General Music Chat

Studios around here charge for each studio musician used on a song, so if you figure a 4 piece band at $25 per member, that's $100 per song there, just for the musicians. So, no, I don't think you're charging too much at all. You may want to consider an hourly charge for the initial compositional time, as some people aren't very good at getting their idea across and this is the time that will really vary. You know how good you are yourself as far as finishing up the project, but you never know how long someone will take to have you create their music. If it's all one price, they have nothing to lose by wasting time changing their mind over and over during this process. Case in point, just yesterday I was doing just that for a local woman. She could sing OK, and had a couple of tunes she wanted just a rough copy of me on guitar and her singing. One song was pretty basic, but it took about an hour and a half, mainly because she didn't have a good concept of meter. The other song was really bluesy, but had lots of changes the way she sang it, not following a set pattern. We spent a good three hours on it, mainly teaching her the meter on it and getting all the verses and choruses to follow a set pattern. It was 3/4 time so I used a drum machine and had to coach her through it several times. She was a friend and we had fun doing it, and I'm not as professional as I wish, so I was only going to charge her for a couple of hours at $25 an hour, but she wrote the check out for $75 anyway and will be back to work on them some more. I recorded her a CD of both songs with two versions of each, one with vocals and one without so she can practice them some more before her next session.
Anyway, just something else to think about before you set your prices in stone. Good luck, brother.

Craig if you could hook up with local song writers who are trying to pitch songs. When I worked in Nashville in demo studio. All the progressions seemed to be standard from one song to the next. They would come in with a studio band and in 2 hr sessions cut 4 songs for songwriters.

If you went this way you might be able to have some standard loops programed that you could recall later and either shorten or extend the loops. This could cut down on setup time.

Im sure youve already thought of this.

The guy I used locally didnt use a computor, he was something of a one man band and manually played everything live. You would just have to see what he did. Anyway he had the studio and he would record my guitar in real time, no click. Then he would fill in the other instruments. He said it was easier with me cause I would do bass, gtr, vocals and have my songs layed out for him. He just filled in what wasnt there with his keyboard. BUt his standard charge was $100. I would spend around 4 hrs to do this and he gave a mixed version before I left. So I guess it was around $25 a hr. If you do this you might need some sort of contract that states how much for a song up to so many hours. Our bassist has given folks package deals and they would run him way over on time.

I was in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago to see my bro who lives in Cumming and thought I should try to get a hold of you somehow as Id really like to meet you. But I got sidetracked by a bunch of kids who blew me away playing some old Rush tunes. Theres a lot of talent coming out of Atlanta right now .
My wife is from McClenny Fla over in Baker Co. so we spend a lot of time down there seeing her folks. Lots of good bluegrass pickers in her family,but I cant pick with them too long without getting bored of it.

Starting a business of any kind in todays economy will be a challenge for sure. Especially one dealing with musicians. But since you have as much going on and very little if any cost to get it started I think its a great idea. Dont sell tourself short though. If you have something to offer that the other studios dont the business will do well. So charge them for what you do. Good luck in your endeavors and the next time I come to Jax Ill shout out for you .

Its another day in Paradise !!!

I was in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago to see my bro who lives in Cumming and thought I should try to get a hold of you somehow as Id really like to meet you.

Well, it will have to be in Jacksonville now!

Looks pretty solid now, that I'll be there in less than a week! I'm really excited about the possibility of opening a studio, and starting the right band, and doing it from JACKSONVILLE!!!

And I miss the ocean, like I cannot even begin to express!

We're packing things up now!

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Collaborator is right. I would not even have a demo done by a studio that sucks...I can use a Zoom recorder for that. but, I will hire the best that I can afford,,,especially if you take Amex I want a first class recording to advertise me. Whatever I spend on my business is tax deductable anyway and it pays off in the end. The recording that is here on BM had to be paid by cash. This guy didn't even have a checking acct. and I told him that I would easily be willing to pay more for what he did for me if he took plastic. I mean, heck, there's no way that I could afford to pay all the "musicians" heard on the music that I posted,if they were real. So regardless, I had a huge savings here coupled with quality work and I am grateful for his talent.