I second that! Get a few great pieces such as an AEA R88 and a millennia preamp. Capture a great performance! Done! Don’t get caught up with the grid. The grid doesn’t make great music. Great musicians and talent do.
I’m 6 months in on my studio. I’ve gone the nonprofit route; I work with a lot of nonprofit organizations and provide free music lessons. Hopefully soon offering music therapy. And a lot of the difficulty on my project is self inflicted, but yes. This is so hard. Roller coster is a gross understatement. Thank you for this honesty. Sometimes I feel like I’m drowning and working way too much for the small fruit of my labor. Just knowing I’m not alone and this is at least somewhat normal helps. If anyone would like to start a dialogue about the process of studio ownership or actually making it in the music industry, message me. I’ve turned a bunch of free junk, essentially trash, into a profitable business model that gives back to artists and the local community all on a budget of nothing. There’s no experience in the world I would trade for what I’ve done here. Big things to come, so long as you just KEEP GOING.
Being an amateur musician, i can only imagine how hard it is for you guys to live with your passion as a job. Depending on the public's idea of good music and good sound. I only own a tiny fraction of your gear - and experience! - but i feels so happy, that i can afford to write whatever suits me. Best of luck to you, and don't let bad taste take over!
At 32, I'm about 3 years into learning mixing and mastering journey and have been contemplating taking the next step into working on my own. I've been on the "path" that I had set out for myself since college but it's never landed me in a job or role that I've ever truly enjoyed or was able to dedicate myself to entirely - not the way I am with music. I've been a musician my whole life but always had a 9-5 as a backup plan and I wonder sometimes if that was to a detriment. Anyway, thanks for this video, I needed to see it and it gives me hope that I can actually do this on my own.
I've worked in major studios in NY as an engineer and found that owning a studio is a liability until you start your own publishing company and have your own artists to develope who write songs that you can get part publishing for recording them for FREE and develop them or have music producers who work with you until you get interest in the artists you have!!! It takes time, patience and hard work!!! As an engineer in the days of tape, I had to engineer, program drums and keyboards, play guitar (my main instrument) and bass and sometimes sing backup and you never get paid for all that!! But the main thing is songs and publishing and being able to get deals!! But hang in there and good luck!!!
This is a great video! I myself have just opened my own studio and having no one to answer to has left me 2 months in with no income coming from the studio. I’ve spent so much time trying to be the perfect engineer and practicing my speed as a producer that I’ve overthought the entire process. The stress of being the head of company has sometimes taken it’s toll on my mental health. Having to handle the rent, the electricity bill, still having a full time job etc. I’ve found that when you’ve achieved a part of the process that is line with your final goal, Planning is incredibly important. Be ready for the stresses that come with being the head hunco. However, stay confident in your goals and understand that everything you’re going through is a part of the process. Overthinking is a MF and don’t allow overthinking to stagnate the growth of your business.
@@JustinGamana I’ve been able to actually understand what I want to achieve as an engineer and producer. This has allowed me to focus on finding an artist I can help to develop their sound and take them to the next level. I’ve also developed a lot as an engineer because being an a control environment consistently has given me an opportunity to build patterns of consistency.
I ran my own 2 inch 16 track recording studio from 1979 to 1989. It was the time of my life. I recorded every style of music. Back in those days the killer was maintenance costs on the tape machine and console. Over time it was a killer cost that crushed profits. But it really was a great experience because I was involved in everything from publishing and artist development to setting up a tape machine and session to being first or second engineer or just the tape operator depending on the session. After decades in the business world I'm hoping to build one more studio. Which would be my fourth build. And yes it will be a hybrid studio because I need to feel the console to be part of the creative process. New subscriber.
I’m not a musician, I’m a full time glass artist, but I can tell you all of this applies to my business 100%, and likely to any creative professional in general, especially what you said about the freedom of schedule. One thing I might add is how much time I spend marketing/advertising, or otherwise drumming up business to keep my schedule full. I’m sure the same is true for running a recording studio. People will not immediately flock to you when you are starting out, you have to find a way to draw in the business to slowly build your reputation. Networking and building solid business relationships are key. Great video! Thank you!
Once I payed the 50 bucks for Carbon Copy Copier, I started to back things up with more frequency and safety. Your words are important regarding this, hard drives will break. File management is so key, and what ever system you have developed, being consistent is important. The amount of hours I used to spend trying to find something...
Jeremy, gotta say you hit every point on the head. I’ve been in the studio business 10+ years now, and I must say this is the video young aspiring engineers should watch. From paying yourself, to being a constant student. 💯💯
I'm starting college soon to become a music producer, and one day I'd like to open my own studio, and I am glad I found this video because it's good to hear the truth even if you don't want to, most people probably just don't think about how hard it actually is. But thank you for all the good advice/info man.💯💯💯
Watched a few of your videos and you have some incredible advice! These are all things that have been on my mind starting my own studio! Thank you!! Super glad I came across your channel!
Thanks for this. RUclips videos and mixing courses sellers are so often about the "rockstar" side of things. I really appreciate this ! 2 years in working only from my bedroom and recording in my rehearsal space, and thinking about how I can make changes, so it's nice to hear someone I like talking about it. Thanks a lot !
That was why I started. There are down to earth recording channels. But we are far outnumbered for sure. There’s a fun side to this, absolutely. But I want to present it like I experience it.
