I really agree with the advice to not limit your operations in terms of potential to earn money. For example, I got started in Logic with my guitars and MIDI keyboard to make all my own music for the game I'm developing. That has turned out to open up opportunities to write music for other developers, which I had not expected. So, now at 63, I'm making inroads into music that I'd never before envisioned. And this is a legacy that I truly appreciate.
Have you guys researched studio designers yet? John H Brandt seems to be a good option as he now appears to specialise in remote design for the studio owner to organise and manage the build with remote consultation and help along the way. Some great past projects on his website . Always has a certain style for live rooms - lots of flowing slats hiding the acoustic treatment. You can book a zoom call with him at no cost too .. I guess I'm biased by being part of his Facebook group, but impressed by his scientific approach (as opposed to " this is how it's always been done, the established way" , which is common. He doesn't stand still and works closely with one of the world's largest free field and largest reverberation room, acoustic labs to actually test these past techniques.
There is a key lock system app which is magic for entry into buildings and you get permission to enter various areas of a building :) We use it in the village gym and can enter anytime day or night but every time you enter it is logged on a system for the owners to know who and when they enter.
I had a friend who used to run a music studio out of his house in Catford south east london, and he had an annual music festival with acoustic acts outside, camping in his garden and then bands in his live room which was about big enough for a small 4-5 piece band and some audience members without making enough noise to annoy the neighbours, so it’s quite possible to do amplified music… indoors. Flopfest 2026 needs to be a thing!
Hi guys, sorry could not watch the whole live-stream as had to watch a Channel 4 series on pottery. However the the first comment made by one of the new pottery students was " It's amazing to be in this actual pottery studio". I immediately thought this is what Mark and James are referring to about the presence of being in renound place. If a t.v. series on national t.v. can pull in an audience, when most ceramics are produced in anonymous factories, I'm sure you guys can pull this off. On listening to the rest of the live-stream. I had some thoughts on items that could add content to your course ideas. 1. Teach video production and editing, live band/studio video production. 2. Courses on working in different D.A.W's. 3. Analogue recording and audio engineering work flows etc.
Have you guys looked into Eric Valentine’s journey in Vermont? Although not identical, he built a studio in a rural area and in the beginning talked about having an educational component in place. A chat with him and what he has learned may be beneficial to you.
He seems to be quite approachable in RUclips land .. does a good few interviews, even with folks like the Dutch guy from White Sea Studio (who is a relatively small RUclipsr).
I have just had an a few ideas that you may want to add to your creative juices with ideas for this studio while thinking about the software support problem with products, which for this project a few other things come to mind also that might be good thought. If the idea is some sort of education centre this could very much become a sustainable possibility. I suddenly thought with this pending doom factor with most modern equipment of software support suddenly stopping making a unit or even a plugin useless, could not there be a niche market for freelance software technicians, either with the right equipment or willing to get the right equipment to be able to hack forgotten companies software and hardware electronics and design their own updates? I thought upon thinking this "could we not do that ourselves?" to research such things and what equipment we need for each system (recallable analogue equipment I'm thinking mainly for this one) and figure it out ourselves? Which lead me to suddenly think of your studio idea and the fact with a big studio do you not need technicians for maintaining and fixing equipment? Could there not be software and computing nerds out there that also have a passion for music? Could there not be a calling for people to volunteer with the objective to add to your training faciality and create their own department? Where also people can come to get educated in courses that include learning a bit of everything including maintaining and fixing equipment, even modifying things so people can learn to mad hatter units and then even optional education into software and computer programming in the subject of audio equipment. Which, like you and you speakers, could become another avenue of products from you guys in the form of analogue equipment and plugins... maybe even interfaces one day??
These are amazing ideas, thank you so much for your comments! We are all for education in any way possible, so we'll definitely bear these ideas in mind, thank you! We need to acquire the premises first, and that's proving difficult after a few things changed this week, but we really want to make something incredible so we'll try our hardest to make it happen. And yes, regarding new products, we have so many ideas, I'm sure there will be some more incredible stuff on the horizon very soon! ;)
Mark and James. You guys always seem to achieve but think about how to ensure that the speaker business drives forward whilst pulling off your new idea. Seems that it could be too much for just two people. Maybe an idea to partner with someone on the studio if employing someone isn’t viable.
