioned earlier. VFW halls, Churches, Knights Of Columbus basements, the artist's house or rehearsal space, anywhere that would have us for a reasonable (or if we've got a decent budget, a not-so-reasonable) fee. My assistant carts in the cases and wires the bays while I position the acoustic treatments about, and the magic starts almost immediately.

What if everything in the truck was rentable at a day rate that's cheaper than getting a few top-notch pieces from DreamHire, and you didn't have to mortgage your house for the security fee? What if it came with an engineer AND an assistant? What if it could travel anywhere in the continental USA with a slice of the travel expenses built into the cost of the job? How about locally renting out specific racks of mic pres or compressors or DAW gear at a package price on weeks where I've got off? What about setting up shop in my apartment for a few days for a mix project to bring in some extra scratch? What do you think about also marketing the whole deal to freelance producers and engineers who might want to do the same kind of non-traditional location recording for a discounted rate? Or taking on the recording of live shows? Totally open ended, here...

Pretty much the only thing that I could not immediately provide in the truck is a work space...but I'm in the camp that EVERYWHERE in the country, there is an affordable place we can rent for a couple of weeks to a couple of months at a FAIR rate, managing to keep the whole ordeal cheaper than going into a regular recording studio.

Would there be a large enough demand for this kind of product on a national scale for me to persue this? Am I the only engineer in the country that wants to SPECIFICALLY make records in this fashion? Will the bands come along for the ride? Is the fact that I'm asking this many questions about it a sign that I should walk away from the very idea?

If enough people tell me I'm not crazy....

Cheers,
Sean Eldon Qualls

[audiothings]

hey seaneldon

i think thats a great idea, and i've sort of been thinking along the same lines, only on a smaller scale for acoustic gigs...

we are no doubt acquainted with the advantages of a smoothly functioning "regular" studio... basically fewer variables... proven sounds, temperature and ventilation control, no intrusive or bitchy neighbors, (non portable) backline gear and instruments available easily (i s'pose you don't plan to put your grand piano, selection of 4 x 12 cabs and half a dozen tube amps, choice of guitars etc. in your truck), no unexpected noises (rain?airplane?)... I'm sure we agree that the traditional studio does have its advantages that a setup like this cannot really compete with, (if thats what is needed)...

On the other end of the scene, a private gear collection can be afforded by any band that is serious about its music. If they own their recording gear (as many do), they have the flexibility of working when they want, with whomsoever they want (wanna fly in a guest artiste in three weeks? not feeling up to tracking today? want to spread recording an album over 12 weeks, tracking twice a week, nights only? no problem its all setup in the barn ) All they need is a freelance engineer to do the serious tracking and they can handle the impromptu overdubs and and other unexpected recordings by themselves. A lot of flexibility on call...

while we can all agree that finding new recording spaces and being spontaneous and experimental with the whole process sounds damn exciting, we can neither offer the infrastructure and guarantee of a traditional studio, nor the flexibility and control that a band has when it owns its recording gear.

A location recording van/truck also makes immediate sense, as they usually record events within a definite time and requirement bracket... and are not expected to provide hospitality, comfort, counseling, humor, instruments, coffee etc... show up at the stipulated time, setup, capture the event and get the **** out...


here are some criterion the band must satisfy to work with you:

*1 they must be willing to finish the bulk of their work in one stretch, i'm sure you don't want to drive hundreds of miles and setup the whole shebang for a vocal overdub...

*2 they must NOT want grand pianos and B3 organs and a huge selection of backline gear to experiment with...

*3 they must resign to the trade off with regard to environmental and other variables versus the creative possibilities afforded by an experimental recording space

*4 they must trust YOU and your work enough to pay you some serious money (i assume you're looking for serious money, not $20/hr) - once again, we all know that its getting easier to hire well equipped studios now, for cheaper than ever before...


As you can see, i have no solutions here... just some random thoughts that crossed my mind when i was considering the same thing...

