So how's it all begin...?

[stringy_]

Yes, this is ANOTHER "how-do-I-get-started" engineering thread...but a bit different.


I'm having NO problem at all getting my name out there, people know about me through friends and I've already had many people ask me to record them. Just the other day I was asked to record a 5-song demo, and a month ago I was even asked by the local Fox TV affiliate to record a jingle for a commercial.

My problem lies with money, equipment, and space. Right now when I do work I have to go "freelance" to some guys project barn/studio to cut tracks...and I really don't like doing that for many different reasons. I live right in the middle of nowhere, there are literally no studios that do decent work within 500 miles...but there are millions of bands. I'm probably going to hook up with a local up-start indie label, and I know that I could be their go-to studio if I just got my shit in gear.

I know many of you have your own studios with pretty decent equipment. Where in the hell did you guys get all your money? Bank loans, personal cash? Where did you guys get your space? Own the place? Rent it?

Any tips?

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Yes, this is ANOTHER "how-do-I-get-started" engineering thread...but a bit different.



I know many of you have your own studios with pretty decent equipment. Where in the hell did you guys get all your money? Bank loans, personal cash? Where did you guys get your space? Own the place? Rent it?

Any tips?

Work a day job, work in the studio. Re-invest money made in the studio back into new gear.

 

[smy1]

Yea. I guess everyone is/was working a regular (or not so regular) job to finance his/her expensive hobby at first. I work as a part-time photographer (self-employed) doing people, fashion and music photography. That pays my bills so I don't have to take on any job in music and can just do what I like.

Otherwise I'd hate it after a year and start playing chess or something ...

 

[Nebulous]

Yea. I guess everyone is/was working a regular (or not so regular) job to finance his/her expensive hobby at first. I work as a part-time photographer (self-employed) doing people, fashion and music photography. That pays my bills so I don't have to take on any job in music and can just do what I like.

Otherwise I'd hate it after a year and start playing chess or something ...

Not to say that you have it easy, cos i hate when people say that to me, but you're pretty damn cool to work two jobs that are both technical and artistic, especially if you're making enough from your photography to finance your studio.

 

[Razorjack]

I went to university and used my student loans to buy gear instead of pay the rent, that's got me enough gear to be able to produce good results that I can actually charge money for. Right now I'm starting out on the same route as Oz described, day job to pay bills and any money earned in the studio is re-invested into gear.

 

[smy1]

Not to say that you have it easy, cos i hate when people say that to me, but you're pretty damn cool to work two jobs that are both technical and artistic, especially if you're making enough from your photography to finance your studio.

Thanks, but I am 30 now. It wasn't always that easy, but I am (and always was) determined to mold my life so that I can do what I love most of the time. When I was younger I had many different jobs, one of which was head of the fitness department in a big wellness/fitness center. That was an 65-80h/week job which totally drained me, so I quit after 2 years. I made no music at all then and it only showed me that regular work isn't for me.

I then went on to work freelance as a translator for the backcover texts of english porn dvds into german ... that helped support me quite nicely for a while! After a while though, I couldn't stand the "Rocco and his gang go all out on those cock-loving, dirty whores! Anal! DP! Facials! The best Siffredi EVER!" anymore ...

 

[Ermz]

. You're a legend man, haha.

 

[HeadCrusher]

Right now I'm starting out on the same route as Oz described, day job to pay bills and any money earned in the studio is re-invested into gear.

So what's your dayjob?

I then went on to work freelance as a translator for the backcover texts of english porn dvds into german ... that helped support me quite nicely for a while! After a while though, I couldn't stand the "Rocco and his gang go all out on those cock-loving, dirty whores! Anal! DP! Facials! The best Siffredi EVER!" anymore ...

So you're the guy who writes the shit on the back of my DVDs??
How to hell did you get such a job??

 

[Razorjack]

So what's your dayjob?

I'm currently searching for full time employment, until now my main source of income has been engineering but I just finished my bachelors degree and moved house so I am being forced to look for a more stable source of income.

 

[stringy_]

Yeah, that's what I'm doing now; dumping money from the day job into my equipment. Right now though I need to quit workinging 9 to 5 and get back in college and get a degree so I can make good money.

My immediate problem is space. I could skate by with the bare-bones equipment I have now and track an entire album...but I just don't have the space. I need a proper recording space...so I don't have to move furniture, etc. everytime I want to record something.

Where are you guys recording at? Garages? Barns? Rented property?...

 

[smy1]

So you're the guy who writes the shit on the back of my DVDs??
How to hell did you get such a job??

A friend of mine works as a personal trainer and one of his clients has a company that produces a (porn)video-on-demand webportal. We went out to dinner one night with a few people and after noticing that I was fluent in English (lived in the US for 18 months) the owner of the company offered me the job. Because I was really fast the job paid about 25 Euro an hour (which is US$30) after taxes - that was pretty neat and left me a lot of time doing other stuff cause you could easily make a net income of 100-200 Euro a day. (I just noticed the "rock"-smiley looks exactly like me!!)

 

[006]

I started at a studio at the age of 15, for some reason they have no website, and then after two years I moved to another local studio (www.khmstudios.com) and did a lot of commercial work there. Foley/ADR/soundtrack mixing for movies like Tomb Raider, Finding Nemo, Shark Tales, a lot of tv commercials for BestBuy, Circuit City, etc., also a few projects for the Discovery Channel (battle of 1812 special, two others), and even some music work for Gwen Stefani, George Strait, Jonathan Davis, and a few others. It was fun, and paid a hella lot of money. But it got boring after the first year, always the same shit. So I started hanging out with a dude in a band and basically things happened and now I run his studio. We are booked at least 6 months in advance at all times, and they come with cash in hand. I've been here for a year now and from my previous studio job plus this one, I have saved about $30k already. My goal is to open my own place and have tons of nice gear. But it takes a lot of time (even with the money I make). I'll be honest, getting started it helps to know people. That, for some reason, is more important than being better at it than someone else.

~006