Thank you for this video. I'm currently building a studio in an old mill and you are describing exactly what I was going through over the past year. I realized that I was quite naive at the beginning and reality almost broke me. It's slowly taking shape so I'm starting to get WAY better psychologically!
Tech tip in response to your lightning comment. Get a UPS on your computer. The UPS will let you save work if the power goes out and it will also be a surge suppressor for the inevitable lightning strike..
I’m a music school student who wants to both run a recording studio and write music for video games for a living and I’m going through these sorts of thoughts and am plagued by imposter syndrome all the time. Thank you for what you do, it’s enough to inspire people like me to keep going and give us something to strive for
I don’t subscribe to anyone. No matter how many times they ask or even if I feel like I learned something. That usually because I don’t believe that they will continue to provide me with content that will be useful in my life. YOU! Are quite the exception. I love the video. I love your vibe. Dude you are awesome. Cant wait to learn more from you.
Thanks bro hope all works out for you. Me I just started a mixing studio so I don’t record anyone but I mix other peoples projects. I been doing this for a long time but I had hold it off for a while till I knew was ready.
I have had three very successful businesses now. The most important lesson I have learned is when you’re starting out to keep your regular job. I all my businesses while still working. This way you never have to worry if it’s going to work. When business gets to a point that your side thing is too busy to keep everything up is when you decide if it’s worth it. Start small, carry no debt and let the business pay for itself. When established don’t over pay yourself. Keep a good emergency operating capital. The pandemic put many of my competitors out of business and fairly quickly. I keep $50k+ in the bank at all times. Sounds like a lot but it’s maybe 6 months of overhead.
Couldn't agree more! I just started my own recording studio business a couple of months ago and the things you spoke about are the things I'm going through right now. lol But I feel a little better now after watching this vdeo, Thanks my man! Keep them coming!
Opened a Studio in my garage , my vocal booth is a large box that was used to ship a couch. All my stuff is cheap and used, and homemade. But I sure make it work. The gear doesn’t always make things good, gear is just gear and it’s how you use it and how much yk that makes it great. Cuz everything was just normal until someone made it great💯✌🏻
Some wise words my friend. I think I’ve told you this before, but it’s always a battle of getting direction, motivation, movement, and drive. This year I started getting up at 5:15 and really pushing hard at the beginning. I found that I would never come in to the studio before 11 or noon and often not more for 4 or 5 hours. I had to really coach myself about what the priorities were and how to add structure to my life in order to start succeeding. For the affirmation stuff - it took me years to know if videos I made reached very far. I knew of my regular peps in the comments, but it’s hard to judge just who knows about your work and who is quietly watching and admiring.
It has been a game changer to lock in a set schedule at the studio. Mine was kind of necessity with the kids schedules but It made me really focus down and get stuff done because I COULD NOT procrastinate!
I've found getting up early really does help. Especially when you get up before the sun comes up and you feel like you've accomplished a ton before the day has even started ;)
@creative sound Labs- I follow your channel all the time. I feel awesome when I notice that the people that I follow are following the same people. Both of you guys are amazing with your RUclips channels. Keep up the awesome work.
I’ve recently gotten into audio production/engineering and I’d like to say thank you for this cuz even though I haven’t started yet I’m already doubting myself like can I do this? I know I can and want to so thank you for the tips
@@3oclubz16 Don't let self doubt hold you back, everyone lacks confidence when embarking on a new venture, it's fine to feel that fear, just don't let it stop you 😃.
I wanna open one when i go to college with my friend, we already have everything we have and we plan gain "fame" while we're on collage and when we end dedicate entirely to the studio
I learned a couple days ago how important backups are. I was working on the finishing touches of a song with 40+ layers of recordings. There was a power blip. My computer shut off suddenly. I turn on my computer and open back up my DAW to see that this project that i had been working on for a week was blank. It got corrupted somehow and there was no way to recover it. Absolutely devastating And so I had to start from scratch. Im working on remaking it right now. I will now be religiously backing up EVERY day whenever I'm working on a project.
I'm starting to put together a studio. I am retired and am not in it for the money. But, I'm a gearhead and decided to spend my time now doing what I want to do. Building up slowly.
As an IT guy who also have a music studio, there's no such thing as too many backups. That's not paranoid. Just make sure you don't have your backup drives always connected with file sharing. Friend of mine lost all data and backup drives to Ransomware, because his Qnap was connected to hic PC with SMB protocol on.
Lol, I took the opposite approach. I don't diversify, I specialise! I only record singer songwriters/acoustic guitar/piano players. I have loads of acoustic guitars, an upright and a grand piano and a lot of nice mics. If anyone round here wants to do that kind of recording, they come to me. The best thing is, I'm not always having to buy new gear because I have everything needed to make great recordings.
@@officialWWM that’s great. Everyone’s path to success is different and goals. I’ve had some goals outside just tracking for mix and some of those pieces wouldn’t have been made available without bigger paying projects. So the short is I am able to make an income have no debt and be able to grab dream gear pieces by diversifying. Again everyone’s goals and plan will look different.
Miguel Noyola I think where you live plays a big part. I live in Hobart, Tasmania. There aren't a lot of world class bands here but there's a lot of hippies with an acoustic guitar, lol.
