Those that do this for a living...

[J.DavisNJ]

Whether it's in your own home/private owned studio, or if you work for someone else. How did you get started?? Was it hard getting on your feet?? Do you find it hard getting by financially?? It's really my dream to do something like this, but I always hear about the instability, and that it's hard to break into with so much competition. I could go to school for my Master's, and became a 9-5 suit guy, but I'd much rather do this. Is it worth it?? I would just like to hear your stories, how hard it was, how you made it...Any words of encouragement/discouragement are appreciated. thanks,

-Joe

 

[Black neon bob]

Whether it's in your own home/private owned studio, or if you work for someone else. How did you get started?? Was it hard getting on your feet?? Do you find it hard getting by financially?? It's really my dream to do something like this, but I always hear about the instability, and that it's hard to break into with so much competition. I could go to school for my Master's, and became a 9-5 suit guy, but I'd much rather do this. Is it worth it?? I would just like to hear your stories, how hard it was, how you made it...Any words of encouragement/discouragement are appreciated. thanks,

-Joe

Im in the same position as well... so i don't have any advice or stories to hand out.. But i'm pretty sure i want to continue down this path as well and make my money out of recording and mixing... set up a studio and collaberate with a partner to get things done/split the duties...

So im curious as well...

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Im in the same position as well... so i don't have any advice or stories to hand out.. But i'm pretty sure i want to continue down this path as well and make my money out of recording and mixing... set up a studio and collaberate with a partner to get things done/split the duties...

So im curious as well...

Cool! Well you definitely have the talent for it man, all your recordings are great. I don't do it enough, I'm so busy all the time studying, etc. All I want ot be doing is recording! I am a year away from my degree in History (whoopie) so I'd rather at least finish it first.

-Joe

 

[Massili]

i'm in the same boat too

run a studio is my dream even if it's only for me and if i can get some money out of it , it would be awesome!

Anyway, i dont think in doing money with it cuz it's like you said, the competition is hard, but at least ill be very happy running a studio and doing some music, that's what i love to do and it's what matters in the end!

I'm really engaged on keeping the learning about recording, mixing, mastering, everything and wont stop till i die!

I love it and do anything for it!

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I am sure others will agree with me here. But I am sure experience pays out when getting a job so I would say just start doing it like I have been doing for the last year. I am by far a newb still however I have been able to make some ok side cash by recording bands for the past year. I would say the trick is to be cheap enough that they are willing to give you a try. And jump at any oportunity that comes your way be it recording a live show, opera singer (I just did one), choral concert, high school play etc...

Charge next to nothing to attract bands. Bands will know your not a pro when they see your rig . And that way they don't get to pissed when it's not stellar recording. Do it alot and your just building your resume of work. And I am sure this probably speaks louder than "I just graduated from full sail". It's what your recordings sound like that matter. Thats why Sneap is wanted so much by the metal community.


Again I am not by any means a pro but this is what I have begun to do. And like I said its some side cash. However don't exspect to get paid all that great, last I checked I (if I am lucky) I get around $2.00 and hour to record , but I like it so I don't care

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

P.S. I know it seems like the compitition is fearce but I have already started to get word of mouth going around and it seems I have another band setup after this one so I aint worried. When it comes down to it bands are poor and they take the lowest bidder. I would have thought it would be harder here in a college town but it's really not. Network, get work, do it as promptly as you can and show your worth the money. I have been able to raise prices to because of this.

I will tel ya though I charged $40 a song starting (my first 3) and that was because of 2 reasons. I knew I was gonna suck at it and I knew that it was gonna be awhile till it was done.

Even looking back those $40 songs were only worth that: 40 bucks. (from a band members point of view)

 

[billcraftmetal15]

One way you could always look at it is that if you do go and do a degree and get a 9-5 job earning a lot of money, yeah it ties you up for a few years, but you could use it to build an awful lot of capital to finance getting into production and recording, also if you then decide you can't hack it running a studio or whatever, at least you have something to fall back on.

Man i sound like my parents, but they have a point.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

One way you could always look at it is that if you do go and do a degree and get a 9-5 job earning a lot of money, yeah it ties you up for a few years, but you could use it to build an awful lot of capital to finance getting into production and recording, also if you then decide you can't hack it running a studio or whatever, at least you have something to fall back on.

Man i sound like my parents, but they have a point.

Def dude def. I forgot to mention that I do go to college also.

 

[AStacy2]

Even if you want to do everything at a home/project studio I would say get some experience at an established recording studio in your area. You will be a better engineer and meet a lot of people for networking ect... it will pay off in the end.

 

[everybody's x]

Define success,
To me success is doing what you love for a living. It's not easy, but is anything worthwhile easy? (now I sound like my parents) Work your day job and build your chops until you don't have to. Competition is fierce, so don't suck. If you don't and the price is right then the bands will come. I'm not Andy or James or metalkingdom and maybe never will be, but I am consistently booked 4 months ahead and that came with a hell of a lot or practice and PR. Buy good gear that holds it's value so if you get in a lull you can liquidate it quickly and rebuild when you can. It's not easy, but is it worth it? I think it is, and if I fail, so what at least I had a chance to do something I loved and I can say I gave it a shot.

