How I turned a Bedroom Studio into a 6 Figure Business

[brianhood]

Hello all,

Today I launched a blog that is geared towards pretty much everyone in this forum. It will be mainly covering the business side of running a studio, and making the most of what you have.

Check out the first post for more info (and no, I'm not selling anything).

http://blog.456recordings.com/how-i-turned-bedroom-studio-into-6-figure-business/

So far this blog launch has been going very well on facebook, but I just wanted to bring it to this forum myself since this is where I got my start.

If you have any questions, just ask!

 

[nialldoran]

Cool first blog dude,

definitely looking forward to reading more, i'm three years in the job, and manage a studio for someone else as well as being an engineer there, so it's always cool to read and hear more from other people who are doing or who have done the same thing, because in terms of engineering and running the day to day there is always something else to learn, or something you can being doing better/more efficiently.

Look forward to the next one and have signed up dude.

Niall

 

[kernelxsanders]

So stoked for the coming additions to this blog. I'd be classified as one of those "working shit hours in a minimum wage restaurant job wishing I can get out of it and turn my wannabe bedroom "studio" into an inviting place of music" guys. Bookmarked.

 

[AudioGeekZine]

Really interesting. Looking forward to many more articles from you.

I have a hunch that this is a few posts away from announcing an ebook or video product. Nothing wrong with that, passive income is awesome. If that is the case please PM or email me.

 

[brianhood]

Really interesting. Looking forward to many more articles from you.

I have a hunch that this is a few posts away from announcing an ebook or video product. Nothing wrong with that, passive income is awesome. If that is the case please PM or email me.

haha maybe one day, but I have no plans for anything like that as of right now. My goal at this point is to not let down the 1200+ people that have subscribed to my blog so far.

If this shit seems "markety", it's because I've been studying into a lot of copy writing lately (for a non related business). Most sales copy I've studied is very cheesy\"markety" sounding, but it can work well to bring eyeballs to a page if you do it correctly.

 

[MondoLikeMetal]

I just graduated from a school here in L.A., and I've got my first job working as an engineer at a small studio (big fish in a small pond), so I'm looking forward to this! It's tough here, because the place also doubles as a rehearsal studio (too much bleed thru), so we track here, then I mostly take the material home to mix.
Recording broke musicians will only take you so far, so I'm thinking of the following for income.....
Prepping Multi-Tracks for engineers
Timing and Pitch correction for engineers
Commercial TV and Radio Spots
And, in the U.S., since the Supreme Court struck down most campaign contribution limits, there is going to be more political ad work in AV, so, yeah, I'll help construct an ad for some backwoods Republican if he pays me, haha.

 

[HOFX]

I'm going to have a crack at the spoiler alert: it was a balls-to-the-wall $25k a year business until he moved up the road to Nashville, TN with all its reputation as a recording studio centre of America and then charged $20-30 less an hour than the other big studios in town but was still producing a comparable product, such is the state of pro-sumer recording technology. Granted, he must have skills - not denying him that - but for each subscriber to his blog (which I am one) that has expectations of "following their dreams" American Idol style, I urge you to apply some degree of filter to your own situation.

 

[Pharaoh's Curse]

Pretty cool blog. I just have to say it is much easier today to achieve decent sounding mixes than when I first got into it. Back in the late 80's there was no Google or ready made samples at our disposal.

I had a 4-track cassette, then a 1/4" reel to reel, then ADAT's, which was my first experience with digital.

I subscribed to Recording magazine, which rarely had anything useful in it. I once brought in an engineer from a local big studio to give me tips and all I got was the vague "Think of it like painting a picture"

That will be $100.00....

It was very discouraging and I found playing in bands was much more fulfilling than recording some horrible band for $10 an hour. Of course every single one expected to sound like Iron Maiden and when they didn't, they blamed it on the studio.

The internet has really opened up a ton of information I wish I had 20+ years ago.

 

[jval]

Similar experience here, love this!!

 

[AudioGeekZine]

haha maybe one day, but I have no plans for anything like that as of right now. My goal at this point is to not let down the 1200+ people that have subscribed to my blog so far.

If this shit seems "markety", it's because I've been studying into a lot of copy writing lately (for a non related business). Most sales copy I've studied is very cheesy"markety" sounding, but it can work well to bring eyeballs to a page if you do it correctly.

Totally picked up on that immediately from the way you bold and underline certain words.
With your email list you're already in a great position to sell a product and make money while you sleep, especially if you open it up to a few affiliates.

 

[brianhood]

I'm going to have a crack at the spoiler alert: it was a balls-to-the-wall $25k a year business until he moved up the road to Nashville, TN with all its reputation as a recording studio centre of America and then charged $20-30 less an hour than the other big studios in town but was still producing a comparable product, such is the state of pro-sumer recording technology. Granted, he must have skills - not denying him that - but for each subscriber to his blog (which I am one) that has expectations of "following their dreams" American Idol style, I urge you to apply some degree of filter to your own situation.

That is a fair assumption, but I haven't recorded a single band from Nashville since I moved here 2 years ago. Most of my income is from tracking\mixing bands from other states, or mixing\mastering bands from other countries.

I honestly moved to Nashville more for my own sanity than anything else. I was 25 years old, living at my studio on 10 acres in the middle of nowhere Alabama. I was about 45 minutes from any of my friends, and had no social life. Since moving here, my life has improved 10x, but honestly, my location has little to do with my income.

 

[Harley Barley]

Thanks a lot Brian! been looking for something like this for a while! haven't read yet but i'm sure its great!

 

[Winston Wolf]

If this shit seems "markety", it's because I've been studying into a lot of copy writing lately (for a non related business). Most sales copy I've studied is very cheesy"markety" sounding, but it can work well to bring eyeballs to a page if you do it correctly.

It looks exactly like you've read some article "how to make money on the internetz"
And I don't blame you,I really don't - many bloggers make more money than AEs these days