Thanks for your comment! We have a good plan for how to ensure everything runs smoothly! We cannot let the speaker business slow down, so that’s priority number 1
There are also flat rate schemes if turnover is less than something .. around £250000 mark I think. You pay an average of the VAT balance for your industry (e.g. construction pays a lot in materials VAT and charges VAT on the work done, maybe averaging out at 12% of your charged VAT going to HMRC after reclaiming VAT on goods purchased .. so for the industry you pay HMRC 12% of your turnover without needing to itemise everything .. and you can save money if you buy less materials than average for your industry by keeping the difference) . One other benefit of that is you can still claim VAT on capital expenditure for single purchases (multiple items from one supplier counts) over £2k as well. Obvs.. the idea is that it's not a scheme for business with too large a turnover .. so maybe that is not applicable here ? No idea of the turnover for such a studio !
Hey guys .. I didn't want to bring this up .. *awkward*. .. but I have invested my time in your vids and was under the impression of a 10% return ? When are you going to watch me in return for that 10% of time? I don't have a channel but happy to give you a spare set of keys to let yourselves in to watch me Cheers
We discussed the fact we will be returning to normal content this year. Unfortunately we have a business to run and have not had time to create content in the way we used to, so livestreams were a good way to continue offering content. However now we’re expanding the team we’ll be able to start making videos like we used to. I don’t particularly appreciate your comment, considering we give up almost every one of our Sunday evenings for this, but you can’t please everyone.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
I really agree with the advice to not limit your operations in terms of potential to earn money. For example, I got started in Logic with my guitars and MIDI keyboard to make all my own music for the game I'm developing. That has turned out to open up opportunities to write music for other developers, which I had not expected. So, now at 63, I'm making inroads into music that I'd never before envisioned. And this is a legacy that I truly appreciate.
Didn't make the stream, but I'd love to see how this becomes reality piece by piece. Very cool!
Are you guys buying Real World Studios? 🎉🔥 #Rumours? #NoAllTrue Haha. Inspiring stuff gents, look forward to seeing your future!
My gym uses facial recognition to get in and it works really well. Cool idea to do something like this for the studio.
And I agree. It's the little silly things that make it special.
Have you guys researched studio designers yet?
John H Brandt seems to be a good option as he now appears to specialise in remote design for the studio owner to organise and manage the build with remote consultation and help along the way. Some great past projects on his website .
Always has a certain style for live rooms - lots of flowing slats hiding the acoustic treatment.
You can book a zoom call with him at no cost too ..
I guess I'm biased by being part of his Facebook group, but impressed by his scientific approach (as opposed to " this is how it's always been done, the established way" , which is common. He doesn't stand still and works closely with one of the world's largest free field and largest reverberation room, acoustic labs to actually test these past techniques.
There is a key lock system app which is magic for entry into buildings and you get permission to enter various areas of a building :) We use it in the village gym and can enter anytime day or night but every time you enter it is logged on a system for the owners to know who and when they enter.
Nice! Great shout! I do think the Floppy Face Scanner on the cat flap would be hilarious though 😂
.. I can see little kids being employed by criminal gangs to wear Flopcat masks so they can crawl into the building ! !
Be careful!
I had a friend who used to run a music studio out of his house in Catford south east london, and he had an annual music festival with acoustic acts outside, camping in his garden and then bands in his live room which was about big enough for a small 4-5 piece band and some audience members without making enough noise to annoy the neighbours, so it’s quite possible to do amplified music… indoors. Flopfest 2026 needs to be a thing!
Likewise I have a friend who used to hold quite successful living room concerts .. until he moved to the country, away from London.
Hi guys, sorry could not watch the whole live-stream as had to watch a Channel 4 series on pottery. However the the first comment made by one of the new pottery students was " It's amazing to be in this actual pottery studio". I immediately thought this is what Mark and James are referring to about the presence of being in renound place. If a t.v. series on national t.v. can pull in an audience, when most ceramics are produced in anonymous factories, I'm sure you guys can pull this off.
On listening to the rest of the live-stream. I had some thoughts on items that could add content to your course ideas.
1. Teach video production and editing, live band/studio video production.
2. Courses on working in different D.A.W's.
3. Analogue recording and audio engineering work flows etc.
Have you guys looked into Eric Valentine’s journey in Vermont? Although not identical, he built a studio in a rural area and in the beginning talked about having an educational component in place. A chat with him and what he has learned may be beneficial to you.