All the best and let us know how it goes...

respect,

[RedEar]

Funny, I have had a very similar idea for about the same amount of time. Perhaps this is a new market trend?
The key is if the market will want what we want to supply. The Business plan I am writing up curently reflects the need to be flexible and follow what the market needs. As Modular as posible and able to adjust quickly. That is my hope anyway.
Will it work? We may have to try it to see, but it could.

[cajonezzz]

sounds great in theory dosen't it?

make a biz plan. identify your markets. run the numbers.

I think the recurring theme you'll gather here is that it's NOT the gear, it's your resume. Having a truck, gear, or for that matter having a standalone facility is no guarantee of work. It's a referral biz, with your reputation being built on every gig you do.

this of course could be a different discussion if we were talking about a purpose built rig for broadcast or other uses. I'm a little out of my depth there, and don't really know what the market is.
But assuming your talking about serving Muso's/ producers etc as a recording option, I think my take is pretty on, as I'm one of those guys that would hire your kinda set up from time to time.

I think the only reason I'd even consider a mobile setup like you describe would be if my primary market was live concerts/events, and my secondary market being the occasional remote "studio" album that could come out of those relationships.

the idea that you can travel around the country, into markets ( scenes ) that you have NO toehold in as a AE/producer/whatever and expect to generate biz IMO is not realistic. ( plz note, i have no idea of your track record or connections so take that with a grain of salt)

I started a biz like you describe, a few years ago with a partner ( threads here) bobtail, mobile rig... I brought the connections, and went out and sold the gigs, did the production management ( and mixing after the fact ). Our intentions were similar, and we had some nice gigs under our belt. We did 3 records in homes ( two were do to Steinway's that the artist owned...jazz albums) and one that we "moved on site" for ( church ) It was TOUGH. but yes, fun and doable. I quickly recognized that budget ( from a producers pov) was MUCH better spent hiring a kik ass established room in the area, getting the basics--- then moving on to our home tracking rooms to finish ( we're talking 12-30k records all in here) My partner passed a couple years ago and his gear was sold to cover his wife and fam, but i think it would have been a productive venture. It's KEY to have the biz wrangler. It will NOT come to you based on your gear. ( maybe the first few, but it's your rep and body of work that will grow your biz)

I think, if your motivated, you don't need to invest anything past a home rig ( mix rig ) Perhaps built around a PT HD system-- or whatever. Then perhaps a mobile recording rig ala HDR's and good pre's and a killer split. Go do the live gigs... then establish relationships from there. I know this works as I'm watching a young guy in town do it right now.

otherwise rent. Or hire the big guns when you have a budget.

[seaneldon]

Thanks, all...

Regarding gear vs. resume...I'm in total agreement with you, Craig. A fellow New Yorker recently gave me my new mantra: "It's not the wand, it's the wizard."

I do believe I've got enough under my belt to warrant someone actually hiring my services for the records I've done up to now. No tremendous list of major label credits, but a pretty good deal experience, know-how, etc. Close to a couple hundred jobs in the last five years. Lots of full length albums. Quite a few of them made in the "weird-on-location" fashion. The work seemed to dry up a bit last year, but I've been doing quite well for myself lately as a freelancer. But not in NY. Everywhere else. I also have the feeling that if I just moved somewhere else, the work would eventually dry up there and I'd be in the same situation. I need to be on the move constantly, or at least of the OPTION to be on the move constantly.

Also, I was never just a NY guy. I always traveled around. I made records for bands WHILE I was on tour (including my own band), and always did the country-wide freelance thing even when I was staff at studios in NY. I just got back from doing a record in Canada, another in Boston, another in DC. I've done a bunch of work in California, Texas, whatever. I'm just thinking it might be time to bring my own kit-n-kaboodle wherever I go.

I also imagine that the rental stuff by itself would be rather lucrative if I needed it to be. And this is where the more expensive equipment will come in handy. If some band on Long Island already has the Pro Tools LE setup with no real mic pres, wouldn't they be interested in renting a case of 24 channels of the best stuff available for the price of getting one channel for a week from a place like Dreamhire? Wouldn't a lot of people be interested in renting a small SSL for a week to mix a record, and have commissioning and a couple hours of training built into the price?

