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Author Topic: Your average budget?  (Read 9318 times)

Fibes

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Your average budget?
« on: April 27, 2004, 05:34:27 PM »

I hate polls, I hate 'em more than life itself. So kill me.

BTW I have my reasons for starting at 0 and ending up at 60,001+, more on that later.

Oh yeah, we're talking American dollars.  
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Fibes
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Fibes

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Re: Your average budget?
« Reply #1 on: April 28, 2004, 09:21:11 AM »

We aren't going to send your info to the IRS or your peers so pony up some answers.  Laughing
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Fibes
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"You can like it, or not like it."
The Studio

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archtop

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Re: Your average budget?
« Reply #2 on: April 28, 2004, 11:31:08 AM »

where's

the 0 - $200   range ?





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Richard Williams

mwagener

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Re: Your average budget?
« Reply #3 on: April 28, 2004, 11:36:28 AM »

Fibes, I assume you mean the budget for a complete album project, right? Are we including travel and acommodations for the musicians, perdiems etc. or are we "just" talking studio time, engineering, producing?

Fibes

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Re: Your average budget?
« Reply #4 on: April 28, 2004, 11:59:35 AM »

mwagener wrote on Wed, 28 April 2004 11:36

Fibes, I assume you mean the budget for a complete album project, right? Are we including travel and acommodations for the musicians, perdiems etc. or are we "just" talking studio time, engineering, producing?


Basically the cost to produce an album. Given the price ranges I'm not lookin' for hard numbers just a basic idea of where we're at on this forum.

Budgets on the whole are not what they used to be, I'm not so sure that it's hurting things all that much. I've seen more projects ruined by a lack of ideas and too much money. OTOH I've seen a bunch of albums shine due to a lack of funds and a wealth of ideas.
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Fibes
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"You can like it, or not like it."
The Studio

  http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist ?id=155759887
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Etch-A-Sketch

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Re: Your average budget?
« Reply #5 on: April 28, 2004, 03:35:23 PM »

This is a tough one to vote on...are you talking major label budgets specifically?  or should we include indie projects as well?  I also make albums of music for use on TV and Film...should we include that in the survey...

Last year I worked on an album for a major label and the budget was into 7 figures...but then after that I worked on an Indie Singer/Songwriter album and the budget was in the low to mid 5 figures.

The variety of work and projects out there makes this a really hard one to vote on.  
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Derek Jones
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Re: Your average budget?
« Reply #6 on: April 28, 2004, 03:35:36 PM »

archtop wrote on Wed, 28 April 2004 08:31

where's

the 0 - $200   range ?




Heh heh.... No Kidding Archtop, I saw a local studio go from 65/hr to 35/hr as soon as market reality hit. Ouch!

The first studio I worked in went out of business because ADAT studios were so cheap. I had to get a non audio eng. job for food. Its happening again with the Home gear getting better. The last band was basically $100 a song and I hate more hours than I'd like. I can't get anywhere at 1 step forward and 3 steps back everytime some affordable technology floods the market. I keep moving from Semi-pro to hobbiest in the same week!

Peace,
Dennis

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Fibes

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Re: Your average budget?
« Reply #7 on: April 28, 2004, 03:52:14 PM »

Average numbers, drop the high and low anomolies if you need to.

You won't be tested on this. Have fun with it and yes Arch/dennis we are in a shrinking cash flow phase.

I personally (since I've got a room) would rather do ten 6,000 dollar records than one 60,000 dollar one.
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Fibes
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"You can like it, or not like it."
The Studio

  http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist ?id=155759887
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j.hall

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Re: Your average budget?
« Reply #8 on: April 28, 2004, 04:19:24 PM »

i'm not sure how i feel about the budgets i work with vs. the budgets i might "want" to work with

sure, making ten 6k records is fine.....and that's right in my game.

but i wouldn't mind doing a 60k record for the mere fact that i could actually get paid (probably MONTHS after the fact) a lot more for my efforts.

being as it is, i've been mixing more and more and tracking less and less......budget isn't really in my realm much anymore as i've started producing less as well.  i just charge per song, or negotiate a day rate and go to work

more often then not, i get a deposit up front, and paid upon completion of my work.

it's interesting to see such a HUGE difference in what fibes and i typically deal with, to what michael typically deals with.....speaking mainly of the things michael outlined, i know nothing of his business dealings and don't mean to imply i do.

perdiems, travel, accomodations.....these are things that go like this for me.....

i make a turkey sandwich in my kitchen, put it in a plastic bag and take some grapes to the studio, throw it in the fridge.  that's my perdiem.

travel, the band gets a cardboard box, places reels of tape in it, fills out UPS info, and ships it to me

accomodations, i store the reels in a cool dry place until i'm done and i ship em back.

pretty soon i'll simply walk upstairs and make the sandwich and head back down to continue mixing.

ain't life grand!
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floodstage

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Re: Your average budget?
« Reply #9 on: April 29, 2004, 01:15:02 PM »

 What's a budget?   Shocked

I charge 25/hr during the day, 35/hr nights & weekends.  (My wife works days and I value my time with her so I make people pay more when they cut into my time with her)

I usually charge 4 hours per song to edit and mix even though it often takes longer.

Average project - 10 songs

Tracking drums and rhythm instruments - average 16 hours

O/D leads and vocals - 24 hours

Mixing and Mastering - 40 hours  

(Mastering is not really the right term - arranging songs in order, setting gaps between songs, and matching levels is what mastering consists of at my place)

If they do it at the day rate:  80 x 25 = 2000


I'd be tickled pink to have a 6000 budget.  No make that ecstatic



I'm curious to how much time per track others are spending on tracking & O/D's as compared to the time per track they are spending mixing.

I asked a good friend of mine who runs a PT facility and charges 50-65/hr what he tells people for mixing estimates and he tells people 2 hours of mixing for every hour of tracking as a rough estimate.
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Trash Monkey

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Re: Your average budget?
« Reply #10 on: April 29, 2004, 01:45:19 PM »

After voting and wiewing the results I wonder how many people are being honest, or maybe we just got some ballas round hur.
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j.hall

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Re: Your average budget?
« Reply #11 on: April 30, 2004, 11:42:36 AM »

not a single vote for the 35k - 60k range

after i thought about that a bit, i came up with this.

all the guys working in that budget range are so swamped they can hardly breahte let alone find time to post here.

that's the mid level indie label budget, and the guys i know that make those records for a living are so busy it ain't funny.

one guy in particular made 60 records in 1.5 years.  that's a pretty stagering pace IMO.  

another guy i know in this budget range i speak with every other month.  he takes my call, which i'm shocked at every time, and says, "i had to take your call, it's the first break i've had in two weeks"

UUUUGGGGGGGG

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