Business cards? Important in this business?

[Razorjack]

The title says it all really, I'm thinking about getting some business cards made up and was just wondering if they are actually needed in the music business? The one thing I am finding right now is that during my college and university courses they have neglected to even talk about business practice!!

Any other tips on how to go about freelance engineering/producing would be greatly appreciated, I am finishing uni in 9mths and really need to have a good idea of where I'm going from there!!

 

[elmuchoescadawg]

In my experience they are a good thing. Ive avoided getting any until now cos I always thought they were pretentious. Problem is I keep getting asked for them at shows etc and putting you number on a fag packet just doesnt carry the same impact. Ive got cards from people that have been in my wallet for ages and I keep seeing them and the people keep coming to mind.

I seem to do alot of one off gigs at the moment and the bands often ask for a card. As I dont have them and they dont have a phone on them, even if they did would they remember who yet another name in their phone is? The conversation often ends up with them saying they will get my number from the record company or management.
Although Im busy enough I cant help wondering if im missing out on work as a result.
I need to get some done I think.

 

[MR NINE]

The title says it all really, I'm thinking about getting some business cards made up and was just wondering if they are actually needed in the music business? The one thing I am finding right now is that during my college and university courses they have neglected to even talk about business practice!!

Any other tips on how to go about freelance engineering/producing would be greatly appreciated, I am finishing uni in 9mths and really need to have a good idea of where I'm going from there!!

Hi there Razorjack!
I think it's a must! If you're professional it's a good ideia to keep those handy!
I do a lot of live shows (foh and stage) and there's always someone who asks for a contact, even when I'm doing my job (and that's pretty boring I must say! ah, ah,!) Anyway! It's a good way to promote yourself.

As for the tips: I started doing it for free for bands I know and also while I was working with other people as stage roadie or wathever (learned a lot of this business and about the pros and cons about it!)
Do your best and soon people will start to "put an eye on you" if you know what I mean?!!

 

[Lord Lurion]

I think it gives you a serious and pro image. If you write your number on the back of a scrap piece of paper, chances are the paper will end up in the bin, mistaken for unusefull shit in your wallet (It's happened to me). A business card, on the other hand, is directly kept in one of the wallet pockets and every time you come across it yo read it. Design an elegant effectvie card and you'll get more noticed and better regarded.

 

[James Murphy]

i love elmuchoescadawg's old reason for not having a card.... fear that it was "pretentious".. lol.. yeah, good for you that you got over that one because it was silly... but there's many fears like that which hold back ppople in the music business in general and especially the "metal" side of things. fear of promoting oneself.... don't wanna be caught dead seeming to be "commercial" eh? for most guys trying to be an engineer a busines card is a good idea. i never noticed Andy having one, but he has reached a stage where the work always comes to him and his name and number is permanently in the rolodexes of ever label manager you can think of. Lord Lurion and Mr. Nine hit the nail on the head as far as new guys starting out.

 

[J the TyranT]

I first even considered it a few years back when some friends of mines' band was playing at this one gig.... they asked me up to jam around on drums for a few minutes, and when I did, I had a few guys approach me asking for a card.. I didnt know what the hell they meant by that, so I was like "a card? What are you talking about?" and the one guy says "A business card... we need a drummer, you're a pro, right?" it was a pretty cool unintentional compliment, but I was like "Shit I need a card!"

Used to have crapass old ones... I need new ones myself.

J

 

[kaomao]

Why not Razorjack?
think if a pro asks you for a business card and you don't have it, it's better to have one.
Here in Milan, even in the underground, there are distributors of business cards so at a dirt cheap price you can have cards.
few bucks and you're in the business eheh (seems a commercial)

Maurizio

 

[adrianvillan]

A bizness card is a must! If this is going to be your profession, there no excuse not to have them. A bizness card is also a reflection of your professionalism. I got 5 paying gigs in my studio by passing out cards at gigs.

 

[unsilpauly]

yea, if you have business cards and give them out every chance you get, you are gonna get some gigs from it no question. in fact if you get them out there and have a decent website, along with recording a few of the "right" bands for a
"demo reel" which you should have eventually too, you probably wont have to spend much else in the way of advertising. so i personally think it really worthwhile. and you can make them yourself for under ten bucks. check it out.

 

[elmuchoescadawg]

i love elmuchoescadawg's old reason for not having a card.... fear that it was "pretentious".. lol.. yeah, good for you that you got over that one because it was silly... but there's many fears like that which hold back ppople in the music business in general and especially the "metal" side of things. fear of promoting oneself.... don't wanna be caught dead seeming to be "commercial" eh? for most guys trying to be an engineer a busines card is a good idea. i never noticed Andy having one, but he has reached a stage where the work always comes to him and his name and number is permanently in the rolodexes of ever label manager you can think of. Lord Lurion and Mr. Nine hit the nail on the head as far as new guys starting out.

So do you have something then James or are you at the same stage as Andy?

 

[Nitronium Blood]

Just picturing Homer Simpson ranting:

"Ooh look at me, I'm a big businessman, I have business cards, ooh ooh look at me!"

 

[elmuchoescadawg]

Just picturing Homer Simpson ranting:

"Ooh look at me, I'm a big businessman, I have business cards, ooh ooh look at me!"

lol :Spin:

 

[Nitronium Blood]

lol :Spin:

 

[Ermz]

I'd say you need a convenient way of giving people your contact details. A lot of your initial networking with bands will come from gigs you go to, where either they approach you, or you approach them suggesting a collaboration, and having a few business cards handy certainly wouldn't hurt. There are local forums where I get some work from, so for myself, I'm considering an online portfolio site, that may be a good idea for you too (unless you already have one).

