brandondrury

wise words...But it's funny to note that wives have this incredible quality of making you think wiser or act like it...Ex: Even if she never clearly asked for it, she made me sell my motorbike...What a bunch of manipulative persons... I whish I have boobs sometimes...

Originally Posted by kakeux

wise words...But it's funny to note that wives have this incredible quality of making you think wiser or act like it...Ex: Even if she never clearly asked for it, she made me sell my motorbike...What a bunch of manipulative persons... I whish I have boobs sometimes...

Wives are funny that way, Once you get married the other half assumes that you will get killed riding the bike. You can look at it two ways. She loses her meal ticked or your family loses a husband and possibly a dad. It's a fright thing that women have. Funny animals these women are but you gotta see that in her mind, she is doing the best thing for everyone. It's a genetic mom thing.

Building from scratch is always the best way to do things. No restrictions if you have a large enough space to work with. Sometimes I really feel for these guys who try to make a bedroom or basement into a studio. Not only is it really tough to get the sound you need even in a custom built studio in its own building, the guys making up home studios have an even tougher time just making the room right so the family and neighbors are not put out. It's tough when you can't work after 8:00PM because the babies are going to bed. It's hard to balance studio time and family time.

This is a very smart decision. When I renovated my facility I wasn't even in the market to come up to the level that I did. We were doing great making demo's and low level stuff but when I bought my building I HAD to make it into a great studio. It just wasn't right not to. I've always done things backwards. I think you are right not to rush. There is a reason that the mega producers are moving into home studio's. Great tracking rooms will never go out of style but the fact that so many need to get around the fact that they don't have one will leave a mark on popular music and is already. People will even prefer the sound of the solutions because they will be familiar with them. For example single sampled drums with zero velocity changes are the rage in a lot of metal. This is dumb but true.

Originally Posted by paul999

This is a very smart decision. When I renovated my facility I wasn't even in the market to come up to the level that I did. We were doing great making demo's and low level stuff but when I bought my building I HAD to make it into a great studio. It just wasn't right not to. I've always done things backwards. I think you are right not to rush. There is a reason that the mega producers are moving into home studio's. Great tracking rooms will never go out of style but the fact that so many need to get around the fact that they don't have one will leave a mark on popular music and is already. People will even prefer the sound of the solutions because they will be familiar with them. For example single sampled drums with zero velocity changes are the rage in a lot of metal. This is dumb but true.

I know a few people who out grew their basements and relocated their studios to a building off their property. Each one failed because they could not support the studios because the costs of running the studios outweighed the client base. On the other hand I know a few guys who outgrew their basements and move into their own garages or had an out building built on their property and are very successful. The overhead is much lower. One friend just west of Chicago actually used an old barn on his property for a studio. To be successful, you have to cut your overhead as much as possible and have a client base willing to support you. Avoid paying rent to a landlord. That will kill a small studio every time. You also need to research the area you plan to open any studio in. Too many times the area is saturated or their is not enough of a client base to survive.

Each one failed because they could not support the studios because the costs of running the studios outweighed the client base.

This has always been something I've been very leery of. Luckily, not too many banks are going to shell out much cash for a recording studio "business". That in itself is good news. It means I need to earn the cash ahead of time. I don't hate that challenge.

I have a natural adherence to infinite stability. That sounds like BS, but it's pretty simple. The investment that "makes" you a loss of $10 a month is not sustainable, but the thing that makes a $1 a month can go on forever. The notion of renting is hard for me to get my head around....although there may be times when it makes sense.

I tend to get obsessive about solving my problems. I've never had to deal with the issue of people walking around upstairs sounding like WW3. With a basement studio I will have to. When I have the solution for that problem, I get dangerous. I like that.

I've accepted the fact that I'm just as much a helper-with-audio as I am an audio engineer. While the basement studio does put a strain on the engineer part, it will empower me as a helper.

Too many times the area is saturated or their is not enough of a client base to survive.

That's a cool thing about my situation. My super studio would be 50% RecordingReview stuff. In other words, tossing up 6 4x12 cabs in the live room and shooting those out for RR is just as valuable to me as booking a country band. So I'm approaching the studio with that in mind which is why it makes sense to fight through the challenges of the basement.

People will even prefer the sound of the solutions because they will be familiar with them.