"Force yourself to listen to music that you may not like". That's a very important point, but it can be an enormous challenge as the 'engineer to client age gap' becomes wider. It's human nature to embrace/defend the music YOU love & perhaps throw shade at what a younger generation is listening to (or creating). That being a successful engineer requires having a 100% open mind to all musical styles can't be overstated. This gentleman appears to have that virtue.
I love how you describe the process of switching from the linear trajectory of academia versus pioneering the way as an entrepreneur. As a law school graduate, I can relate to the pain of entering a real world lacking course schedules and syllabi to guide us. Somehow, I started to develop creative skills that I suppressed during those years. Maybe, I will open a studio one day. Thank u for your content 🙌🏼
Great tips! I'm surprised you didn't mention cloud backups! i do a timemachine backup regularly, plus drop box (which is more or less your keychain drive). You definitely seem way more successful than most people i know. You have a space that isn't in your home?! that's incredible! especially at 34! I am 36 and have always worked out of my bedroom/home. And It hasn't provided a full-time income... yet. definitely had a few great months that pay all my bills, but it's a tough industry that is shifting more to composing and producing beats/pop songs near me than actual recording and mixing instruments. I do great drum recordings/guitar and decent mixing. hard to find people in my area (los angeles) that need those things these days... covid doesn't help. shifting my business a bit towards a mobile live streaming recording studio.
Hey man, I started in my bedroom upgraded to a portion of my basement. Moved to different rooms… And somehow eventually ended up at a building. If you’re going to still be successful in a bedroom… I would argue that that is the dream job. And success is different for everyone. It is important whether were in a bedroom or in a building to be able to change fast because like you said the industry does change. I didn’t mention cloud back up because where I am up till recently Internet was not nearly fast enough to warrant cloud-based back ups. That has changed in the last few months. I wanted to look into different cloud-based back up options. But I would be looking into at least a terabyte and I have no idea what that would cost.
@@RecordingStudioLoser I have dropbox that has 2TB of storage for 9.99/month. "And success is different for everyone. It is important whether were in a bedroom or in a building to be able to change fast because like you said the industry does change." - 100%. for me I just wanna survive off of the things I love without having to work every waking hour like many of my friends who do youtube and/or music do. Adaptability is the key. I have helped a few people get up and running with live streams.
You remind me of a guy i only befriended last year, with your situation in the job. Up to a point that his computer desk looks exactly like the one that's looming over your left shoulder. Yes, with an analogue compressor on the right hand side (and i bet, there's an Apollo in the left wing).
Weird how your video popped up as soon as I mentally told myself i'll be 100% commited to starting a recording studio! Love the content! New Subsriber!
@@RecordingStudioLoser Being a 2 time business failure, 3rd time is the charm lol! Glad I have the business background AND musician background that has worked with amazing engineers. Just rubbed their knowledge off when i recorded with them. Sat there and learned everything they did! RUclips and *gasp* reading, really help! haha
Thanks man, I'm graduating in music production and I want to work my ass off building my recording studio from the ground up, going out of my room, where I've been working non stop, night and day, 14 hours a day, for the last 5 years learning this craft and be a real professional whose work I'd be proud of. I've learned so much about setting up a company in the last three years and have started assembling a team of trusted people who want to take our abilities to the next level. I've produced good music, bad music and great music, some will be published under one of the biggest italian indie labels soon, but I'm so scared of not making it. I'm just a 25 yo guy who just loves to make people's music sound good, but here in italy is so freaking hard to make a living, specially in the south, where I live that sometimes I think it would have been better to just graduate in IT and get the hell out of here. Well, who cares, this is what I chose to do as a living and this is what I'll do, no matter the hardships
hell yeah dude! You gotta keep that drive and hunger. Go get it. You've got alot under your belt already... and the fact that you are already pursuing it hard... You miles ahead. I wish you the best of luck. Cheers!
Hope I'm going to make it taxes here are insanely high, like 15% on top of 67% of total income and each superior income tier has to pay its percentage plus each lower tier resulting in like 4-5 months worth of annual income gone just in previdential taxes. Completly insane
Opening my business in the next few months with top of the line materials, monitors, audio equipment, everything. I'm talking best in the world-grade stuff here. Dutch&dutch monitors? Got them, a real rhodes mkI? Got it. And so on and so forth. I'm so excited!
The one thing I struggle with as far as a studio business, is how many clients are actually out there. It seems everyone and their brother has the means to record. I lack the confidence that there enough payed projects are out there.
Shot in the dark here. Most of the time it seems like ( and this is completely contrary to logic) studios with this concern, by the way I was in this position, don’t charge enough. Those paying clients won’t take you seriously if you charge to little. Again. Shot in the dark. But I will say there are more people then ever looking for pro recording. Yes everyone can record but rarely do to get actually do it. More often, it just gets me better demos.
The average person doesn't even have a top of line smartphone let alone extra money to throw on a basic interface headphones mic the computer the daw etc. And its no fun trying to learn to record and being a artist at the same time rather pay someone else to do it so can focus on becoming better artist
You would be surprised at jus how many even local garage bands are willing to invest a chunk of their day job paycheck to get a good sounding song/album. Usually musicians focus on their instrument and arrangement, and they quickly find out that no matter how much they fiddle with some recording equipment/software that they have, they just can't get their songs to sound better than an amateur demo song.
@@svarogstudio that gives me hope, I guess we cant see our own growth as recording people to be the same as everyone elses. I think my problem is I'm older now, and have become a bit jaded over the years. Thanks this helps.
