How many High End studio owners live the High End life?

[octatonic]

What exactly is the high life?

I'm pretty happy with my lot- I work in audio fulltime, travel a lot, own a few houses, have some nice cars.
Is this the high life? Probably not.
Gene Simmons has a much bigger house than me.

I am happy? Hell yeah.
Could I sell up, buy a Lexus with all the bling, get some coked up 'friends' around me and start doing the party scene again. But I wont.
Today I signed up to be volunteer fireman, which is pretty exciting.

I'd rather do that than to live the 'high life'- whatever that is.

My big daily high is playing with my dog. She rocks.

[The Byre]

What a brilliant thread!

The excellent posting made by Mark is a must read for anyone owning a studio and paying taxes - and not just in the US. I have a studio in Scotland and this is a relocation of a business that we used to run in Germany. When the time came to re-think our business, the German government closed all kinds of tax schemes including the ability to write-off losses from one year to the next. This meant that we either had to lease the new equipment required to upgrade, which would have added to our costs, even if we had leased from ourselves, or we had to move. We moved.

In Europe, we have absurd levels of purchase tax (known in the UK as Value Added Tax or VAT) that range from 15% to 25%, depending on the country. By being a registered company, the studio owner can save that massive burden right from the start. For example, we saved $48k VAT on the building alone! He or she can also have his holding company in a different counrty and pay that holding company for various services provided and have pay-cheques issued in the country with the lowest rates of pay.

Getting the structure of your company right is one of the most important tasks you can do.

[Kenny Gioia]

Great thread.

Great tax advice too. Unfortunately I do make my money in the music business so I write it off the old fashioned way.

Back to the topic:

The problem with being a studio owner is the belief that your studio is the asset.

It's not. It's all easily duplicated by someone else cheaper. You can't win. Your prices will go down as you need to buy more to compete. Capitalism.

Concentrate on what nobody else has. YOU!!!!

Nobody can replace me. At least not identically.

I'm not hired for what gear I own. (I own quite little compared to how much money I make)

I constantly have studio owners bitching to me about how much money I'm making vs. how much money that they're being paid by me. And it's true.

But you know what? I got the gig. Not you.

Go get the gig and keep all the money for yourself. But you can't. Can you?

If you could, you wouldn't need people like me. Would you?

You prefer to hide behind a wall of gear and complain that the world is making crappy records with Pro Tools.

Well they are. But…

I don't know. Got lost in a rant there. Sorry.

Highly successful people are not paid for what they own that other people use. (gear etc)

Blockbuster Video didn't make billions because of technology used to make DVDs.

Donald Trump is not rich because he owns the Trump Towers. He's rich because he can knock them down and start again somewhere else.

They get paid for WHO they are and what THEY create. Not how LONG they spend creating it and on WHAT gear they used.

If you really want to make a fortune in this business, build the smallest studio that can accomplish your goals and make sure that your clients are hiring YOU.

NOT THE GEAR!!!!!!!!

If you have an SSL G+ and the guy down the street has an SSL G+ than you need to fight for the same clients.

The guy down the block does not now, nor will ever have another Kenny Gioia to compete with me.

Thank God for that!!!!!!!!

[cdog]

Originally Posted by not_so_new

Okay so this is mostly a rhetorical question (I know most of the answers) but… has anyone ever stopped to think of WHY studios don't make money??

I know a few guys how have a passion for old cars (I am one of them), one guy is working on my 66 Mustang right now . He owns shop space, he has employee payroll, lots of money invested in equipment, a limited client base but he still makes money doing what he loves.

Why should recording be any different?

You can't get laid in the back of a CD tray.

[dokushoka]

A few things I have learned:

*The studio business is a REAL ESTATE venture. If you BUY a good building in a location that is likely to appreciate, then its worthwhile. If you're leasing a space with high overhead and don't already have a strong client base, well then, I say "good luck." The chances of you building up a client base that is strong enough to offset the loses you took on your lease by the time its up, are, shall we say "slim to none."

*Don't overinvest. I see so many rooms around me where the owners dumped money into SSLs, crazy amount of vintage mics, or whatever. Those things are nice, but are you buliding an SSL in a city that has the client base to support it? If you're in the heart of LA, having an SSL can be justified. But Sacramento? Maybe not.

*Build to your client's needs. What matters more, Persian rugs, or lots of isolation so a live band can track easily? Musicians are artists. They just want to be able to freely create. They really don't care that much about the paintings you have hanging on the walls.

*Be actively involved in a scene. If you're not at a club at least once a week, good luck. Its not a "if you build it, they will come scenario." You gotta shake some hands, and show people that hopefully, you're a good guy that they can trust.