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Thanks for the words guys. I actually did consider getting a "real" job, and saving up money to buy good equipment as well. I do record my friends and I here occassionally, and it goes pretty well. I just need to find the time to do it more often. Thanks a lot, you guys helped. More stories are appreciated too, thanks..

-Joe

 

[Sloan]

The one big thing I really regret about getting into recording is that it seems I concentrate on "the studio" more than creating my own material - which is the reason why I got into recording in the first place.

Also, it really sucks around here - EVERYBODY IS BROKE. I actually only have $2.63 to my name right now and it seems everyone else is in the same position!

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

The one big thing I really regret about getting into recording is that it seems I concentrate on "the studio" more than creating my own material - which is the reason why I got into recording in the first place.

Also, it really sucks around here - EVERYBODY IS BROKE. I actually only have $2.63 to my name right now and it seems everyone else is in the same position!

$33.60 here dude

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Thought I would bump this and see if anyone else has something to contribute.

-Joe

 

[unsilpauly]

get a day job to make money to live and buy gear, and record all other waking hours of the week. get bands in to record and charge them. get some money even if its only alittle. the band knows they are gettin a recording for cheap. get out where bands hang or play and talk to them about recording with you. get business cards and give them to everyone who may be a potential client. invest your money in good gear, not "cheap" or "expensive" gear. get gear that you know you can produce good results with. if you dont know for certain that you need a piece of gear and what it will do for you, you dont need it. eventually you will come to a point where you will either go full time with it(because the business and money is enough to support you) or it will just be a side thing.

i have been seriously pursuing engineering for about seven years. meaning getting paid by bands to record and putting my name out there. right now, i make about 70% of what i made at my day job recording out of my home project studio. cash flow is slow sometimes. other times the work is super steady and the cash is great. once i came up with a flat day rate and asked people to pay me at the end of the day it got better as well. i still work my day job half of the year 3 days a week(seasonal now) and deliver pizzas one day a week(mostly because i like the people i work with and it gets me out of the house/studio). my fiancee also works as well which is a more steady income(shes not loaded and makes less than me so dont think im moochin off her, ) which helps alot with cash flow for our family(me, her and our son).

its hard starting out but its really rewarding. if you know you can do it and have what it takes(skill, business sense, etc.) go for it, if not then i would keep it as a hobby. find out how much you need to make from your studio work to survive and see if its feasable to get there. sure its a fun job(most of the time ) but its a business and needs to be treated as such if you want it to be your full time gig. i am hoping that within the next two years(at the most) it will be 100% of my income.

i hope some of this helps. sorry its kinda all over the place, but im not a writer. theres alot more to it, but it would be a book if i wrote it all. best of luck,

 

[elmuchoescadawg]

Im working a day job and recording on the side. At the moment Im pretty picky about what I take on just because I dont have the time. Having said this I have been lucky enough to work with some pretty good bands which works well with word of mouth. Rather than doing any bands where in some cases you cant make them sound good Ive been lucky enough to work with bands that can play.
The bulk of the work I get is Front of house sound. Ive got a couple of record companies I work for regularly which keeps the shows coming in but the rest just comes from people seeing me about again and again. Last weekend I mixed a stadium show and tomorrow night Im doing a small club show. Its all pretty varied but it seems to keep coming.

 

[moose209]

If you can - combine experience with tuition. There are some courses that run at weekends if you have a day job.. I know people that do a 9-5 plus during the week then are doing year long courses over the weekend. The reason being that a course can open up other doors for you to get into the industry. There are more than one way in, take post production, which is booming, it may be not exactly what you want perhaps it is in the right direction for a day job.

 

[du8]

There are more than one way in, take post production, which is booming, it may be not exactly what you want perhaps it is in the right direction for a day job.

I work for a video production company doing audio/video editing. Most of what we work on is really lame.

BUT...

I can use the gear for what ever the hell I want in my "off" time. So, basically I work a crappy job so I can get access to stuff I could NEVER afford on my own.

It's great being able to experiment on stuff and not having to worry about paying a studio for it.

 

[ffaudio]

I do this on the side, usually on weekends, but I started out buying some gear and going to practice rooms and recording bands for free. Eventually when I started to get better I did stuff like $20 a song.

Then I bought a house that has great acoustics and my girlfriend lets me take over on the weekends to use as a studio and started charging more.

Bands are all cheap and poor, so the better your stuff sounds usually the more willing they are to pay money.

Right now all I care about is paying off my gear and buying new gear, I'm not really looking to make money.

I've always had a normal 9-5 m-f job to keep me in the money to buy my crap and really I sit on these forums all day while at work anyway, so I get to learn while I get paid.

 

[sparkyness]

Loads of multimedia post-production work out there too....I did some work for a web agency for a couple of years who do virals for advertising campaigns. I was on the non-media side of things and heard they weren't happy with their post-production services which they had outsourced. I offered to do one campaign for free if they paid for a Nuendo license. It took about 3 hours on a Saturday to package the video/audio they wanted. I then got every small job they needed done at the rate they were paying the previous post-production house, plus my salary. Was great work while it lasted....made the mistake of leaving London and now back working in IT and recording at nights and weekends alas.....