Checked out a potential place to set up business today (pics)

Mattayus

Sir Groove-A-Lot
Jan 31, 2010
2,056
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Cambs, UK
www.numbskullaudio.com
Hey dudes!

So far I've been operating by tracking bands at a near-by group of rehearsal rooms, then mixing from home. I want my own place. Badly. The rates there suck, and take too much out of my (and the bands) pocket, leaving a dent in my profit.

Anyway, I've checked out a few places the last few days, met up with surveyors etc and they all sucked. Either too industrial (too reflective, would take more money to make it a viable recording space than it would to rent it!) or too expensive, or too near residential areas.

But today I found a place I'm quite fond of and wanted to show you guys some pics to see what you think.

PICS

This pic is looking at the front door which leads out onto a little mews/mall area just off the centre of town

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and this is the rest of the room from the door inwards

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This is a view from the top of the stairs looking into the second room

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This is a view of that upstairs room from a crouched position, huddled in the corner :lol:

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and another...

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So, it's basically a small upstairs office space and toilet, with a large room downstairs. I don't have dimensions unfortunately but it was roughly 200m2 downstairs.

I was thinking downstairs be the live room, with the upstairs being the control room. It obviously needs all the necessary treatment and renovation but what do you think in terms of potential?

It's a big bonus for me for its location. Right in the centre of my home town, but off the main shopping areas, far away from any residential area, secure, safe, and pretty cheap (and negotiable!).

Anyway, just thought I'd share the news. Chances are I won't be able to pull the funding together but I'm not gonna stop trying. I NEED my own space.

P.S. It will also double as rehearsal space for local bands when I'm not using it for recording.
 
I feel the pain, I've been scouting for a place for ages now, but whenever something even remotely potential comes up, it' way too expensive to turn into a profitable business.

How's the traffic noise and such? Sound-proofing is expensive, and you don't want a nearby truck to ruin a perfect drum take :)
 
That's another thing man - it's right away from any industrial areas. It's this area between an industrial area and a supermarket, but it's not actually on any road, it's tucked away in this little alley-way type... thing... so it's pretty ideal!
 
I would definitely avoid dude. I don't even want to start thinking about how much of an uphill battle you'll be fighting to deal with the acoustics in that top room... Plus, if there are noise regulations too then its just an impossibility getting that room soundproofed downstairs. You'd have to seal off the stairs and have some NASA-grade front door - even then it will be louder than hell. The only decent way to soundproof is by building a room in a room and that bottom room looks small at best anyway.

More things to consider - do you have enough work as an AE to fill out enough days to cover the rent and earn a decent wage at the end of it? Could you afford the costs of building everything (whatever you think it will cost... it will probably double)? Do you have enough gear and a great showreel to attract people to your studio rather than other ones?

I know that sounds negative but this is just the tip of the iceberg. I'd recommend carrying on your search for a place personally. I'm lucky to have a cool setup at home, but its only been the past 6 months that I've been working enough to consider myself full time. Best of luck to you though dude, I'm sure the perfect place will come up if you keep looking!
 
Looks cool!
I'd kill for an extra room at my home or elsewhere to start my own recording/mixing business.
 
I would definitely avoid dude. I don't even want to start thinking about how much of an uphill battle you'll be fighting to deal with the acoustics in that top room... Plus, if there are noise regulations too then its just an impossibility getting that room soundproofed downstairs. You'd have to seal off the stairs and have some NASA-grade front door - even then it will be louder than hell. The only decent way to soundproof is by building a room in a room and that bottom room looks small at best anyway.

More things to consider - do you have enough work as an AE to fill out enough days to cover the rent and earn a decent wage at the end of it? Could you afford the costs of building everything (whatever you think it will cost... it will probably double)? Do you have enough gear and a great showreel to attract people to your studio rather than other ones?

I know that sounds negative but this is just the tip of the iceberg. I'd recommend carrying on your search for a place personally. I'm lucky to have a cool setup at home, but its only been the past 6 months that I've been working enough to consider myself full time. Best of luck to you though dude, I'm sure the perfect place will come up if you keep looking!

Oh I know man, I've by no means got my heart set on this place, but out of the places I've viewed so far it's a clear winner. I have other viewings though.

As for the business side of things - as I said, wherever I set up will double as rehearsal space for bands. Even if I get one band in every other day, that's enough to cover rent. As for recording - I've got a good showreel, and I'm building a reputation in the local area thanks to a couple of bands spreading the word and gaining some success off my recordings. Am I the best AE in the world? Fuck no, but I'm learning all the time and we all gotta start somewhere. Am I good enough to have my own place? I'd say in this town - yes. There are no other studios in the area for fucking miles, and ironically enough most of my mixing business comes from bands who have recorded at those studios and been horrifically disappointed! :lol:
 
