Your Studio & Producing Rates?

[Thrasher666]

I was wondering what you guys on this forum charge for recording/producing a cd 10 to 15 songs. When I say producing I mean coming up with ideas, changing parts, adding parts, getting sounds and getting the best out of the players involved to make the cd/music as best as it can be. What's your price and what's the going rate for someone like Andy? I know pricing may be more or less from project to project but what's a good guess-ta-mation / budget? Also, what if it's just a one man band using DFHS for drums? It sure cuts down price in flights to where ever your studio is. Very Curious!

 

[Matt Crooks]

It will vary depending on the project. A lot of factors go into it - how much the band can afford, how long the project will take, how busy the producer is, how much the producer likes the material, etc.

For the bigger names, expect that you will have to send a demo of your material so they can see if they want to work on your project. Typical production rates can be 10-20% of the total budget. Recording rates at the bigger studios will be in the range of $100/hr.

For the medium sized project studios, plan on $50/hr to record. Often times that will include production, but not always.

Also, I don't think many people that make money doing this will post their rates here in the forum. It will seriously hurt their ability to negotiate for future business.

So, for the bigger names in metal, plan on at least $10k, and that would be very cheap. For smaller guys, $3-5k would be a good guess. For guys with a pair of mics and a computer in their bedroom you can get work cheap.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

What he said exactly.

 

[TheDude]

What he said exactly.

+1

 

[unsilpauly]

What he said exactly.

+2

 

[gabriel g.]

+3

 

[Seizure.]

Till now i did almost every project for free hahaha..

Gotta have something good to sell before you can ask money for it right?

 

[metalkingdom]

Wrong. Lie. And then lie again....but always get your paper.

 

[zmetallica]

you can't lie a sound sample though. so thats where you gotta record something for 'free' and lay down some money on equipment. after you get set up and have a song or two recorded to your satisfaction, start charging.

 

[metalkingdom]

Nope. Always get paid. Even if it's peanuts. You won't get any respect otherwise. You don't need to own any equipment to record, either. That's what studios are for. I've been doing this for over 10 years and just bought my first pieces of gear in December.

 

[smy1]

Nope. Always get paid. Even if it's peanuts. You won't get any respect otherwise. You don't need to own any equipment to record, either. That's what studios are for. I've been doing this for over 10 years and just bought my first pieces of gear in December.

I totally agree here. Don't go out on the market unless you have some experience. If you don't have experience practice on your own demos, but IF you WORK for other people, make them pay you. Even if it ain't much, it will make them appreciate your work so much more. I got my first music production jobs after people heard my own band's 8-track demo in my car and immediately wanted to get a production done at my place (of course that was in 1997 when it was much MUCH harder to get a decent demo done) ...

Human logic is: if it is free - it can't be good. My photography rates have gone up from 150 Euro (approx. 200 US$) per day on my first paid job, to 1200 Euro (approx. 1500 US$) per day on my next upcoming job (took about 2,5 years). I wonder if people had been willing to pay if the first job had told them "oh, contact him, he worked for nothing!".

What's even stranger: many companies won't book you if you are too cheap, because they will believe that you are an amateur. Weird, but that's the way it goes ...

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

I usually don't charge but I'll say, "hey we need XXX to get the sound you want," so I'll make them buy me a mic or something.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Fuck yes, get paid.

Kill them if they disclose how much to other bands though (lol).

 

[kaomao]

Mr Sneap started doing demos for free if I'm not wrong.
But I don't think he thought at that time to do it for a living, then of course he was fucking good and his hobby became a job.
If you want it to be your job ask for money, because if you ask for money people want you to work hard on their shit and so you have to.

 

[deathtotaliban]

my rates are really affordable, I charge $15/hour because i only really have worked with local bands and they have no money. But it really just depends on the project and their budget, I hardly ever just charge by the hour.

Jordan

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I charge by song cause bands are mad poor.

I recently added a "If you fuck up and I can't fix it and you do it again it's $20 more" fee .

 

[Polpotkin]

I only record local bands. Charge about 110€ (145$) a day

 

[-Gavin-]

I've just started a new business but mainly mixing only as scotland has hardly ANYONE geared for metal, figured it'd be good to get in there while there is space in the market

 

[Gnash]

I charge $100 a song. I have these bands coming in all the time now, after hearing my work. It's a hell of a deal. They will bring their demos in done at studios who have charged them out the ass, by the hour, and they're always shitty sounding. Until I get an SSl console, or more higher end gear, I can't see charging so much, but I'm always busy. I just sealed a 14 song album deal today! Krank Revo head, here I come!

 

[scorpio01169]

here in San Antonio it's hard to get the bands here to wanna spend money on their music. specially bands with pawn shop bought guitars, basses and drums