When you get robbed...

[rocky]

I was mixing a band at a festival atop a mountain yesterday when I got the call from one of my studio partners. "We got robbed" he said.

The first image that scanned my mind was our control room emptied of everything.

The opportunistic scumbags actually walked right through the control room,
past the Pro Tools rig, past the mic locker, beyond the two minimoogs
and kicked straight into the office to take it apart.

They found the cashbox, they emptied it. We lost over one thousand pounds in less than two minutes.

I feel lucky. All of the gear is still there, untouched. The project that was being worked on is safe. Our insurance may even pay out. We will survive.

The screwballs also stole my partners keys.

My partner took a bathroom and smoke break, leaving the control room unlocked,
as we often do, being behind keypad door locks and with a receptionist in the building.

The receptionist saw the culprits enter, but took his eye of them to get a cup of coffee just as they managed to enter our private and "secure" section of the centre.

We've spent all day changing locks, tidying and hoping they don't come back in the middle of the night with a crowbar and a truck.

Lessons to be learned:

1, get a safe for weekend cash payments. Bolt it to the floor (although this could have led to them trashing the place or taking gear)

2, Sometimes you can't trust anyone who is supposed to be doing their job.

3, Thieves don't know the value of recording gear.

If this post does anything for anyone, take a look at your security situation
and see where it's lacking, before it's too late.

On the upside, I'm starting an exciting album project in less than twelve hours
and I have the equipment to do it.

[MoreSpaceEcho]

sorry to hear that, getting robbed sucks. i'm glad it wasn't worse, cause it sure could've been.

my basement studio at my old place got robbed once...somehow they got in through the back door. my roommate's band was tracking there at the time so we had all their gear and all the mics up. the genius thieves:

took a couple 57s but left the RE20s that were sitting in plain view.
took an old p bass OUT of its case, put a $100 guitar IN, and took that.

i had renter's insurance, the call was amusing:

him: so here's how it works, you give me the approximate total value of everything that was stolen, we'll send you some forms, you fill those out and then we'll come to an agreement.

me: ok

him: so how much was taken in total?

me: about $1500.

him: total?

me: yeah.

him: in that case it's not worth it to us to bother with the paperwork, we'll just send you a check.

me: i meant $15,000.

him: nice try.

[the finger genius]

Funny, similar thing just happened to me this weekend. I was out of town for my sister's wedding. Luckily, the guys who robbed me were also criminally stupid. They walked past all my guitars, all my mics which were up on stands, and went right for the jar of nickels I had on my desk. They got about $60 in change, two tvs, and unfortunately my passport and possibly some checks.

This had already been the weirdest week of my life. If anyone can spare any positive energy I could really use some right about now.

[kslight]

Funny, similar thing just happened to me this weekend. I was out of town for my sister's wedding. Luckily, the guys who robbed me were also criminally stupid. They walked past all my guitars, all my mics which were up on stands, and went right for the jar of nickels I had on my desk. They got about $60 in change, two tvs, and unfortunately my passport and possibly some checks.

This had already been the weirdest week of my life. If anyone can spare any positive energy I could really use some right about now.

Are you sure you weren't robbed by an 8 year old? That sounds retarded to me...not even worth the effort. I'm not a thief but damn if I were to start whatever I am stealing had better be worth some serious cash (like an amount to set myself up in hiding for life)....I'd hate to go to jail for a jar of nickels...or even a thousand pounds seems insignificant to steal.

[the finger genius]

Are you sure you weren't robbed by an 8 year old?

It would have o be a couple of 8 year olds, those tvs were heavy.

[the finger genius]

double post

[cgarges]

Man, that sucks. I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm glad it wasn't worse.

Do you guys not have alarm systems? I can't think of a less expensive way to deter theives. It's usually like $100 for the install (sometimes that's free) and less than $40 a month. Of course, that might still give someone time to grab a couple of things and bolt, but at least they're not likely to start taking stuff out of the racks and whatnot.

I'm amazed at how many studios I know of that don't have any kind of security system in place. For me, that would be like third priority in monthly bills, just behind rent and utilities. Even putting in a system that's not connected to a service but makes a lot of noise seems like it would be a good deterrent.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[andrewlloydwebern]

They walked past all my guitars, all my mics which were up on stands, and went right for the jar of nickels I had on my desk. They got about $60 in change, two tvs, and unfortunately my passport and possibly some checks.

When our house was broken into, they went to my studio and stole...an Alesis metavox. Not the monitors, mics, keyboards, mixer, etc. Just a cheap vocoder that didn't work so great anyway. The cost of replacing the smashed door was more than the cost of replacing anything that was stolen...

[CurtZHP]

my passport and possibly some checks.

I'd be worried about identity theft at this point.

[rocky]

Man, that sucks. I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm glad it wasn't worse.

