Project studio guys, how did you promote yourselves starting out?

RedDog

RedDog

Humanoid typhoon
Sep 7, 2010
1,542
0
36
Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Hey guys, Jay here. I'm looking for advice on promotion of my small project studio.

I have the equipment necessary for the recording of a medium sized band, i.e. max: 5 piece kit with OHs and room, treated live room and control room which are kinda separated, but only by stairs and a loft style bedroom.. it's hard to explain, but it sounds great. Anyway the drum room is finished. I have access to a couple amps (5150 and Mesa dual recto) and have a couple cabs (shit behringer and Mesa OS with v30s), and for the most part enough mics for just about any application. In short I'm ready to get rolling and have just enough material to show I know my way around SD2 and I really want some clients to start building a portfolio. Boo. Currently I'm spending a lot of time at my day job and that shit has got to stop, as the time I spend interning with Ryan Harvey has been indispensable as learning experience and I am starting to hate that fucking job, lol. (Gotta shout out to the boss man, you know I love you, ryan.) Anyway, wanking on myself aside, how do the homies on the Sneap forum go about getting work? Business cards, word of mouth, local shows, websites, ads, what do you do?

All tips are greatly appreciated. To show my love, I'll be putting up samples for you dudes and discounted rates for reamps and edits and all that good stuff.

Horns up!
Jay
 
I have no idea personally 'cause i've never done it, but a few things i've learned about promotion through the college course I did is that social/online media and word of mouth can be the most indespensible.

Going from that I figure business cards are a good shout 'cause they're cheap, and people are quite likely to keep them, even if it's jsut scrunched up in their pocket, and you can easily take a load to local shows which're happening all the time, usually for free or at least very cheap.

Intro fofers and facebook would be cool, there's a load of metal promotion pages on facebook/general promotion pages for small bands of all genres, if you put up your studio with rates on there, and a few links to soundcloud or whatever as a portfolio of your best work across multiple genres that could bring in some business, even if it's just mixing/reamps and not full recording.

Youtube would be cool too. People (or at least me) are always looking for mix tutorials/product demos, so you could start up a channel and do tutorials on how to get a great guitar tone or whatever and reviews of any plugs you've got. If the video's good it'll go viral (not as in millions of views viral, but you know what I mean), and with the amps you have access to that's a massively good foundation for gear demos. 5150/dual rec demos are always being looked up, and you've got the advantage of having pro gear to rcord it with rather than a crappy camera mic :),

lots of good content=lots of views and attention, plus it gives you a chance to actually speak and come across as a nice guy, which'll give people more of a reason to work with you, so they're not lulled in by great sounds etc only to find out you're an asshole. (Not saying you are btw, just saying it'll give people more of a reason to work with you if they think you're a cool guy)

Like I said, i've never done this, and this is all just promotion stuff i've learned about/utilised myself to good effect and might help you along your way :D
 
Record a friend for free or cheap, make them spread the word, tell them to lie about how much it cost.
Make friends with local bands, etc..

FB page always works as long as it says Studio on it
 
You should do flyers with 'codes' on them so that people get real or perceived discounts. Doesn't matter if people even quote an appropriate code, so long as they contact you. You can also offer further discounts or some other deal if they like and share your page through facebook. Maybe even do little updates on their page, photos of the drummer laying out his track etc. Means fans of that band may contact you.
Relying on one method is silly. You need to combine as many promotion types as you can, try to avoid constant spamming or nagging. The problem with only being online is that people have to know to search for you to find you and the problem with being purely IRL is that people are going to bin flyers as much as pocket them.
If you're at album launches for bands you record, having cards there would be a huge plus (you could also consider sponsoring the launch by paying for posters and then get your logo on the poster), stuff like that.
 
I don't have time to post a lot hhere, but there were quite some threads with the same subject,
wrote some stuff there and there were alot of cool ideas.
 
Business cards are very cheap via Vista print, and you can just literally spam them everywhere. Go to shows, hand them out, leave them on the bar...leave them on bulletin boards in music stores etc... I got like 500 cards for $6 or something? I mean, why not?

Best advertisement in the world is word of mouth. Get a few projects under your belt and some stuff that sounds decent and people will contact you. My biggest issue is that everyone wants me to work for free or for $5/hr or something. Just set a rate and stick to it unless you want to cut a deal for a band you really love and desperately want to work with, or that will make you sound amazing. If there's a total shit band, double your price for them.
 
Make some friends and record their bands for free or next to nothing- then go to shows and network with bands you dig. That's what I've been doing and I just finally started getting a little work rolling in and emails asking about rates on FB. I'll cut deals for multiple days booked where I know I'll be getting like a few hundred bucks for a decent amount of work. Maybe focus on doing singles and demos until you are confident on being able to find work and produce/record at a consistent level. That's my method right now at least until I catch a break with that badass band with the budget to get me into the proper place.
 
Record an amazing band and make them sound even better. I truly believe the product speaks for itself. A smooth talking kind of guy could get a band into his studio, but eventually the band will hear the results so make sure your results are amazing.
 
It's tough as the best way of drumming up more work is by being busy. If you're recording bands then they'll be talking about you and if people can see you're always busy then they'll want to work with you. Many bands aren't that choosy about who they work with and will go with someone simply because it's who some of their friends have recorded with or they're the guy doing all the metal bands in their area.

No harm in mailing bands asking them if they are thinking of recording soon and if they'd consider working with you. People need to know that you're there before they'll consider you. Business cards are handy and cheap, I really must get some printed up! An active Facebook account with regular updates and info helps.

I got a lot of early work by being a live sound engineer. I could talk to bands and they knew me so when it came time to record I was a safe choice and delivered good results.

I also get that Sloan too. Bands seem to really want to work with me but they never have cash to do it. I'm finding there's never ending work with new bands and local outfits for low money but the tricky part is moving up and getting the good upcoming bands who are willing to spend some money on getting a good product. I've turned down a few bands lately because I simply don't want to work with bands that aren't ready for the studio and are broke.

Be prepared to have an answer for bands who want to record an albums worth of material, live, in no time for practically no money and it has to sound as good as whatever's big right now to them.
 
Get out to gigs and network.
Pick good bands that know lots of other bands and give them a free day.
Tell them to spread the word in return.
Facebook is amazing for networking too.
"friend" lots of band members (liking band pages doesn't work)
then post LOTS of mixes etc and they will start to notice and may start listening to your stuff.
Get talking to all the in house sound guys in the venues in your town and offer them commission for any bands they send your way. Give them cards or, even better, promo CDs.
Do the same with the guys who work the reception in local rehearsal studios.
Find out if there are any band competitions on or coming up and sponsor with a days recording prize.
Meet up with the students union in your local college and see if there is a band society and offer student discount to them.
Bands know what good backline is but rarely know what good recording gear is so make sure you have good drums, cymbals and amps.
Above all, do good work and the word will spread.
 
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