Considering offering onsite recording services. Am I crazy?

[infiniteposse]

Hi all-

I'm running a small studio in Portland, OR and I'd like to add another aspect to my business. There's a lot of interesting spaces to record in here and I think that if I could make my setup more mobile, I'd have a better shot at some more gigs for bands on-site at their spaces or in some other space that they'd like to track in. As it is, my space sounds great, but it's a modest size, has low ceilings, etc... I've done a great job with the construction of it, well trapped, etc, but it's not ideal for all situations, such as larger bands who all want line of site, etc...

My rig is actually built in a fairly portable way. I use 2 Apogee Ensembles for a total of 16 ins total. I don't use a mixer at all, just dedicated mic preamps, and I set the gain at the preamp and that works perfectly and has a nice short signal path. All my preamps (8 x 500 series pres, GR MP2NV and a racked pair of UA 1108's, plus the 4 Ensemble preamps) are in a Gator rack, along with a 1/4 inch patchbay and an XLR patchbay for easy setup/patching. Right now everything's in a single Gator, but last night I imagined it might be sensible to break the setups into 2 cases - 1 Ensemble with the GR and 1108's and the 1 Ensemble and the 8 x 500 series preamps. This would let me carry less onsite if the job called for a more streamlined setup and if I needed all 16 channels, the two cases come along. Also, just less weight to carry in one go.

I track to a Macpro Quad using Logic 8.x, so I'm thinking about using a Macbook that my wife and I already own (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0Ghz/2 Gigs RAM) or perhaps upgrading to a Macbook Pro dedicated to recording for location recording. I've not used a laptop for recording with Logic 8 before, but I did an earlier record in my living room with Logic 7 on an older G4 Mac laptop (1.5 Ghz) and it did ok for tracking. I'm not sure if significant changes to the architecture of the Mac laptops has changed for the better or worse with regards to digital recording... I'd assume better, but I'd rather not assume.

Mic-wise I've got a nice, fleshed out compliment of mics, stands, cables, etc.

I guess I'm writing to see if adding this service sounds remotely sensible (ba-dum-cha) and also to see if there's any obvious holes in my idea. I'm also curious about how to negotiate compensation for bring a rig on-site - fixed charge, daily rate, etc?

I apologize for the rambling nature of the post. I think it mirrors the level of complexity involved in what you guys do for a living. Recording in a fixed space and dealing with every little thing that might arise is complex as it is, but then tossing a new environment with God-only-knows conditions, power, acoustics, etc into it is a bit of a mind-blowing proposition. But it sounds fun.

Thanks!

[NorseHorse]

If you WANT to do it, it looks like nothing is stopping you.

Google "remote recording portland" or something like that to see what others are doing. But of course, if you need to Google, I suggest you might need to spend more time on-the-whole getting an idea of what the scene is like. If you can't already name bands that are interested in working with you, then don't expect that offering "on site recording" is suddenly going to multiply your gigs. Instead, offering on-site recording as a corollary to what you already do may open one or two more doors. And don't you want to see how deep the rabbit hole goes?

My favote remote recordist in the NW: Bicycle Recordings

And don't forget to check out the stickies on this forum regarding some of the essentials/fundamentals for remote recording.

Cheerio.

Re: compensation - There are a number of threads on the topic, but in general, just ask yourself what your market is like and what you think you're worth. And if you already have studio day rates, that can help guide you.