Marketing your studio in creative ways...

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jetboatguy
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Marketing your studio in creative ways...

Post by jetboatguy » Sat Dec 23, 2006 11:35 am

So, what are some of the funniest and wackiest ways of marketing your studio... a common thing to do would be to offer free studio time through some type of contest... I guess this opens up a can of worms in the realm of creative possibilities.
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Is that the thing where they take a good old sine wave and they chop it up into little bits?" --- Rupert Neve

RefD
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Post by RefD » Sun Dec 24, 2006 9:50 pm

free Hearos to everyone who took part.
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jetboatguy
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Post by jetboatguy » Mon Jan 01, 2007 10:15 am

man... !

doesn't seem to be a fountain of ideas on this subject ?
"Digital?
Is that the thing where they take a good old sine wave and they chop it up into little bits?" --- Rupert Neve

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singularaudio
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Post by singularaudio » Tue Jan 02, 2007 6:31 pm

I have donated studio time to a few local charity raffles, in four hour blocks. It's brought in some word-of-mouth business, and I've made a little money off of people who want to go longer than four hours...

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Post by dynomike » Wed Jan 03, 2007 11:42 am

i don't think theres anything more important than being active and visible in the local music scene. going to shows, being in bands, doing sound at clubs, going to the shows of the bands you've recorded and meeting their friends, etc.
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MASSIVE Mastering
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Post by MASSIVE Mastering » Wed Jan 03, 2007 10:33 pm

Find every "battle of the bands" you can get at and throw a one or two day package at the winner.

That way, you get a decent band - Probably a reasonably popular one (as they just won the BOTB).

MAKE SURE THE GROUND RULES ARE WELL EXPLAINED - "The winner gets yada, yada, so many hours, including whatever you're doing etc., etc., and extra hours will be billed at $xx per hour" etc.

Obviously, let the band know (in case they don't know already) that a weekend isn't enough to record a marketable product in most cases, but it's great for a "pre-production demo" deal.

Hopefully, you can turn a one-day jamfest into a 4 or 5 day demo deal. If not, you shot a day working with a decent band. Do your best job and send them along to sing the praises of your place. Hopefully when they want a more serious recording, they'll call back.

In the meantime, you get your logo plastered all over the programs, you get to hand the winner the certificate and hand out some cards at the BOTB, etc. Might not be a bad idea to have a table-skirt sized banner made up to hang or to skirt a 6' table with if you have studio lit.
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Post by cgarges » Wed Jan 03, 2007 11:56 pm

You know, while I'm still into the idea of giving away a day of free studio time, I've never had it work out like I expected to.

Once I did it and the guy who won it gave it to a firend's band, but miscommunicated the term "A DAY" to them. It caused a big problem that I wound up in the middle of.

Another time, the band who won it was great and actually bought a second day. But after that, they took the files and managed to wrangle a few more free days of time from various studios in the area. I guess I can't blame them, but I felt a little slighted after giving them a day of time that they went elsewhere. (They were very happy with what I did for them, by the way. I'd almost be less offended if they HAD been unhappy.)

I'm not saying I won't do it again, but I'm a little more reluctant to at this point.

I think Mike's pretty much hit the nail on the head. Adverstising doesn't really generate new business, although ads in a high-traffic entertainment paper or the yellow pages can lend a certain familiarity to your studio's name. But nothing really beats good word of mouth. If you're competitive with other studios in your area (price-wise) and people enjoy working with you and/or at your facility, bands will talk to other bands about it.

The good part is that this doesn't directly cost you anything. The bad part is that there really aren't any tricks around it that work any better.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

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JohnDavisNYC
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Post by JohnDavisNYC » Thu Jan 04, 2007 6:18 am

beer.

a good night of hanging out and partying at a cool venue with some good bands can generate a good deal of buzz... and always target the drummers... they are the ones who generally will be the pickiest about the studio... size of the live room, snare drum/cymbal selection, what other drummers have recorded there... blablabla, tape machine, blablabla, fat analog roomy compressed boring every indie record drum sounds, blablabla...