@@thejawshop-AdventureRecording For sure. Also when you manage bring few bands into studio and do a good job... bands talk, play same gigs etc... so they will bring other bands to your studio as well.
I was a owner of a recording studio for 8 years and it was the best of times it was the good of times but the people that was with wasn't on the up-and-up and waste a lot of money in time then later I got into video production which is been more promising but then the drama The Fallout of getting out of the studio getting all my stuff selling the gear was another problem. I did not have a plan B . still working the same job I've had for the past 20 years so yeah, be careful beware especially now that everything has changed. Video productions way more better and I still do audio but probably do my own project.
It's not a business that attracts the general public. I do real estate but with my music, whether it be composing/beatmaking or engineering/mixing, is very personal to me. I hate the corporate side of music/multimedia.
good video thanks, would you talk about your adventure of when you started out the business and more details on what were the common mistakes or turns that you took that you should have done otherwise, how did you tackle and build your network at the start when your business was down, or at a point of worrying, how long before things started kicking off for you? Assuming you were at the time professionally confident with your craft and running the studio. More about the business and marketing side please? Thanks
make a cloud copy too - Backblaze or similar. It's mindless and automatic based on all connected drives... incase you lose your keys and your office blows up.
Hey man! Yes. But internet speeds just aren't there where I'm at. Thats the only reason I leave that out. The upload process would take months for one project. Unless theres some aspect to it that I'm missing. I would love to figure it out
@@RecordingStudioLoser hrmm yeah, I feel you. I remember my first studio office had 2Megabit upload. It was dreadful back .. and more $ than my home net! Do you have a general use laptop at home with better net speeds? You could mount your keychain drive and Backblaze from there (as the backup is the computer plus any attached drives). I never thought I'd need a cloud backup - but it's saved my ass more than once.. and it's encrypted and geographically not near either my studio or home (or country for that matter!). So it's an extra level of being apocalypse ready.
@@RecordingStudioLoser no prob! Backblaze also compresses and encrypted local to your computer. I had nearly 40TB to backup - took almost a month! The outgoing network TBs were much less
I'd love to see a video about how you made it in a small town. I'm in a good space in a small town, with a college town about an hour away, another metro area another hour away, and 2 major cities each about 2 1/2 hours away. This town isn't like tiny, it's about 30k with plenty of tiny towns surrounding it, but it seems like there's just no one who wants to pay.
Check out my one mic series. Start with the R88! ruclips.net/video/aTLM3nR87DA/видео.html
I second that! Get a few great pieces such as an AEA R88 and a millennia preamp. Capture a great performance! Done! Don’t get caught up with the grid. The grid doesn’t make great music. Great musicians and talent do.
nice, great stuff
Of course you can .keep going never stop … it’s a life thing . Keep going 😎🎸
I’m 6 months in on my studio. I’ve gone the nonprofit route; I work with a lot of nonprofit organizations and provide free music lessons. Hopefully soon offering music therapy. And a lot of the difficulty on my project is self inflicted, but yes. This is so hard. Roller coster is a gross understatement. Thank you for this honesty. Sometimes I feel like I’m drowning and working way too much for the small fruit of my labor. Just knowing I’m not alone and this is at least somewhat normal helps. If anyone would like to start a dialogue about the process of studio ownership or actually making it in the music industry, message me. I’ve turned a bunch of free junk, essentially trash, into a profitable business model that gives back to artists and the local community all on a budget of nothing. There’s no experience in the world I would trade for what I’ve done here. Big things to come, so long as you just KEEP GOING.
Boss Life Ain't For Everybody!
truth
Gracefully, it's for me 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾
I recommend getting a fireproof/waterproof safe and putting your backup drives in there. I have backups in the studio, and at home in the safe.
Being an amateur musician, i can only imagine how hard it is for you guys to live with your passion as a job. Depending on the public's idea of good music and good sound. I only own a tiny fraction of your gear - and experience! - but i feels so happy, that i can afford to write whatever suits me. Best of luck to you, and don't let bad taste take over!
At 32, I'm about 3 years into learning mixing and mastering journey and have been contemplating taking the next step into working on my own. I've been on the "path" that I had set out for myself since college but it's never landed me in a job or role that I've ever truly enjoyed or was able to dedicate myself to entirely - not the way I am with music. I've been a musician my whole life but always had a 9-5 as a backup plan and I wonder sometimes if that was to a detriment. Anyway, thanks for this video, I needed to see it and it gives me hope that I can actually do this on my own.
You can totally do it. Keep going.
Dude this is insanely good advice/wisdom
Glad you think so!
Me watching the video after I opened my recording studio
👁️ 👁️
👄
😂😂
How's it going so far?
I've worked in major studios in NY as an engineer and found that owning a studio is a liability until you start your own publishing company and have your own artists to develope who write songs that you can get part publishing for recording them for FREE and develop them or have music producers who work with you until you get interest in the artists you have!!! It takes time, patience and hard work!!! As an engineer in the days of tape, I had to engineer, program drums and keyboards, play guitar (my main instrument) and bass and sometimes sing backup and you never get paid for all that!!
But the main thing is songs and publishing and being able to get deals!! But hang in there and good luck!!!
This is a great video!
I myself have just opened my own studio and having no one to answer to has left me 2 months in with no income coming from the studio.