That's where it gets interesting. I can't count how many good comments I've gotten from guys who heard songs done with edrums and S2.0. The drummers always feel silly playing the rubber kit, but the results speak for themselves. A 10x12 room paints us into a corner in terms of exciting drum sounds and not every project wants that. Tricky stuff, but the modern tools make this much easier.

An Axe FX, edrums, and SSD4 is a powerful combination these days in the right hands.

Brandon

@ Brandon, My rule of thumb on buying gear is if that piece of gear doesn't pay for itself with usage in less then a year, I can't justify buying it. In the recording business we just don't shell out cash for a new piece of gear. We research the pros and cons. That is one reason why pro studios don't upgrade that often. Last week I was over at a studio in Cleveland. Nice place and has been in business for over 30 years. They are still running an old mac on one end with a PC running Win 98 on the other side. If it ain't broke.... Don't fix it type thing. They haven't purchased a new piece of gear in years. Yet they are busy as hell making money.

Originally Posted by Ken J

@ Brandon, My rule of thumb on buying gear is if that piece of gear doesn't pay for itself with usage in less then a year, I can't justify buying it. In the recording business we just don't shell out cash for a new piece of gear. We research the pros and cons. That is one reason why pro studios don't upgrade that often. Last week I was over at a studio in Cleveland. Nice place and has been in business for over 30 years. They are still running an old mac on one end with a PC running Win 98 on the other side. If it ain't broke.... Don't fix it type thing. They haven't purchased a new piece of gear in years. Yet they are busy as hell making money.

I like it when people have rules that makes sense. It gives them sustainability and a sense of thought about how things will work in the future. I've always had a budget/year for music gear. This year now that I am semi-retired(whatever that means) I've cut my budget to half. Partly because I don't need as much stuff and partly because a business should always be looking to cut expenses and increase profit.

@ Paul, Me too! I'm semi retired. Semi retired means that you went into retirement, got bored waiting to die and took another job. I sold my studio for health reasons ( I got a great offer to sell too), then kicked back with the cash and got bored. So I took the teaching position at the college. I don't have to work anymore to support my family. I want to work to keep form a boring death and have extra cash for hobbies like traveling and flying. I teach 28 hours a week and have Fridays off.

Originally Posted by Ken J

@ Paul, Me too! I'm semi retired. Semi retired means that you went into retirement, got bored waiting to die and took another job. I sold my studio for health reasons ( I got a great offer to sell too), then kicked back with the cash and got bored. So I took the teaching position at the college. I don't have to work anymore to support my family. I want to work to keep form a boring death and have extra cash for hobbies like traveling and flying. I teach 28 hours a week and have Fridays off.

Ha! That is funny. I'm sorta young for full retirement(35) I had a chance to retire 5 years ago. I tried it and lasted 3 months. Not to hi jack things too far but for me retirement looks like business administration (9 hrs/week) teaching 15-20 hours a week. I've managed to book 3 months off/year and record like crazy in the studio not because I have to but because I want to. I reality I've never been busier but I seem to like it that way.LOL

@ Paul, I'm just past my mid 50s point. Retired at 56 when I sold the studio. I miss the studio a lot. I had a really nice chair. But I don't miss the stress of running a business. It's over rated.

I feel for anyone opening a new studio in a store front these days. The competition will kill you. There are so many good basement studios around and musicians doing their own tracking and mixing it isn't funny. Some of these basement guys are charging $15 to $25 per hour and in a store front the overhead alone is $15 to $25 per hour. If you get a downtown back alley hooch the overhead can be higher. If you can't keep the studio full of clients, you can't make any money.

If these basement guys can manage to say in their basements, I suggest they stay right where they are at. Going above ground will surely kill them. Just look at some of the guys here working out of their homes. There is some really good shit out there.

My advice to Brandon is to stay at home as long as he possibly can. Make that tax free cash.

Originally Posted by Brandon

I'm not gonna rush the Super Studio. Instead, I'm gonna jump face first into totally unideal home recording facility situation and put my brain to work making it as ideal as possible and somehow keep the wife from divorcing me. .

