PT rig rentals?

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alexdingley
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PT rig rentals?

Post by alexdingley » Sun Sep 15, 2019 6:49 am

I have a laptop live capture rig that I use for (mostly) stand-up comedy recordings... but it can totally handle 16-18 ins, live.

A friend is doing some sessions, in a couple of months, and doesn’t have a rig to bring with... so he asked if I might rent him my setup.

Not sure the going day-rate for a PT12 portable rig w/ 16 ins. If you called up a rental shop and asked for a MacBook Pro-based PT rig (let’s say PTHD), and 16 I/O, what might you expect to pay for 1 day / 5 days?

I’m trying to help my friend save money, but I’d like to ask for a respectable sum for the rig.

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Re: PT rig rentals?

Post by kslight » Sun Sep 15, 2019 9:38 am

https://www.racknrollaudio.com/Pro-Tool ... hd-rig.htm

http://www.advancedaudiorentals.com/pro ... ools/id/32

http://www.dfxaudio.com/protools/protoo ... stems.html

Obviously these are mostly LA based, which affects the rates as well. I didn't see any "macbook" based setups to directly compare to. In other markets I think these rates are closer to what an average full studio/engineer day rate would be, so I would feel silly telling my friend its $500 a day just to put my rig in their basement or whatever.

To be totally honest, I'm not real comfortable letting a friend borrow/rent gear that I can't afford to replace (ie: I would probably let them borrow a cable or a lesser mic or guitar or keyboard) for any length of time...especially something that can grow legs as easily as a Macbook. I don't know what your preferred day rate is so realize this is just for example's sake, but I would probably respond with "You can rent the rig for $400/day, and I'll work as your assistant/engineer also." Now I wouldn't expect them to go for that either, my preferred outcome would be for them to take a step back and realize maybe they should just book a studio. If I really wanted the "friend work" then of course I'd probably drop my rate to something I think they would go for, but still not let them have the gear unsupervised.

I don't know what your friend expects to pay, but for me letting them have it for something real cheap like $50-100 a day just doesn't balance the risk or my anxiety, or the cost of the friendship if the worst happens.

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Nick Sevilla
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Re: PT rig rentals?

Post by Nick Sevilla » Mon Sep 16, 2019 4:35 pm

Hi Alex,

I used to rent from two of those places that kslight put on.
Usually, once you go past 4 days, their rates would drop a lot.

I would think today, a weekly rental rate would be about $350/ day for a 16 IO setup, for 5 days charged, 7 days used = $1,750 for one week. This is for an HDX system.

For you, I would definitely "rent" with you coming along to assist and supervise your gear, since you cannot easily get insurance for this type of gig,
especially a one off situation.

I would go for what you stated, around $400 per day.

Cheers
Howling at the neighbors. Hoping they have more mic cables.

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Re: PT rig rentals?

Post by vvv » Tue Sep 17, 2019 5:16 am

OT, but what does, "Realizing vibratory excursions from a paper widget." mean?
bandcamp;
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I mix with olive juice.

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Snarl 12/8
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Re: PT rig rentals?

Post by Snarl 12/8 » Tue Sep 17, 2019 10:09 am

vvv wrote:
Tue Sep 17, 2019 5:16 am
OT, but what does, "Realizing vibratory excursions from a paper widget." mean?
Making a speaker vibrate. (Was how I've always tooken it.)
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vvv
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Re: PT rig rentals?

Post by vvv » Tue Sep 17, 2019 4:54 pm

Aiighty, then.
bandcamp;
blog.
I mix with olive juice.

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alexdingley
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Re: PT rig rentals?

Post by alexdingley » Tue Sep 17, 2019 7:13 pm

Good insights & resources, everyone! Thanks!! I'm gonna give it some serious thought. Thankfully, this is a friend I know & trust (and he's more OCD than I am with equipment care/operation) so I'm aware that it's a calculated risk. We've got 2mo to figure out the details, but I have a sense that it's totally doable. He's doing 5 days of sessions at a time when I'm gonna be out of town... so I can't go the 'charge for my gear plus my time to babysit' route — but I'm gonna give this some serious thought before I commit to it.

Again, many thanks for the input!

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Re: PT rig rentals?

Post by Nick Sevilla » Thu Sep 19, 2019 6:44 pm

vvv wrote:
Tue Sep 17, 2019 5:16 am
OT, but what does, "Realizing vibratory excursions from a paper widget." mean?
Making a speaker vibrate, dude.... ;)
Howling at the neighbors. Hoping they have more mic cables.

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Re: PT rig rentals?

Post by vvv » Sun Sep 22, 2019 9:31 pm

8)
bandcamp;
blog.
I mix with olive juice.

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Re: PT rig rentals?

Post by alexdingley » Sun Sep 29, 2019 7:19 pm

I do have one follow up question — if I’m renting my computer with a PT installation... would he be able to use his own iLok, or will I have to include mine?

I own the old PT 12.4 license on my own iLok... and he’s got PT 11.x + he’s got a new 2019.x Current subscription licensed on his iLok. Anyone have a sense of whether he’ll be able to run my PT 12.4 with his iLok, or will we have to line up ahead of time to test it out & see.

I’m genuinely comfortable renting him my PT rig, but I can’t spend a week without my iLok (and I would never let THAT out of my sight.

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Re: PT rig rentals?

Post by kslight » Mon Sep 30, 2019 5:26 am

alexdingley wrote:
Sun Sep 29, 2019 7:19 pm
I do have one follow up question — if I’m renting my computer with a PT installation... would he be able to use his own iLok, or will I have to include mine?

I own the old PT 12.4 license on my own iLok... and he’s got PT 11.x + he’s got a new 2019.x Current subscription licensed on his iLok. Anyone have a sense of whether he’ll be able to run my PT 12.4 with his iLok, or will we have to line up ahead of time to test it out & see.

I’m genuinely comfortable renting him my PT rig, but I can’t spend a week without my iLok (and I would never let THAT out of my sight.

If he has 11+ it should work with his ilok. Worst case scenario he could also install the latest PT on there.

I have 10+11+12+current (what shows up when I view my licenses) and my I’ll works fine on any other computer I’ve tried running any version 10 or later.

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alexdingley
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Re: PT rig rentals?

Post by alexdingley » Wed Oct 02, 2019 10:08 am

Cool, thanks! yeah — I think I'm gonna do a dry run with him to make sure he can successfully load up with his own iLok — having to loan out my auth USB would be a 100% dealbreaker.

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