*Invest in PEOPLE before GEAR. The reality of our times is that for a very small outlay, you can get gear that is perfectly adequate for making professional records *IF* you have people who know how to use it. There is a great quote from George Massenburg where he says that if you have that little voice in the back of your head saying that "this really doesn't sound very good," then your work probably doesn't sound that good. Ask yourself, honestly, how confident you are in your work. If you have that little voice, either drop your prices while you earn your stripes, or, get someone who DOES make stuff sound good and who can do it quickly and efficiently.

*The studio industry is also a service industry. You're a kind of bizarre hotel. If you treat it as such, musicians will probably be pretty happy with their stay.

*If you can't get clients as a freelancer, you probably shouldn't be the engineer at your studio. That might hurt some egos, but when you think about it, its really true. Musicians want a PERSON they can trust. The studio is totally ancillary to that.

*If you're anywhere over an hour outside of a major metropolitan area, make sure you have lodging. Nothing makes spending a long day in the studio worse, for a musician, than spending long hours in traffic.

*Make a business plan, and stick to it. Endlessly buying gear with the hope that its going to bring in more clients is the biggest mistake anyone can make. Making records that people actually listen to is the single best thing you can do to bring in more business. Shocking, yes, but true.

[edham]

I am quoting this whole damn post because its a gem. True True True.
The only thing I'd add is that the mixes that leave your studio are your best advertising. And if they suck your finished.
Repeat after me - Polishing turds = cash flow.
the better your are at polishing turds (ie. bad vocals,bad guitar sounds etc) the better your odds of making a living in your studio.

Originally Posted by dokushoka

A few things I have learned:

*The studio business is a REAL ESTATE venture. If you BUY a good building in a location that is likely to appreciate, then its worthwhile. If you're leasing a space with high overhead and don't already have a strong client base, well then, I say "good luck." The chances of you building up a client base that is strong enough to offset the loses you took on your lease by the time its up, are, shall we say "slim to none."

*Don't overinvest. I see so many rooms around me where the owners dumped money into SSLs, crazy amount of vintage mics, or whatever. Those things are nice, but are you buliding an SSL in a city that has the client base to support it? If you're in the heart of LA, having an SSL can be justified. But Sacramento? Maybe not.

*Build to your client's needs. What matters more, Persian rugs, or lots of isolation so a live band can track easily? Musicians are artists. They just want to be able to freely create. They really don't care that much about the paintings you have hanging on the walls.

*Be actively involved in a scene. If you're not at a club at least once a week, good luck. Its not a "if you build it, they will come scenario." You gotta shake some hands, and show people that hopefully, you're a good guy that they can trust.

*Invest in PEOPLE before GEAR. The reality of our times is that for a very small outlay, you can get gear that is perfectly adequate for making professional records *IF* you have people who know how to use it. There is a great quote from George Massenburg where he says that if you have that little voice in the back of your head saying that "this really doesn't sound very good," then your work probably doesn't sound that good. Ask yourself, honestly, how confident you are in your work. If you have that little voice, either drop your prices while you earn your stripes, or, get someone who DOES make stuff sound good and who can do it quickly and efficiently.

*The studio industry is also a service industry. You're a kind of bizarre hotel. If you treat it as such, musicians will probably be pretty happy with their stay.

*If you can't get clients as a freelancer, you probably shouldn't be the engineer at your studio. That might hurt some egos, but when you think about it, its really true. Musicians want a PERSON they can trust. The studio is totally ancillary to that.

*If you're anywhere over an hour outside of a major metropolitan area, make sure you have lodging. Nothing makes spending a long day in the studio worse, for a musician, than spending long hours in traffic.

*Make a business plan, and stick to it. Endlessly buying gear with the hope that its going to bring in more clients is the biggest mistake anyone can make. Making records that people actually listen to is the single best thing you can do to bring in more business. Shocking, yes, but true.

[peritus]

Originally Posted by cdog

You can't get laid in the back of a CD tray.

Yeah, but who gets laid back enough to do that without some music on the radio?

[Thebassist]

As they say, if you're in this for the money or the girls, you're in the wrong industry.

So many rooms don't actually turn a profit... for years!

The owner of one of the biggest rooms I work in just took a second gig. And he has major corporate accounts with BIG names year round. Just not as many as there used to be...

We all know this song. And the refrain is a sad sad sad one.

[Dirty Gear Pimp]

but i thought this business is money for nothin....and chics for free....

i hope i wasnt wrong....

[Jeff16years]

all this talk about overhead is making me think of a pair of 414's



and all this talk about High Life is making me want a beer (but not a Miller)