7 Alternatives To Dollar Per Hour Recording Studio Pricing

21/12/11 10.58

7 Alternatives To Dollar Per Hour Recording Studio Pricing

In most studios the default option for charging is $$/hour. In this article I want to show you a few other options.

#7 - Dollars / Minute If you can't make the dollars / hour model work just change it to the minute. #6 - Dollars / Second This pricing model takes #7 and multiples it by 60. Studios charging $1 per second are raking in nearly $30k a day. Try it! You only need to get right a few times a year to afford that U47. #5 - Euros / Hour This may seem like cheating as it is technically money per hour. Warning: Most Americans don't consider anything other than the Dollar real money regardless of what some chart says or how ironic that statement is in this age. #4 - Silver Ounces / Hour This goes back day a time when the concept of currency was in its infancy. It's probably a better method anyway. #3 - Sandwiches / Hour Instead of Thomas Jefferson, Abe Lincoln, or Ben Franklin, in this pricing model you've got Big Mac, Whopper, and hopefully some better local options. Feel free to change this to pizza, oats, or Gatorade. #2 Hours / Hour Nothing beats enslaving a highly skilled worker to do real work while all you do is put a mic in front of them and push record.

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7 Alternatives To Dollar Per Hour Recording Studio Pricing

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#1 - Minutes With Wife / Hour The value of this fluxuates tremendously depending on the quality of the goods. I'd recommend a trial run before committing long term to this agreement. Okay, so this didn't turn out as voice/]Whaddyagonnado?[/mafia voice] funny as I had hoped. [mafia

After charging for this studio gig for right at a decade now and attempting every possible method of compensation on the planet, I've determined that in my world there are no other pricing models than trading my time for a very specific cost. I've officially done my last fixed price gig of my life. Let me blab a minute on why the fixed price gig is so terribly flawed. The Utopia Deep down, none of us want to rush during a recording session. No one wants to be rushed, either. Both of these are unideal. We all would like to think that we've been hired by August Burns Red, Tom Petty, Neil Diamond, MGMT or whoever it is that turns our crank to take 6-8 weeks and make the most outstanding creation possible. Any audio engineer excited about this gig is going to push for that Utopia. That is the dream. It's a long 6-8 weeks and it means a person isn't doing much of anything else. (Forget birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, etc unless you've got a sneaky way of sliding them in.) If you've got other stuff on your plate, let's just say you don't anymore. Would you put your entire life nearly on pause to record your favorite band? I would. Would you put your life on pause for a band that's gonna sell $2,000 in music and merchandise, play 10 gigs, and then split? Obviously the payoff is much different and all costs and benefits need to be factored in. When Time Isn't A Factor Ever mixed your own song? When did you finish it? I honestly have no idea how to finish my own song. The closest I've ever gotten is setting imaginary deadlines. I HAVE to get this finished by Saturday or that is IT! Of course, arbitrary points are bent, mangled, and stretched with the shadiest of rationalizations. Excuses like, I
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7 Alternatives To Dollar Per Hour Recording Studio Pricing

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was too tired carry weight somehow when they wouldn't when dealing with a third party. Exhibit #1: You never finish your own creative work without a firm deadline. Why should you expect more from others? When Stomach Capacity Is A Factor Have you ever left a buffet without hearing your stomach tear just a bit? (You know that sound they use in movies when a rope is about to break.) I can sensibly eat half a plate at my favorite local hole-in-wall and jam the other half in a box for later. An hour later I feel great. It's baffling how at a buffet I find some way to compact three freakin' plates of food into something that shouldn't hold more than. There's no mistaking that I will feel absolutely miserable afterward. All so I know they didn't rip me off! Yeah, I'll show 'em. This is were it gets interesting. In my head I have some mission to get 100% of my money's worth from that buffet even if it nearly kills me or at least ruins my afternoon. Exhibit #2: When you pay a fixed price for a good/service with no clear limit, your ridiculous instincts kick in to maximize value even if it nearly kills you. Why would you expect someone else to behave any differently? For Real If both exhibits weren't enough, we all know that the last twenty years of production have been dominated by the band who took months to perfect their opus. Most local bands hate the idea of the demo and if they make one little mistake on a record they act as if it will be engraved on their tombstone, whereas in live performances they can embrace slop in full drunken glory. This interest in perfection and desire to do it for real will kick in when they first start questioning whether it's worth THIS much work. The insecurity of sounding like a bad singer or crappy lead guitar player will carry them the rest of the way down the epic road of complete insanity. My favorite example is when the band boss starts to contradict himself. One minute
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he says, Wow! Those guitars sound great. After a bathroom break he says, I'm not really sure about the guitars. That's when you know he came up with that all on his own and listening didn't have anything to do with it. (Make sure to let him know that he might be losing it, but you'll take a look at it.) Keeping Everyone Sane I'm of the opinion that the best thing you can do for both your sanity, your personal life, and staying a content audio engineer with no interest in Columbine-like activities is utilize the cash/hour invention. It works exceptionally well. It keeps them for gorging themselves at the buffet. They don't have to look down on themselves for not playing as well as their favorite bands because they can just blame it on the fact that they didn't have a $100,000 budget and they work real jobs. As long as they can play relatively well and write great songs, the recording will kick ass. I'm all for busting ass on a craft. I do think working hard to nail great performances is integral to the gig. However, that thing that makes a recording great or special is not that the artist got to scratch each and every insecurity they may have off the list. Too many recordings that have impacted my life (and yours) don't hold up well to the find-the-flaws game, either. Many of us can name a band's first album which was done on a tight budget and has something to it (flaws and all). The second album becomes a multi-million dollar affair and isn't always superior. (For those so inclined, read up on Gun N Roses making of Use Your Illusion. If that's not the most absurd way to spend months and millions just to make something that just isn't quite as good, I don't know what is.) I'm all for being meticulous. Attention to detail is an integral part of the gig, too. However, how much is it worth? How much better does a song really sound? How far is too far? If if rabid attention to detail made you sound incredible, how much would the local band gain if their recording sounded BETTER than your reference cd? I'm talking full-blown major label stuff. Are they going on a world tour? Is Clear Channel going to wave their payola fee and put them in heavy rotation? Then what? Does any of that crap even matter? I'm 31, I've got my good gig, going platinum and pocketing $18,000 after two years of epic work doesn't sound all that enticing. I'd rather play with my dog a little bit.
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No One Is Stopping Them If a band wants to go ALL OUT and do everything as freakin' awesome as possible no matter what, it can be done. All it takes is time and money. I have recorded a few guys who rode their bike to the studio. I have recorded many, many, many people driving $30,000+ vehicles. If that person chooses to drive in style, but only delegate enough cash to do an album in 3 days, I'm cool with that. That's their business. If they decide that it's worth more to make a better product, they can ditch their car and get a bike. I'm very cool with that. It doesn't take many gigs before you realize that those guys you've bent over backwards for to give them a killer deal are blowing their cash on the most ridiculous of junk. That's why they didn't have any money in the first place. The notion of finding Anthony Kedis sleeping under a bridge and being that producer who discovered him sounds noble. Good luck! Conclusion The best way to keep you, your wife, your friends, your family, and your clients sane is to work on a fixed time for cash method that everyone agrees to ahead of time. If you really believe in a band (whatever the hell that means), put your time where your mouth is and do it for free. Brandon I cover all of this and trillion other lessons learned the hard way in my upcoming book, Surviving And Thriving In This BS Recording Studio Business.

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