recording for fun or career.

[beefjerkey]

I'm wondering who here records for fun or for a job. and also tell us your hobbies, if recording is not your main one.
I for example, run my own small analog 24 track studio in north west washington. i still have to work a part time job at a bar and do live sound to make ends meet, but i am doing what i love.
what i like to do when i am not recording is play music with my band 76charger, and in the summer i like to go boating, and in the winter i snowboard. my wife also takes up a lot of my free time, but she is great.
Beef

[Brett Siler]

I have a little home studio that I record local bands in. I don't change very much. All of what I make I put back into the studio or other music related stuff. I also deliver papers part time to help pay bills as well as go to school. I don't like school too much cause it takes up recording time. They just cut everyones hours back at the place I work so I might have to find another job. I also play in a chaotic prog rcok band called GRATIS and another band called Stationary Odyssey.

[wedge]

My home studio -- digi001, Soundcraft M8, Otari 5050 -- exists solely for the recording and mixing of my own projects, selfish bastard that I am. I do graphic design during the day. I haven't found my happy work/play groove, yet...

[nacho459]

I have a little home studio that I record local bands in. I don't change very much. All of what I make I put back into the studio or other music related stuff.

That's pretty much my story, I pretty much just work with bands I personally know or get recommendations from past clients, but there's a lot of bands around here. I used to be in a hardcore band called the CafFiends we did a couple of nationally distrod albums, but never got that big outside of So Cal. I am also the Sr. Audio Engineer at my church so that's how I pay my bills, but can cut into my recording time.

www.459audio.com

[Kilroy]

I just have my own home studio, but would love to do it full time, but now i just record my own stuff, and have a couple clients who do rap. Most of what i make i usually feed back into recording stuff or guitar related stuff. I goto school part time and need to get off my lazy ass and find a job. I teach guitar to a couple of kids. And i play in my church every week. And also help do sound there too.

-chris

[trodden]

Mostly for fun.
i record other bands besides my own but its never enough to pay the bills or health insurance..
I've just been involved with music since a lil kid and the fascination has spread to beyond just playing but to recording.

I have a small little project studio...

i'll "freelance" out to a big "real" studio a few times a year.. that's always fun... wish i could do it more often but a lot of bands don't have a budget for that with the whole "my buddy with a computer can do it for free" situation is so available. Most money made out of the real deal or in my little project studio either goes back into my gear/studio habit or one of my chemical habits..

[Slider]

Job... It's sometimes also fun.

[alanfc]

I'm mainly a player, who happens to be the only one in the band who's into the recording stuff. My studio is 1/3 sectioned off in my apartment bedroom, using Sonar software and Yorkville monitors. On a 2'x4' folding table.
My dayjob is as a broadcast buyer at an ad agency.

[cgarges]

Job... It's sometimes also fun.

Me, too. Sometimes, it's not:

http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopic.php?t=27030

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[T-rex]

Same story here. Home studio that I mostly use for my own band and friends bands or recommendations. I put all of what I charge, which isn't much, back into the equipment. I still play in bands and love it, but I really love the recording aspect. Ever since I first stepped into a "decent" studio, I caught the bug. A friend of mine and I will most likely try to open a small studio in town sometime in the next year or so. But even then, we will still work day jobs and try to keep costs as low as possible.

Here's a quick website I did for it:

www.velvetaudio.com

If you go to the music page you can hear a rough mix of a new Carolina (my band) song. I am still learning.

By the way Nacho 459, nice website! That looks like a great set up.

[moschops]

For fun. Only for fun. Fun that generates bills rather than pays them. Fun that is worth every cent.

[DavidATX]

I try my best to make a living as an engineer. I own and operate www.republicstudios.com. I have one other engineer, Mauro. Actually as I am typing this Eric archer is wiring up the Otari 1" machine Mauro just bought for the studio. Mauro, my brother Marcus and myself own and run www.arclightrecords.com. That is definitely a labor of love...because making money in music...good music is really hard. Mr. TapeOp (Joel Hamilton) is on our label with his studio project Book of Knots (which also includes Tony from Studio G).

Anyways, things have been very hard for me here in Austin the past year...business is slow. Hopefully things will pick up.

As for other hobbies, my biggest (read most ambitious and expensive) is restoring cars...well, I just started this hobby. I am restoring a 1968 Firebird! It should be on the road by mid summer (I HOPE).

Other than that...just listening to music, play some video games, free weights, mountain bike, travel when I have money.

[Wild Bill]

Creative fulfillment (fun?).
Definitely not career.

[I'm Painting Again]

Home Studio that costs way more than it makes..a labour of true love..for sure..I will record anyone who wants to record with me..95% friends/local scene

finally figured out how to make a website :

www.gingerbird.net

Day Job as an video engineer/producer for a small cable TV station to pay bills..

I like horses, gardening, and long romantic walks on the beach..

[joelpatterson]

Job... although this is the thing I would be doing anyway, even if I had to grovel at some gritty, grimy job. You know come to think of it, all the gritty grimy jobs I had, I was doing this. When I was driving a taxicab in D.C., I'd pull out a guitar late at night and we'd howl our homemade "Red Top Theme Song" into the open mic of the cab and serenade the dispatchers. Small scale, lo-fi broadcasting!

Once you've got enough customers to keep you busy, it REALLY turns into a nutty life. You're kind of a God, face it. But I don't think you'd get there unless you had this kind of foolhardy dedication and belief in yourself. And a willingness to abandon all pretense to a sensible life and instead follow your own wild ambitions.