Do you guys not have alarm systems?

We have an all singing, all dancing alarm system with a direct line to the police and to all our mobile phones, with movement sensors all over the building. However, we were open for business. This was mid-session.
We're in a music centre, which was also open for business. Rehearsal rooms, a music exhibition, cafe, record labels were all open with known trusted people around.
Receptionist missed a trick in taking his eyes off these guys, who certainly didn't look like they'd be interested in learning about The Undertones or Stiff Little Fingers.

I've had a sleepless night wondering if they came back for the rest of the stuff or not, about to find out.

[the finger genius]

Man, that sucks. I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm glad it wasn't worse.

Do you guys not have alarm systems? I can't think of a less expensive way to deter theives. It's usually like $100 for the install (sometimes that's free) and less than $40 a month. Of course, that might still give someone time to grab a couple of things and bolt, but at least they're not likely to start taking stuff out of the racks and whatnot.

I'm amazed at how many studios I know of that don't have any kind of security system in place. For me, that would be like third priority in monthly bills, just behind rent and utilities. Even putting in a system that's not connected to a service but makes a lot of noise seems like it would be a good deterrent.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

I don't have a studio space, just a small room in my apartment. A security system is now definitely on the horizon.

[the finger genius]

my passport and possibly some checks.

I'd be worried about identity theft at this point.

I'm worried about a lot of things at this point.

[Nick Sevilla]

I was mixing a band at a festival atop a mountain yesterday when I got the call from one of my studio partners. "We got robbed" he said.

The first image that scanned my mind was our control room emptied of everything.

The opportunistic scumbags actually walked right through the control room,
past the Pro Tools rig, past the mic locker, beyond the two minimoogs
and kicked straight into the office to take it apart.

They found the cashbox, they emptied it. We lost over one thousand pounds in less than two minutes.

I feel lucky. All of the gear is still there, untouched. The project that was being worked on is safe. Our insurance may even pay out. We will survive.

The screwballs also stole my partners keys.

My partner took a bathroom and smoke break, leaving the control room unlocked,
as we often do, being behind keypad door locks and with a receptionist in the building.

The receptionist saw the culprits enter, but took his eye of them to get a cup of coffee just as they managed to enter our private and "secure" section of the centre.

We've spent all day changing locks, tidying and hoping they don't come back in the middle of the night with a crowbar and a truck.

Lessons to be learned:

1, get a safe for weekend cash payments. Bolt it to the floor (although this could have led to them trashing the place or taking gear)

2, Sometimes you can't trust anyone who is supposed to be doing their job.

3, Thieves don't know the value of recording gear.

If this post does anything for anyone, take a look at your security situation
and see where it's lacking, before it's too late.

On the upside, I'm starting an exciting album project in less than twelve hours
and I have the equipment to do it.

Hi,

I don't mean to sound paranoid, but this sounds to me like an "inside job".

Your receptionist did not greet the incoming potential customers, and just walked over to get coffee? FIRED.

You had over 1000 pounds in the safe and not in a bank account? Who put that money there, and who knew about it? That will be your biggest clue, since the robbers went straight for that. Cash is untraceable, unless you photocopy it for the serial numbers, which almost no one does.

Your business partner in the crapper? You were not there, were you... and they "stole his keys"?

And no one confronted the robbers at all? In a complex? I think these robbers are known by someone inside your complex, if not by your partner. Check and see if someone you know there suddenly is able to pay some bills, or shows up with shiny new equipment, a very common mistake of dumb thieves.

Cheers

[chris harris]

Are you sure you weren't robbed by an 8 year old? That sounds retarded to me...not even worth the effort. I'm not a thief but damn if I were to start whatever I am stealing had better be worth some serious cash (like an amount to set myself up in hiding for life)....I'd hate to go to jail for a jar of nickels...or even a thousand pounds seems insignificant to steal.

I don't want to dive head first into a sociopolitical discussion here... But, I think that the misconception about crime in this post should be noted. If the only people who ever committed crimes were those who were looking for an Ocean's Eleven style retirement from it, then 1. there would be way fewer criminals, and 2. most of us would never have to worry about being victims.

The reality is, most criminals are stealing for either their next meal or their next drug fix. So, stealing a jar of nickels doesn't seem so crazy to someone who's hungry in one of those ways. That doesn't excuse the crime! It takes a real scumbag to steal from someone who's worked hard to earn what they have. I just think that if you want to understand crime to prevent it, or to prevent being the victim of it, it's helpful to understand that these criminals aren't weighing the risk of being caught vs. a retirement to the Cayman Islands. A criminal will certainly bust your window for a backpack that may or may not be empty, and they'll definitely kick your door down for a jar of nickels.

[Snarl 12/8]

And...

"A thief can work in a minute."

-- Spencer