Need some opinions (On Studio)

[teqh]

Me and a friend want to open our own studio, for bands etc. It would be run like a business but I kinda wanna do some risk assessment before I start jumping in. Im pretty aware of the fact that the industry, with home recording and shit, but a lot of the studios Ive rang round in manchester are booked for tiime, and rather than trying to lick arse and get up the ladder Id rather have my own patch. Im 19 but don't really have the intention to go to uni, as it seems a waste of time, and will put me into 15k etc worth of debt anyway.

Anyone have any experience in doing this, and what was it like?

[vivace]

Starting your own business is always a risk, but you have to consider the investments. A recording studio is serious business! I take it you and your friend have experience in recording bands, so you have an idea of how much money your studio will cost. Question is, do you have that kind of money? If not, and I know I sound pessimistic and depressing, I doubt a bank will lend a (with all due respect!) 19-year-old 20.000 to set up a business in an industry that's falling apart, during an economic crisis.. Although I don't doubt such a business would be a dream come true, there's a serious risk involved. If you set it up, there's also the thing of making sure you have a monthly income to pay your studio's bills, your friend's bills AND your own. On the other hand, if you wanna do it, do it NOW or you might regret it later. All I'm saying is, it's a tough, expensive hobby and very hard to make profitable. But for the sake of music, I damn sure hope you pull it off

[lytr]

wish i'd done this instead of going to uni

[teqh]

thanks for the replies, as it stands I have little to pay out every month, and could afford being in the studio every day. I get what you mean about banks though, just have to see what they say really, I understand the risks as well, and the risks (if we got the money) would be split between both of us. This just seems more interesting than going to uni with the rest of the freshers crowd

[jameshk]

You know. If you had some way of teaching others (try kids). You could blag it to the arts council and try and get a grant. Although starting a business is a pretty big thing, especially in the music industry. As it is right now, alot of studios (even the big boys) are starting to shut down. The reason for this is that budgets for singles and albums have become considerably smaller than they where.

With that being said. Fuck it and go for it, you only live once.

-hk

[gravity]

if your aiming any higher than recording shitty demos then you will need lots of cash, lots of time and lots of experience. i work in a studio mainly doing the former, and our kit alone adds up to a good 20k+ of just desk, outboard, monitors, mics and leads, and thats not including stuff like guitar amps, drumkits, and all that gubbins, and certainly not including building costs and the like. what we have isnt even approaching a 'pro' studio too, and i wouldnt even pretend it is: its more like a half decent home studio setup. if you want a pro sound you will have to fucking work hard at it, take a band (or preferably multiple bands) under your wing, and do a lot of free work with them getting a good sound going, otherwise you will end up with what i have to deal with: bands booking 3 hour recording sessions, and expecting to record 4 songs in that time - shit that aint gonna happen basically, and certainly no chance of getting pro results.

believe it or not, uni would probably be a good idea. but instead of doing what i did and squandering it, use it for getting in contact with bands and using the facilities on offer to you (i.e. decent quality studios) to learn how to get a pro recording (which is a lot harder than making a half decent sounding electronic track) and build up a portfolio. either that or convince a decent sound engineer at a decent studio to take you under their wing as an apprentice (read: tea boy) which is gonna be a fucking mission.

[Littlefoot]

Hey, I recently opened my mastering studio (launched officially in May)

I could give you a very recent insight into how things are going right now.

Although I will say this, start it as a hobby.

Do your mates bands for 50 quid or something and get them to big you up.

There are 5056089498479857698579847 recording studios probably in Manchester alone, you need to have something special and different, and the only way you can do this is by fucking around for a bit, and unfortunately you can't fuck around and run a business which pays your wages at the same timem, unless you are a porn star.

Also, DO NOT scrimp on gear. It will only bite you in the ass, it's better to have 8 channels of really good conversion, 10 varied but decent, versitile mics..

than to be one of the 60403583845347 studios I've seen, visited, looked into as someone whos been in bands since he was 12.. that has the same gear, same poorly treated room, rubbish pre amps, and uses terrible hyperboly to sell their business

hit me up if you want

Subsequentstudio@hotmail.com
http://www.subsequentmastering.com