what is worth charging for..

[barrett]

I often find myself in a bit of a dilemma about what's worth charging for outside of the usual billable things that we do as engineers.

I own and operate a fairly busy small studio in Austin. I?m lucky enough to record a lot of people that i consider as friends or at least acquaintances that i care about....

My question is this:

Of all the small tasks that people ask of you as an engineer regarding the transport of their music from one location to another, (and i'm not talking about during a session. i'm talking about a scenario like mine)

I received an email from a client/friend/acquaintance i care about, requesting the basic tracks from a recording that they did with me to be used for a remix. No problem. I?d be happy to give them the tracks separated so that they can remix them or anything else they'd like to do with them. But how do i go about deciding what is worth charging for and what is just grabbing some files and putting them on a DVD or something like that?

I don?t run a super tight money making machine kind of business that charges $10 for a one off. I charge what I feel is fair. But I do feel like sitting down and opening the session and exporting the tracks is a chore and work and therefore deserves to be compensated but how much and when is it just a cd burn and when is it a favor and when is it for the money?

I charge $35 an hour to record music. If dumping tracks down for a remix takes 20 min or 2 hours how do i decide what to charge?

curious what everyone?s' thoughts are on this subject.

[Chrisbrownsound]

Offer to burn a copy of the session files to DVD for no charge.

If they want you to consolidate/export files, then politely explain that this will take time and will therefore be chargeable. Agree a rate for a couple of hours.

[dirk_v]

Offer to burn a copy of the session files to DVD for no charge.

If they want you to consolidate/export files, then politely explain that this will take time and will therefore be chargeable. Agree a rate for a couple of hours.

+1. I've done this without charging for it before, and it felt like a waste of my time. It is a chore, it will take a few hours, and I'm sure your friend will understand this if you explain it to him/her.

-dv

[@?,*???&?]

When a record is done with me, once the bill is settled, the band get all pertinent tracks backed up as data to CDRs. 2 sets of the master files always and a single set of all daily back-ups. Usually around 100+ discs or so. I don't want to see the files again after the disc is mastered and comes out. A remix would be pointless. Is this request for a record that actually got finished and manufactured or is it a vanity project?

[dynomike]

When a record is done with me, once the bill is settled, the band get all pertinent tracks backed up as data to CDRs. 2 sets of the master files always and a single set of all daily back-ups. Usually around 100+ discs or so. I don't want to see the files again after the disc is mastered and comes out. A remix would be pointless. Is this request for a record that actually got finished and manufactured or is it a vanity project?

You should probably switch to DVD's. I admire how thorough you are though.