Dream or reality: Building a commercial recording studio

[rikplo]

Hello,

I'm on this great forum unregisterd for a couple of weeks. So I decided to register and try to learn as much as possible. And this is my first post! I'm from The Netherlands, so excuses me in advance for all the bad English and mistakes I am probably going to make.

Maybe I need to introduce myself quickly so you people have an little view of who I am and what I do. I am a 20 year old guy and I live in one of the North provinces of Holland. I am studying engineering (I don't know the exact word for it, but I mean drawing and caculating buildings and constructions with Autocad, for example) currently. But I found out that this study isn't that interresting as I thought it would be. I want to finish this study anyway, but I don't want to be an engineer for the rest of my live.

Besides this study I have 2 hobby's: drumming and audio engineering. I'm playing in a band and we hope we can reach some serious goals in the future. Besides my band I am a live sound engineer for 2 bands and I also do a little recording at home. Honestly, I like recording better than live sound because you can get a little more in the details and you don't have all the stress of a late night live session.

Because I don't want to work as an engineer after my study I am dreaming of building a commercial recording studio and try to make a living out of it. But because of the digital revolution all the commercial studio's are closing the doors so it doesn't seam to be logic to put a commercial studio together in these days. That is why I made this topic: I would like to find out if it is possible to set up a commercial studio and make a living out of it. So what are your thoughts about this?

Thanks and I hope I will learn a lot on this forum.

[Lord Tim]

Absolutely possible, I'm doing it now!

Check out my build thread here: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9437

This is actually why I haven't been on the forum lately, the projects I'm doing in the studio (despite it still needing to be finished in places) are actually taking up that much of my time. Most of these projects will be released internationally in the next few months too... not bad for a little home based studio, hey? And yes, it's actually making me money too.

There's always going to be people who record their own stuff, but not all of them will have the space, gear or know-how to do a good job. That's why there'll always be commercial studios of all sizes.

[rikplo]

Absolutely possible, I'm doing it now!

Check out my build thread here: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9437

This is actually why I haven't been on the forum lately, the projects I'm doing in the studio (despite it still needing to be finished in places) are actually taking up that much of my time. Most of these projects will be released internationally in the next few months too... not bad for a little home based studio, hey? And yes, it's actually making me money too.

There's always going to be people who record their own stuff, but not all of them will have the space, gear or know-how to do a good job. That's why there'll always be commercial studios of all sizes.

Thank you for your reply. I'm glad that things are going so well for you! I have seen you're thread and I must say you have build a very nice studio.

Did you slowly build your gear and costumers up?

[Lord Tim]

Well, I was kind of fortunate being "me" in that I'm already fairly well known in the circles that my customers come from and they come to work with a "name producer", and the gear was bought outright from a loan... much like the studio was. It's very risky borrowing a lot of money but sometimes you have to put your faith in something you believe in to make it happen.

That said, if you build up your gear and reputation first and hone your craft as much as you can, by the time you're ready to move on to bigger and better productions, you'll already be in a good place to get clients by the time you put together a "real" studio.

[5forfighting]

Personally (and I'm by no means an expert), I think a lot of it depends on how much time/money you are willing and able to devote, and what the music scene is like in your area.

Where I live there are some quality commercial studios that do pretty well, as well as several home studios that do ok as a supplement. I personally don't have the talent or know-how to make a living at it. That isn't really a problem though, because my primary motivation for building a studio is for personal use. I don't like paying for studio time (especially since I usually end up footing the bill for everything), so I figured it would be better in the long run to do it myself. I got into this in the first place because I really enjoy recording my own stuff and just playing everything myself. When I get everything up and running, I will probably do a few demos for younger bands who really can't afford studio time (God, I remember what that's like!), and if I can make a few bucks here and there for equipment upgrades, all the better!

I guess my point is, if it's really what you're wanting to do and you're willing to give it your all, then go for it!

[Ro]

it's a somewhat old threat but; HI from Friesland

[rikplo]

it's a somewhat old threat but; HI from Friesland

Thanks, Hi from Friesland to! It's funny to meet in this way.

I haven't posted in a while because I have been buisy, sorry for that. Thanks for the reply's, I really appreciate it.

I have another question for you. Since you all reply with a postive yes, how did you put up your studio?
I mean, did you gradually build your range of gear, customers and building? Or did you, after a couple of years, had one moment where you took a loan and builded your studio and bought your gear.