% of Forum producing for a living/Average income that can be expected?

[kev]

Hey guys, I know we've had these discussions kind of before, but i'd like you to go into more depth if thats possible.

Do any of you guys get a stable income from this? Maybe you could share ball park figures for instance. The reason i am asking... soon to finish uni and wondering if it could even be a possibility at some point in the future, maybe part time if nothing else. Not even sure it is feasable though!

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

No it's not, forget it, go away

 

[kev]

No it's not, forget it, go away

Curse you Brett

 

[Pman]

Hey guys, I know we've had these discussions kind of before, but i'd like you to go into more depth if thats possible.

Do any of you guys get a stable income from this? Maybe you could share ball park figures for instance. The reason i am asking... soon to finish uni and wondering if it could even be a possibility at some point in the future, maybe part time if nothing else. Not even sure it is feasable though!

what are you doing at uni

 

[kev]

what are you doing at uni

Business & Computer Science. Music has always been more of a part time thing so far really Pman.

 

[MetalWorks]

I do absolutely zero advertising. I have a myspace page, thats it. I get referals from other bands and people that stumble across my myspace page from other bands or search engines. With Zero advertising, I record about 2 bands per month.

So I would average that down to about $700-1000 per month at $25 per hour which is a pretty sweet deal considering I have put out some better demos than some bigger studios in the area that charge $35-$60 per hour. Most demo CD's I record are as little as 10-12 hours to 20+ hours for those that really want to edit alot. Eventually I will bump the price as my skills improve.

I have a regular job so I only do recording on weeknights and weekends.

If I actually went around messaging bands on Myspace, put adds in local music magazines or newspapers, flyers at music shops/record stores, or flyers/demo CD's at some local band rehearsal warehouses/studios which there are 3 in my area that have at least 60 bands each, I would probably get more business.

Not to mention I only work with Metal Bands.

But I would guess that its safe to say if I was trying to actually get business I might make $2000 a month minimum or more.

One local band just spent $5000 to do their full length CD which was about 10 "10 hour" recording sessions within a month period. That averages down to $50 per hour. Plus the studio was still recording other bands at the same time.

So you can see theres some money to be made.

Its possible that studio pulls in as much as $10,000 a month working 200 hours a month. A normal work month for a full time person is around 180 hours. And 10 hour recording sessions are usually easier to work than your normal 8 hour job.

Like anything, start it on the side and when you are making enough consistantly, switch to it full time.


I plan to keep my job because I will get paid retirement. But I intend to do recording on the side and get as big as I can doing it.

Eventually it would be nice to have an assistant that could run my studio full time and I can still do recording at times when I am available. Or basically work on bigger bands or projects.

That way I have extra money coming in when I don't even have to work.

Thats my input.

 

[kev]

Thats some brilliant input Metalworks, thanks for taking the time. Myspace does seem to be a powerful tool for it by all accounts! I was thinking of perhaps doing it in a house originally with triggered drums or something, and if people liked the results and it was working out, invest further.

 

[kaomao]

believe me, you should start to do it as a funny thing (week end recording something like that) then if this can bring you a lot of money, it can be great.
Think about arch enemy or any other underground band like that, they don't earn so much money to live as rich persons lol they got a normal life and maybe they have to give guitar lessons to pay the bills.

 

[MetalWorks]

believe me, you should start to do it as a funny thing (week end recording something like that) then if this can bring you a lot of money, it can be great.
Think about arch enemy or any other underground band like that, they don't earn so much money to live as rich persons lol they got a normal life and maybe they have to give guitar lessons to pay the bills.

Sadly its true.

People get off their tour, then its back to Working at the Mall, Guitar Center, Painting houses etc.....

 

[MetalWorks]

Thats some brilliant input Metalworks, thanks for taking the time. Myspace does seem to be a powerful tool for it by all accounts! I was thinking of perhaps doing it in a house originally with triggered drums or something, and if people liked the results and it was working out, invest further.

I'm lucky enough to have 2 garages in the place I rent.

Got my Control room in a single car garage.

And my recording room in a 2 car garage with an office in the back.

Basic sound treatment and a 100 foot cable snake.

My only other options would be to go rent a band rehearsal space which would be about a 12x14 or so room for $340 per month. I know of one studio that rented 2 rooms next to eachother and put a window between them for a control room and live room setup. But then thats already pushing $700 a month.

Or find a garage/warehouse in an industrial area for around $600+ a month.

At the rate I am going, neither would be worth it.

But I definately would like a more legit establishment once I take myself really seriously.

