Ownership Of Multi-Trax - PROBLEM

[Karmageddon]

So here's the situation.

I am a freelance engineer. Been working for 10+ years, recording, producing, mixing & mastering local artists, many of whom I have a lasting relationship (5+ years or more) and ALL based of trust. I get paid, but I also make deals to make my rates cheaper in return for producing the record, or executive producing the record.

So I made a new client last year after I was hired by some small rinky-dink very amateur studio. We recorded the drums & bass and I totally hit it off with the band. I ended up quitting the job and studio because I didn't like how I was being treated. I work on respect and trust and the love the arts. I take my time and I am very upfront and honest about what I think works or not (technically, musically or even emotionally) and I did not get paid on time. I went thru a series of paying for my own transportation (1+ hr drive both ways) and getting picked up from transit where I would be sitting there waiting for up to an hour at a time before I could even arrive. So I left the "studio".

The band apparently didn't like the guy either and called me up saying they liked my approach, my sounds, my general enthusiasm I have towards what I work on, and my decent rates. They said they were on a budget. I said ok we will make a deal.

Here's the deal:
I said I would help them out anyway I could. This included lowering my rates to half of what I normally charge, rental of gear, supplying of ALL recording devices, giving production ideas and tips, leaning them in certain directions, etc...but they would have to let me "produce" with the bandleader and let me be the "technical director" involving all aspects of the engineering.

Now my regular rates are usually $20/hr for recording and $25/hr for mixing.
I said we could do phase two of recording for a set price based off how many hours I thought it would take to get all the guitars recorded. well....
the band ends up bringing in another musician to record more parts and thus changing the dynamics of the songs greatly. the musician, while being very gifted, is all over the map. didn't know the songs, didn't take the time to know the songs and just noodled. being that the lead singer and bandleader is financing the project on behalf of the band, he is "producing" as well.

So I look to him for approval. he nods after every take and says keep it, we'll edit it later. Well sure enough I get the task of editing well over 150 guitar takes over 8 songs. Of course, again, I have rented gear, borrowed gear, made time in my schedule to assist in this.

(the reason being is we have mutual friends, they have some "eyes" on them and great potential for the market they are trying to crack. some big producers and mixing guys I know are also interested in the project, so a bit of my reputation is on the line...)

Now most people would have given up by now, but because I was a believer (aren't we all?) I continued but warned the band saying this is becoming Chinese Democracytutt

We took some time off, came back and recorded some more. turned out better, not much - but a bit. I said, Ok I will go home and edit - BUT - it is going to take some time. Well, I did. I worked and worked. because of my cut rates, I said I'd edit for free and record at the equivilant of $10/hr to match the quote I gave them earlier. I was fine with it. and we made it work.

I made a ROUGH MIX disc. no eq, no compression, NOTHING. on 3 of the songs to show the BEST edits I came up with. great tones, just bad playing. (they all had heard earlier rough mixes and loved the sounds of the beds)

Well he hears it, calls me up the next day and leaves me a nasty message stating he hates what it sounds like (even though he approved all the takes along the way....and loved the sounds we had and I told him it was unmixed.) He said he was taking the multis to some kid to work on for FREE (ouch!) and edit everything and re-record all parts himself. sure. he's the client, by all means. but then he says he is coming over in 2 days to get em and be ready. Well, when I dropped off the disc I told him i was BOOKED SOLID all week. no time. there's well over 100 GBs of data to transfer. and the worst part, is it is all over the place as I was/still working on it.

HOWEVER - he called and basically threatened me right off the bat. So instantly I go into defensive mode and move the multis off site. I contacted the backing band, and told them I was going to quit because I thought that I could not see the light at the end of the tunnel.

So I then get home from 9-5 job and theres threatening messages on my voicemail from the bandleader. Apparently I have NO production credit, never had and never will. He demanded the multis again and whined about how much money he has spent ($500 so far in this phase - but he claimes MUCH more than that...even to me, which never happened!) and he expected a finished product, even though we were NOWHERE close. and he was told that. over and over.

I reached out again to one of the other members just to end things civily and he agreed with me that the singer was acting a bit harsh and he undertsood where I was coming from and that it was disrespectful to come at me the way he did. I then get some threatening emails from the "guy" telling me all my other clients can wait, he paid for the multis he can do what ever he likes.

so basically the moral of the story is this:
I have never had this problem before.
I have "financed" many projects in the past by donated time, gear, rental of gear, etc...

but it all has been on a "handshake" agreement. And ALWAYS turned out GREAT! so now I quit this job. fair enough, I have my reasons. and good ones.

BUT I need to be re-imbursed for the fact that I am not seeing this project out as per agreed, and the "donated" time needs to be accounted for. Everyone I have spoken with on this agrees. they say I own half the rights to the recorded multi trax. The band DISAGREES and refuses to give me anything further, including the time to transfer the multis (which I would have had to charge for anyways if I didn't quit and he was going to take them elsewhere)

Now I am not trying to be a total jerk-off here. thats NOT my thing. but do the math. I was working for nothing based off the fact this project would be finished and completed by me and I would be paid for the final transfers of data and further track labelling and documentation that I do at the END of a project - as well as getting the production, mixing & engineering credit.

so now that we are NOT on that same page, what shall we do? I have until Monday or Tuesday at the latest to get this settled one way or another.

[Harvey Gerst]

Give em their stuff, thank them for their patience, then RUN, do not walk, away from them. They're what's known in the trade as "losers"; they're gonna self-destruct at some point, and you wanna be as far away from the detonation zone as possible.

Learn from it, but don't keep it going any longer. Write it off and chalk it up to experience.

[pkole]

Originally Posted by Harvey Gerst

Give em their stuff, thank them for their patience, then RUN, do not walk, away from them. They're what's known in the trade as "losers"; they're gonna self-destruct at some point, and you wanna be as far away from the detonation zone as possible.

Learn from it, but don't keep it going any longer. Write it off and chalk it up to experience.

Could not agree more.
Don't wait for things to get worse (they certainly will).
I have done the same mistake more than once to learn that if you see disrespect or no money or lack of plain logic, run as far as you can (even if this means loss of effort and money).
I hope everything works fine for you.
Cheers.

[drBill]

Originally Posted by Harvey Gerst

Give em their stuff, thank them for their patience, then RUN, do not walk, away from them. They're what's known in the trade as "losers"; they're gonna self-destruct at some point, and you wanna be as far away from the detonation zone as possible.

Learn from it, but don't keep it going any longer. Write it off and chalk it up to experience.

Agreed 1000%.

Get A W A Y from them.

You'll never see any money, you'll get tons of grief and quite possibly more threats, and, perhaps worst of all, they will slam your good name to anyonbe they can find.

Tell them to buy a HD and bring it over and they will have their sessions in 4 hours.


These kinds of deals always seem to go down this way. There is no money in bands - even if they go ballistic in their market. Take an hourly at whatever rate you like and be done with "spec" deals. In 10 years, you'll be way ahead of the game financially and emotionally.


Schedule an appointment with the "new guy" engineer for 8 months from now for a beer. He will be in a far worse situation than you are. At least you got SOME $$$. It should be a fun hang.....


PS - also, I'd tell them to COMPLETELY remove your name from any credits. Play their game against them. Tell them that if they credit you, or EVER mention that you were involved with their project, they will hear from your attorney. That should be fun.