Project Studio Rates....
 

I've been asked to record/mix a demo for a young band (High school), which will probably be 3-4 songs, drums/bass/guitars/vocals/percussion

My question is.....how much do I charge????

It will probably be around 4-5 sessions, 8 hour days minimum.....and then 1-2 days mixing/mastering

What do you guys reckon????

Im thinking either charging per song, or per day. If it is per day, maybe AUD$100/day, and if it is per song, maybe AUD$250/song

(AUD$1.00=USD$0.75)

Any ideas greatly appreciated!

Cheers!

you should charge per day
sometimes costumers no matter how young they are can be unsatisfied with the mixing or recordings and this could take more time.

Yeah...probably a good idea per day.

And I guess everyone needs to start somewhere, set a price, and if the client thinks it is too high, let the job go

I wouldn't be charging them too much. They are a high school band after all. Communtiy service. :D

Im not gonna charge them a fortune, but I gotta start earning some cash for this...

The music I love I will do for free, like that Venezuelan dude, or this other band Im recording next week, whose music I really dig, but this is more like work, and with inexperienced musicians, I think I am going to have my hands full....and also be like producer/manager role, to give them some direction etc

Im not giving away 6-8 days for free, but I wont be too hard on them either

:)

jase the only thing i can think of worthwhile mentioning here
is to have a really good chat with the band before they ever set foot in your studio - and just see where they are at with their songs - if you are going to do it for cheap then make it easy on yourself - get them to record a practice session (no matter on quality) just to have a quick listen to their arrangements so you have an idea what you are up for...
and basically tell em to get practising. they have to understand that more takes would normally mean more money.

i agree with you mate - at some point you have to start making some cash back - you do the bands you like for experience and the ones you dont for moolah (or not at all) :wink:

good luck with it anyways - post us some mp3s when youre done :D

Good advice!

Actually, he has been asking for some time, and I told them I was too busy, but the best thing to do in the mean time was heaps of practice! make sure they had everything sorted....

That was a couple months ago, and I've a bit more time now, so hopefully they have been rehearsing their stuff...

I need to organise a plan/schedule, and give them a quote......

No need to do practise recording. Just go to listen the bands rehearsals. You get an overall impression of the skill of the band and the songs. And remember to order a drummer to learn to play with click. It's really weird that some drummers just can't play with a click unless they practise.

Yup. Scheduling is everything, so make it carefully. The band might not be very pleased if they have to pay extra because of bad scheduling.

not a practise session at jase's - i meant to get them to practise and record it in their own time to save jase some hassle :wink:

Still: Why to record when one can go and listen them play live?

valid point juho. i was just trying to save jase the hassle :wink:

I think it's less hassle to listen them live than listen to some kind of weird C casette recording that sounds like broken PA.

Maybe so, but I just wanna get paid to feed my GAS!!!! :)

But hey, always do a good job.

But of course!

I have finished the invoice (with some guilt from my mother!) and have decided on:

4 days, recording, mixing, and mastering @ $400 (AUD)

Pretty reasonable, considering it was originally $600 (until mother stepped in and gave me that look :oops:

Damn mothers...... :x

No way. It's weird when producers try to get drummer to play along to a click. Any time I've been part of recording a "real" band that's always an impossibility.

Anyway, back on topic. Good luck with it all mate. Really hope it all goes well.

Tempo drift, anyone? Is it nice when song starts 120bpm and ends 145bpm? No.

Natural groove anyone? If the drummer is drifting out of time that much, then he probably shouldn't be playing the drums.

But lets not get too far off topic.....

Definitely make some cash out of it though Jase.

Hoho. Whe would the groove go if the drummer plays with click? It's like he would turn into a sequencer when he keeps the tempo. Click is always desired because it's really annoying if the tempo changes gradually. It's easier to edit when it's on time and for example if the song has breaks it's easier to play the breaks when you can play with click.

Im leaning more towards HC theory...

If the drummer is good enough, he will stay in time, and if not, anyone know a good session drummer????

I will have the drummer & bass player together, and want to capture the song being played between two people, and not two people listening to a click.

It would be a different story though, if we were going to be adding samples etc later, and I would have them play to a click, or just some MIDI rhythm section...bongos etc

Clicks are so annoying!!!!

Oh yeah, back on topic.....I have revised my cost....

5 days recording/mixing, AUD$600 (I figure between 4/5 band members this figure is easily attainable)

My good guy attitude is gonna send me broke one of these days...

Drummer plays on click and the rest play on drums. When recording newbie bands there's hardly enough money to hire a pro drummer.

Nah. Click can save your arse on some cases.

Indeed. Probably the hardest part of that job is setting the price.

Seriously Juho, try to record a band that hasn't heard of midi before (ie; punk or fast rock), not that wierd progressive stuff you listen to, which uses trigger sequnced drums - hehehe. And you will understand why a click doesn't seem to work well at all. :D

Of course using a click for example with a grindcore band is not a good idea. ?hih. But with medium to slow tempo tracks click is good to have around. All drummers just can't keep the tempo when playing alone. When the band plays together the rest of the band usually retains the drummer and the whole set holds together, but if the drummer plays alone it's very common that the tempo increases even with experienced players. Sometimes the tempo doesn't hardly change at all and sometimes quite a lot. When drummer monkey gets excited, even clocks loose time. Hoho.

Unless playing studio lives, I'd prefer click. I just can't see a reason why not to have it if it's possible. Playing with click destroys groove? Then probably playing with drums (like a complicated click, but rythm indicator that too) kills groove from keyboards and rest of the isntruments too. ?hih.

Ps. I don't see what click has to do with MIDI. Metronomes have existed probably as long as mechanical clocks.

Forget your clicks, the guys at Access are expecting drummers to stare at the back of the Ti keyboard. :lol:

"Illuminated Access Logo on the rear of the Virus TI Keyboard and Virus TI P?LAR (=Virus Indigo successor). The logo pulsates in standby mode, and can be statically on during normal operation or pulsate to the tempo (like the tempo LED) which is especially nice for those drummers used to playing to a visual tempo source."

Hey forgot about this thread! How did it go Jase?

Now to you Juho. When playing along side people though, there is a timing that occurs visually. People pause and keep watch on eachother to know when to drop back in.

Maybe the visual stimulation from the TI will help! Or it may just put all the musicians on stage into some sort of weird trance (no, not the music genre trance). :D

They have accepted my quote, and we will be meeting soon for pre-production, and commencing recording throughout February

Im signed on for a 3 track demo, which I guess may lead to more paid work! I have been on holidays the past fortnight, and in the first week spent 12 hours per day recording this band, and the results are pretty good. Im just about to start mixing, and If I can persuade the band, maybe can post some short examples in a secret spot.......

Maybe PM the link around or something. It might be good for you to have some different ears for feedback.

Will do.....It is gonna be a big job. Something like 100+ audio tracks per song! Some rubbish, but still going through it all is gonna be interesting...