Do I Suck?

[pdalmolin]

I just can't seem to generate much business on my website: Real Studio Drums
Please someone go check it out and tell me if I suck and don't even know it...I certainly don't think I do, or I wouldn't have it up!....actually, I know I don't suck, but maybe my website does...

...anybody??...

[lolgreg]

Originally Posted by pdalmolin

I just can't seem to generate much business on my website: Real Studio Drums
Please someone go check it out and tell me if I suck and don't even know it...I certainly don't think I do, or I wouldn't have it up!....actually, I know I don't suck, but maybe my website does...

...anybody??...

There's absolutely no "sucking" on any of the audio material on your site. You have a very smooth style and keep time quite well. I think the biggest issue is that the band may want to really define their drum parts note for note, which may end up being too time consuming or too expensive. Do you send the tracks as individual files (kick snare tom oh's etc)? I think the real thing is the ability to program a drum part and it sounding "good." Good, is what most people who don't have money pass for. If you really want results and you need consistancy, a band usually finds a drummer who can play the parts and play them well (who they can eventually play shows with, etc).

-Greg

[richiebee]

I have a few things for you, which I'll try and formulate into a response later today, but very quickly... what are you doing to publicize your web site and service?

You don't even appear in the first five pages of Google if I search real country drum tracks.

R.

[pdalmolin]

Ritchiebee, I don't know what to do to get moved up higher in the search engines other than trying to convince a zillion people to add a link to my site. I paid google a per click ad campaign which sucked up my money quickly and yielded nothing. I advertized in Recording magazine and Mix magazine for about 3 months, but both mags together yielded me ONE customer! I've had lots of advice as far as start accepting wavfiles to play to. This is dumb to me. I can play just fine to a mp3 and they email easy. I send the client wavfiles (or Aiff) of course. Someone even said change the color of my site. Another guy told me the photo of me standing in the doorway was dumb. That I look like a preacher... Another told me I chased people off with my dull no info resume info...When I first installed the site my designer told me people don't like to read much. Cut it to the vitals...Then I had another person tell me I have nowhere near enough technical stuff.....SHEESH!

for lolgreg....I can give 8 separate tracks or on mixed stereo track, whatever the client wants. Thanks for the compliment!

[richiebee]

Hmmm... where did the day go? Okay, here's a quick summary...

You need to network - local studio owners, live music venues. Leave your business card in local music stores. It's hard work to get going. Seriously, if you want it easy, go and work in an office.

Your web site needs some work. The audio samples need to be put in a different order. Get rid of the stuff that ain't really great (Lady is a Tramp and Everything she does is Magic are awful - I don't mean your playing, just the whole arrangements). Put your best stuff up front. Put up HIGH bitrate MP3s. They all sound a little under water. They lack clarity and punch. You're selling a studio service - it has to be good.

Pay for a good host and lose that 10Mb upload limit. I pay less than $90 a year for my hosting (and I get a free domain name with it). I get 1,500Gb (yes, that's right, one thousand five hundred Gigabytes) of space, and 15,000Gb of monthly transfer. More than enough for anyone!

Your web site needs to go in layers - the front page needs to be straight forward - what, why, how much. Then go into details. Technical details are good - people like to know what they're signing up for - give details of your recording process, microphones, entire drum kit, everything. But don't put it in the first layer. Get your customer comfortable, THEN wow them with the technical stuff. Make it clear what people get back from you. If they have a choice - tell them what they are. Can they have individual tracks for each drum mic? Do they have to have just a mix down? Do you add processing? Can you leave it totally dry and free from compression?

Your price allows for a maximum time of 4 minutes before adding a penalty - does that really cover the majority of country songs? Either charge per minute, or go just a little bit over the longest popular length. You can do fast turnaround for an extra fee - what is it?

The header pictures suck. It looks like you work in clutter. We don't need to see the really cheap keyboard, or your PC. Take good photos - close ups of your kit, microphones, or whatever... make the photos good, focused and dramatic.

The web site colours are pretty bad, the home page is a mess. Say where you live - not necessarily the address, but the city at least - get local custom. Building an internet business takes a while... look for local custom first.

Check out forums where people might want your services - this is one of them... also VI Control, KVR Audio, Future Producers... search for others. You need to respect forum rules, but they're good places to hang out and drum up (ba-dum-ching) business. Banner advertising might work on them.

[adorian]

I liked what I heard - Voodoo and the latin thing. I think the problem is proper marketing more than anything else.

I recently worked with a very high profile death metal drummer offering the same services as you are but for heavy music. We couldn't get anyone interested which was very strange considering we charged $125 per track. I dropped things off after several months but we hadn't generated any real interest.

I think you should try first local placement, even do a few pro bono tracks by teaming up with a studio and then once you establish a name you can write your own ticket.

[drfringe]

Yeah, I think it's all a matter of time networking and luck really. I think you've got the right approach but I don't know any musicians that have any dough after recording. I dont know any musicians with any $$ period actually. Hey- advertise on forums and craigslist, market other niches. Maybe Gearslutz, get some of the big names a chance to hear ya, maybe refer business.

I don't know but the web can be a darned black hole for time and resources sometimes. You've got the skills, and you've done well to play for the people you have - maybe Brandon has some ideas but I'm not an insider so I can't tell ya much except keep doing it, and if something sticks, then use that as an in road.