bblackwood wrote on Fri, 04 February 2005 12:03 |
jfrigo wrote on Fri, 04 February 2005 10:42 |
Linear wrote on Thu, 03 February 2005 16:58 |
I also look at what electrical audio/big blue meenie have been doing and think that this will be the only way to successfully carry on a largeish recording business.
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Which is what exactly?
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Quality staff that works for the good of the entity instead of good for self. This means taking low paying gigs at times to help fill the coffers that pay everyone. Quality staff is the key here and the thing that many of the larger studios seem to have forgotten about in recent years - but the very thing that Steve and Tim (and other studios that are able to remain afloat in these times) have focused on...
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This is precisely it. If you have a good studio (that's a whole can of worms right there), it will not attract a clientele if it isn't run by people who care and are good at it, and it cannot earn more than the clients think it is worth. Not what it is really worth, but what the clients think it is worth.
Good staff is the number one critereon for making the clients content and comfortable. By "good," I mean that they are trained, active, prepared for anything and prepared to do anything to get the job done.
If you have good staff, then:
The equipment will all be in good repair
The studio will be clean and easy to work in
There will be no question that the equipment is fully under their command
Client equipment can be repaired immediately as necessary
There will be no "down" time
Nobody will have to scratch his head and figure something out on the clock
The clients will not want for creature comfort
The clients will feel respected and catered to
There will be a body of referrals of other clients who enjoyed themselves
and ultimately, the clients will feel they got their money's worth.
I dream of a $20k budget. I don't see one of those in a year. If your studio's business model requires budgets of that size, then you will be sleeping in the park before long.
If you feel independent bands (and their "paltry" budgets of $1000 - $5000) are beneath you, then you are welcome to join the pool of old-school institutional studios who are wishing in one hand and shitting in the other. No prize for guessing which fills up first.
If you and your studio are not prepared to work all day, every day, for less than you think you deserve, then you should not expect to survive. Those of us with a knack for survival come to think of it as normal, and are not put off by it.