Mixing/mastering service.. how much to charge starting out?

[Cacoph0ny]

I want to get a mixing & mastering service started but I have no idea where I should start when it comes to rates. Obviously I'm going to be charging pretty low because I currently don't have a portfolio built up, and then gradually move up as it builds. I've been recording my own stuff for so long now but I have 10x more fun mixing other people's music.

Here are some examples of my most recent mixes..

wrote & did everything on this
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2407399/Deathcore_Sample.mp3

some from the sneap forum..
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2407399/Apprehension.mp3 (http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/...s/770441-already-have-raw-tracks-bounced.html)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2407399/Cognitive.mp3 (http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/...264-super-heavy-deathcore-5150-engl-look.html)

What would you guys (if you were in broke ass bands) be willing to pay for results like that?

 

[JohnTheRipper]

I'd say around 15-20$ per song, but then again i've never paid for mixing, nor have i ever heard what anyone else would charge. But i'd say that's a reasonable ammount for a starter.

 

[CharlesMonroe1989]

I just started off with 50€ per song when the drums are programmed. Thats cheaper than everybody else around here. And the recordings and mixing process for one song ist about 5h so its 10€ per hour. A price that the bands will understand, when the sound of the samples you send them is good.

so i would think 50$ per song should be ok for the beginning.

 

[fsgdjv]

I took 400 euros for 3 songs in my first paid job. I honestly think you should start around there. Unless it's a project that you really want to be a part of, then you can do it cheaper. But you have to be able to live. I know it's hard to charge that much but for an average price that you can lower a lot for interesting projects, that's kind of a good starting guideline.

I know people that started charging around 300 euros per song for their first payed jobs.

Mixing is a lot of work. I know bands in this genre don't have that much money, but still.

 

[Jordon]

Just don't undercharge and screw the other studios around you. We have guys who charge $20 a song, tracked and mixed, around here...Their quality is not good, but the band's don't care, and when they eventually come into our place and hear our prices, they backpedal quite a bit.

"This other dude only charged us $20 per song"
"And it definitely sounded like it. $20 will get you 30 minutes in our studio"
"What?! Why? That's so expensive"
"It's actually average, if not a bit below the average, for a studio our size"


They don't get it. They can't fathom that one compressor could be $3000, one set of mics $5000, etc.

I'm close to ranting now, so just don't charge too little. If your work is good, don't feel bad about charging a fair price for yourself. It's really easy to undercharge when starting out, and you end up getting burnt on a lot of projects. I've seen guys lose their drive to do it because of that reason.

 

[HCL]

£50-100 per song, depending on whether or not you're just mixing or also tracking. Any less than that isn't really worthwhile doing, you could do another job for considerably more money. Any more than that starting out and you'll find it harder to get work. Just try and get EP to Album length projects fairly regularly and you'll be making a part time wage.

 

[LeSedna]

I'd say around 15-20$ per song, but then again i've never paid for mixing, nor have i ever heard what anyone else would charge. But i'd say that's a reasonable ammount for a starter.

How can you pay for your rent and food and invest in future gear with such a price ?

 

[Jordon]

£50-100 per song, depending on whether or not you're just mixing or also tracking. Any less than that isn't really worthwhile doing, you could do another job for considerably more money. Any more than that starting out and you'll find it harder to get work. Just try and get EP to Album length projects fairly regularly and you'll be making a part time wage.

Yea, a part-time wage with more-than-full-time hours..

 

[HCL]

Yea, a part-time wage with more-than-full-time hours..

It's a tough industry and you can't ignore the laws of supply and demand - if you can charge more, then do it. When the decision is charging less for more frequent work vs charging more with less frequent work, you have to go with whatever is the most profitable when viewed as an aggregate.

Starting out? Aiming for a part time wage doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

 

[Jordon]

My point was if you're earning a part time wage doing work that, let's face it, is incredibly time-consuming, it becomes difficult to have a supplemental income in the form of another job. I know there are guys who do it, but they do the AE thing strictly as a hobby, and have another career ahead of them.

 

[colonel kurtz]

My point was if you're earning a part time wage doing work that, let's face it, is incredibly time-consuming, it becomes difficult to have a supplemental income in the form of another job. I know there are guys who do it, but they do the AE thing strictly as a hobby, and have another career ahead of them.

this

after re-locating to the area i live in now, i took on one local gig for super-cheap, just to get my foot in the door, so to speak

after all was said and done, i ended up making $4/hr off of the deal, and the all the band did was bitch about how it took me 2 weeks to get the mix done

recently some kid who knows them asked me to give them a price for recording an EP...i gave them my rate, which is still sort of low-ball, and then heard later that they're skipping on me to go to a friend who's charging them $45/song to record and mix. i'm sure it'll sound like a $45/song job, too, but that's their own damned problem!

a friend of mine told me i should lower my price to match the other guy, until i told him that i can make 3x as much working an hour of overtime at my regular job, and then he understood why it's not worth lowering yourself to work for such a small amount. it sucks to be this way about it, because i pretty much price myself out of the market for most of the broke-ass excuses for bands around here, but in the end, it is what it is, and my time is worth more to me than $4/hr. for a bunch of unappreciative little shits!

 

[HCL]

this

after re-locating to the area i live in now, i took on one local gig for super-cheap, just to get my foot in the door, so to speak

after all was said and done, i ended up making $4/hr off of the deal, and the all the band did was bitch about how it took me 2 weeks to get the mix done

recently some kid who knows them asked me to give them a price for recording an EP...i gave them my rate, which is still sort of low-ball, and then heard later that they're skipping on me to go to a friend who's charging them $45/song to record and mix. i'm sure it'll sound like a $45/song job, too, but that's their own damned problem!

a friend of mine told me i should lower my price to match the other guy, until i told him that i can make 3x as much working an hour of overtime at my regular job, and then he understood why it's not worth lowering yourself to work for such a small amount. it sucks to be this way about it, because i pretty much price myself out of the market for most of the broke-ass excuses for bands around here, but in the end, it is what it is, and my time is worth more to me than $4/hr. for a bunch of unappreciative little shits!

That's the point though - if you're just starting out you're not going to be providing terrific quality. Bands aren't stupid, if you charge too much without being able to provide a proportionately matching quality then they'll go somewhere else, and so will all their friends.