In terms of getting work once you're out... I suppose you've gotta prepare to not get paid for a while. Tag along with stage crew, tag along to a few local sessions, get to know artists, and most importantly I think you need to get to know your local scene. Find out where all the studios are, get to know all the sound guys, network with them, as they are also a gateway to you getting work. Initially I think this is all about licking alot of ass until you have solid workflow.

 

[Razorjack]

My girl is a website designer so I'm going to get her to design me a profile soon, also I'm working on sorting out some business cards sorted soon as well a possible sampler CD.

The work I'm getting right now is ok, but I've got to deal with some bands who are after a top-sounding album recorded in 2-days and not need hire any equipment/a studio. Oh, and all these 'but I sound great live/at home' guitarists are really getting on my nerves!!

 

[unsilpauly]

My girl is a website designer so I'm going to get her to design me a profile soon, also I'm working on sorting out some business cards sorted soon as well a possible sampler CD.

The work I'm getting right now is ok, but I've got to deal with some bands who are after a top-sounding album recorded in 2-days and not need hire any equipment/a studio. Oh, and all these 'but I sound great live/at home' guitarists are really getting on my nerves!!

man you are tellin the truth. when you are starting out in the engineering/mixing/producing field its seems like its mandatory to deal with crappy bands and even crappier attitudes. youve just got to seek out a few bands that you really believe in and use each other to get further along in the game. any band no matter how good or hooked up they are, wont pass on a free/incredibly cheap kick ass recording. find these bands and work with them. just be honest and tell them that its nearly impossible to deliver album quality performances and tones/sounds in two days. i always try to tell bands that the thing that sucks is its all about time and more time equals bigger budget. but thats really the only way to get album quaulity out of a local or regional band. this is the truth for most bands. even with a full week in a kick ass studio and gettin paid well, we still would not get "album" quaulity with most of the bands most of us record. it takes minimum a week just to mix an album. bands dont get it. they wonder why a mix that was made in an hour doesnt kick ass? it takes time. i cant wait until i get to mix a song a day like andy .

 

[006]

The cards, in my opinion, are a must. They have helped me get to where I'm at today. I would go to local shows and throw them around to the bands that I thought would be great in the studio, as far as how I thought it would come out, advertising a deal I made with a friend of mine who owned a studio at the time. The deal was that they paid for time only, not engineering...but the card said "half off", I figured that would be better than saying "you figure out why you aren't paying for the engineering..", hehe. It wasn't because I didn't know what I was doing, but it was just to get my name out there, you have to look at all the angles. So I did about 20 bands for free basically and then my name was very popular amongst musicians around town. Luckily I had a great sense about each band that I had given cards to, and they all came out great. Eventually I had rappers, jazz bands, rock bands, metal bands, hardcore bands, bluegrass bands, country singers...all kinds of stuff just flying in and out of the studio. I was generating more income for the studio than the owner ever did, and for every master copy came 3 more bands who heard it. Eventually I was offered a job permenantly and the 1/2 off deal ended. Now I make a ton of cash recording bands in the evenings. All it took was a couple of months, a bunch of bands I did or didn't like, and about 20 business cards.

It's alot like my friend who recently became the producer on a morning radio show on the radio here. He started 2 years ago as an intern (no pay), answering the phones for the show at the time. In a few months he was moved up to some other position and started getting paid an ok amount. Then he presented a lot of ideas to the program director there at the station and he fired the producer and hired my friend in his place. Now they have better ratings. He's doing very nicely as well. That's all I can think of really right now.

~006

 

[Ermz]

And now, do you mainly do EPs and demos, or do labels approach you to do full-length albums for artists, 006?

 

[006]

So far with my name being out there, I have worked sessions for CMT with George Strait, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney and Toby Keith. Assisted on a session with Weezer, one band that had gotten signed to a label after recording a full-length with me came back to spend a month re-doing it "seriously", it's death metal so nothing *huge*, and a few other things for Pixar and Sony pictures. For my side job at the smaller studio though, it is mostly demos and EP's, but thats where I make a lot of extra money, nearly doubling what I bring in from the pro studio I work at during the days.

The thing with doing the local bands is that for every band that comes in, they break up, and three new bands emerge from that one band, and each of them always comes back because they know where to get their crap recorded. Like right now, we have three straight months booked up at $50 an hour. We open at 9am, and stop at 1am the next morning every day. Now I go in at about 7pm, and work until 1am 4 days out of the week...at $25 an hour I make about another $600 a week...which goes into over 2k a month just for recording crappy little local bands.

I really don't like talking about my money but this is just an example of what you CAN do in a city like San Antonio. To be honest though, I would rather just record bands all day than sit there at Keith's and do television and radio spots for Best buy and crap, and occasionally get major artists come in to do radio interviews, or sit there for two or three months straight lining up sounds for foley and ADR on a movie that I hate. I can't complain too much though. I hope to someday be recognized like Andy or James in this business, but it won't be for metal, and not for a long time. I think they will agree though, you just have to make a name for yourself one time, and then it's downhill from there. At least thats what I have gathered from Andy's success.

~006