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Post by c0rtland on Mar 28, 2017 10:44:38 GMT -6
What are some of your thoughts on people coming in and writing in the studio?
I personally lose my mind when people come in and aren't ready to record.
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Post by johneppstein on Mar 28, 2017 15:19:11 GMT -6
What are some of your thoughts on people coming in and writing in the studio? I personally lose my mind when people come in and aren't ready to record. Are they paying by the hour? If not, why? You should make it clear - writing time is hourly, you want the discount rate, be ready. You get a block rate, you want to use it writing, fine. Don't expect free overtime. |
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Post by NoFilterChuck on Mar 28, 2017 15:34:05 GMT -6
always charge Hourly or per-day, and demand payment up front. Who cares how they use the time, as long as you've already been paid for it?
You can't cook dinner without first buying the groceries!
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Post by M57 on Mar 28, 2017 18:14:56 GMT -6
What are some of your thoughts on people coming in and writing in the studio? I personally lose my mind when people come in and aren't ready to record. I think I'd want a little more information or insight as to how and why? Do they realize how what the costs of inefficiency are? How 'prepared' are they? Get a feel for their level of expertise and then accordingly guage your level of confidence in them. It may put food on the table tonight, but if you're trying to build a reputation the last thing you need out of this is unhappy musicians who feel like they just squandered their money. |
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Post by johneppstein on Mar 28, 2017 21:25:37 GMT -6
What are some of your thoughts on people coming in and writing in the studio? I personally lose my mind when people come in and aren't ready to record. I think I'd want a little more information or insight as to how and why? Do they realize how what the costs of inefficiency are? How 'prepared' are they? Get a feel for their level of expertise and then accordingly guage your level of confidence in them. It may put food on the table tonight, but if you're trying to build a reputation the last thing you need out of this is unhappy musicians who feel like they just squandered their money. You didn't squander their money, THEY squandered their money. Not your problem, and you shouldn't let them take advantage of your good nature, because they absolutely WILL do that if you allow them to. The studio is not their bedroom and they have to respect it as such. If you give it away they won't. It's a business, you must approach it as one. |
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Post by M57 on Mar 29, 2017 4:34:43 GMT -6
You didn't squander their money, THEY squandered their money. Not your problem, and you shouldn't let them take advantage of your good nature, because they absolutely WILL do that if you allow them to. The studio is not their bedroom and they have to respect it as such. If you give it away they won't. It's a business, you must approach it as one. Money talks. I get that. All I'm suggesting is that sometimes turning down business is the best business decision. I understand that times are hard for recording studio owners and their 'unpleasantness' threshold may need to be lower, but their businesses also have reputations.' The two are not mutually exclusive, and when things go south, they are often related. Place the bar low at your own peril. The more you know, the better positioned you are to set the rules, dictate the terms, money up front, etc. |
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Post by johneppstein on Mar 29, 2017 12:53:23 GMT -6
You didn't squander their money, THEY squandered their money. Not your problem, and you shouldn't let them take advantage of your good nature, because they absolutely WILL do that if you allow them to. The studio is not their bedroom and they have to respect it as such. If you give it away they won't. It's a business, you must approach it as one. Money talks. I get that. All I'm suggesting is that sometimes turning down business is the best business decision. I understand that times are hard for recording studio owners and their 'unpleasantness' threshold may need to be lower, but their businesses also have reputations.' The two are not mutually exclusive, and when things go south, they are often related. Place the bar low at your own peril. The more you know, the better positioned you are to set the rules, dictate the terms, money up front, etc. I'm not sure what your point is here - if somebody wants to rent your studio and use the time to work out songs there's no reason to turn down their business - as long as they understand that the time must be paid for. Maybe their home environment is not conducive to writing for them - roommates or family making distractions or interruptions, generally creating a situation not conducive to creativity, whatever. Some big studio complexes have small "songwriter studios" for that very purpose. The thing is that you need to keep it on a business footing. There's no need to be "unpleasant", that's unprofessional - just make sure that they understand that you're running a business and be firm. Don't let them walk all over you or they will expect that and even worse, they'll tell their friends and then everybody will expect that. |
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Post by Martin John Butler on Mar 29, 2017 17:21:55 GMT -6
John is right, just keep it professional, they'll figure it out for themselves soon enough if it's something they want to continue. So what if it's an expensive rehearsal studio, as long as they're not complaining.
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Post by thehightenor on Apr 4, 2017 9:56:48 GMT -6
I write in MY studio all the time.
But who writes at a tracking studio - I can't see the point you're there to track.
Writing set-ups for home/project studios are so reasonably priced these days - I just can't see anyone would
head for a studio where you can track a band without being ready to track - it sounds tedious to me.
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Post by EmRR on Apr 4, 2017 19:52:54 GMT -6
I'd say as a creative person who's been in a bunch of bands and also fostered a lot of others creative projects as producer and engineer, it is creatively demoralizing to sit through someone else squandering resources on 'writing in the studio' under most circumstances. It always reeks of "I won't get that day back". I'd rather flip burgers and not care versus care and waste my creative energy going nowhere. Save it for something useful versus adding to the 'jaded' pile. I mean, fuck, you can get into flipping a burger or hammering some wall framing together versus dealing with some ill prepared jackass, no matter what they're paying. Occasionally writing in studio creates the right sparks and is awe-inspiring, but the odds are usually on par with big lottery winnings. Some might say "gotta play to win", I fall in the camp of "why pay the 'stupid' tax"? I'm not a storm-chaser, and lightning strikes in the most unpredictable places. But; backup. Are they asking you to participate in this creative process? Or sit on your thumbs? Disregard the budget question, outside of whether they are prepared to pay for the day at hand. Can you steer them painfully through a day of grasping how to do it better in the future? Or write/arrange with them and get a piece? Most don't seem prepared for creative interaction, and it is a thumb sitter, which is negative soul equity in my book. I want to avoid that and save it for those who are ready to strike. There's surely someone who is there to act as an invisible custodian down that painful road, but it's not my place in this universe.
