trevord wrote:I may be wrong, but i interpreted this section of larry's reply as "this really a hassle - if you want to work like this i have to pass the cost of the hassle on to you" my response would be
"its a hassle because you are doing things the old way - find a way to work which is not a hassle"
there are reasons why 8 hrs is not practical
how many of your customers have a day job?
Sorry to but in to this converstation, but I had to give my 2 cents on this one ... The whole 1 or 2 hour sessions thing ... it just isn't going to work. Yea, yea, I know, I know. Then find a way to make it work, bla bla bla bla bla
I'm sorry, but do the math. It just doesn't add up. Even with the very miniscule likelihood that you'll be able to book five 2-hour sessions in a day, there's going to have to be an awful lot of juggling around, which would be a major hassle to the customer.
Think about it. I've got electric bills, rent due ... I'd like to eat or take my girl out once in a blue moon. I've got 3 1-hour sessions booked for Wednesday, and that's it. Three stinkin' hours, let's assume it's at $40 / hour. I've got a whomping $120 coming in for Wednesday.
Heating bill's still sitting on the coffee table. Phone rings ... it's business! Yay! "What's that? You say you want
all day Wednesday? Sorry man, I'd love to, but no can do. I got the conga dude coming in at noon, skin flute guy at 1, and the Whitney Houston Karaoke chick at 3."
Remember, you gotta' be booked a lot in order to pay the bills. Invevitably, people's slots would have to be shuffled around like crazy in order to insure this. There will be conflicts; rember, these are musicians you're dealing with. This would mean you'd be spending a good deal of studio time hustling and juggling on the phone finessing the schedule. Moving this guy to that slot in order to accomodate some extra business in the other, because
that's the only possible day they can make it. etc. etc.
Meanwhile, your customer just spilled grape juice all over his congas and the rappers who recorded an hour before left the place a total mess. You don't have any time to clean up for the weird Nursery Rhym narrator who's spot you had to move up in order to fit in the conga dude's yukaleli-playing brother who can fill a whomping three hour slot -- which will allow you that extra 50 bucks you need for the phone bill.
Now I don't know what your feelings are about working with an engineer who's constantly distracted, but I would imagine it wouldn't sit well with a lot of people. Clients want your undivided attention, and they expect it. Playing Joe Hustler on the cell phone juggling schedules while you should be tracking isn't a good way to foster repeat business -- which you better have an awful lot of if you plan on being constantly booked with back-to-back 2-hour sessions every day.
I could see maybe hiring a scheduler to do all the hustling for you. This would work out great, in fact, and I can see where this would fit in to the whole 1-2 hour bookings thing. It would take a pretty organized and shrewd character to manage it, and it would likely be a full-time job.
Now guess who's going to wind up paying for that guy? Either the customer ... or the Electric company who's bills I can no longer afford to pay. Maybe you don't mind recording congas to candle light?
