Well it is certainly tough out there. I think there is money to be had out there, but you have to be versatile and work it.
This year I really tried to step it up while still working a full time day job. I still didn't make a profit, but I made triple what I usually make.
The reality is that there is a lot more to being a recording engineer than putting out a great mix. There are deadlines, personalities, random weird problems, unusual convincing, gear failures, troubleshooting, etc. that you have to deal with. The worst are the guys that think they know recording and insist that you put the mic on their ass while playing since that is how their friend does it or scoff at my OC703 acoustic panels instead of egg crates. So you learn how to dance your way around, explain to them what you are doing, and fucking mic their ass and your ass, and do it right at the same time to appease them if all else fails.
Then somehow you want to be cool and be passionate about their farts into a mic and provide an efficient and inspiring environment and judge their personalities on the best motivator for good takes, etc.
But I digress....
I am hoping the trick this next year is to be versatile. Give guitar lessons. Talk to the local colleges and get interns (I am getting my second this spring!). Spreads the word and you practice teaching. Then open weekend classes and teach! Do repairs.
On the recording end, go to shows and hand out cards and brochures. Take on singer songwriters, hip-hop, tape transfers, spoken word, voice-overs, etc. But again, you have to be on your game for these. Or intern yourself to learn the game.
Then work it, connect connect connect. I stirred up a lot of business taking my field recorder to live shows (H4n) and taking a mix from the board and using the mics. Then I would give the bands a free recording (with permission). Give them the raw tracks, and I would doctor up a mix for them. Gave me practice processing the two bus and used tricks like multi-band comp and brutal EQing, to send a "kick only" track to something like trigger, beefing up the kick and such. Even though the track was still pretty rough, you would be amazed at the response to even having it louder (ie. low pass and limiter baby!, plus the recorder sounds good)
Sort of douchy, but I didn't charge them, and they got a taste of my "skillz" hence deciding to record with me. If nothing else I met band members, made friends. I invite them over to jam, drink beers, record it, etc. Hoping it will pay off later on.
Oh yeah and selling rehearsal time has definitely helped keep the doors open as well and stir up business and awareness.
Then if you want to do it full time, you better be ready to make sacrifices. Even guys I know that started a business doing computer security (high market value) still couldn't make payments and lived on ramen for almost a year before the ball got rolling.
One thing to help lower costs at your studio is to live there. Look for "Artist work/live" type of stuff. Or a space in the warehouse district where the landlord sort of looks the other way about people living there.
I see things moving that way one way or another, and I think it will continue. Even if all you have is a mixing/dubbing room, you can still book studios for the full bands and drum kits. So you loose money there, but at least for me... drums take the shortest amount of time... guitars are the suck. All of which can be done in a much smaller space.