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Post by johneppstein on Apr 4, 2017 21:20:58 GMT -6
I'd say as a creative person who's been in a bunch of bands and also fostered a lot of others creative projects as producer and engineer, it is creatively demoralizing to sit through someone else squandering resources on 'writing in the studio' under most circumstances. It always reeks of "I won't get that day back". I'd rather flip burgers and not care versus care and waste my creative energy going nowhere. Save it for something useful versus adding to the 'jaded' pile. I mean, fuck, you can get into flipping a burger or hammering some wall framing together versus dealing with some ill prepared jackass, no matter what they're paying. Occasionally writing in studio creates the right sparks and is awe-inspiring, but the odds are usually on par with big lottery winnings. Some might say "gotta play to win", I fall in the camp of "why pay the 'stupid' tax"? I'm not a storm-chaser, and lightning strikes in the most unpredictable places. But; backup. Are they asking you to participate in this creative process? Or sit on your thumbs? Disregard the budget question, outside of whether they are prepared to pay for the day at hand. Can you steer them painfully through a day of grasping how to do it better in the future? Or write/arrange with them and get a piece? Most don't seem prepared for creative interaction, and it is a thumb sitter, which is negative soul equity in my book. I want to avoid that and save it for those who are ready to strike. There's surely someone who is there to act as an invisible custodian down that painful road, but it's not my place in this universe. Well, I guess that's one way to look at it. I guess a lot has to do with what sort of clients you're dealing with. It isn't always the sort of glum situation that you're outlining here. There are many people who, for whatever reason, are not fortunate enough to have a home environment that is conducive to creatitvity. Perhaps there are family members who intrude. Perhaps there are other factors in the environment that distract from getting things done. TVs, ringing phones,internet forums. Perhaps the client simply needs a professional environment away fro everything else in their daily lives where they can focus? It's not nearly as common now that budgets are a fraction of what they once were, but it used to be standard practice among many producers to take the artist/band to a different locality specifically to remove them from all the distracting influences of their normal lives. |
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Post by johneppstein on Apr 4, 2017 21:22:51 GMT -6
I write in MY studio all the time. But who writes at a tracking studio - I can't see the point you're there to track. Writing set-ups for home/project studios are so reasonably priced these days - I just can't see anyone would head for a studio where you can track a band without being ready to track - it sounds tedious to me. 3 screaming kids and a nagging wife? |
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Post by EmRR on Apr 5, 2017 6:22:08 GMT -6
It's not nearly as common now that budgets are a fraction of what they once were, but it used to be standard practice among many producers to take the artist/band to a different locality specifically to remove them from all the distracting influences of their normal lives. The one experience I had like that was 10 days in a house in the mountains, and 36 songs were recorded. Maybe 6 of those had small writing touch-ups. I expected the new songs to run out at some point, and the better ones revisited for more production focus, but they never stopped coming. Once in 23 years of doing this. |
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Post by thehightenor on Apr 7, 2017 2:56:34 GMT -6
I write in MY studio all the time. But who writes at a tracking studio - I can't see the point you're there to track. Writing set-ups for home/project studios are so reasonably priced these days - I just can't see anyone would head for a studio where you can track a band without being ready to track - it sounds tedious to me. 3 screaming kids and a nagging wife? Here in the UK we have things on our rooms called doors :-) .... but then again I only had 2 screaming little kids (they're 12 and 15 now) and my wife never nags me so maybe just closing the door on my project studio room is all I've ever needed to be able to write at home in peace. |
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Post by johneppstein on Apr 7, 2017 16:58:58 GMT -6
3 screaming kids and a nagging wife? Here in the UK we have things on our rooms called doors :-) .... but then again I only had 2 screaming little kids (they're 12 and 15 now) and my wife never nags me so maybe just closing the door on my project studio room is all I've ever needed to be able to write at home in peace. Doors? Interesting idea. Of course in the UK many of your buildings were constructed before they started making everything out of tissue paper and cardboard... In the US it seems like some of the new buildings were actually constructed to facilitate the transmission of unwanted sound... |
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Post by thehightenor on Apr 10, 2017 9:19:34 GMT -6
Here in the UK we have things on our rooms called doors :-) .... but then again I only had 2 screaming little kids (they're 12 and 15 now) and my wife never nags me so maybe just closing the door on my project studio room is all I've ever needed to be able to write at home in peace. Doors? Interesting idea. Of course in the UK many of your buildings were constructed before they started making everything out of tissue paper and cardboard... In the US it seems like some of the new buildings were actually constructed to facilitate the transmission of unwanted sound... You're right, my house is an Edwardian house built in 1931. It has seriously thick brick walls so it makes a difference as you point out. |
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Post by EmRR on Apr 10, 2017 9:40:48 GMT -6
I have friends who bought new houses in new developments who discovered they couldn't practice electric guitar at low volume without neighbor complaints!
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