Thank you for the pointer! We do know of his channel but we’re definitely due a refresher on his content!
He seems to be quite approachable in RUclips land .. does a good few interviews, even with folks like the Dutch guy from White Sea Studio (who is a relatively small RUclipsr).
Floppy coaches probably won't work either, I've been listening to Dan Worrall today, so I'm up on my physics theory.
I have just had an a few ideas that you may want to add to your creative juices with ideas for this studio while thinking about the software support problem with products, which for this project a few other things come to mind also that might be good thought.
If the idea is some sort of education centre this could very much become a sustainable possibility.
I suddenly thought with this pending doom factor with most modern equipment of software support suddenly stopping making a unit or even a plugin useless, could not there be a niche market for freelance software technicians, either with the right equipment or willing to get the right equipment to be able to hack forgotten companies software and hardware electronics and design their own updates?
I thought upon thinking this "could we not do that ourselves?" to research such things and what equipment we need for each system (recallable analogue equipment I'm thinking mainly for this one) and figure it out ourselves?
Which lead me to suddenly think of your studio idea and the fact with a big studio do you not need technicians for maintaining and fixing equipment?
Could there not be software and computing nerds out there that also have a passion for music?
Could there not be a calling for people to volunteer with the objective to add to your training faciality and create their own department?
Where also people can come to get educated in courses that include learning a bit of everything including maintaining and fixing equipment, even modifying things so people can learn to mad hatter units and then even optional education into software and computer programming in the subject of audio equipment.
Which, like you and you speakers, could become another avenue of products from you guys in the form of analogue equipment and plugins... maybe even interfaces one day??
James can maybe then become head of the tech wizards and everyone can greet him everyday with "Your a wizard James" 😂
These are amazing ideas, thank you so much for your comments! We are all for education in any way possible, so we'll definitely bear these ideas in mind, thank you!
We need to acquire the premises first, and that's proving difficult after a few things changed this week, but we really want to make something incredible so we'll try our hardest to make it happen.
And yes, regarding new products, we have so many ideas, I'm sure there will be some more incredible stuff on the horizon very soon! ;)
Mark and James. You guys always seem to achieve but think about how to ensure that the speaker business drives forward whilst pulling off your new idea. Seems that it could be too much for just two people. Maybe an idea to partner with someone on the studio if employing someone isn’t viable.
Thanks for your comment! We have a good plan for how to ensure everything runs smoothly! We cannot let the speaker business slow down, so that’s priority number 1
The story with VAT and 85K threshold is 85 k of uk revenue. Overseas is excluded from the VAT threshold.
There are also flat rate schemes if turnover is less than something .. around £250000 mark I think.
You pay an average of the VAT balance for your industry (e.g. construction pays a lot in materials VAT and charges VAT on the work done, maybe averaging out at 12% of your charged VAT going to HMRC after reclaiming VAT on goods purchased .. so for the industry you pay HMRC 12% of your turnover without needing to itemise everything .. and you can save money if you buy less materials than average for your industry by keeping the difference) .
One other benefit of that is you can still claim VAT on capital expenditure for single purchases (multiple items from one supplier counts) over £2k as well.
Obvs.. the idea is that it's not a scheme for business with too large a turnover .. so maybe that is not applicable here ? No idea of the turnover for such a studio !
.. Doesn't film work also bring tax breaks ? So orchestral recordings may qualify if for the right clients .
Pork cutlass and floppy access don't necessarily work together.
Hey guys .. I didn't want to bring this up .. *awkward*. .. but I have invested my time in your vids and was under the impression of a 10% return ? When are you going to watch me in return for that 10% of time?
I don't have a channel but happy to give you a spare set of keys to let yourselves in to watch me
Cheers
We’ve already set up camp outside your bedroom. We’ve been there for the past fortnight.
So long normal videos I guess... everyone needs to have 1.5h to listen to this shit show
We discussed the fact we will be returning to normal content this year. Unfortunately we have a business to run and have not had time to create content in the way we used to, so livestreams were a good way to continue offering content.
However now we’re expanding the team we’ll be able to start making videos like we used to.
I don’t particularly appreciate your comment, considering we give up almost every one of our Sunday evenings for this, but you can’t please everyone.