I think with a business like this, it'll be more about the sales pitch than anything else. Like I said, I've got some cool, excellent sounding credits to my name, but I'm not always gonna be part of the deal. I might drive the rig out to LA for a one or two week stretch for some other recordist or production team to use it. Even if I'm not physically working the job, I could still get somewhat-handsomely paid for it.

[Jim vanBergen]

Sean, it sounds great. Like an east coast "Studio Without Walls"-- that's Nathaniel Kunkler's gig, right?

The pluses are super-cool. Here are my devil's advocate thoughts:

STORAGE. not only do you need a trailer that is secure, you have to house it somewhere that the gear won't be subject to extreme temperatures during January bilzzard season, or 100degrees in July! Do you travel south for the winter, or get an industrial parking solution? When my business partner and I bought our truck, our base cost for operations (everything was paid for) was $35k for rent, utilities (I think we paid under $100/month for water, electricity, HVAC, and a share of a pneumatic air compressor), alarm company, and the rest was insurance. Our cell phones, business cards, etc were all absorbed and shared directly without any maor issues. Buying new gear & repairs came from need/want and was done only when we had completed our monthly cycle and were sufficiently in the black.

How big would the trailer be? You could just have industrial storage somewhere and pay a trucking company to move the gear form place to place. Do you already own the gear? If you keep it in a trailer it had better have some kind of serious security.

I love the idea, but it's still hard to do. These days, I work with artists/groups and do location work and studio work at a few select places. It's TOTALLY about the wizard, IMO. But how do you compete with the places where you can work for as little as a couple hundred bucks a day, or the better studios at a competitive price? If you own the gear already, you have little to lose, and much to gain. If you're looking to spend money to acquire the gear, your business plan had better be solid and I hope you have three months of bookings before you spend a dime!

Lastly, what's your business plan for dark times? My partner and I did not plan for 9/11, which really caused serious issues in our world, while Steve Remote and other bigger, and smarter remote companies pushed forward, we closed our doors after our biggest clients pulled or cancelled our deals from 9/11 fallout, and we decided that several great years of living 'in the black' was a better note to close on than killing our savings and struggling for a long time to find almost entirely new clientele.

I have no doubt that you'll do better with your business than we did, and he and I are doing well individually, but not in the same way, and not doing the same (size or type) gigs we were before. (Sigh.) If you're doing what you love, does it matter?

Jim

[treymonfauntre]

personally i wouldn't even tour with a van/trailer these days. more and more of them end up getting stolen and just the cost of the vehicle would kill me.. i'd hate to lose my recording gear at the same time.

[seaneldon]

The van would be a 15 passenger that I would turn into a "hotel room", as I did with my previous tour vans. Leave one bench seat, pull out the others and replace them with a loft-style bed and a TV. I can live in these vans for months at a time. My assistant/second driver was in the band with me and is used to this style of living and loves it as much as I do. $5 Rest stop showers, motherfather (some nice truckers have let us use their card for free bathing, too)! Ford E350s run for 250k-300k miles before the transmission falls out, and if you design the interior the right way they can be more homely than some Brooklyn studio apartments. We've sold the van, so this would be part of the "we need to buy this" fund. We'd go used, something with 50,000-70,000 miles. They go for real cheap if you know where to look. And we do.

Trailer is 6x14 and has an additional side door and ramp. We own this already. We could easily fit 10 ATA cases in here along with two dollies/handtrucks as well as luggage for longer trips.

I have taken into account the obvious storage/security issues with having $250k worth of equipment in a trailer. We would rent private garage space in NY and do the equipment insurance thing. And regarding vans/trailers being outright stolen, I did 800 or so tour dates, lots of them in some of the "most dangerous" cities in the world, and we never lost so much as a guitar tuner. Knock on wood, of course.

Regarding how we'd compete with other recording studios, cheap and not-so-cheap, our rates would probably fall into the $400-600/day range not including cross country travel, depending on how many days we book. That's with an excellent 24 channel desk (or maybe even rackmount the ENTIRE studio and go Tonelux for the mixer), 24 channels of outboard mic pres, 16 channels of outboard EQ, 24 channels of dynamics, 50 microphones, and acoustic treatments.

