website looks great!
I would still put some sort of song player on your site. Soundcloud is great for this. Even if the audio isn't the absolute greatest, it still gets the point across and gets the job done.
I Publicly Shared ALL Of My Studio's Income, Expenses and Tax Numbers From 2014.
- Thread starter brianhood
- Start date
website looks great!
I would still put some sort of song player on your site. Soundcloud is great for this. Even if the audio isn't the absolute greatest, it still gets the point across and gets the job done.
Melodeath
Moonbow
HOFX
Member
- Apr 12, 2012
- 469
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Good post, thanks for that.
A few questions / thoughts:
- How much growth do you see in the next 3 - 5 years? Do you think you'll crack the $200 / 300 / 500k mark?
- Even though you say "Let me first clarify that I am by no means anywhere near the top of the food chain in the home studio world. There are guys way above my level of income." I would still venture to say you're in the top 20 % pay bracket of people in the music industry (musicians included).
- I think for people starting out in the audio career path that this is really important information. Considering that after 6 years of what I easily to believe to be hard work compared to income levels of people with 6 years experience in other careers. I'm 8 years experience in engineering and on AU$165k, but although some days I'd rather be doing audio work, the income of engineering allows me to pursue other dreams such as building a house... Of course money isn't everything, but rarely do I accept that people only have "one dream", more often than not there are many dreams and you need to pick the best path on how you achieve them, and sometimes it's better to let a "dream job" be no more than an involved hobby.
Please don't take that as criticism, it's just you've revealed information I would want to know if I was 18 - especially since I read on GearSlutz the other day that 95 % of SAE Audio Engineering graduates are unemployed.
A few questions / thoughts:
- How much growth do you see in the next 3 - 5 years? Do you think you'll crack the $200 / 300 / 500k mark?
- Even though you say "Let me first clarify that I am by no means anywhere near the top of the food chain in the home studio world. There are guys way above my level of income." I would still venture to say you're in the top 20 % pay bracket of people in the music industry (musicians included).
- I think for people starting out in the audio career path that this is really important information. Considering that after 6 years of what I easily to believe to be hard work compared to income levels of people with 6 years experience in other careers. I'm 8 years experience in engineering and on AU$165k, but although some days I'd rather be doing audio work, the income of engineering allows me to pursue other dreams such as building a house... Of course money isn't everything, but rarely do I accept that people only have "one dream", more often than not there are many dreams and you need to pick the best path on how you achieve them, and sometimes it's better to let a "dream job" be no more than an involved hobby.
Please don't take that as criticism, it's just you've revealed information I would want to know if I was 18 - especially since I read on GearSlutz the other day that 95 % of SAE Audio Engineering graduates are unemployed.
Sloan
Sounds like shit!
I'm probably not alone here, but what have been the most effective methods you have found to bring in new clients and close deals?
I get email after email from folks and then when they find out that they actually have to PAY MONEY to have someone work for them, they either complain about it or I never hear from them again. I'm talking about less than $1000usd for a full production including multiple days of tracking and people aren't interested.
I am a member of a ton of local facebook musician groups so I post there every so often and usually get a little bump in response, but I actually only end up working with maybe one band/artist a year at this rate and it fucking sucks. I do keep busy doing live sound but I would much rather make records.
I get email after email from folks and then when they find out that they actually have to PAY MONEY to have someone work for them, they either complain about it or I never hear from them again. I'm talking about less than $1000usd for a full production including multiple days of tracking and people aren't interested.
I am a member of a ton of local facebook musician groups so I post there every so often and usually get a little bump in response, but I actually only end up working with maybe one band/artist a year at this rate and it fucking sucks. I do keep busy doing live sound but I would much rather make records.
Pharaoh's Curse
Member
- Nov 11, 2013
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It's really cool to see someone make that kind of money doing the studio thing. I can tell you when I was trying my hand at recording bands in the early 90's it was rough.
We charged $30.00 per hour and couldn't draw anyone. The bands around the area just did not have that kind of money. When we lowered our pricing to $20.00 per hour, we began getting the worst of the worst. Bands that had no business at all being in a studio.
This was working with 8 track reel to reel & ADAT's, there was no wave files to correct, or Melodyne, or any easy editing for that matter.
When bands received their final product and they didn't sound like Megadeth or Slayer, they were disappointed and of course, blamed the studio.
The studio was short lived, I think we ran it part time for a couple of years then closed shop to work on our own material. I would never do it again.
We charged $30.00 per hour and couldn't draw anyone. The bands around the area just did not have that kind of money. When we lowered our pricing to $20.00 per hour, we began getting the worst of the worst. Bands that had no business at all being in a studio.