If you cant do live drums in your house, maybe keep your setup fairly mobile and rent a place to do drums or other loud instruments.

Or even a buddies band practice space.

 

[Wolfeman]

Sadly its true.

People get off their tour, then its back to Working at the Mall, Guitar Center, Painting houses etc.....

Yet the pop/rap 'artists' make millions...... Always amazed me....

 

[MetalWorks]

Yet the pop/rap 'artists' make millions...... Always amazed me....

Cuz if you aint got every dope ass beat to sing along to and play for da ho's on yer way to da club to you aint a true player.

Meanwhile, us metalheads are blasting Cannibal Corpse and apparently singing songs about raping dead babies through their eye socket aint selling to well.

 

[kev]

Cuz if you aint got every dope ass beat to sing along to and play for da ho's on yer way to da club to you aint a true player.

Meanwhile, us metalheads are blasting Cannibal Corpse and apparently singing songs about raping dead babies through their eye socket aint selling to well.

and there's also ripping entrails out of a virgins cunt of course lol

 

[ScottCash]

I think I remember Andy's myspace page advertising a salaray of over $250,000. Of course you gotta have mad board skills, reputation and 20 some odd years in the business.

 

[LydonB]

I think how much money made has to do with a lot of factors for the most part. But I think if someone really wants to get a job doing this and if they really want to succeed, they will. Sounds cliche but I think its true.

 

[MetalWorks]

I think I remember Andy's myspace page advertising a salaray of over $250,000. Of course you gotta have mad board skills, reputation and 20 some odd years in the business.

I believe NRG Studio in Los Angeles quoted me $3000 per day to use their studio and im pretty sure they don't include an engineer in that cost.

Say you got a basic studio engineer who charged you $40 per hour to work 10 hours blocks at NRG for $3000 per day.

So take $3400 per day times 7 days a week times 52 weeks a year.

Multiply that by 3 because they have Studio A, B and C to work from.

They can be pulling $3,712,800 a year off artists like Korn, Limpbizkit, No Doubt, Linkin Park and everyone else they work with in the whole music industry.

I might be a little off here or there but thats probably a fair estimate just in hourly recording fee's alone.

Who knows what other special arrangements they make between artists vs. the average joe.

 

[everybody's x]

I'm booked 3-4 months out and have been for a couple of years now. I'm not making a ton of cash but it beats working! (which I also do)
Know your scene, be out and about and always working it. I am far from the best even in my own neck of the woods, but people like working with me and they know I want them to put their best out there.
If you build it they will come (?)
Go for it, if you fail at least you tried. Unless you're in Kansas City, in that case give up now

 

[dontletmedrown]

...So take $3400 per day times 7 days a week times 52 weeks a year.

Multiply that by 3 because they have Studio A, B and C to work from.

They can be pulling $3,712,800 a year off artists like Korn, Limpbizkit, No Doubt, Linkin Park and everyone else they work with in the whole music industry...

Umm not exactly. That's assuming they are booked solid everyday which they are not. Also their top engineer/owner is making MOST of the money. Don't forget about utilities (HVAC+multiple vintage consoles)/insurance/gear/maintenance (on lots of vintage gear--OUCH). Also think about the future. How many more years will NRG survive when nobody is buying CDs anymore? Even if we switch to new media, the majority of the general public is used to getting their music for free. IMHO, the future looks very grim for recording engineers.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I don't even call myself part time yet because I haven't had anything large or anything, but so far it's been a nice suppliment of money. Not complaining when it comes to getting extra cash doing what I like. I average $2-400 exstra cash a month to do whatever with.

 

[sparkyness]

Back in the early 90's I made a healthy living out of session work (bass player), live gigs and interned at various studios, and also worked the odd temp job in IT to keep the rent ticking over. I got to travel all over Australia, Japan and South East Asia playing all different styles of music for a living. I eventually got sick of the lifestyle and got offered a regular job and a chance to move to the US, so took it.

I subsequently moved to London a couple of years later and fell in with a production company and started working on various recordings - electronic stuff, white labels for DJ's, commericals, radio....virtually anything but metal (although there was a brief foray into some rather dodgy Industrial Rock productions) but it helped paid the bills and was fun. I eventually ended up working full time for a web & advertising agency doing both a standard IT job for them and post-production on their virals, commericals, and tv stuff. I still work for them part-time even though I've since moved to Ireland. The rest of my time is now split between various consulting gigs (multimedia, IT, film) and working on my own stuff.

It's probably not the traditional career path for a musician or engineer, but I've lived and worked in 4 continents and made a reasonable living out of what limited musical skills I was blessed with