Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by George Cumbee on April 23, 2010 at 4:07pm

On that I agree. It has always been my argument. But the home based studios need to operate in the same legal manner. If not then don't. Like my example I have used. I was on a jury that put a 19 yr old kid in prison on a felony drug deal on an amount we could barely see in a sandwich bag. However what he did was illegal. The monetary amount was nothing. But people can do 10's or 100's of thousands of dollars of work in their home based operation and no one seems to care. Local officials don't understand it and so they don't address it. I wish they did. That is leveling the playing field.

Permalink Reply by Bret Teegarden on April 23, 2010 at 5:12pm

The question is, should officials punish home based businesses by shutting them down (under current statutes) or stop punishing commercial small business by lessening the tax burden and hoops you have to jump through to run a business? Which would be better? I think to lessen the burden of doing business in general would bring more people into compliance AND make it easier for larger studios to stay in business and be competitive. The end result would be more revenue for the local government because more commerce units would be participating and share the tax base.

Permalink Reply by George Cumbee on April 23, 2010 at 6:16pm

That ain't ever gonna happen. Period...

Permalink Reply by Bret Teegarden on April 23, 2010 at 8:36pm

maybe not, but I think it should and we get what we continue to elect.

Permalink Reply by Rick Millward on April 24, 2010 at 12:06pm

As someone who's worked...some time ago...in a commercial studio and who now just does stuff at home a few things come to mind and I'd like to be educated with regard to these questions. It seems to me that commercial studios and home studios only are competing for non-major label projects.

That is, demos that in the past may have been done in a big room are now done...where ever. I've never heard of a major releasing anything done in a home studio...have you? If this is true then big studios are suffering because they're competing with each other in an environment of fewer releases, right? Low (no) budget work is now diffused...writers, bands, producers, etc. all have their own gear and can accomplish what they want to do with it. If we tried to tax all those folks, it could possibly cost more than we'd collect?

The other issue is sonic quality, which is another thing altogether, and for me also more related to whether or not a listener cares about how pristine a recording is...

Permalink Reply by George Cumbee on April 24, 2010 at 12:16pm

Just to answer one question you posed. Yes it happens. I remember Chuck Ainlay talking to a group at Ocean Way in a forum a few years back. He was describing how he setup a laptop with Nuendo and a Avalon(737 I think) pre and a mic(prob U-47) and took it down to Texas and showed George Strait how to do punches so he could do vocals for his new album in his home. There were several hits off that album. Now that took business away from a studio, Sure, I guess their right to do so, but still.......

I was doing a session a few years back. Tracking. The group(SG quartet) was standing behind me and talking about planning their vocal session. The drummer(won't mention names) spoke up and had the gall to say that he could save them a lot of studio time and do them at his house. I about came unglued. I turned around and told him that was the LAST thing a studio owner wants to hear. And I told the producer that as far as I was concerned to never have him back at my place. Sorry. I was not telling them I could play drums on their next album(and I used to play drums)....

Permalink Reply by Rick Millward on April 24, 2010 at 12:35pm

Yes, I've heard of overdubs being done elsewhere...but is that a big factor? Aren't label projects done on lockout rates, so it doesn't necessarily factor in?

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