I also say go after the drummers, because a good drummer usually doesn't play in just one band (at least not in NYC), and if they like the studio, they will try to get all the other bands to go to your studio, too.

same goes for bass players.

the guitarrists are too busy getting drunk and hitting on the bartender and the singer is broke. besides, the keyboard player thinks he can just sequence the whole album in his triton and have the drummer play his roland V-drum kit.

john
i like to make music with music and stuff and things.

http://www.thebunkerstudio.com/

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Post by dynomike » Thu Jan 04, 2007 6:49 am

toaster3000 wrote:I also say go after the drummers, because a good drummer usually doesn't play in just one band (at least not in NYC), and if they like the studio, they will try to get all the other bands to go to your studio, too.
I concur. Drummers are great although sometimes they don't have enough sway in the band so you end up "selling" to them then having to convince their guitarist or whatever just as hard... but I think if you are getting good drum sounds, they will realize it before anyone else in the band and want to come back.

Another thing that is very "now" is that almost every band has a techie guy in it - someone who does their recordings usually, someone who goes and talks to the FOH guy at shows, someone who may have been to recording school. Get that guy on your side; once he thinks you are an audio wizard, they'll be really no argument within the rest of the band because they are used to listening to this guy when it comes to technical matters.

Inviting people over to the studio informally helps a lot too... just hanging out and jamming at the studio, or listening to a favorite album on your monitors can go a long way in making them feel comfortable in the space. And people want to make a record where they are comfortable right?

Mike
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Post by JGriffin » Thu Jan 04, 2007 8:58 am

toaster3000 wrote:...and the singer is broke.
Which is always funny because he's got the lowest gear investment.
"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

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Post by RoyMatthews » Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:30 am

dwlb wrote:
toaster3000 wrote:...and the singer is broke.
Which is always funny because he's got the lowest gear investment.
But they have to invest in leather pants. Vintage ones.
"If there's one ironclad rule of pop history, it's this: The monkey types Hamlet only once."

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jetboatguy
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Post by jetboatguy » Sat Jan 13, 2007 11:50 am

OK, here's my marketing idea for this year... I've been thinking of teaming up with a small cafe/venue that has a local promoter with his ear to the ground for quality folk acts... the folk acts happen to just be passing through this area, so they can get to other bigger venues down the road.

I'm thinking that this kind of involvement with this genre of music, will tie me into a scene that I want to be associated with, and could lend itself to be more of a networking tool for other international artists coming through... and It'll give me chance to use the best of my mics, preamps on solo folks acts etc...
"Digital?
Is that the thing where they take a good old sine wave and they chop it up into little bits?" --- Rupert Neve

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Jupiter4Jackie
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Post by Jupiter4Jackie » Sat Jan 27, 2007 1:11 pm

Funny how some of us just want a band to walk into our doors... and fall in love with their work. The experience overall is so much better when you really get into the music you're recording... hope that strategy works out, and let us know if it does.
jetboatguy wrote:OK, here's my marketing idea for this year... I've been thinking of teaming up with a small cafe/venue that has a local promoter with his ear to the ground for quality folk acts... the folk acts happen to just be passing through this area, so they can get to other bigger venues down the road.

I'm thinking that this kind of involvement with this genre of music, will tie me into a scene that I want to be associated with, and could lend itself to be more of a networking tool for other international artists coming through... and It'll give me chance to use the best of my mics, preamps on solo folks acts etc...
"...he reaches for the pen, but the Lackey says "Actually, I think you need a little more development." Swim again, please. Backstroke. And he does of course."
- Steve Albini, The Problem With Music

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Post by NewAndImprov » Sun Jan 28, 2007 10:07 pm

I had a woman buy 4 hours of recording time for her husband as an Xmas present this year. Just talked to the guy, and it's sounding like it's going to turn into a full CD project this summer. Guy seems quite cool as well, used to play in a pretty happening Bay Area band in the 70's, now he teaches school. Looking forward to working on his tunes.

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Post by rmills » Tue Jan 30, 2007 6:21 am

I've had very little luck with print ads. A strong online presence on a local music message board helped a lot for a few years. I try to talk to everyone I meet as though they're my friend already - helping as often as it seems appropriate (everything from gear to industry contacts to math homework). Doing live sound is great for meeting new people but doesn't sell the studio quickly - most bands don't trust their live soundguy in the studio it seems.

It also doesn't hurt to have friends in the media.

I've had great luck working with young bands. The talented 17 year old nobody of today could be the major label darling of tomorrow if you've got a good ear for talent. With a handful of talented young bands recording at your studio, people will talk about it.

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