In the past, I've gotten short-term spaces (1 week-1 month) for $1000-1500. Find a loft/warehouse space that's available for lease by owner, explain what you want to do, and give them a couple hundred bucks more than they would get for a long term lease. No alterations are made to the space and it goes right back up for rent as soon as we leave. VFW or Knights Of Columbus halls that host local live music ANYWAY can be had for just as cheap, and could always use the extra scratch for a recital room/auditorium that they use once a month. We could make a full length record for $7k over the course of 2 weeks, theoretically. Compare that to $700-1000/day studios that are similarly equipped and the artist is technically saving $3k. And that's on the low end of the scale as far as budgets I typically work with. If the artist's got a little more money, the savings are even deeper. A $25,000 studio album becomes a $15,000 location album. A $40,000 studio album becomes a $20,000 location album. With those kinds of budgets, I don't really care about making the artist pay for our transportation.

I am indeed aware of some obvious advantages of recording in a regular studio (great HVAC, complete isolation, etc.), but the completely modular/mobile/less expensive/open-ended approach of this idea could very well balance the scales, as far as I'm concerned.

I realize that it's a pretty big risk...but the bigger the risk, the larger the return.

[SixAndChange]

Originally Posted by seaneldon

The van would be a 15 passenger that I would turn into a "hotel room", as I did with my previous tour vans. Leave one bench seat, pull out the others and replace them with a loft-style bed and a TV. I can live in these vans for months at a time. My assistant/second driver was in the band with me and is used to this style of living and loves it as much as I do. $5 Rest stop showers, motherfather (some nice truckers have let us use their card for free bathing, too)! Ford E350s run for 250k-300k miles before the transmission falls out, and if you design the interior the right way they can be more homely than some Brooklyn studio apartments. We've sold the van, so this would be part of the "we need to buy this" fund. We'd go used, something with 50,000-70,000 miles. They go for real cheap if you know where to look. And we do.

Trailer is 6x14 and has an additional side door and ramp. We own this already. We could easily fit 10 ATA cases in here along with two dollies/handtrucks as well as luggage for longer trips.

I have taken into account the obvious storage/security issues with having $250k worth of equipment in a trailer. We would rent private garage space in NY and do the equipment insurance thing. And regarding vans/trailers being outright stolen, I did 800 or so tour dates, lots of them in some of the "most dangerous" cities in the world, and we never lost so much as a guitar tuner. Knock on wood, of course.

Regarding how we'd compete with other recording studios, cheap and not-so-cheap, our rates would probably fall into the $400-600/day range not including cross country travel, depending on how many days we book. That's with an excellent 24 channel desk (or maybe even rackmount the ENTIRE studio and go Tonelux for the mixer), 24 channels of outboard mic pres, 16 channels of outboard EQ, 24 channels of dynamics, 50 microphones, and acoustic treatments.

In the past, I've gotten short-term spaces (1 week-1 month) for $1000-1500. Find a loft/warehouse space that's available for lease by owner, explain what you want to do, and give them a couple hundred bucks more than they would get for a long term lease. No alterations are made to the space and it goes right back up for rent as soon as we leave. VFW or Knights Of Columbus halls that host local live music ANYWAY can be had for just as cheap, and could always use the extra scratch for a recital room/auditorium that they use once a month. We could make a full length record for $7k over the course of 2 weeks, theoretically. Compare that to $700-1000/day studios that are similarly equipped and the artist is technically saving $3k. And that's on the low end of the scale as far as budgets I typically work with. If the artist's got a little more money, the savings are even deeper. A $25,000 studio album becomes a $15,000 location album. A $40,000 studio album becomes a $20,000 location album. With those kinds of budgets, I don't really care about making the artist pay for our transportation.

I am indeed aware of some obvious advantages of recording in a regular studio (great HVAC, complete isolation, etc.), but the completely modular/mobile/less expensive/open-ended approach of this idea could very well balance the scales, as far as I'm concerned.

I realize that it's a pretty big risk...but the bigger the risk, the larger the return.

