How old were you when you opened your first studio?

Recording Techniques, People Skills, Gear, Recording Spaces, Computers, and DIY

Moderators: drumsound, tomb

User avatar
Kasey
pushin' record
Posts: 210
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2006 1:48 pm

Post by Kasey » Sun Feb 04, 2007 4:55 pm

11 for my own music

started recording other bands at 15

User avatar
Glory_Morris
takin' a dinner break
Posts: 175
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 6:51 pm
Location: Austin, Tx

Post by Glory_Morris » Sun Feb 04, 2007 5:13 pm

I was 25 and I just closed it. It was an old dirty cafe and I ripped out the kitchen.

8 tracks of digital glory, closed it yesterday.

themagicmanmdt
george martin
Posts: 1347
Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2006 8:47 pm
Location: home on the range

Post by themagicmanmdt » Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:03 pm

i'm 21, and just got a 2500 square foot space, with a main room with 25' high ceilings.

i should be up and running by or at christmas.
we are the village green
preservation society
god bless +6 tape
valves and serviceability

*chief tech and R&D shaman at shadow hills industries*

User avatar
JGriffin
zen recordist
Posts: 6739
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2003 1:44 pm
Location: criticizing globally, offending locally
Contact:

Post by JGriffin » Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:59 pm

I had a basement studio, running a tascam 48 1/2" 8-track when I was 25 or 26. Recorded some local bands. That stopped after about 3 years 'cause I moved out of that house. Opened up my dining room studio to do client work probably about 4 or 5 years ago now. Can't do full bands exactly, but lots of design work and overdubs.

Oh, and magicmandt's space is really cool btw.
"Jeweller, you've failed. Jeweller."

"Lots of people are nostalgic for analog. I suspect they're people who never had to work with it." ? Brian Eno

All the DWLB music is at http://dwlb.bandcamp.com/

rwc
resurrected
Posts: 2333
Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2007 8:21 pm
Location: Bed Stuy, Brooklyn

Post by rwc » Tue Nov 27, 2007 4:49 am

idylldon wrote:
river wrote:
I'll bet I win the geriatric price. 47.
I'm sorry, try again! I was 49 when I opened for business. Amazingly, after 25 years in construction, I'm not deaf.
I'm right there with you guys. While I built my studio about five years ago when I was 46, it took me a couple of years to get everything together to turn "pro." I did my first paid session when I was 48. I'm 51 now and just finished up a project for a Grammy winner, and things are starting to pick up nicely. I quit my job as a teacher 1 1/2 years ago, so the studio, along with my piano tuning/tech side work, is my main source of income now. The best thing is that my studio is in my backyard, so I walk to work. Life is good up on this hill.

Cheers,
--
Don
I love these stories where after 20-35 years of regular work people get into recording for a living. Goes to show it's never too late to do what you want in life.
Real friends stab you in the front.

Oscar Wilde

Failed audio engineer & pro studio tech turned Component level motherboard repair store in New York

User avatar
radiationroom
steve albini likes it
Posts: 330
Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2005 9:14 pm
Location: The Glow-In-The-Dark Abyss South of TMI
Contact:

--

Post by radiationroom » Fri Dec 07, 2007 9:18 pm

Hacked together my first "sound system" at the age of 14, using two Soundesign compact stereos rigged to a Radio Shack mixer plugged into an old Bogen style PA amp. Attempted to make my own radio shows and learned allot doing it.

First paid DJ gig at age 16.

First nightclub DJ residency at age 18.

First radio show at age 20 - college radio, nothing too exciting.

Fostex 4-track cassette and first effects unit at age 20.

Tascam 388 & Emax sampling keyboard at age 22.

Went into the nightclub business "fool-time" as an owner/partner/manager at age 23 - biggest mistake of my life. :hammer:

First paid radio commercial at age 23.

First live sound tech gig at age 24.

Launched first syndicated radio show at age 27.

First paid engineering job for commercially released music recording at age 27. Classical music location recording to two-track has been a large portion of my business ever since.

First ADAT at age 28 along with a pair of Mackie Boards. First multitrack music recording session soon followed.

Sold ADATs and got 2-inch at age 33. The two-inch was a maintanance nightmare and lost lots of work because of it. :hammer:

Launched second syndicated radio program at age 34 - MIX ATTACK is still in production and is now an exclusive of WMSS-91.1.

Produced a dance remix of a novelty record which became a radio hit in the midwest at age 36.

Sold the 2-inch at age 37. (Fry Pharmacy is it's current owners.) Replaced it with a RADAR 24. :^:

Closed studio at age 37 and placed equipment in storage - dig it out when needed. Smartest business move I've ever made. :^:

Sign DJ mix deal with XM Satellite Radio at age 40.
Turn 41 in a few weeks and think I might have a new girlfriend on the horizon after a decade of not dating. We go on our first date next week. :rockin:

drumsound
zen recordist
Posts: 7474
Joined: Tue Jun 01, 2004 10:30 pm
Location: Bloomington IL
Contact:

Post by drumsound » Sat Dec 08, 2007 2:02 pm

I got a job at a studio when I was 26. I opened my room five years ago when I was 32.

User avatar
trodden
on a wing and a prayer
Posts: 5651
Joined: Wed May 07, 2003 8:21 am
Location: C-attle
Contact:

Post by trodden » Wed Dec 12, 2007 5:00 pm

themagicmanmdt wrote:i'm 21, and just got a 2500 square foot space, with a main room with 25' high ceilings.

i should be up and running by or at christmas.
wtf? lucky.

Chris_Avakian
steve albini likes it
Posts: 365
Joined: Sat May 22, 2004 8:08 pm
Location: little rock, arkansas
Contact:

Post by Chris_Avakian » Thu Dec 13, 2007 4:42 am

i was 14 when i started recording my own band, and a few friends bands on a little 6 channel peavy, and a teac 3440. i started charging other bands when i was about 18, or 19 on a soundtech mixer going into an adat, and eventually into a lexicon coreII card via litepipe with cool edit pro. i did sound at a few local clubs, and outside shows for a few years from the age of 17 till i was about 20, then moved to baltimore for a recording school. came home, built a "control room" downstairs in the studio, sunk a ton of money into, and so far... i got nothin'...

User avatar
A.David.MacKinnon
ears didn't survive the freeze
Posts: 3819
Joined: Wed May 07, 2003 5:57 am
Location: Toronto
Contact:

Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Thu Dec 13, 2007 7:05 am

I started recording myself and my bands at around 17 on one of these
Image
(mine had the powered speakers too).
Built myself a nice little apartment set-up with a Tascam 38 and an Allen & Heath System 8 in a spare room when I was 24. Bought a house at 28, soundprooffed the rear laneway garage and relocated the studio there. Started recording bands for money shortly afterwards. Quit my day job 5 years ago at 31.
Now I work freelance. I record out of my place, other studios around town and do lots of mobile/location work.
Some years it's barely a living, other years it's great. Either way it beats working at the family funeral home.

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 52 guests