I’ve spent so much time trying to be the perfect engineer and practicing my speed as a producer that I’ve overthought the entire process.
The stress of being the head of company has sometimes taken it’s toll on my mental health. Having to handle the rent, the electricity bill, still having a full time job etc.
I’ve found that when you’ve achieved a part of the process that is line with your final goal, Planning is incredibly important. Be ready for the stresses that come with being the head hunco. However, stay confident in your goals and understand that everything you’re going through is a part of the process. Overthinking is a MF and don’t allow overthinking to stagnate the growth of your business.
How is it going right now?
@@JustinGamana I’ve been able to actually understand what I want to achieve as an engineer and producer. This has allowed me to focus on finding an artist I can help to develop their sound and take them to the next level.
I’ve also developed a lot as an engineer because being an a control environment consistently has given me an opportunity to build patterns of consistency.
I ran my own 2 inch 16 track recording studio from 1979 to 1989. It was the time of my life. I recorded every style of music. Back in those days the killer was maintenance costs on the tape machine and console. Over time it was a killer cost that crushed profits. But it really was a great experience because I was involved in everything from publishing and artist development to setting up a tape machine and session to being first or second engineer or just the tape operator depending on the session. After decades in the business world I'm hoping to build one more studio. Which would be my fourth build. And yes it will be a hybrid studio because I need to feel the console to be part of the creative process. New subscriber.
I’m not a musician, I’m a full time glass artist, but I can tell you all of this applies to my business 100%, and likely to any creative professional in general, especially what you said about the freedom of schedule. One thing I might add is how much time I spend marketing/advertising, or otherwise drumming up business to keep my schedule full. I’m sure the same is true for running a recording studio. People will not immediately flock to you when you are starting out, you have to find a way to draw in the business to slowly build your reputation. Networking and building solid business relationships are key.
Great video! Thank you!
Once I payed the 50 bucks for Carbon Copy Copier, I started to back things up with more frequency and safety. Your words are important regarding this, hard drives will break. File management is so key, and what ever system you have developed, being consistent is important. The amount of hours I used to spend trying to find something...
Jeremy, gotta say you hit every point on the head. I’ve been in the studio business 10+ years now, and I must say this is the video young aspiring engineers should watch. From paying yourself, to being a constant student. 💯💯
I'm starting college soon to become a music producer, and one day I'd like to open my own studio, and I am glad I found this video because it's good to hear the truth even if you don't want to, most people probably just don't think about how hard it actually is. But thank you for all the good advice/info man.💯💯💯
well done...one thing I noted with your presentation...sincerity. I always enjoy your vids
🙏 thanks. I try to keep that a theme. The people who taught me the most could be described as sincere. So I try to model that as well.
Brother this is some of the BEST ADVICE POSSIBLE!!!!!!!!!
And it's true with your last comment......
LEARN TO ADAPT TO THE TIMES!!!!!!!!!!
Really enjoy the delivery here.
Clear, concise, and sincere.
Well spoken. ♥
I’m starting a studio next month. Nervous but excited. Thanks for telling me!
Best of luck my friend!
How is it going at the moment?
Watched a few of your videos and you have some incredible advice! These are all things that have been on my mind starting my own studio! Thank you!! Super glad I came across your channel!
Thanks for this. RUclips videos and mixing courses sellers are so often about the "rockstar" side of things. I really appreciate this !
2 years in working only from my bedroom and recording in my rehearsal space, and thinking about how I can make changes, so it's nice to hear someone I like talking about it.
Thanks a lot !
That was why I started. There are down to earth recording channels. But we are far outnumbered for sure.
There’s a fun side to this, absolutely. But I want to present it like I experience it.
@@RecordingStudioLoser Next video needs to be "How to be a Rockstar"... I really need to know ;)
Thank you for this video. I'm currently building a studio in an old mill and you are describing exactly what I was going through over the past year. I realized that I was quite naive at the beginning and reality almost broke me. It's slowly taking shape so I'm starting to get WAY better psychologically!
Tech tip in response to your lightning comment. Get a UPS on your computer. The UPS will let you save work if the power goes out and it will also be a surge suppressor for the inevitable lightning strike..
Yes! I need to bring that up more often. Just sits back there and I never think about it.
Make sure it is double converting UPS. A double converting UPS is not cheap but it will supply the cleanest power possible.
I’m a music school student who wants to both run a recording studio and write music for video games for a living and I’m going through these sorts of thoughts and am plagued by imposter syndrome all the time. Thank you for what you do, it’s enough to inspire people like me to keep going and give us something to strive for
Keep going man. If you want it. Go for it!
I don’t subscribe to anyone. No matter how many times they ask or even if I feel like I learned something. That usually because I don’t believe that they will continue to provide me with content that will be useful in my life. YOU! Are quite the exception. I love the video. I love your vibe. Dude you are awesome. Cant wait to learn more from you.
I checked out your channel i feel like I could learn sole from you! How did you do that 3d looking thumbnail for your videos?!
inspirational, motivational and honest description of setting up.. cheers bro
This is a great video. Every aspiring studio owner should watch it.
Yes Sir! Great Video!, the only thing I was ad is to get a cloud backup service as well...
I agree. Though I didn’t mention it because up until recently the internet around her wasn’t fast enough to warrant it.
