There about 12,000 ways to ārun a studioā that donāt involve having a mixing room and a tracking room with tons of expensive gear and trying to book time with bands.
My perspective is a little bit different, because I spend a vast majority of my time not working with bands. But it is a part of my job, and I do enjoy it in moderation. But tracking and mixing bands isnāt a direct source of income for me, itās a part of one of my jobs.
I save money by not trying to provide services for every single niche that exists. You save money by focusing on the things that you are good at doing and that people find valuable. Once you find out what that is, the cost of gear and whatnot becomes a non issue, because it no longer become a question of āCan I afford this?ā it becomes a question of āwill this make me better at my job and make it easier and faster to make more money?ā
The only thing that was unexpected for me was how willing I was to buy things that I needed. When I did music as a hobby, I avoided spending money whenever possible. Now that I do it for a living, itās far easier to justify buying stuff that will make my job easier. I still donāt like to blow money on things I donāt need, but I donāt try to squeeze every penny out of every piece of gear I own now. That naturally leads to spending more money on things I wouldnāt have spent money on before.
Yes. Absolutely yes. It doesnāt mean that Iām good at outsourcing anything. The only thing I outsource is graphics work. And I love doing graphics work. But I have mackanov do it because:
- I donāt have time to do all that needs to be done.
- Heās better and faster at it than I am.
- I donāt have to be hands on at all. I just give him vague directions and he comes up with good stuff.
I find that the hardest part of outsourcing is having to spend just as much time trying to manage people as I would just doing the job myself. Thatās why I have a hard time outsourcing anything else. Itās hard to find good people that can do good work without making my job harder.
But, this is not a good quality that I have. I would do far better if I was better at outsourcing.
Depends on what Iām able to actually do. If there is a skill that the band or project needs and itās something that I can do well, I will be very thorough with it. If itās something thatās not my expertise, Iāll gladly point them to someone who can do it better than I can.
Mostly the recurring costs of staying alive. Health insurance sucks when you are self employed. Insurance is by far my greatest cost.
Out of my home. Sometimes it would be nice to be elsewhere, but 90% of the time, I prefer to be at home. If I spent the majority of my time tracking bands, Iād want to be somewhere else.
[quote=ācptfiasco, post:1, topic:573, full:trueā]I ask these things because I always wanted to venture into doing a studio business, and would like to know of some of the drawbacks. Thanks in advance!!
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I think the main issue people have when opening the studio is that their vision is too narrow. They think running a studio means booking and tracking bands. But that is not the only thing you can do as a studio owner. Personally, thatās the last thing Iād want to do all day every day. And every person Iāve talked to who has made a career out of tracking and mixing bands is doing everything they can to get out of that job.
This is why you see big name engineers going on to make video series tutorials and plugins and merchandise. Working with bands sounds like a dreadful way to live, and thereās so much more to running a studio than working with bands.
Fuck no. Iām allergic to manual labor.