free work?

[jmpizzoferrato]

so a friend of mine, who i met through work but ended up being fairly good friends with, just asked me if i can record his new little project. it's just kind of a one time thing. i know everyone in the project but am only friends with one of them.

the project is a three piece blues trio. upright bass, drums, and guitar. the three musicians are amazing and i would love to record them. and esspecially because my friend is moving out of the area soon and i probably wont see him much in the future. the problem is, i'm going through a busy period with work. i am not really in a position to commit free time to free work- as much as i'd like to work on the project. i'm also not really a fan of moving my mobile rig around- esspecially if im not being compensated for it (we're talking a tape machine or an ADAT, box of cables/snakes, and a box of microphones and about 6 stands).

i could work it- but just have fun, drink lots of beer and hang out/engineer or i could not do it and play video games/run errands on a couple days off- which would feel awesome.

any advice?

[surf's up]

when in doubt, always go with the option that involves beer.

[kayagum]

The running joke in the financial world is that the answer is always "time value of money".

Is your time more valuable than money? Charge him and see if he says yes. Yes- you get paid. No- you don't lose any time (and probably sleep).

Is your money more valuable than time? Sure, drink beer with your buddies. They'll like it, and ask you to record them for free again. And you'll drink more beer. Repeat.

"When you hit a fork in the road, take it." ~ Yogi Berra.

[cgarges]

Man, that's really entirely up to you and your situation. It would depend on a lot of circumstances for me. If someone asked me to do that now (because I'm going through an INCREDIBLY busy period), I'd have to say "no" because the time I do have off is really important to me. Occasionally I'll do that sort of thing for friends if it's a low-maintenence situation, but hauling a bunch of my gear somewhere to do it isn't what I'd consider "low-maintenence."

What kind of beer?

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[digital eagle audio]

i'm still new in the biz, and so to get clients, i offer to do the mix for free. so i get some cash for the tracking and overdubs, the studio gets everything they deserve, and the clients are happy because they are getting a sweet deal.

[JB]

when in doubt, always go with the option that involves beer.

One time I did a whole movie for beer ...two cases of Hoegarrden actually. Later that horrible film was picked up by Trauma...should have had a contract!

[djimbe]

To me, just hanging out and recording good musicians is awesome, so I'd do it. But...

The gear and use of the space (at my place) costs money. I'll do the engineering work for nothing for a friend, but the space has to be paid for. Even close, old friends gotta pay me for use of the space. I got rent to pay. So you got gear, and you gotta move it to do the session. See if you can charge them a slight nominal fee for that headache, and then maybe forego the engineering fee...