What's expected in a commercial studio? Need advice on moving from hobby to commercial

[BITWORD]

A studio manager is very important - a good one that is - you, as an engineer don't want to have to deal with the things they do, you need to focus on the task. I have spent more time in studios than I wish I had, and delegating tasks is very very very important. It impacts the quality of work in all areas.

As it was said above, lots of good cables are expensive and needed. They get a lot of wear and tear, the last thing you need is a bad cable and no replacements.

Consider a tech too, if you can hire one, they are expensive, but they save you money in the long run with a smooth running studio. If you can't hire one, find a good freelance tech, be sure to get to know who you want to use before opening your doors for business, you will eventually need them, most likely in the middle of the night -

Dare I say, when things are running smoothly, get an intern, they can help in many ways if you screen them properly...

Oh, and no windows - float the room and have a faraday cage!

Enjoy yourself too!

[theEmbark]

All really good advice!

I will check out SOS tonight.

Silly question but when you say 'quality' cable can you give an example? There are so many cables out there that I feel that term may have become a bit subjective. I use mostly high end monster in my home studio. I admit I have some cheap mono price cables running thru the walls but the are taped and encased. Haven't had any issues with them.

That being said I have some mogami cables that I love but I couldn't justify the price for my home studio. What price point or brands are we talking here?

Thanks,
Kevin

[BITWORD]

Good cables are always expensive, but they do impact the quality of the sound, and they do (depending on the situation) last longer, so it's a balancing act (no pun intended).

Try these folks:

http://www.gepco.com

You can request a catalog - that should at least get you an idea of what you are looking at as far as expenses in a general sense, and it will also give you some shopping ideas. You will want a panel in the live room that feeds into the control room at least.. Probably in a vocal booth too...

[theEmbark]

Good cables are always expensive, but they do impact the quality of the sound, and they do (depending on the situation) last longer, so it's a balancing act (no pun intended).

Try these folks:

http://www.gepco.com

You can request a catalog - that should at least get you an idea of what you are looking at as far as expenses in a general sense, and it will also give you some shopping ideas. You will want a panel in the live room that feeds into the control room at least.. Probably in a vocal booth too...

Thanks for the link,

I'm actually familiar with gepco from my video days. At the end of the day a wire is a wire. The difference is how they are put together. Proper shielding, enough copper etc. I'll have to see if I have access to any gepco samples. If not I might call and see if they will send one. I like to see what I'm buying. Even just a 6 inch run that I can check the shielding out in.

Thanks again!
Kevin

[metamorphosis]

Hey guys,

A buddy and myself are thinking about starting a studio locally. Our target is bands that might have a low budget and little experience but are looking to take the next step. 

We have both ran hobby studios for years and recorded many bands but not really on a commercial basis. 

We are trying to figure out a gear plan. We certainly collectively have a lot of gear but want to keep our hobby studios. 

There are a lot of questions for this topic but I guess one would be the dreaded DAW question. I have found that personally I love composing in Logic Pro and recording is fine too for the small stuff I do at home. 

But these days with multi track recording is protools just kind of expected? If so to what degree because for instance a copy of protools hdx and a c24 console eats the 20k budget. 

When starting in the commercial industry where is it wise to put the money? Obviously the physical and acoustic structure are probably primary but assuming we've got that down. 

My personal hobby studio runs:
12 core hackintosh
Logic Pro X 
focusrite pro40 
Eleven rack
Presonus eureka 
MIDI timepiece 
Patchbay

Sm57s
Sm58s
Some akg drum mics and over heads
Rhode nt1a

Various synths and keys nothing note worthy but super functional for my purposes. 

And there's other stuff but this is primarily my go to gear. 

I've scouted a couple studios (still in that process) and some seem to have so much it's overwhelming and others have poor acoustics and look like hobby studios. 

Can anyone give me a little guidance? Maybe a studio that you feel is similar from a competition point. Or just some general thoughts from your own experiences either running, working in, or recording in studios. 

Thanks,
Kevin

Some advice from someone who's been in the 'game' for 10 years and is just quitting:
1. Your clients - it's about them. It's not about you. Get out of your own way. I wish I'd known this before I started.
2. Musicians are idiots. They really believe they need to see all the knobs and dials in order for it to live up to their internal vision of themselves as a successful musician. People are primarily visual. Remember that. They're stupid. It's not their fault.
3. As long as you've got something that *looks* like what they expect, they don't tend to care what it actually *is* - ie. you can have a $150 mixing console sitting around, and that fills their expectations. Mine was never plugged in. You get better, more controllable results with all of steve slates plugins, than you will with real hardware - until you get to the upper teir of stuff. If you're on a budget, don't worry.
4. SM3b + cloudlifter - most versatile thing in my setup. Wish I'd had it 10 years earlier.
5. Rode mics... good in a pinch, great for some acoustic stuff, move over to an sm3 as soon as you can for vox. Will make your life, and your client's mix, so much better.
6. Having a stable setup is as important as a good-looking setup. DAW poof-crashes halfway through a session? You're f**ked, as is your client's perception of you. Bye bye tracktion.
7. Researching and building an acoustically-appropriate space is more important than your gear-choice. Don't even bother with the mattress and egg cartons. Research how to build bass traps from ethan winer's site. Then build them. Also, angled walls, all the rest, check out john sayer's forums.
8. Some people still expect pro-tools and mac's. Ah well. What can you do? Educate them when you can.
9. The market is dying or dead in small towns. People are turning to home recording as they slowly-but-gradually realise that the vision of multi-platinum fame they once expected is eroding day by day, and that recording doesn't usually turn any kind of profit. As a result, small, niche-but-presentable studios are doing far better than bigger-budget affairs.
10. As a musician I find it hard to see what people are going to find visually-'professional'. Maybe get some non-musicians in for advice.
11. You're not the client's friend, but you're not a 'suit' either. It's a hard balance to ride. Be as straightforward as you possibly can, without offending the narcissist's fragile egos.
12. Avoid rap and reggae, unless that's what you're really into. This is something that probably varies a lot, but i find the ratio of bad to good clients with those two genres is Heavily steeped toward the dark side.
13. I have always had my clients pay before handover. I have never come across a situation where this hasn't been appropriate, even with larger businesses, and the couple of times I've not done this, it's become a massive headache. Most studios I've met charge a deposit nowadays, depending on context.
14. I charge hourly. If I were to start again, I would probably do package rates. It's easier for people to grapple with, and makes you feel less like you're on the clock for delivering a good mix - which in the early days will be more difficult to do, regardless of your current level of skill.

Alright I'll shut up now. Good luck! It's an interesting job, occasionally rewarding, often demanding, sometimes downright infuriating.

I'll share one last thing: my near-final client was a lady who was needing a cassette tape of her dad's old band cleaned up and transferred to CD. I did it, and probably spent about 5 times more time than I charged her for. I was happy to do so. When she called me back after playing the CD in the car, she was in tears, because it was the first time she'd heard the singer's voice since the funeral. If you get one moment like that, it almost makes up for all the shitty clients you get. Try to maximise the opportunity to genuinely help people.'
M@

[resynthesis]

One thing I might add - get comfortable with a soldering iron. Even if you don't feel comfortable making equipment repairs, making cables yourself can drastically reduce costs.