Thanks bro hope all works out for you. Me I just started a mixing studio so I don’t record anyone but I mix other peoples projects. I been doing this for a long time but I had hold it off for a while till I knew was ready.
Another great one! Thanks for the sitdown.
Dope video and talk on this important subject!!
I have had three very successful businesses now. The most important lesson I have learned is when you’re starting out to keep your regular job. I all my businesses while still working. This way you never have to worry if it’s going to work. When business gets to a point that your side thing is too busy to keep everything up is when you decide if it’s worth it. Start small, carry no debt and let the business pay for itself. When established don’t over pay yourself. Keep a good emergency operating capital. The pandemic put many of my competitors out of business and fairly quickly. I keep $50k+ in the bank at all times. Sounds like a lot but it’s maybe 6 months of overhead.
Thanks for these…. Good to have a brother say stuff like this.
Couldn't agree more! I just started my own recording studio business a couple of months ago and the things you spoke about are the things I'm going through right now. lol But I feel a little better now after watching this vdeo, Thanks my man! Keep them coming!
Keep at it!
This was great to listen to... you hit them all right on the head. Very uplifting to hear I’m not alone. Thanks for the video!
You are so welcome!
This is great! Starting a recording studio soon and this helped a lot! Got me motivated!
Hey, just want to say thanks! Agreed with all what you said! Wish you the best in whatever you're doing ❤❤❤ much love to that one ! Thank you!!! 🙏🏻
Thank you!
Truer words have never been spoken! Thanks for a great video. Cheers from South Wales, NY, USA. - chaz
Solid video and solid advice. I dream of owning my own studio and working for myself one day . Thanks for this man!
Opened a Studio in my garage , my vocal booth is a large box that was used to ship a couch. All my stuff is cheap and used, and homemade. But I sure make it work. The gear doesn’t always make things good, gear is just gear and it’s how you use it and how much yk that makes it great. Cuz everything was just normal until someone made it great💯✌🏻
Some wise words my friend. I think I’ve told you this before, but it’s always a battle of getting direction, motivation, movement, and drive. This year I started getting up at 5:15 and really pushing hard at the beginning. I found that I would never come in to the studio before 11 or noon and often not more for 4 or 5 hours. I had to really coach myself about what the priorities were and how to add structure to my life in order to start succeeding. For the affirmation stuff - it took me years to know if videos I made reached very far. I knew of my regular peps in the comments, but it’s hard to judge just who knows about your work and who is quietly watching and admiring.
It has been a game changer to lock in a set schedule at the studio. Mine was kind of necessity with the kids schedules but It made me really focus down and get stuff done because I COULD NOT procrastinate!
I've found getting up early really does help. Especially when you get up before the sun comes up and you feel like you've accomplished a ton before the day has even started ;)
@creative sound Labs- I follow your channel all the time. I feel awesome when I notice that the people that I follow are following the same people.
Both of you guys are amazing with your RUclips channels. Keep up the awesome work.
Great video, im glad i found this!
The universe brought us together. It was meant to be.
I’ve recently gotten into audio production/engineering and I’d like to say thank you for this cuz even though I haven’t started yet I’m already doubting myself like can I do this? I know I can and want to so thank you for the tips
Just keep at it.
How has it been ?
@@pete3839 still learning but I’m starting to piece it all together slowly
@@3oclubz16 Don't let self doubt hold you back, everyone lacks confidence when embarking on a new venture, it's fine to feel that fear, just don't let it stop you 😃.
I wanna open one when i go to college with my friend, we already have everything we have and we plan gain "fame" while we're on collage and when we end dedicate entirely to the studio
You really helped me mentally today. I appreciate this.
I learned a couple days ago how important backups are. I was working on the finishing touches of a song with 40+ layers of recordings. There was a power blip. My computer shut off suddenly. I turn on my computer and open back up my DAW to see that this project that i had been working on for a week was blank. It got corrupted somehow and there was no way to recover it. Absolutely devastating
And so I had to start from scratch. Im working on remaking it right now.
I will now be religiously backing up EVERY day whenever I'm working on a project.
I'm starting to put together a studio. I am retired and am not in it for the money. But, I'm a gearhead and decided to spend my time now doing what I want to do. Building up slowly.
fuk I love the authenticity and relatability of this video def earned a sub... keep working hard!!!
That means a lot. Thanks!
Thanks so much, brother. Thoroughly enjoyed your video, and what you had to offer. Very inspirational :)
As an IT guy who also have a music studio, there's no such thing as too many backups. That's not paranoid. Just make sure you don't have your backup drives always connected with file sharing. Friend of mine lost all data and backup drives to Ransomware, because his Qnap was connected to hic PC with SMB protocol on.
Diversify gents! That’s the key and have a solid business plan. One advice I can lend is stay out of debt.
^this
Lol, I took the opposite approach. I don't diversify, I specialise! I only record singer songwriters/acoustic guitar/piano players. I have loads of acoustic guitars, an upright and a grand piano and a lot of nice mics. If anyone round here wants to do that kind of recording, they come to me. The best thing is, I'm not always having to buy new gear because I have everything needed to make great recordings.
@@officialWWM that’s great. Everyone’s path to success is different and goals. I’ve had some goals outside just tracking for mix and some of those pieces wouldn’t have been made available without bigger paying projects. So the short is I am able to make an income have no debt and be able to grab dream gear pieces by diversifying. Again everyone’s goals and plan will look different.