I think it sounds great. And provided you can ensure at LEAST breaking even, you will never regret the experience and knowledge you learned along the way. Im all about big risk/big mistake/ big payoff learning. I even started a smaller version of what you are talking about. Me a some others bought an old ambulance and started to gut it out and price out our equip. Unfortunately a problem with one of the other crucial member of the plan resulted in us selling the ambulance and doing broadway shows haha.

Anyhow, yeah I'm a supporter. And if'n any chance you need that "assistant" any time soon I'll be a PM away.

[cajonezzz]

It does sound great-

I'm just wondering how you find your clients, and how, with that investment- you can be profitable at 4-600 a day????

How many days a month do you need to book to be in the black after expenses/taxs etc.?

I'd love to hear what your tack would be for advertising/biz wrangling.

I'd be glad to constructively prick some holes in your biz plan if you can give me a starting point.

I'll give you my scenario: I've got an upcoming project with a budget of 15k "all in" for a full length 12 tunes, primarily band live rhythm tracks 4 piece - 4 days, 6 days of vox/odubs, then mix ( whatever that takes )

Why should I use your services? ( sell me )


cz

[seaneldon]

i'll give you the whole sales pitch when i'm not about to run out of town for a few days. here's some REALLY basic number crunching:

we'll say the break-even point is around $7500 in business a month. and it is. maybe a bit higher, but $7500 is the number that keeps coming up in slightly-more-than-basic calculations. not just recording. that's with local rentals, home mixes i do for severely broke clients/friends, etc. it breaks down to:

- $400 a month in rentals (working mainly in package deals. vocal mic package with 5 high end tube mics is $150 for 2 days, etc.)
- $750 a month in mixes i do at home (acoustics, console, dynamics, effects come up to my apartment for $250 a day)
- 14 days of van business at the $500/day average.

would come out to $8150 in an average month. basically one full length album on a modest budget, 2-3 days of equipment rentals, and 3 home mix days. based on my experience with simply freelancing, this is an easy goal for me to hit.

a typical slow month could be:

- no rentals
- $500 in home mixes
- 10 days at $450-$500

however, there will also be the months where i get a record with a good budget, plus i rent out the truck to a freelancer, whatever. that could look like this:

- no rentals. no free days to rent gear (one can only hope).
- $750 in home mixes
- 2 week album recording at $600 a day
- 1 week of renting entire rig to freelancer at $400 a day plus a personal fee for wiring the entire thing and teching when needed. aka: PAID VACATION

that's a $12,000+ month. definitely won't be close to an "every month" thing. at least not in the beginning. but hey, maybe it could be...

then there could be one month a year where i hit the motherload and get a $40k budget with 2 months to work (i've pulled it off a few times before), in which case i could theoretically coast for a few months or cover my ass for the "dark times". or i could snag a "producer" job and get points on top of the truck fee. things like that...

as far as craig's "example album"...

4 days rhythm tracking + 6 days overdubs + 5 days mixing...maybe 6 days mixing. we'll call it 5 and say that's 15 days total. van gets 13 miles a gallon with the trailer attached, and has a 30 gallon tank. roughly $700 in gas to get to california from NY. maybe i'd call it $8,000 even (if i was really in "grind mode", or liked you and your band, of course. hah.) for my services, we could find a space to do the record for around $1500-$2k, and you'd be $5,000 under budget. and your record would sound excellent. if you weren't a gearslut who has been so kind as to repeatedly respond to my queries, i'd probably try to book the gig to get $9k for the business, plus gas, plus the $2k for the space. you'd still be $3,000 under budget. and after travel time, i'd still have 9 days left in the month for home mixes, rentals, smaller jobs...

advertising budget is more than modest and is built into the initial investment. i'm an experienced web designer, so who better than me to put together the website, which could very well be a big source of sales, and it'd be free (+ domain and hosting). advertising on music/recording/whatever websites, radio spots, latenight cable tv spots, typical word of mouth would probably be my initial paid advertising plan. i'd try and land a few blurbs or even short interviews in trade magazines for the extra publicity. plus a mandatory blanket email to everyone i've ever worked with explaining my new venture. craigslist is a crapshoot but it's worked quite well in the past, and it's free. not to be cocky, but i've got a certain way of selling myself or whatever i'm doing to where people definitely hear about it, even if they don't want to. the initial buzz on this forum alone (affordable boutique recording studio with all the trimmings that will come to your friggen house!) would probably get me some work. i've also ALWAYS got prospective bands (5-10) on the pipeline who could very well be interested in this little business.

i'll try and give some more details as to my real "plan" when i've got more time.

