For those who work in/own a studio - building a clientel and getting new business

[DaveBlack]

So after a decade of being an amateur, at home recording hobbyist, I finally got my chance to go "professional" at a nice facility right outside of philadelphia. I've apprenticed there for about 6 months, learned the ins and outs of the studio and my latest mixes are some of the best i've ever done. So the owner gave me the go ahead to start bringing in my own clients. I've been promoting like crazy(myspace, handing out business cards at shows), offering insanely low rates, like just enough to pay the owner his percentage (cuz I'd rather build a portfolio and a clientel than to make money)...but still, the fish are not biting!! Even the bands my friends are in are lazy and broke and aren't following through on their words to record with me.

So how long did it take you guys to get a steady stream of business?? I'd like to hear other people's stories, even if you're not doing it professionally or full time.

 

[musickey]

It always seems like its either feast or famine, Thats why i have a day job aswell.

 

[ahjteam]

So how long did it take you guys to get a steady stream of business?? I'd like to hear other people's stories, even if you're not doing it professionally or full time.

I can tell you that its all about contacts. I can tell you how I got started in the biz...

Back in the late-90s I was getting more and more intrested in music like and I was just a music enthusiast with no musicianship background and then I saw a notice on this one webzines website that they are looking for new journalists to write reviews. I thought I was pretty good at writing and I contacted the zine and then I started my career as a musicjournalist, before I even started doing anything related to music.

Then around 2002 I got this one demo from a band called Major Label, fugly coverart, deftones kinda numetal stuff and I reviewed the demo 4/5 (I think the review is still one of my best text ever, btw). Then they sent in the next demo like 6-7 months later, I reviewed it 5/5. Loved the stuff. Band didn't have a website and I really wanted to know when the band was on a gig etc and wanted to get the band more knowledged. I was studying programming at the time and specialized in website programming (but I don't do that shit anymore, pay-work ratio sucks), so I contacted the guitarist that was listed as the contact in the demos booklet, we drank a few beers and then I did their website and was their webmaster for a few good years, then I went to the army and someone else took the webmaster duties over.

Well, the army was over and I got unemployed and then got an audioengineer trainee job thru the unemployment office at a one venue called Gloria that was owned the municipality. I was visiting one of the studios that was owned by the municipality too and asked how hard it was to get as a trainee there and pretty much forgot about it.

So then I spent like 2 years at Gloria, and one day I was reading the local newspaper and noticed that Major Label was having a gig in Factory, which was one of the shittiest punk-caves in Helsinki you can find (Factory was closed down in 2008 and there is some oriental restaurant nowadays). Arto was working as a trainee at Finnvox as at the time and he made a demo with his one-man-band called Pariisin Kevät (which is actually now signed by Sony-BMG), so I called him that could I buy it and went to Factory, bought the demo and then I asked who is going to mix them and he said "nobody".

Then I said that I could mix them because I've been mixing like the last 9 months at Gloria so I knew what to do and shit. Well, BAM! I "mixed" it, the gig sucked, band played loud as fuck etc. Anyways, then I visited their myspace page again, called Arto again "would you want me to come and mix your gig at Tavastia". Tavastia is like best rockclub in Finland and there was this invite-only gig arranged by Coca-Cola, so the place was crowded as fuck. I said that I could come and mix you for free. The gig went fabulously and the crowd loved the band. Then like after 2-3 more gigs I said that I could come for like really low price (I think it was 50-60€ or something ridicilously low. I have raised the salary each year, my current salary is more than doubled from that time).

Well, now year is 2006 and the band got signed shortly after the Coca-Cola gig and Arto got a regular job at Finnvox as a recording engineer and he was recording Major Label's first album and then I went in and recorded some of his vocals for free (it was summer time and I had nothing better to do) for the album because it would've sucked to go back and forth to record them by himself.

Year changes to 2007, my contract with Gloria ends and I remembered that I visited the studio in 2006. I called them, made some papers and BAM! I was a trainee there. I record several bands there and I thought one of them had potential, called Insane Affection that made a two song demo there.

Then one day I heard from Arto that Damn Seagulls needed an engineer for their tour, I mixed one of their gigs at Semifinal and liked what I did, but they toured with some other band and their engineer said that he could mix them for free, so I couldn't beat that so I didn't go on that tour. Well, the Major Labels album got published and the band got on tour and there I was, mixing on them and the supporting band, The Wrecking Queens. Our driver Santeri was on the Seagulls tour and told me that they drank and fought so much that I was pretty much reliefed that I didn't go

Anyways, Arto was dating this french girl called Aurelie at the time. She also had a band, called Eilra, and we met at Finnvox when he was recording his vocals. Then one day Aurelie calls and asks me how much do I charge for mixing Eilera, then I told her, then BAM! what happened was that I was mixing on their tour.

