to rent out a home studio or not?

[trodden]

If its all the tracking is done in my rehearsal space, i only charge beer and mock chicken curry from the restaurant down the street. I do my final mixing at a friend's/partner's place and usually work out a trade with him or charge $10 an hour. I do most of the rough mixing on my own time for free so people usually end up getting a good recording for dirt cheap. this is mostly friend's bands with this deal. Most of the big studio stuff where there is an hourly rate, i'm usually only an assistant anyways so i don't expect much, usually beer and pot...and just glad to be there.

[logancircle]

"...consider making your setup mobile at first and offer to go to their practice space to record."

YES! This is very attractive to people with small budgets. It's also great for unknown artists trying to get started and you will also learn a lot. Being mobile is also attractive to classical and jazz groups, which is very rewarding to record, not to mention educational.

[Recording Engineer]

That's good to know, about incorporating! I'll be sure to remember that if I get the chance to rent-out a place in a couple years!

I've been running a home studio out of my fully-converted 2-car garage for about 6 years. The space gets smaller and smaller each year as the gear list increases. I remodeled last year to make room for a new mixing console due to arrive the end of the Fall this year or early Spring next year, but it's already feeling cramped again with more than 4 people in the control room.

The studio size actually handles most projects pretty well. But if I'm doing a "track-at-once" for a full band, then I have to break-out into the living room.

The comments I get about the studio being in my home is always positive. When people's reaction is kinda negative, they never coment about it and I can tell that they're just acting bigger than they really are or they really are big and my studio really will not accomodate their project. But honestly, both they and I know, they're not coming to me for any other reason than my rate, unless they're repeat business. I charge $25/hr. and most studios in commercial buildings here start around $45/hr. and go up from there. Once my console is here, I'll go up to $30/hr. and probably stay at that until I'm in a commercial building.

www.WestonHouseRecording.com
Sacramento/Orangevale, CA