This was working with 8 track reel to reel & ADAT's, there was no wave files to correct, or Melodyne, or any easy editing for that matter.
When bands received their final product and they didn't sound like Megadeth or Slayer, they were disappointed and of course, blamed the studio.
The studio was short lived, I think we ran it part time for a couple of years then closed shop to work on our own material. I would never do it again.
That's a great question. There is no way for me to predict how in demand "my sound" will be in the next few years. I've seen some producers grow in popularity for a few years, then fall off the map completely. I've also see producers with long careers that somehow keep an upward trajectory (even in metal\hardcore). I like to think I'm adaptable and a fucking hustler, so i'd like to be part of that latter group.
As far as specific income benchmarks, I could definitely see $200k being broken as a metal producer\mixing engineer. I do not see $300k or higher happening without other streams of income helping out (which I am working on).
A good example of a hustler with multiple streams of income would be good ol' Sturgis.
I'm going to expand on this and say that sometimes people's skills do not align with their "dream jobs". I know a lot of people who would love to be full time mixing engineers, but do not have the ear for it.
That being said, I would rather make $50K/year doing this job (where I get to be my own boss, which I love) than make $150k/year working a corporate job that I hated.
The way I look at it is this: To me, the point of having money is being able to do the things I want to do. There isn't much that I do that can't be supported off a smaller income, and my mental heath is much more important to me than that extra $100k\year. What good is money if you hate your life? (btw, if you hate your job, then you more or less hate your life since you spend about 50% of your waking hours at your job).
If you can make that extra $100k and love your job (or at least not hate it), then more power to you.
My favorite thing in life right now, though, is that I typically have a 20 hour work week, which allows me to pursue a ton of other projects on the side.
AntonioPetrole
Brootz
This is the most surprising part to me. Is this just at the moment or did this also reflect last year? 45k working 20 hours a week is pretty awesome, most people aren't promised decently high pay without working a minimum of at LEAST 40 hours (not that 45k is high pay, just a note).
JeffTD
Senhor Testiculo
A better example than Sturgis for being a hustler is Putney. Dude writes 1/2 of what he produces and it accounts for a lot of his income.
I've been asked this question more than anything else in the past year, so my next written material is going to cover this subject. It may be another blog post, a short free ebook, or some 5 day email series for my blog subscribers. I'm not sure how much writing it will take to cover this.
Here are some basics though:
- find your anchor band (not single audio engineer producer has ever "made it" without this)
I would have never "made it" without Gideon and Erra. It's 20% luck, 20% skill, and 90% hustle. Gotta have the luck to work with the right bands, the skills to make those bands sound good, and the hustle to actually get it done.
- differentiate yourself
I don't even know where to begin here...it's part "your sound", part personality. Sometimes it can be gear or something unique about your particular situation. Who fucking knows. Just be different (in a good way).
- create your sound
Stop trying to mimic someone else. You do you.
- scale up your bands. You're not going to start at the top.
Sometimes local bands end up blowing up and dragging your ass with them. Always make sure you improve the quality of bands you work with as you improve the quality of your mixes.
- keep hustling. Bands with grow with you, so don't give up.
You're not going to get it all correct at first. Keep at it until you do.
there are obviously a lot more pieces to the puzzle, but there are some basic tips to tide you over until I can elaborate.
I made about 60%-70% of my net income from a 20 hour work week last year. When I had bands in the studio, though, I worked 40+ hour weeks (which is why I'm not tracking bands the rest of this year).
My typical day is gym at 6am, shower, start work by 8:30, then mix from 8:30 to 11:30 or 12.
The rest of my day is spent on my other projects (my mixing course, software company, and a shitload of reading\studying).
I probably spend more than 30 hours\week on self-education.
I didn't know he made that much of his money off that. I just knew Sturgis had a million different things he made money from (good diversification).
Actually, let me elaborate on this a bit.
I think the 8 hour workday is bullshit (in a lot of cases). Especially when creativity is involved.
If you have a great night's rest, a solid morning routine, and the right mindset when you start work, then you can almost always get the same amount of work done in a 3-4 hour workday.
You just have to
1. Shut out all distractions (cell phone off, no facebook, no email)
2. Have everything planned out that you want\need to do.
3. Stay extremely focused during those 3 to 4 hours.
There is a lot more to this, but it's all about productivity and not letting yourself get burnt out. I could make more money in the short term by taking on more projects and working more hours, but I'd eventually crash and burn.
This just works well for me, as I get burnt out easily when I'm doing too much of the same thing.
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