[Barnabas]

I've been doing something like that for many years, but not on the scale that you are planning.

The biggest problem is noise. Most of the buildings you mention can be very noisy. Air conditioner noise can be ignored during a live performance, but can’t be tolerated during a recording. I’ve had musicians threaten to quit because we had the air conditioning turned off.

Several times I have had unexpected lawn mowing crews take valuable time out of the middle of recording sessions.

Another time, everything was set up to record in a church on a Saturday morning, and then the power company showed up to replace the power poles outside. We were not going to loose power, but the noise was bad enough to send everyone home without any recording.

Activities in other parts of the building, even doors opening and closing, can be tough on a recording.

Bad fluorescent lights, even in another part of the building, can add noise to the recording.

Another problem in the venues you mentioned is hauling gear up and down stairs. For that reason I keep everything in cases that can be carried by hand.

[Barnabas]

Another time we were recording in the fellowship hall under the sanctuary in a church. It turned out that the church organist came in on Saturdays at 1PM to practice for Sunday. We got to listen to the organ for an hour since he had precedence over us.

In a location that you don't have acoustic control over, you may hear lots of noises that others might have come to ignore. Be sure to ask what other activities might be going on inside and outside the building at the same time you will be there.

[Larrysings]

Originally Posted by Barnabas

Another time we were recording in the fellowship hall under the sanctuary in a church. It turned out that the church organist came in on Saturdays at 1PM to practice for Sunday. We got to listen to the organ for an hour since he had precedence over us.

In a location that you don't have acoustic control over, you may hear lots of noises that others might have come to ignore. Be sure to ask what other activities might be going on inside and outside the building at the same time you will be there.

Sean,
Considering the fact that I know you very well, my first response would be stay the hell out of the studio business for business purposes only. Its a declining industry as we knew it, and as you mentioned with the short end mbox economies of scale out weighing guys like most of us here who have painted themselves in a corner with expensive leases and gear payments. This unfortunately is the "new" pragmatic me talking here. That said I also know you as a very intelligent resourceful guy who values his existence in music as a lifestyle and not just a business. So I say go for it when you are young. At worst if the sh*t fails at least you tried, sell the gear pay the debt and try something else. I would talk to Steve before anything else because he is the Grand Wizard (no negative pun intended here) of this stuff. Another option which you are great at is the whole freelance deal, maybe you and Vezza could just be a freelance team and ease into it without the initial capital outlay. Are you still thinking of running it as you mentioned to me in the past? I just think that in this economic climate 10g's is a lot to recoup every month. But its possible and sounds like a lot of fun in the least so good luck. Remember Deepwave is always here if you need "isolation" hopefully without the flashbacks of falling walls and trap doors.


Larry

[mobilestudio]

Hey Sean, I thought you may be interested in my Mobile Studio For Sale. Check it out at www.mobilestudioforsale.com or email me directly at kevincody@comcast.net Let me know what you think.

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by mobilestudio

Hey Sean, I thought you may be interested in my Mobile Studio For Sale. Check it out at www.mobilestudioforsale.com or email me directly at kevincody@comcast.net Let me know what you think.

Do you think $200K plus $50K (or so) in leases is enough bread for that mobile?

[RedEar]

Originally Posted by Remoteness

Do you think $200K plus $50K (or so) in leases is enough bread for that mobile?

Should I call a bank and get a loan here?

That thing looks sweet.

[Remoteness]

For $250K (or so) you can build an awesome rig with all the features you would expect in a mobile recording vehicle.

[Thebassist]

Steve. Just checked out your page.

Man, I thought I had a problem...

All hail the G.A.S. king.