Until a couple years ago when I launched a high end home media server company with some friends (
www.sooloos.com) I made my living in studios, either making music in them or helping people build them.
Right now I work on projects I've collaborated on for a long time, but mostly run the new company.
I've gone through periods when I was burned out on music and the work sucked and I've been fortunate that I'm very good at installation and consulting for composing/production environments- I've put in probably a hundred and fifty studios in New York in the last 15 years (most of it in a peak of three years at the turn of the century.)
And when both things were not doing it for me, I taught for a while when I first got married because young wives and 120 day receivables aren't easy things to reconcile. Then when I got the energy back, I built a room in Brooklyn and got back on the horse.
Having an open mind and a lot of skills cannot be stressed enough. It is a big world of skills that can make you better at making records and having lots of exposure to all the aspects of how wiggling air and electrons and bits and people and ideas all go together is essential.
I assisted a record at one point in the mid 90's with a guy who is now one of the biggest mixers on the scene, at the time was in a deep lull and middle-aged making snooze jazz with musicians he liked, after having been at the top of the game in the 80's.
He was pretty chatty and at an honest point in his life and he told me some things.
A:
ALWAYS have 6 months of money in the bank. Don't buy equipment, don't overextend yourself, always have money in the bank. If you are pressured for money, you will make bad decisions and will not be cool during projects. If you are stressed, you will make bad decisions, you will do bad work, and will not get more work.
B:
Have other skills related to the studio but outside of the studio- he would do synth and fx patch design for manufacturers. If you can't do that, do gigs that hone portions of your craft (voiceover, editing, jingles, etc). I think I learned more doing voiceover on retainer for about 6 months than I did in the previous two years. It's like playing scales- it is right or it isn't. Great discipline.
C:
Don't work on music you do not like or with people you do not like or people who do not like you. It takes your energy and creativity and passion away, it makes you mean, it makes you negative, and you will not be right when you get back to the stuff you like.
If you do A and B, you will always be able to do C.
The important thing:
DO NOT WORK ON MUSIC YOU DO NOT LIKE WITH PEOPLE YOU DO NOT LIKE OR DO NOT LIKE YOU.
And as Greg Thompson say, get insurance.
This stuff stuck and I've mostly followed it and it's kept me happy and alive in a city where the business has been in collapse over most of my career. I won't say it's always been easy, but hey, I've managed to build a life. There's a guy I used to assist when I started out who owns a hot dog cart now. Really.
And I have to say, I like and listen to a lot of the music I've made and count myself lucky to have met and worked with most of the people I've worked with.
It beats the hell out of having a real job.
