How much do you charge?

[ahjteam]

I just read the grape "studio" charges $20 a song -thread that got bashed a lot because that kind of action distorts the competition. I was watching Finnish Musicians Union taxrate list (in finnish, pdf) just noticed I have been accidentally charging for the past few years almost about the "the bandcontact person" salary (being the technical contact for most of the bands I have mixed), which is 121,09€ per day and I have charged 100€ + travel expenses in the past few years, which usually totals very close to that amount. In the same list studiowork is listed at 31,64€/h or minimum of 149,58€ per day. So the question is, how much do you charge?

 

[cloy26]

 

[professorlamp]

To me the quality of my products defintely is not reflective of some of the guys on here so that shows in the price,but i usually get poor/crap bands anyway, usual price is about £20-30 per song

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

I just read the grape "studio" charges $20 a song -thread that got bashed a lot because that kind of action distorts the competition. I was watching Finnish Musicians Union taxrate list (in finnish, pdf) just noticed I have been accidentally charging for the past few years almost about the "the bandcontact person" salary (being the technical contact for most of the bands I have mixed), which is 121,09€ per day and I have charged 100€ + travel expenses in the past few years, which usually totals very close to that amount. In the same list studiowork is listed at 31,64€/h or minimum of 149,58€ per day. So the question is, how much do you charge?

I don't charge by the hour, except for tracking, but the daily rate (for 8 hours) is pretty much exactly the minimum listed.

 

[cloy26]

I'm doing about 50 USD a song now. My stuff isn't worth more than that.

 

[Z3R0]

$100 a song is really good, i'm under what most people are $35/hr. Mixing and Mastering included. That gets most bands out the door with a full CD for about $1k. Pays my expenses and they don't loose an arm and a leg. It's been getting me business in the crappy state of Iowa...

 

[cloy26]

zero, are you a full time? Is recording your occupation or a side job?

 

[006]

Best thing you can do is charge HOURLY for TRACKING, and do like a flat rate per-song for edit/mix/master. I am currently at $15/hour for tracking and $40/song to edit/mix/"master" and it's working out to where projects are MUCH more fun for me. Before I was charging like $50/song flat to drum up business, which included all tracking too - not to toot my horn but I was always being told I don't charge enough. The problem with that is the tracking phase takes forever because the clients are paying the same no matter what, so they literally take all the time in the world. It wears you down and you get sick of it, at least I did. I hated every project nearing the finish line because of the tracking phase taking sooooo fucking long and them being overly picky. But now that I've been doing hourly tracking, shit gets done faster, bands practice before they come in, they aren't as picky (unless it's obvious which I catch anyway), and overall I'm much happier. Once I get my own building I plan to up my rates accordingly.

 

[professorlamp]

006
that is the best advice i have heard in a long time


edit: didn't some guy compile a chart on here about how much you should charge? I remember seeing it a couple of weeks ago

 

[Line666]

I think that was Adam that made that chart.

 

[006]

Yes, it was Adam but it wasn't just a chart, it was a spreadsheet that you would use in like Excel or OpenOffice Calc - really helpful because the formulas were already done for the cells so you just put in the correct variables and it does all of the work for you.

 

[cloy26]

Anyway to get a hold of the spreadsheet?

 

[Dalinkwent48@aim.com]

pm him and see if hell send you one

 

[Line666]

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/andy-sneap/550984-people-struggling-rates-how-charge.html

There's the topic with Adam's spreadsheet in it for anyone who's interested.

 

[Metaltastic]

Or someone (other than me ) could dig up the thread where he posted it

EDIT: Nevermind

 

[Sean in Silence]

I'm doing $100 a song for a quick mix, which means the band comes in, does their stuff, I mix a little bit, and send them out at the end of the day with a final mix.
Or $200 for the whole deal, which is editing, adding keys, etc. and when bands go this route we track for about a week and then I edit, mix, and master for about the same amount of time.
8-10 hour days both routes.

 

[gabriel g.]

not enough

 

[Forceps]

I charge 15 euro's/ hour. But with small projects (<3 hours) I should charge a minimum of 50 euro's I think. To prepare tracking and stuff takes too much time to receive like 15 euro's for tracking a vocalist for one song.

 

[monolithsound]

Currently, $15/hour. After my new studio is completed in a couple months, $25/hour.

 

[colonel kurtz]

right now i'm asking $10/hr to track, $50/song to mix/"master"

i'd love to charge more, but finding bands willing to pay even that, with my limited local reputation, has been a bit of a bitch. competing with dudes like sturgis, nwright, and many of the studios in dayton/cincinnati/etc. fucking sucks!

i have had one sweet project drop in my lap lately though, and possibly have 4 more coming up in the next few months, including my first full-length!