Owning a super studio is an indication of a succesful Brandon, you are successful as you are now.... and yeah dont rush.. Your super studio requires high overhead - high overhead needs more clients - more clients needs more time - more time in your super studio I'm afraid will be the end of RR , there will be no more mix contest and no more place to hang out for "homerecording studiowers"....

They are still running an old mac on one end with a PC running Win 98 on the other side. If it ain't broke.... Don't fix it type thing. They haven't purchased a new piece of gear in years. Yet they are busy as hell making money.

Actually, if this was my studio and I had an old mac and win 98 PC.. (I just replaced my windows XP pc and I have raised my potential up 50 times) upgrading to a new PC would dramatically improve workflow and flexibility. It would probably pay for itself in less than 6 months. I agree with you on the gear part, but computer technology has evolved so much since the new millennium that there is not one aspect of music that would not benefit from a replacement in that department. Even if I was making great money with my old PC - it would still be holding me back from my full potential in regards to competition with this modern music age.

But then again this is coming from a mixing engineer standpoint. I put my studio ideas down and decided to begin producing and engineering instead, where in that area the computer is my most important tool.

This whole computer upgrade business depends on how you work. I don't think Steve Albini would be any more profitable with a new 2 x Quad Xenon or whatever. However, the edrum studio triggering samples may.

Brandon

I totally agree with people that are giving the advice of staying in your home studio as long as possible. I have a basement studio as well. Not the typical home studio as it was professionally built out and is nearly 900SQFT with a live room, control room, vocal iso booth and a artist lounge. You can see the pictures here

Connecticut Recording Studios, VISION Recording Studios, Studio Photos

I built this studio in 2006 and the total cost from an unfinished basement to what you see in the pictures was about $12,000 and that included a bathroom and all the materials to build out this studio. I am lucky that this basement is completely under ground so the noise outside the house is very minimum. Sure the wife and baby can hear a full band upstairs on our first floor but when I have a client they go up to our 2nd floor where you cant hear a thing really and the kids have a playroom, bathrooms etc..so it works for me. I have an entrance around the back of the house so a client never has to walk through our house which make me more comfortable. Not to mention I have a security system including a couple of video cameras.

At one point I too wanted to go to a commercial space and build out a amazing studio. The problem is, like several people have said already....as soon as you do that, your overhead goes up to the point that I would have to charge double what I charge today and I would need 4-6 clients per month just to break even. In today's recording day and age with everyone claiming they are a recording studio even if they have never worked in the business for 1 month and with musicians doing the recording them self, I wouldn't last 6 months in a commercial space.

The beauty is that once the initial $12,000 was paid, everything I taken in has pure profit and now I have a 900SQFT space that if we were to move one day added about 30K of value to my house (in the Connecticut market) so ti was a good investment in our property with out a doubt.

Yes, there are a few drawback to having a "home studio" like mine.....

1. Only 8' ceilings which isn't ideal for drum recording, but we manage to work around that in some creative ways.
2. Rooms are a little small. Live room can fit 5 musicians in there and it works but it's a little tight.
3. Like it or not, some people think if your a home studio, your not a legit studio and cant turn out a great product. I know that's not the case but some people who don't get it may think so. So, I wonder how much business I may have lost because of that fact....hard to tell.

Other than that, it works out fine and I plan to stay in my basement as long as I can. I have zero over head it it's all profit. so it allows me to acquire and upgrade my gear as needed. I also agree with the notion and have got to the point where I only buy something if it is really going to help me make a better product which will increase my client base. I don't have a locker room full of mic's or a full rack of preamps. I have a few mid priced and one high priced vocal mic and a couple of great preamps and all the rest is standard gear. I try to keep the operating cost down to increase my profit levels.

That my 2 cents for what it's worth.

I've noticed a certain mindless pursuit of the holy grail (ultra mega sounds) in me. When I look at the toys I've bought it's almost comical how much I've spent vs the gains (if any).

Having a real plan for profit seems to be a much smarter choice. It's interesting how many studios that were cranking out "holy grail" recordings that have went under in the past decade. There may be something to that.

I REALLY want to get out of this tiny room thing and I REALLY would like to be able to record drums at ridiculous hours without bugging the wife and kid that'll be here 4.5 months.

I REALLY want to get out of this tiny room thing and I REALLY would like to be able to record drums at ridiculous hours

If crossing the ocean is not an issue, you're welcome here!

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