Miguel Noyola I think where you live plays a big part. I live in Hobart, Tasmania. There aren't a lot of world class bands here but there's a lot of hippies with an acoustic guitar, lol.
So thankful for this video man
i like your vibe, thanks for the vid
Thank you so much for this video. You're awesome!! 😁🙌🏼
For backups, use a NAS, and a backup NAS
Welcome to the self employed life! Decorated by high highs & low lows, but the sense of fulfillment is definitely worth it to anyone passionate.
"Force yourself to listen to music that you may not like". That's a very important point, but it can be an enormous challenge as the 'engineer to client age gap' becomes wider. It's human nature to embrace/defend the music YOU love & perhaps throw shade at what a younger generation is listening to (or creating). That being a successful engineer requires having a 100% open mind to all musical styles can't be overstated. This gentleman appears to have that virtue.
Hey there, this video was awesome. Thats all. It was in some funny way inspiring but also the perfect mix of what I needed to hear. Thank you
Awesome! Thank you!
Very inspiring content! Downs and falls are all part of success. It will always work but it also needs hardwork and passion! :)
Absolute gold! Thank you!
I have 2 of those mini ssd, one for my sound library and one for my projects. I recommend those to everyone.
Super small. super durable.
I love how you describe the process of switching from the linear trajectory of academia versus pioneering the way as an entrepreneur. As a law school graduate, I can relate to the pain of entering a real world lacking course schedules and syllabi to guide us. Somehow, I started to develop creative skills that I suppressed during those years. Maybe, I will open a studio one day. Thank u for your content 🙌🏼
Awesome video this hit home as I am in the process of opening a studio myself thanks for the content 😀 😊
How’s it going now
good motivation love this
Really appreciate this video. Thank you bro.
My pleasure!
This was brilliant man. Blessings and Respect bro.
Much appreciated
stumbled across your channel! love it!
Great tips! I'm surprised you didn't mention cloud backups! i do a timemachine backup regularly, plus drop box (which is more or less your keychain drive). You definitely seem way more successful than most people i know. You have a space that isn't in your home?! that's incredible! especially at 34! I am 36 and have always worked out of my bedroom/home. And It hasn't provided a full-time income... yet. definitely had a few great months that pay all my bills, but it's a tough industry that is shifting more to composing and producing beats/pop songs near me than actual recording and mixing instruments. I do great drum recordings/guitar and decent mixing. hard to find people in my area (los angeles) that need those things these days... covid doesn't help. shifting my business a bit towards a mobile live streaming recording studio.
Hey man, I started in my bedroom upgraded to a portion of my basement. Moved to different rooms… And somehow eventually ended up at a building. If you’re going to still be successful in a bedroom… I would argue that that is the dream job. And success is different for everyone. It is important whether were in a bedroom or in a building to be able to change fast because like you said the industry does change.
I didn’t mention cloud back up because where I am up till recently Internet was not nearly fast enough to warrant cloud-based back ups. That has changed in the last few months. I wanted to look into different cloud-based back up options. But I would be looking into at least a terabyte and I have no idea what that would cost.
@@RecordingStudioLoser I have dropbox that has 2TB of storage for 9.99/month.
"And success is different for everyone. It is important whether were in a bedroom or in a building to be able to change fast because like you said the industry does change." - 100%. for me I just wanna survive off of the things I love without having to work every waking hour like many of my friends who do youtube and/or music do. Adaptability is the key. I have helped a few people get up and running with live streams.
This is not the glamorous stuff. But it's the real stuff. Great video and info man, cheers!
Thanks man!
Very real and experienced advice!
Take a shot every time he says “hard,” first one to od is the winner
I hope you have enough to make it through the whole thing. Haha
@@RecordingStudioLoser I blacked out 2 minutes in 😂
Your welcome 😂😂
This challenge feels really...hard.
"It's going to be very hard..." understood. On my way.
You remind me of a guy i only befriended last year, with your situation in the job. Up to a point that his computer desk looks exactly like the one that's looming over your left shoulder. Yes, with an analogue compressor on the right hand side (and i bet, there's an Apollo in the left wing).
That’s dope! No Apollo’s. Burls!!
And thanks dude, highly appreciated
great video homie
Backup for sure bud. Good job! Thanks man
Thank You for being Honest
i feel you i recorded just about 300 artist since 2000
Weird how your video popped up as soon as I mentally told myself i'll be 100% commited to starting a recording studio! Love the content! New Subsriber!
I’m in your head. Haha! Congrats on starting!
@@RecordingStudioLoser Being a 2 time business failure, 3rd time is the charm lol! Glad I have the business background AND musician background that has worked with amazing engineers. Just rubbed their knowledge off when i recorded with them. Sat there and learned everything they did! RUclips and *gasp* reading, really help! haha
I failed more than 3 times before something worked. Just keep going! Go after it!
