Freelance

[ojay]

So how many of you guys are freelance engineers? How many of you work for studios?

I'm trying to find out "when is it time to go freelance?". I work for a studio at the moment, but having gone non-commercial i'm not getting to engineer that much. I have a few of options that I see:
1. Get some work on the side to do as well as my regular studio job.
2. Leave the nest and go freelance.
3. Go and work for another studio. Possibly starting as an assistant again.

What do you guys think I should do?

How do you go about becoming freelance and getting gigs? What about management?

Any info is welcome.
Cheers
Oliver Jackman
(Olly)
(Ojay)

The best time to go looking for management is just after you have worked on a hit record IMHO. Go looking anyother time - and you might just be entertaining engineer & producer managers with your tales of "not much work out there". Most have got an established roster in place and favor them for jobs untill the next big hitter comes along.

There is the old saying - "the best time to find a job is when you have a job", I say keep the regular job and do as much outside work as you can find / fit in, untill it starts to 'take over' your regular gig then perhps think of a freelance move.

I dunno, thats just a gut feeling I get from your post, of course I dont know the ins and outs of your exact situation. Where are you located? Do you have your own studio / DAW?

[thenewyear]

I work 9-5 at one of these god forsaken School of Rock type universities. I do freelance location recording (plus all the usual DAW-based-home-studio type stuff) in my own time. I do mainly classical stuff in Scotland.

This month I had 3 gigs, next month I have none (so far...).

My freelance stuff just gives me gear money & is too sporadic to pay the mortgage. However because I do the 9-5 it means I don't have to tout for work & I get most of my gigs through established clients or word of mouth.

I could not survive on my freelance stuff where I am but then again I imagine there is a lot more work in London...

Hmmm what a rambling & totally unhelpful post


___
neil.

[BevvyB]

There isn't neccesarily a lot more work in London

However, you are more likely to bump into someone who needs your services while you are here, to find yourself on Location...back in Scotland

[ojay]

Jules.
I currently live in St Albans, Herts, but cummute in to central London everyday to work for my current employer, where we have a PT setup in a small room. We still output commercial mixes etc. for the record label, it's just not that often. I don't have it too bad cos they pay for my travel expenses and pay me a wage(however small I think it is, it's still regular money), but I feel I need to be furthering my career as an engineer and doing more work. There is more to it than that, but I won't go into the reasons on this forum.

I have a modest setup at home with just a G4, Digi001, Logic and some modules and Semi-pro gear. I've done a few demos for friends, that have even got airplay in New York apparently. The setup sertainly isn't anything to shout about, but it has helped me learn PT and AutoTune(!) for work purposes.

I've been working for my current employer for 3 and 1/2 years now and with circumstances as they are, was just wondering if any of you guys could give me any advice.

Cheers
olly

[jbuntz]

If you can work out of your house assuming it is a good atmosphere, has good acoustics, your neighbors won't kill you when there's live drums and you know bands, real studios will have a hard time competing with you for small indie bands because your costs will be much lower than a studio renting a space. I had to to quit my regular job because I got so much work this way.

[juniorhifikit]

Originally posted by Jules
There is the old saying - "the best time to find a job is when you have a job", I say keep the regular job and do as much outside work as you can find / fit in, untill it starts to 'take over' your regular gig then perhps think of a freelance move.

I dunno, thats just a gut feeling I get from your post, of course I dont know the ins and outs of your exact situation. Where are you located? Do you have your own studio / DAW?

What he said.

Personally, having a nice controlroom behind my house, I don't like having strangers migrating in and out of my home - neither does my wife. My room is for me. If clients want to hang while I work, we go to the SSL hotel.

Keep your day gig, work like a maniac at night, make hits, go freelance when your freelance $ exceeds your day gig $.

[djui5]

I'm a freelancer in Phoenix Arizona (USA). This isn't exactly music central so works slow. I've done one session since I moved here in December, but I do have some coming up and one is quite important.

The mistake I think I made was going about freelancing without having a client base first. You need a client base before you go it alone. Working at a non-commercial studio probably won't help other than the fact that your in the business and around recording session. I'd say stay where your at but try to find a commercial studio that would be willing to hire you on even if you have to assist. You'll soon be engineering small projects if you play your cards right and you never know..you might be in the right place at the right time when something happens and get to engineer a big record. The problem with a private studio is the clients are there for that studio because of some personal reason and getting clients from there would violate your relationship with the engineers/owner of that facility. Not a good thing...never burn bridges. In a commercial studio it's a "free for all" so to speak and you can bring your clients to that studio and noone's feelings get hurt.....

Just my thoughts...

[juniorhifikit]

Originally posted by djui5
I'm a freelancer in Phoenix Arizona (USA). This isn't exactly music central so works slow. I've done one session since I moved here in December, but I do have some coming up and one is quite important.

The mistake I think I made was going about freelancing without having a client base first. You need a client base before you go it alone. Working at a non-commercial studio probably won't help other than the fact that your in the business and around recording session. I'd say stay where your at but try to find a commercial studio that would be willing to hire you on even if you have to assist. You'll soon be engineering small projects if you play your cards right and you never know..you might be in the right place at the right time when something happens and get to engineer a big record. The problem with a private studio is the clients are there for that studio because of some personal reason and getting clients from there would violate your relationship with the engineers/owner of that facility. Not a good thing...never burn bridges. In a commercial studio it's a "free for all" so to speak and you can bring your clients to that studio and noone's feelings get hurt.....

Just my thoughts...

That's a very good point I had forgotten about. I've often worked at friend's studios and had their clients want to jump ship and work with me. Not cool. I've had to say no in order to keep the friendship.

[ojay]

Thanks for the advice guys! Much appreciated!

I think I'll stay where I am but try and get in touch with some other studios to see if they need any help on weekends or something. I really don't mind assisting again, as it might give me a chance to learn something new from someone.

Probably shouldn't do this here but, is there anybody here I can send a CV to that needs some help on weekends?

Cheers Guys.

[Dave Martin]

Originally posted by ojay

Probably shouldn't do this here but, is there anybody here I can send a CV to that needs some help on weekends?

It might be a long commute for you...