Owning/Running a Recording Studio Questions

I can't wait to start a studio when I am old enough

cheers for the info B Mac, definately gave me something to think about. i like the "thinking out of the box" type of info you gave me.

nightmare, never too young if you've got the assetts i'd say

sknkwrkz wrote:cheers for the info B Mac, definately gave me something to think about. i like the "thinking out of the box" type of info you gave me.

nightmare, never too young if you've got the assetts i'd say

Much success...

may as well add my thoughts..........................

if i owned a recording studio i'd be trying to sell shares in it too! (to get some of MY money back ) . with the market for commercial recording studios in constant decline worldwide, such an investment does not provide a viable long-term investment opportunity. a high capital outlay in return for little or no profit for 12-24 months is certainly a risky venture.

anyone can make a demo using a home studio if they have the required knowledge, skills and tools.

if you were planning to open a CD store or DVD rental business, the advice would be the same. all these markets are in decline and uninvestable at this time.

without a market, there is no business. unless you're a person who like to take on risk i would seriously reconsider this investment.

thanks for your input clint.

and youre right. i went into the idea knowing absolutely nothing but basically came to the same conclusions.....

as a business it sucks.

might as well stick to my stock markets

so yeah the whole idea is on hold right now.

its gonna have to be an operation where breaking even is the goal, and any possible profits just a bonus.

that should technicaly mean that the whole money thing doesnt become the ape on your shoulder when composing music.

my crap would get even crappier if i had to worry about making money

rickrock305 wrote:

thefirehooligan wrote: the real money is in post production more then big budget music production.

I do work mostly doing ADR and film score for documentorys and local TV/Film. I also do alot of extreme sports vid's like skate and snowboard vid's, FMX, BMX and stuff like that.

very true. if you can get into the audio post market there's a LOT more work to be had. voiceovers, commercials, sound effects, tv ads, etc.

i heard that foley artists make a lot of doe. u guys know if thats true? or is it bcuz its a union gig?

Run baby run! He's aint looking for a cash infusion cause he needs a hummer......he's broke enough to give up some ownership for cash. And while folks are right about post, it's only mildly interesting. I got stuck doing all kinda stuff with my studio to make the bills for years (including post) but when the day was done, I was too tired to make music. And worse, when you get home from a hard day in the studio, ther last thing you want to do with your free time is make music....

yeah the dudes gone into alot of post work now. dunno how much time he has for pure music anymore. but he's doin well as far as paying the bills.

i think i prefer that this music stuff remains a hobby for me.

lets me spend time exploring different musical aspects and different genres without the stress

the journey is afterall more important than the destination.

I don't own a studio, but are people really going to them anymore? I mean, I know certain cats that are somewhat mainstream that definitely go to the studios because they have a budget from a label, but for the most part they go to TOP NOTCH studio's that are proven to produce a good sound and there aren't a lot of those around. Here in Detroit, I can think of two main studio's that people goto. Studio A, and the Recording institute, and the recording institute is not the place to be for hip-hop (although they do anything). My point is that these spots have been around for YEARS. Equipment is getting better and better. Pro-tools has pretty much killed the studio business, and cracked warez has made it possible for anyone to gain access to high end plugins. When any of my friends say their in the studio recording vocals, their usually in someones basement, not even on a pro-tools setup most the time (kev brown for example). If you were starting this business 20 years ago I would probably be more pro, but it's too easy to make and record music in this day. Most home recordings DO sound like shcnit, but most people don't really care. Most of the music produced today are clean presets from expensive keyboards engineered by wack producers with vocals from people that can't sing or rap. I don't want to sound like a hater I just want to show you some of the realness. I have another friend that has a studio in a 3000 sqft facility and it's empty 99.999% of the time... but it's really nice ! Soundbooth, insulation, red lights expensive equipment. Means nothing. If you decide to go for it, then I really wish you the best of luck..believe me, I love hearing about success, but be really careful in this music game. There are more losers than winners in this field, and most losers 'look' like the biggest winners!

Good advice has already been offered…

One thing I MUST reiterate is this…INSURANCE!

Theft is a problem and we’ve had our doors busted open, cats bringing ladders and opening the roof access, and countless other attempted break-ins.

When you are first starting you really try to cover all your tracks and insurance is one thing you definitely need without it you will eat your losses. I’ve been fortunate to enough to be able to replace 13 pieces of equipment over 11 years due to theft and I can’t thank my lucky stars enough that we had covered our asses and investment.

My personal advice

Though expensive, security cameras are a life saver. If you can’t talk your building owner to get them installed (hey it never hurts to ask), do it yourself. The system we have is monitored by an out of state security company. And I can physically look through my camera lenses from any computer in the world via secure website portals, review footage etc. it’s costly but well worth it. Saved us and got back our drums from some poor band member who we actually recorded a demo for. Theft is always from someone who has been to your studio and tries to figure any scheming way to get what they want without getting caught…inevitably they did thanks to a camera panning and capturing his license plate.

bicedidit wrote:i heard that foley artists make a lot of doe. u guys know if thats true? or is it bcuz its a union gig?

a foley artist is one of the hardest gigs to get in the world. there are literally a handful of guys that do it for 90% of the movies that are released.

roxstar wrote: Pro-tools has pretty much killed the studio business, and cracked warez has made it possible for anyone to gain access to high end plugins.

LOL, nothin but weak excuses there.



truth is, there will always be some sort of demand for high end tracking rooms, because you just can't get that avatar drum sound out of your living room.

get a gun lol!

I don't think studios are a totally hopeless venture. If it's a small operation that focuses on vocals, overdubs and mixing you can start it up w/little cost and make your money back pretty quickly. If you want to make a studio like the hit factory, then yeah you're pretty much screwed, there just aren't enough major label projects anymore to accomodate such behemoths. But if you focus on the "independent" market you can actually do quite well for yourself. Big studios are definitely a thing of the past though, any that are still opened are usually funded by non music money (ie quad)

^^ ture that!

the audio recording industry is flooded with venues and its becoming more accessible each day to build your onwn home studio.