What is the most you've made on a project?

@?,*???&? · Post by **@?,*???&?** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 9:44 pm

Here's a provocative question.

Politically incorrect?

Do tell.

license2ill31 · Post by **license2ill31** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 7:01 am

I mixed a song for a client a few weeks ago, and given a protein bar and a piece of gum in return. Of course the client was my friend, and it was done at the studio where I was interning. Other than that, I've been working for free on small projects.

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 7:08 am

mjau · Post by **mjau** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 7:14 am

MoreSpaceEcho wrote:$35

And I know where you can spend that $35.

Glory_Morris · Post by **Glory_Morris** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 10:15 am

$500 - The charge was actually $600, but that was all they could come up with.
Usually make about $140 - $350 per project, but I have another big one coming up next month

bewarethanatos · Post by **bewarethanatos** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 9:23 am

When I started interning at the studio I work at now, the producer was working on a $30,000 record, financed by the band only.

I've only done a few demo projects on my own, but the most I've made is $650 for 5 songs in two days.

mingus2112 · Post by **mingus2112** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 8:06 pm

One project. . .a year and a half worth of work. . . .about $10,000. Most of the cost was dur to poor organization and nitpicking though. I did a bunch of weekends where I billed myself out at $350/day (x2 days) plus lunch. It felt like we were doing those every month! Sometimes twice a month. Tie that in to about the same time/money in mixing, etc. . .it worked out to $10k+ in the end. I'm SUPER glad it didn't end up being a flat rate thing. It was so much work. I wasn't even happy with the end result. . .it sounds soooo amatuer with reverbs, SUPER LOUD spoken word, etc. . .but that's exactly what the client wanted!

One artist that I know spent $35,000+ to make her mediocre christian pop cd. One day the mystery will be revealed to me where that money was spent because the CD sounds like she's singing to karioke tracks! REALLY poor. . .

hammertime · Post by **hammertime** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 11:33 pm

I've never charged anything for recording. The most I've ever made on music was a bar tab and about a half a hit of some bad speed in a tin foil bindle. After the 200 mile drive I think I may have broke even, because we drank about 15 pitchers of beer, which in retrospect was a pretty good deal because my next gig, I think I we split 10 dollars among 5 people.

markitzero · Post by **markitzero** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:48 am

I originally started out jut accepting donations (cash, beer, smokes, etc.) when my 'studio' was just a couple mics, a mixer, and ProTools.

Now some of those original "clients" are still calling me up, and for them I don't actually charge them money, but they usually end up donating like $150.00 a day or something like that. I'm cool with that since these are people I'm close with and I've learned a lot working my as off for them. Without them I wouldn't know shit today.

Other clients I just charge a project rate, which usually boils down to like the equivilent of $200 a day. My rig is portable (amazingly I can two 6-space racks, one 8-space rack, an Anvil coffin case full of mics, half dozen mic stands, mixer case, and a cable trunk in the trunk/back seat of my Grand Am) so I generally do tracking at their locations. For this reason, I don't really feel justified taking more than $200 a day considering I don't have to actually pay rent on dedicated studio space.

However, the more money I pour into this money-pit of a 'hobby' (can't call it a second job since I spend more on gear than I make from it) the more I'm gonna have to raise my "required donation" level.

joelpatterson · Post by **joelpatterson** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 3:38 pm

Heh, heh, heh....

Well, suffice it to say that when you're in a prestigious orchestra or chorus of some kind, you wouldn't think twice of dropping $15 on a nicely packaged CD of your group that sounds awesome and looks very stylish, all glossy color printing and booklet with miniaturized programs, and you wouldn't think twice of dropping $25 if it was a 2-CD set.

It certainly would never cross your mind that you're looking at, what, 30 cents for the disc, a quarter for the jewel case and tray, a quarter for the CD label, couple bucks of ink and paper... and the more spare and elegant the design is, with big open white fields, the less ink... no, you wouldn't think twice at all.

Every day in every way it's hammered home to me: music is an emotional business, it's "value" is a wildly fluctuating thing, wild as the wind, really.

jamoo · Post by **jamoo** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 4:33 pm

i'm still paying.

MattGrabe · Post by **MattGrabe** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 10:31 pm

$3,500. 8 songs, 3 weeks. Including tracking and mixing. I have another coming up soon, new mic preamps are coming

markmeat · Post by **markmeat** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 10:15 am

I once got a "9-pack" of beer (that's a 12-pack of PBR that the bass player drank three of before they left for the day)...

The most? $120 for an 11-song CD (maybe 4 tracking days and 2 mixing days)... of course I fall into that "hobbyist" category above where I spend WAY more than I take in.

MEAT

AstroDan · Post by **AstroDan** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 6:02 pm

I was offered a human being for a two song demo.

alexbhore · Post by **alexbhore** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 7:16 pm

$1200 for a week and a half long project.

MattGrabe: Did you track the new Goodbye Tomorrow EP?

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What is the most you've made on a project?

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