"writing sessions" aka pre pro

[joninc]

Just curious if any of you charge different rates for album prep work. It seems around here that it's somewhat of a practice to do cheaper rate for this time as you're not really recording yet. And if much writing happens on those days then there would be some consideration of a percentage of the songwriting that is reflective of the contribution.

What do you do?

I've always charged based on the time (day rate) and it's the same for most everything I do but I am wanting to be flexible to help projects get done so I'm giving it a re-think.

BTW this is not a thing where someone just books 1 writing day and I give them a deal and they go make their recording elsewhere - this is for projects where we are planning to do the whole thing together.

[digitaldrummer]

I just charge one hourly rate. if they write, rehearse, drink beer, whatever, it's all the same. I feel like if you lower your rate, then what happens if someone else wants to book that same time at the full rate? Would you bump them in favor of the higher paying gig? I know some that would, but I'd hate to play that game so one rate it is. The only exception to that is if I negotiate a flat rate for something like mixing or sometimes I will do a "per song" rate (for certain projects).

[A.David.MacKinnon]

I'm somewhat in the same boat. I had sliding scale rates depending on the project and demand for a lot of my early years. Now the rate is the rate. My costs and time are the same regardless of what the client is doing while they're with me. I've set my overall rate to be pretty fair and affordable with the knowledge that lots of my clients are young, poor musicians.
That said, there are some long time clients that I bend the rules for and people that I love so much that I'll work for whatever money they can afford. If someone is coming back to make their 4th or 5th record with me I'm willing to bend the rules.

[Nick Sevilla]

I charge the same rate no matter what is going to be done. I have not seen "pre production" or "demo" sessions in years. Most of that happens in the artists' home studio.

[airloom]

I'm very gracious for this time and most artists don't want to think about having to book it. I rarely, if ever make suggestions to songs or arrangement though. If the studio is open the night before a session, I'll often let people load-in and get situated gratis. If we're going over any sort of production they want arrangement-wise that would bring the session to a halt, its great to have planned for that eventual setup before micing everything up and maxing out headphone sends and/or channels on the console. I've been happy to let this stuff go for free if time allows.