Who Here actually owns/works/profits from a Recording Studio?

[5th Sequence]

I'm tryna see what other studio owners do as far as advertising and getting clients to record with you. How do you get the right people aware of your studio?

To those of you who have microphones and can record people in general, are you making money through this?

I just recently started getting consistant work via recording actual artists. my transition from being the informal unorganized studio owner (not really charging for recording) to the organized and formal "pay for your services" studio owner is comming through alright, but I feel I might be missing out on something.

Any tips, techniques or advice? Drop it here!

I'll contribute first I guess.

-Having a clean studio is a must, especially if you are charging for your services.

-I find that playing examples of recorded material really sparks the interest, and then recording 1 song for free has won every client i've worked with so far.

-Discussing the business terms up front before ANY recording has happened is a must as well.

-Taking charge during the session as far as explaining proper technique, explaining what you are doing and telling them if something isn't right is something that helps them know that you know what you are doing, and worth whatever they are paying.

Feel free to drop anything in here guys, lets build!

 

[bigdmakintrax]

Security concerns are what stopped me from doing a lot of recording for profit, someone brought a gun in my studio once and I did not like that, also having a dope studio is the key to making money with beats, besides having beats people will buy LOL but now since I got a studio to work out of again I can tell people lets do work again I have a lot of work backed up or I just told them I can't do, also if you really are more of a creator and need time, you might find recording and mixing eat all of your time up you wont have hardly any time to create unless you work fast a making joints like a factory (like me LOL) thats why I do a lot of beats at least 40 per weekend or 5 or 6 a day thats what happens if you have purpose driven reason for making beats that go beyond novelty or to compete.

2 keys to remember to make money consistently (inventory and services)you must have a substantial supply of beats just to pick from before you get to leasing to make a lot of money locally and also driving force for recording sessions (your beats or instrumentals).

1. Original production or a production partners beats fill those orders on leases.
*profit from the beat and the recording session.
2. Mixtape instrumentals from known artists...
*profit from the session and if you want to resell instrumentals you could make money

Then if you do duplication or CD art that's more money to add!


Beats and Recording are good biz, if you can conservatively from your basement charge 50 for a beat and 25-30 to record you can make good money.

I was plugged into 2 local labels the last 4 years and I hear about grinding I cant brag but I have probably supplied the local scene somewhere in the range of 50 - 60 tracks that I produced in that span , sometimes they would pay me all at once and then a couple times they gave me money upfront for studio time they would send an artist over to record and I would keep a running total on usage....the easy money is also recording mixtape ish....have instrumentals stacked and just record 50 an hour....that's the way to go....but like I said when you have a rapper from the streets they gonna bring their friends to your studio so you cant really control that too much so you have to be aware that if you got a nice studio people will case the studio if the wrong one comes up....a lot of my advice is based on real experience though and dealing with rappers that are sometimes caught up in all kinds of real ish...not play gangsters either LOL.

but yeah you have to produce, when I say that this part you mentioned of making them say the verse right or if they are not 100% enthusiastic or real on the track, coaching an emcee or artist is the part of being a producer that's hard to see shine thru on Illmuzik because that's the other half of being a producer....you made the beat....so what ??? keep it moving finish your job, get that emcee on the track and make him do the track how your vision is...that is the total package and picture, some emcees will not hear it though but you gotta be used to working with emcees and other artists, the most picky are singers though.

Anyhow another note have a fridge somewhere with water and maybe limes that helps in a session too and then have some heinekin for yourself to get you thru LOL.

Promotions are like this, I know a huge local promoter that sponsor all kinds of club events, he can put it out at the event, you can go thru the event with sample CD's and biz cards, run specials etc...there's a lot of ways to get people to your studio...but bottom line to keep them coming back is to provide a well mixed product and good atmosphere they will tell other artists....

also know your area and the other producers and what they charge or the type work they do, you can sometimes get clients from dissatisfied customers if you do a better job.

 

[Bobby Ffitch]

never give that artist anything but the final recording. i mean, never let them have an unmixed copy when they leave, or anything like that. never let anyone see anything but your best work.

 

[5th Sequence]

word up guys, thanks for the input. Colossus I definitely agree, i've done that before and regret it cuz one of those unmixed/mastered versions is on a mixtape of 1000+ copies... but i have the mixed version now, its too late though lol. A tragedy really.

bigmakintrax!! thank you man, i appreciate the real world insight, that's exactly what I was looking for. I've had a few cats bring their guns to sessions... shit ruins the vibe for me altogether. Definitely gonna try to avoid that if at all possible. I also hear you on recording artists eating into beat making time. Having that issue right now. The way I see it though is recording would be an avenue to make money in a more short term way where as a beat could take months to get sold. And business cards!? I totally forgot about that, I was going to get that lined up months ago and completely blanked on that. Gotta get that arranged for sure.

Yo Colossus!, one more thing. We'll have to chill sometime this summer, go to some record shops or something. I'm moving to north or southwest portland in like 3 weeks or so.

 

[Bobby Ffitch]

for sure man. im about to go to NY for a few weeks with some friends, so ill be gone for a few weeks, but let me know when you come down here. I got some people who would love your beats too i think.

 

[open mind]

interesting post fam i really enjoyed it.would be nice to hear some more comments on this topic.

 

[x-squizet]

also dj swivle works in a studio, hit him up to. he has given me alot of advice.

 

[5th Sequence]

Yeah I definitely know Swivels got it going on. I like the idea of having other producers beats to sell at my studio as well. I have a lot of artists that are looking for beats and are paying, but can barely keep up with the demand. Maybe if there was a slight commision on the sale or something, could be an idea worth pursuing. I may be contacting some peoples here on illmuzik for this in a month or so.

I'm gonna try enrolling in some graphic design classes as well. An angle I wanna add to my arsenal eventually.

Does anyone here own one of those cd pressing machines? I'm wondering how feasible some shit like that would be... pressing your own stuff. Eh, drop knowledge if you got it cuz I'm curious about this.

 

[Slamdino]

it is feasable depending on your area. If you are in a smaller town/market you can be the "IT" man. Recording, supplying beats and pressing up the mixtapes. Just outsource the things you cant do to someone else and up charge the service to make a couple of dollars. We offer mastering but we outsource it. We charge a certian dollar per hour more than what we pay. Customer buying beats from us get the whole package because it just makes sense for them to get it all at one place if the rate is reasonable enough...

We let them hear good examples of quality material we have churned out. We also advertise with flyers and stickers in all the record stores, barbor shops ect...

 

[5th Sequence]

nice nice niiiice. Outsourcing is a great idea, I had heard of that but I wasn't sure if anyone actually made it work for them. I gotta get out and make these connections happen.