At the same time Major Label was having a break from touring and Arto was doing his stuff at Finnvox and then I asked what he has been doing lately, then he said that he was producing the album for Downstairs and was recording drums and mixing album for Ancara. I asked "isn't Ankara called Kara nowadays", then he said that "thats the other Ancara", then I went and checked out their website and noticed that they had a job advertisement for a live engineer, but it had expired like 4 months ago. I decided to take a shot in the dark, sent my CV and mentioned Arto, then one day BAM! I got a call from Ancara's drummer "wanna come to our rehearsal space for a meeting about the live engineering job". It was like may 2007 now.

I went in and mixed their record release party gig, I was chitchatting with the guy who owned the audio gear of the venue, he was the mixer guard that night and then he complained how hard it was to find good engineers (the engineer for Sunrise Avenue for example was working there and they had like a 4 month tour coming), then I told him that I just got unemployed. I got his business card and then Bam! Suddenly, I was a trainee at a studio, mixing tour engineer for three different bands and a house engineer on a venue, all in the same year.

Then the year turns into 2008, Aurelie moves back to France, and as Ancara has two engineers and Major Label only has one, I decided to focus on Major Label. Their tour continued as random gigs all over Finland and then one day we had a gig at Kuudes Linja in Helsinki and two of my friends, who also worked at Gloria, got some kind of influenza and asked could I fill in for them. Then the chief technician came in and liked what I did and BAM! I was mixing as a house engineer at Kuudes Linja too.

Ancara's bassplayer told me that a friend of theirs works called Jani at a booking agency called Broadway and then I sent him email and BAM! I spend two weeks as house engineer on a boat.

Then I get into the university, move 300km away to study audio engineering. Then I noticed that my classmate called Olli is in a band called Sacrecy, we get a bit drunk one day and I wake up naked in my bed and the next day my roommate shows a picture of me passed out in the toilet with the sink full of vomit. Next day I speak to Olli and I vaguely remember that I promised to be their secondary sound engineer. Nice!

Well, the year went well and summer was coming, and unemployment was ahead of me. Then one day Jouni from Insane Affection calls me and asks would I like to mix one of their gigs, the gig went fabulously and then one day he calls again and we chitchat a little more, meet and BAM! I spent two weeks recording their debut album June. Then during the album sessions Jani from Broadway calls me and BAM! I spend whole summer in one of the largest luxury cruisers in the world as a soundengineer and made about 7500€ in 6 weeks.

So what is happening in my life today?

I'm back in this God forsaken place, university studies continue, I'm studying surround sound and live-engineering. But just like last week, Aurelie sent me an email and asked me would I like to come and mix their Western-European tour in January, April and May.

So I have Finnish and Central-European tours coming up with Ancara in 2009-2010, possibly a support tour with one of the biggest band from Finland in Jan-Feb 2010 (but I'm not allowed to talk about that since it's not confirmed yet), Tour de France with Eilera in 2010 and they have asked several times would I like to come again to Silja Europa again in the next summer and they also asked me as a regular engineer, but I wanted to keep studying. If I wouldn't live so faw away from everywhere and have the university studies, I would have so much work that I wouldn't have enough days to do them.

Summa summarum: It's all about contacts

 

[ahjteam]

So how long did it take you guys to get a steady stream of business?

And to answer this question... from 2002 to 2007, so five years

 

[::XeS::]

Yes I agree, it's all about contacts.
At the end of last year I bought enough equipment that permitted me to record a full drums so I decided to record a cover song and put it on myspace. I recorded my friend at drums, and myself on guitar and bass (no vocals). I did a myspace page and I put that cover in the player. After that I wrioe some message on msn with a drummer (my girlfriend's friend) and I proposed him to record a song for free. He accepted and I recorded this promo song. They put it on they myspace too and it received positive comments. After some weeks I received a message from the ex band of the drummer and they asked me to record a song and if they like the results the EP (6 songs). I ask them 200€ and I recorded this song. At the end they like it so much and payed me 250€. Meanwhile a friend of mine said me that he listened my new work and he like it so much and that his band wanna record the new full lenght with me.
So next week I start to record the EP (we contracted 1500€ for 4 song and an acustic song)...after some weeks I'll record another single test song and after that the full lenght for the band of the drummer that I recorded for free.
It's a chain...initially it's so hard because you earn nothing, but when you start to have "a name" in the scene, you can make the rules.
All these bands recorded with a guy that uses only plugins, e-drums, etc...and it asks 350€/song. On the other hand I refuse to use plugins and e-drums because I wanna become a great producer and because I like to work with "the real deal". These guys were tired to pay so much money for that fake sound so when I arrived with all that gear, working for the same price, they contact me.
Anyway sometimes it's really tough, expecially when you wait a call or a message.
Definitely you have to play well your cards, with contacts, friends, also unknown people.
Now my main problem is to find a good place where I can work, because now I record drums in my girfriend vacation house and there is no insulation....so loud outside.