Lots of good words of wisdom, thanks
All hit home thank you brother
Thanks man, I'm graduating in music production and I want to work my ass off building my recording studio from the ground up, going out of my room, where I've been working non stop, night and day, 14 hours a day, for the last 5 years learning this craft and be a real professional whose work I'd be proud of. I've learned so much about setting up a company in the last three years and have started assembling a team of trusted people who want to take our abilities to the next level. I've produced good music, bad music and great music, some will be published under one of the biggest italian indie labels soon, but I'm so scared of not making it. I'm just a 25 yo guy who just loves to make people's music sound good, but here in italy is so freaking hard to make a living, specially in the south, where I live that sometimes I think it would have been better to just graduate in IT and get the hell out of here. Well, who cares, this is what I chose to do as a living and this is what I'll do, no matter the hardships
hell yeah dude! You gotta keep that drive and hunger. Go get it. You've got alot under your belt already... and the fact that you are already pursuing it hard... You miles ahead. I wish you the best of luck. Cheers!
Hope I'm going to make it taxes here are insanely high, like 15% on top of 67% of total income and each superior income tier has to pay its percentage plus each lower tier resulting in like 4-5 months worth of annual income gone just in previdential taxes. Completly insane
@@scacchomattho how is it going now?
Opening my business in the next few months with top of the line materials, monitors, audio equipment, everything. I'm talking best in the world-grade stuff here. Dutch&dutch monitors? Got them, a real rhodes mkI? Got it. And so on and so forth. I'm so excited!
thank you bro!
Thanks again for a helpful message.
Thank you, I needed this
Thanks, Great info
The one thing I struggle with as far as a studio business, is how many clients are actually out there. It seems everyone and their brother has the means to record. I lack the confidence that there enough payed projects are out there.
Shot in the dark here. Most of the time it seems like ( and this is completely contrary to logic) studios with this concern, by the way I was in this position, don’t charge enough. Those paying clients won’t take you seriously if you charge to little.
Again. Shot in the dark. But I will say there are more people then ever looking for pro recording. Yes everyone can record but rarely do to get actually do it. More often, it just gets me better demos.
The average person doesn't even have a top of line smartphone let alone extra money to throw on a basic interface headphones mic the computer the daw etc. And its no fun trying to learn to record and being a artist at the same time rather pay someone else to do it so can focus on becoming better artist
You would be surprised at jus how many even local garage bands are willing to invest a chunk of their day job paycheck to get a good sounding song/album. Usually musicians focus on their instrument and arrangement, and they quickly find out that no matter how much they fiddle with some recording equipment/software that they have, they just can't get their songs to sound better than an amateur demo song.
@@svarogstudio that gives me hope, I guess we cant see our own growth as recording people to be the same as everyone elses. I think my problem is I'm older now, and have become a bit jaded over the years. Thanks this helps.
@@thejawshop-AdventureRecording For sure. Also when you manage bring few bands into studio and do a good job... bands talk, play same gigs etc... so they will bring other bands to your studio as well.
The best interns are the ones where their moms call and ask if they can have the internship 😂
So uncomfortable
Great video man!
I was a owner of a recording studio for 8 years and it was the best of times it was the good of times but the people that was with wasn't on the up-and-up and waste a lot of money in time then later I got into video production which is been more promising but then the drama The Fallout of getting out of the studio getting all my stuff selling the gear was another problem.
I did not have a plan B .
still working the same job I've had for the past 20 years so yeah, be careful beware especially now that everything has changed.
Video productions way more better and I still do audio but probably do my own project.
It's not a business that attracts the general public. I do real estate but with my music, whether it be composing/beatmaking or engineering/mixing, is very personal to me. I hate the corporate side of music/multimedia.
Man, thanks for this. Really appreciate the wisdom
good video thanks, would you talk about your adventure of when you started out the business and more details on what were the common mistakes or turns that you took that you should have done otherwise, how did you tackle and build your network at the start when your business was down, or at a point of worrying, how long before things started kicking off for you? Assuming you were at the time professionally confident with your craft and running the studio. More about the business and marketing side please? Thanks
I needed this man! Thanks you so much! Liked and subbed 🤍
great content man!
Great content. You got a new subscriber :D
Thanks for the reality check and the experience sharing!
Awesome, thank you!
Wow ...hats off🤗
make a cloud copy too - Backblaze or similar. It's mindless and automatic based on all connected drives... incase you lose your keys and your office blows up.
Hey man! Yes. But internet speeds just aren't there where I'm at. Thats the only reason I leave that out. The upload process would take months for one project. Unless theres some aspect to it that I'm missing. I would love to figure it out
@@RecordingStudioLoser hrmm yeah, I feel you. I remember my first studio office had 2Megabit upload. It was dreadful back .. and more $ than my home net! Do you have a general use laptop at home with better net speeds? You could mount your keychain drive and Backblaze from there (as the backup is the computer plus any attached drives). I never thought I'd need a cloud backup - but it's saved my ass more than once.. and it's encrypted and geographically not near either my studio or home (or country for that matter!). So it's an extra level of being apocalypse ready.
I’ll have to do some checking. I know there are some fast speeds coming available soon so that may be something I can add into the mix
Thanks man!
@@RecordingStudioLoser no prob! Backblaze also compresses and encrypted local to your computer. I had nearly 40TB to backup - took almost a month! The outgoing network TBs were much less
DAMN. YOURE A Great man. subbed
great video!! maybe make a pt 2 going into detail about booking and maybe more into finances cheers
I'd love to see a video about how you made it in a small town. I'm in a good space in a small town, with a college town about an hour away, another metro area another hour away, and 2 major cities each about 2 1/2 hours away. This town isn't like tiny, it's about 30k with plenty of tiny towns surrounding it, but it seems like there's just no one who wants to pay.