As for the business side of things - as I said, wherever I set up will double as rehearsal space for bands. Even if I get one band in every other day, that's enough to cover rent. As for recording - I've got a good showreel, and I'm building a reputation in the local area thanks to a couple of bands spreading the word and gaining some success off my recordings. Am I the best AE in the world? Fuck no, but I'm learning all the time and we all gotta start somewhere. Am I good enough to have my own place? I'd say in this town - yes. There are no other studios in the area for fucking miles, and ironically enough most of my mixing business comes from bands who have recorded at those studios and been horrifically disappointed! :lol:

I'm sure this varies greatly regionally, but at least here, there are TONS of expenses you might not have thought about. For example, here are some (I'm sure I'm forgetting something, even though I've been going this stuff over and over again during the last year) things you have to consider in my area when starting a legit business:

- Approximately 27% of all the earnings go to taxes.
- On top of that, there's a compulsory 16,05% retirement insurance, and that's a discounted percentage for starting companies.
- Business insurance for the property, gear and yourself. This varies a lot.
- Accounting, ranges from 50 to 150€ per month for a small recording studio business, plus a few hundred euros yearly for the tax declarements and stuff.
- On top of that, you have to add 23% VAT to your normal rates. This isn't a problem for business clients, but for indie bands, it can be.

So, if you're able to charge 350€ a day, and get 20 full-paid days of work a month (this is optimistic) this leaves you with about 2500€ a month. Deduct rent, phone, electricity, water, loan payments and all that, and how much are you left with? And is that enough for you to pay yourself salary as well as leave some income for the business when worst comes to worst and there's no work for a couple of weeks? Naturally, this might be totally different where you live, but in my case, I'd make a lot more flipping burgers at a drive-in :lol:

I don't mean to discourage you, but you have to get the calculations and sales projectios absolutely spot on before you bite the bullet.
 
Yeah you're right, that does differ massively from country to country, only about half of that applies to me :lol: Well no, that's an exaggeration, but the figures are very different. Tax falls into earning brackets so it's totally dependent on the business, and our VAT is 20%.

But yeah man, of course I've thought about that stuff, extensively. My dad has owned his own electronics company for as long as I can remember, nothing (and I mean nothing) gets passed him in a business sense. He's my advisor on this shit so I know I'll be safe where costs etc are concerned :lol: And I'm fortunate enough to be in a position to use his accoutant etc.

Anyway, this is all getting a little ahead of myself. I wouldn't dream of setting anything up unless it was viable. I'm in absolutely NO position to throw away money at this point in my life. I'm only viewing places at the moment to get an idea, and talking to surveyors and funding agencies to get a grasp. Even if I do set up somewhere it's a long way off!
 
just a slight off-topic... Have you considered VAT registering before you take on a project like this? My Dad's an accountant (he's a LAD, not some boring twat either) and he recommended I VAT register when I started up. I've bought a ton of gear and I've claimed back all the VAT on it. Of course - I have to charge VAT on top of everything I do, but I adjust my prices slightly for this and I think it gives an impression of professionalism anyway. Working with bigger clients (lables/management companies etc) is cool too because a lot of them are VAT registered anyway and just claim it back. Just something to consider... back on topic.
 
I'm not earning enough from AE work to be VAT registered yet, I think it's a £12k p/a threshold isn't it? But hopefully I can break that if I get a place. I'm assuming I'll run the first tax year VAT free as the company will have no previous earnings at that point, then register for the next year? Correct me if that's completely wrong :lol:
 
I'm not earning enough from AE work to be VAT registered yet, I think it's a £12k p/a threshold isn't it? But hopefully I can break that if I get a place. I'm assuming I'll run the first tax year VAT free as the company will have no previous earnings at that point, then register for the next year? Correct me if that's completely wrong :lol:

There's no minumum threshold I don't think. Once you're turning over £67k a year you have to register. I invested a huge amount of money in equipment when I started up around 2 and a half years ago so I registered for cash flow reasons... only just started, no clients, doing cheap(/shit) work. I ended getting back nearly 2 grand which was cool.
 
There's no minumum threshold I don't think. Once you're turning over £67k a year you have to register. I invested a huge amount of money in equipment when I started up around 2 and a half years ago so I registered for cash flow reasons... only just started, no clients, doing cheap(/shit) work. I ended getting back nearly 2 grand which was cool.

Yeah, this is correct. Registering is optional up to, what I had thought was £70k but mebee it is £67k, I can't really remember.

The whole registering thing is entirely case by case dependant. There's a few things to factor in as to whether it'd be personally worth it for you at this time. Predominantly predicted expenditure Vs. predicted earnings.
 
right right, cool.

I'm checking out more premises, hopefully tomorrow, but again they are light industrial units (factories, effectively).
However, given the task of soundproofing, do you think a soundproofed factory unit would be a more viable option that this office space I have shown here? At least an open, concrete floored factory unit gives me the freedom to build on the inside of it I guess, and gives me more options of spacial use, where as this office seems really quite limited?

But saying that, the office location means soundproofing isn't really an issue, thus keeping costs focused more on acoustic treatment for the benefit of the recordings, rather than for the benefit of the surrounding area! :lol: