This Needs To Be Addressed
I don't want to single anyone out and this ad on Facebook does not say who the advertiser is, but, I wonder if the kids setting up studio businesses like this really understand what they are doing to their credibility and the perception the public has of the recording services market.
I know pricing is all over the place and we live in a very competitive market, but really! I can understand under cutting the market at $35 and hour for a studio and engineer, but working for $20/hr late at night and $10/hr on weekends? The only message they send with this ad is "we are desperate AND stupid"
I am making the assumption that the kids (and I mean kids) that put this ad up, went to some kind of music business or recording school.
Did they really learn nothing about business in the school they went to?
I hate to see them fail, but they will, if they have any kind of overhead or are not on some kind of government assistance, mark my word.
I know pricing is all over the place and we live in a very competitive market, but really! I can understand under cutting the market at $35 and hour for a studio and engineer, but working for $20/hr late at night and $10/hr on weekends? The only message they send with this ad is "we are desperate AND stupid"
I am making the assumption that the kids (and I mean kids) that put this ad up, went to some kind of music business or recording school.
Did they really learn nothing about business in the school they went to?
I hate to see them fail, but they will, if they have any kind of overhead or are not on some kind of government assistance, mark my word.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Joe Pasquale on -
B- we all know plenty of guys working for $10-12/hr doing something they hate-
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Permalink Reply by Bret Teegarden on -
very true Joe, but do they spend 30-40K in tools and 80K in schooling, plus a lifetime of experience, in order to get that wage?
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Permalink Reply by Bret Teegarden on
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selling time in a ProTools HD equipped studio with high end outboard gear @ $10/hr, won't even cover the cost of their Facebook Ad.
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Permalink Reply by Matt McClure on -
Who knows who it is. All I can say is, I don't want the clients that are going to go to him/her. I say....try and compete with what I'm doing at your rate. If you can, I guess I need to re-evaluate. However, I'm fairly confident those of us that are doing great work have nothing to worry about. It's expensive to keep up with technology, trends, client needs,etc...Will be very difficult to maintain and run a business at that rate......However, maybe this place is great, and it's just an introductory rate to attract business.....which, takes me back to my second sentence. I'm personally not interested in working with the kind of clients those rates will attract......We all know from years of experience that those clients will only wear you out over the smallest details, and will always expect for way more than they are willing to pay.
Just my 2 cents. :-)
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Permalink Reply by Bret Teegarden on
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Excellent points Matt.
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Permalink Reply by Bret Teegarden on
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can you imagine, if it is just a ploy or gimmick to get people in the door, how disgruntled they will be to find out they really can't complete their recording for $10/hr?
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Permalink Reply by Lynn Fuston on -
Did you click on the ad?
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Permalink Reply by Bret Teegarden on
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haha, did you? What if all members of NMP clicked on it?
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Permalink Reply by Lynn Fuston on
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Actually I never saw the ad on FB. Not sure why. I usually get all the ads like those.
It's on craigslist as well. Not hard to find via google. Check out the equipment list.
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Permalink Reply by MArc-Alan Barnette on -
Brett,
Since I have been here in 1988 I have seen these pop up about every week. They suffer from two things. Credibility, and unreality. they can't stay in business,and never do, they can't build reputation and frankly they do shoddy work because they don't have experience. About 100 a year pop up and about 200 a year go out of business.
MAB
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Permalink Reply by Greg Hopkins on -
Hey, I don't want to step on anyone's toes here, but this looks to me like they are taking advantage of the perception the public ALREADY has of the recording industry.
I have some gear that I bought as I go through school - stuff for me to learn on and log some hours on - and I have been experimenting with hiring it out to other students. I started with $35/hr, and got little response. Granted, I have little boutique gear and no experience compared to you career guys that have been at it for 20+ years, but the response I got over and over and over is "I can do it at home for free".
Let that sink in for a minute....
We all know here that while tech has come a long way, an mbox in a bedroom is not the same as a million dollar studio. But do our potential clients know this anymore?
I think low studio prices, while they seem threatening to life long engineers with millions invested in their tools, are a good thing and will re-introduce the public to the value of paying someone else to do it for them. More and more, the recorded product is a loss-leader, and used for promotional purposes more than to generate revenue from it's sale. We're talking about a new generation of clients, many of whom don't even think a pro studio is worth it or necessary. If all they are doing is giving away their music for free, why would they ever pay $50/hr when they can put together something on their macbook? This is not my opinion, but rather one that has been expressed to me over and over again by local and semi-regional artists and engineers.
I don't offer an HD rig, or neumann, UAD, Neve, or other boutique stuff, but my PTMP 18i/o through a soundcraft sapphyre is drawing $15/hr quite reliably, and my clients tell me they have a greater appreciation for NOT recording on a two-mic mbox after working with me, and for now I am just a student gaining experience for $15/hr.
Not to come across as arrogant, but It seems to me that the cheapo entry level studios are what will save the industry and help rebuild the value of your top quality studios in client's minds. In other words, entice them out of the bedroom and re-introduce them to the difference it makes to let someone else record your music for you... bridge the gap.
The demographics are changing. Many studios that don't streamline and change with them will be outta business. It's already happening. There will always be a market for million dollar studios, because there will always be million dollar talent. But when the entry level semi-pro musicians figure out that they can record something at home that sounds about as good as the amount of musical talent they have, they don't need you anymore. Lower prices seems to me the way to show them that we are still worth hiring. Without lower prices, the pool of potential clients gets smaller as it's lost to the mbox generation.
I read a lot of online forums, and I am amazed at how many engineers think that anyone that plays music should be willing to pay thousands of dollars for their services, because they have the gear, experience, blah blah blah... I'm not going to spend the extra money on high octane gas when I drive a beater car. Neither will the music hobbyist ever again pay through the nose for studio time when $100 gets them a computer interface. Big, expensive studios are now for the musically elite and prodigious.
Yes, I mentioned an mbox three times in my response :)
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Permalink Reply by Lynn Fuston on
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Marc-Alan wrote: "We all know here that while tech has come a long way, an mbox in a bedroom is not the same as a million dollar studio. But do our potential clients know this anymore?"
Know this? Sure they do. Can they tell the difference? Sure they can.
But these days, with limited budgets, you get to keep what you don't spend.
The bigger question is "Do they care enough to spend money on it?"
Is it worth plunking down $100 a day to rent a C12 when they can use their $400 Avantone for free and keep the rental fee? They can possibly hear the difference between a NEVE 1073 and a Golden Age 1073 copy. Is it worth spending $50 a day to rent a real NEVE when the Golden Age costs $200?
I'm afraid the answer to these questions is no.
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