Charging for pre-production time

[Ermz]

Hey guys,

A lot of the time as part of the pre-production process I get rough demos sent to me by artists, which I then sit down and listen to, and write down notes for in my own time.

The complication this presents is... how do I charge for that time? Unless the band are actually here, actively working on the pre-production arrangements with me in the DAW there is no way I can bill anything 'on the clock'.

Should I bundle the pre-production rate into a different part of the process, or try to find some way of estimating the time consumed when listening through and writing down all these notes?

It's becoming a real issue as a significant portion of my time is tied up doing this and I can't exactly do it all on my off hours.

 

[vespiz]

Well, the way I see it, aren't you actively doing some work for the band by then?
Maybe if it feels akward to charge full-time, how about a discounted rate (say 50%)?
Just make sure the band knows AND UNDERSTANDS* this beforehand.

Or just bill the damn thing later with everything else.


*They're musicians, after all..

 

[guitarguru777]

Since I do package deals it all includes pre-pro time when I get "paid".

 

[MEGA DAVE]

easy... you make it clear that if you are producing the album you're charging extra, otherwise youre just having them come in and hitting the record button for them. People always charge extra for production, I just charge a flat per song rate for pre-prod

 

[dcb]

you know how bands are. they are not willing to pay you ANYTHING if they havent agreed before...
so what id do is : do it for free thhis time. if your doing preproduction id say your the producer on the project, right?

so id say try to get a percentage of their recordsales... this way youll be mottivated , taking all the time you need,
because you know it will be worth it. even if they dont sell that many records... i always take all the time for prepro.
not being paid at all for that. but its always worth it as it cuts down the time for the real production.

 

[John_C]

+1 for a %age, although this is hard to keep track of for a small band.

maybe just include a standard hiring fee to cover the time and waive it at the end if you feel you didn't have to do too much extra work.

 

[smy1]

% is no good. Sales are so low these days that usually bands don't even recoup. Charge them a flat fee per song. That way they have a clear idea of what it'll cost them. Whatever that fee may be is your decision.

 

[amarshism]

Agreed

 

[HatchetDrummer]

if you take points (a percentage) you need a lawyer and a contract, and its not worth doing unless they are on "major" label i.e. one that paid for the recording and one that had the band sign a real contract and has allotted more then 7-10 points for the band for that record. There are many bands these days that get signed to small labels that in the end do nothing more then just get the CD in a small number of retail outlets.

Points on an album are a tricky thing, its always best to get an entertainment lawyer that has a history negotiating those contracts. It can get really sticky really fast.

But back to the topic at hand, I charge for pre-production as a full rate, but I only charge for the work that I do when the band is there. I have no problem spending an hour or two listening to stuff making notes on it and doing it for free. I just let the band know that they are getting my time without getting charged for it, just let them know, bands are always stoked to get free shit even if its a few hours of their engineers time...

 

[Omega_Void]

Well, the client's gonna want to know exactly what they're going to get billed for.

You can spell it out for them and make sure they know what you'll be doing before they get into the studio, and what you'll be charging. My guess is some bands will not really see the need for some of it, and it could lead to quibbles.

I reckon it'd be better to roll the anticipated pre-production time into your quoted producer's, fee rather than itemizing them separately. As long as you feel you get adequately reimbursed for the total time you spend on the project there's no need to get anal about which dollar pays for which hour, IMO.

Effectively you'll be slightly bumping up what you charge for stuff you do when the band's there, to cover the the stuff you did when they weren't. But you don't tell then that, you tell them it's free extra, like HatchetDrummer says.

If pre-pro is really taking up a lot of your time you maybe should think about ways to streamline the process or trim some of the fat off it.

 

[Ermz]

Hmm, thanks guys. Not really feeling the best solution yet. In the past I've rolled it all into the mixing fee, but I'll have to spend a while thinking about this to make sure it's fair on everyone.

 

[AudioPhile777]

Hmm, thanks guys. Not really feeling the best solution yet. In the past I've rolled it all into the mixing fee, but I'll have to spend a while thinking about this to make sure it's fair on everyone.

I would figure out how much time you average per song and find a flat rate that isn't scary... and if they ask, tell them exactly why its that rate.