Studio Rates

NewNo2

Hello all.

I just wanted to pose a question to the Irish music interweb at large about studio rates.

As we know, there are many people recording themselves at home with mixed results, and there are still a few top facilities that (due to their large running costs and usually top of the line equipment lists) charge a premium price for a days work.

There are also many places in between, offering usually affordable rates for 2 - 3 days work (or more if a band spreads it out)

I was wondering though, would people/musicians here pay a monthly rate for studio time if it was on offer?

For example €2,000 for a months session for an e.p / album?

Imagine it was 20 days non consecutive, so you can break it up whatever way suits your schedule (10 pre-production & 10 for tracking, editing & mixing or whatever way suited the band best).

It strikes me that this would be a more attractive way to approach a project. For a 4 piece band it's only €500 per band member.

I'd be interested to hear other peoples thoughts on this.

fitz

€2000 for 20 days work is not really a realistic estimate though.
That's €100 a day.
I wouldn't expect good results for that.
Making it non-consecutive would make it a pain for the studio to schedule other work too, so can't see how that'd benefit the studio as a product offering.

If a studio is working out a monthly rate for an act, they're more likely to figure out the number of days, multiply by the daily rate, then knock a little off the top. They're not going to slash their daily rate just to get a longer booking.

peter05

If its a case of bands or musicians not been able to afford the studios, I dont think they have much excuses with FundIT etc been pretty available.
But as Tony says it would be become much of a headache.

Also I can see the bands you are targeting maybe falling by the wayside half way through it and maybe looking for a refund for the sessions not used. Thats another headache in itself.

If you feel it would work, sure go for it.
Just remember the 2k is not yours till the session is fully signed off and delivered, so it stays in the kitty. Waiting 20 days for it to be signed off will get tiresome pretty fast.

NewNo2

fitz wrote: »

€2000 for 20 days work is not really a realistic estimate though.
That's €100 a day.

Cheap - Good - Quick = Choose 2.

I've paid €900 for 3 days recording in the past and sonically the results were not good.

You simply can't judge quality by price!

I know this type of idea can be fraught with troubles, this is why I wanted to see what way other people can take it apart... So thanks for making the point.

The reason I came to the thought though was, the engineer could get a good months work & wage (say there's a deposit paid in advance of course in an attempt to allay the fears of chasing money).

Of course you'd have to juggle projects in some cases (which happens frequently anyway).

It just seemed to me that an arrangement like this (not necessarily exactly like it, maybe less days & less cost) would work out for both parties.

Again, engineer has a guaranteed months work & wage, and the band get to work on a project from start to finish and they know their end price is pretty affordable.

peter05

Cool sure once your aware of everything.....

Doing a small business plan even just for yourself would not hurt layout everything you need to do to make it work and what scenarios will happen to make it fail.

I say it would work. Some advertisement to your target audience would not hurt.

The Master

Moved to the main forum

Better suited here

Will also allow wider discussion

mart1977

There seems to be a lack of respect or understanding about the cost of proper recording studio business models these days. €2000 per month would mean an approx annual gross of 20,000 euro if that studio had 10 band month block bookings. By the time the studio ower pays for light, heat, rates, tax, and oh... Depreciation on equipment, equipment purchasing and upgrades, equipment repair etc etc....they'd likely be better off on the dole que and have their days free!

Niall - Dahlia

NewNo2 wrote: »

The reason I came to the thought though was, the engineer could get a good months work & wage

Would he? As mart says above, once you factor in expenses and running costs, a large chunk of that 2k a month will be out the door.

A lot of bands can barely organise themselves for a weekend rehearsal, let alone a whoie month recording (sorry bands!).

Here's what will happen; a band calls, really keen on booking March. They'll come down to check the studio, discuss deposits, play their demos. Great!

A few days later you ring the singer. They're sorting out days off work. Deposit? No worries man, bass player is getting paid at the weekend, we'll have it together then.

In the meantime you've got a call from a few bands looking for a weekend, a week, maybe 10 days in March. Gotta turn them away, you're close to scoring a month's work.

The weekend comes and goes, with no sign of the band. The singer suddenly isn't answering your calls or emails. You finally get a text reply nearing the end of the month; "Yeah, sorry mate, drummer injured his arm, we can't do it". Now you've wasted 2 weeks chasing shadows, had zero income for half a month, and you've nothing on the books for March.

Just doesn't seem very flexible to me.

mart1977

I ultimately still have a job in music production and studio work as I've gained a lot of years of experience and expertise doing it. That's why people hire me. Its not because I open the door in the morning and hit record. Its the advice, the ear on the music, the suggestions, the microphone choice and placement experience, the mixing experience.... I'm fortunate in that way.

For the hundreds of graduates shipping through the massive array of music production courses at the moment I really don't know what things are going to look like for studio work or music production for new guys. The industry is flooded with graduates. Home recording is cheap. But pro recording equipment and facilities is still a really really expensive business to be in.

I just hope some respect of the skill and talent starts coming back to the music creation and to recorded music industry soon. It will be a great shame if music in 2040 is all recorded and mixed by the artist in their bedrooms. The quality simply wont be there.

I have a lot of tiling equipment at home..... and I've tried my best to lay my kitchen floor. But I got a pro tiler in to do that hall..... the hall looks amazing and now laughs at my effort in the kitchen... you can have all the cheap chinese tools in the world at home. If you don't have the skill its pointless...