 

[James Murphy]

just do good work and let that be your calling card. trying to talk people into recording with you is kind of like trying to talk a girl that wasn't instantly attracted to you into sleeping with you... it results in pushing them away. just always put your best foot forward and let it develop naturally.

 

[DaveBlack]

I think it's really interesting to hear how people pretty much fall into being an engineer. I remember being really young, maybe 13 or 14 and knowing that I would rather be the guy behind the scenes then the rockstar on stage. And it always seems that it's one of those things that happens or it doesn't. It's one thing to start a business if you have the space and money, but in my case we didn't have money like that when I was young so I couldn't even buy my own gear until I was like 17. Getting an oppurtunity to have somewhere serious to hone my skills is one of the coolest things to happen to me. I just hope the owner doesn't think I'm slacking and not generating enough business. He's a good dude though so I dont think he would get rid of me or anything.

 

[Proggm]

just do good work and let that be your calling card. trying to talk people into recording with you is kind of like trying to talk a girl that wasn't instantly attracted to you into sleeping with you... it results in pushing them away. just always put your best foot forward and let it develop naturally.

Exactly my thoughts.

I never considered being a sound engineer until some guys told me to mix their album. They liked the work I did with my music projects way more than what the famous studios did with most bands of the genre. Despite the fact that I was always trying to get better sounds and kept reading about any subject of field (I'm one of those geeks that prefer reading about electronics than watching a football game), I wasn’t sure of taking that job... it was a big responsibility. But I did take it anyway, and it turned out awesome. I learned a lot, enjoyed it, and figured out what I could do for a living. The quality of my work started to spread by word of mouth and, without realizing it, I had already built a clientele.

So, by the age of 17 (21 now), I finished high school and fully embraced the idea of having a recording studio. All because someone liked what I did. That’s all. Hope it helps.

 

[lordtech]

+1 about contacts. Im always nervous whenever i recieved texts or calls from unknown people that wanted to record songs. Its a risk to take anyways since im working on my own in the studio. Its been a year plus since i started this whole thing from a beginner up to this level and new bands start to trust me producing their materials. Cant wait to produce an album this year for an indie band soon.

ahjteam: Great post mate \m/

 

[AudioGeekZine]

good shit in this thread.

I advertise a bit on Craigslist for the past couple months. I got 1 job from it so far and a dozen contacts.
Even though you only want to work with bands (like I do) you have to offer to corporate, voice over, karaoke clients too.

 

[DaveBlack]

good shit in this thread.

I advertise a bit on Craigslist for the past couple months. I got 1 job from it so far and a dozen contacts.
Even though you only want to work with bands (like I do) you have to offer to corporate, voice over, karaoke clients too.

See I'm not completely educated on how those scenarios work as far as something like karaoke. Do you provide the instrumentals for them to record over? Voice overs are cool too but do you need to have a video screen fed into the vocal booth cuz whenever I see them recording stuff for disney, the actors always have a huge screen to look at. And as for craigslist, did you have to pay to put your ad up there? I heard it cost about 50 bucks now.

 

[AudioGeekZine]

Craigslist is free, at least here. If you post in the musician's wanted section you get the most hits but your ad will be flagged and removed within a day usually.
You should post in the services section which only requires phone verification (automated)

For karaoke theres sites you can download the backing tracks from, some free, some for $5.99 (charged to the client of course), sometimes its general MIDI so you'll need to recreate the instruments, should only take an hour or so.

For voiceovers you don't necessarily need a video screen because many things dont require visuals, like radio. If you have a dual monitor setup, just clone your screens, and have the video up (import their video into your DAW).

Working with and without video is a different workflow. As well as if you need to edit it or not, the last one i did they just recorded each line in as many different ways as possible, I exported the tracks and they were out in 30 minutes. The producer knew what he was looking for though.