Charging extra for gear?

[mixerman]

Good riddance. I hated that place.

Mixerman

THE mixerman? dude, your Bitch Slap diary... hilarious. more please.

Why thanky!

I'm working on something that should prove to be even better.

Enjoy,

Mixerman

[thecheat]

Well charging for normal stuff thats already in the studio might have been Standard for "real" studios awhile ago but remember the whole studio paradigm is changing very rapidly. I feel that part of the value of my very humble set up is the fact that i have some of the coolest guitar and bass amps around and welcome clients to rock them out. I guess MM is right, its added value, not only do you get good sound but you get ALL THIS OTHER COOL STUFF TOO!

Although, now that i think about it, i might start charging for use of my accordion, cause, well how often do you see those ya know?

Chris

[Corey Y]

Personally I think if you keep instruments in your studio, you should let bands use them. If it's your personal gear and you don't want clients using it, then keep it at home or locked up outside of where you're doing business. I keep a handful of different guitars, basses, amps, cabs, effects and a drum kit on hand in my space. It's all my personal stuff that I use myself, but I make it available to anyone I'm recording. It's an asset because I know exactly what sounds I can get out of them and what they're well suited for. I also know the condition of tubes, strings and such and that everything is set up and intonated properly.

This is just one of those pure opinion issues, I think. There's no one right or more professional way. I think though that if you have a lot of nice gear to offer in your studio just reflect it in your rates, don't rent them out by the piece. Would you charge someone extra for using a particular microphone, pre, comp or reverb?

[signorMars]

I still can't get my head around the idea of not giving a shit to the point where just because the band is "some kids making demos for their myspace" you won't even TRY to help them sound good. The fact that they are paying a supposed expert to record them shows that they give enough of a shit to invest money in trying to get the best quality record they can. Attitudes like that are why people record at home. People hire studios for the personnel and their gear, both recording gear and instruments... at least that's my impression. But, if you want to run your studio like a car wash and charge extra for the undercarriage wash, that's your decision, I guess.

Frankly, when I first saw the list of gear for rent at Third Monk, I assumed it was just a convenient list of rates for some local rental company... should have known better.


BTW... everyone knows Jeff and MSE are the same guy. It's performance art.

[GoatKnuckles]

The studio is a studio- not a guitar shop. If they want to use the amps, they rent the amps. Pretty simple. If I am only engineering a record I'll record whatever 'piece-o' the band brings in. If the band are paying a project rate for an album production, then they get to use the amps sans rental fee- because the project rate covers that.

This is the way business is done at real studios.

my old band didn't get charged for using billy gibbons' hot rodded fender amp, or the vintage mellotron, or the grand piano, or the echo chamber, or the 80's Defender video game in thew hallway at Ardent Studios. I'd say they are "real." no? kinda?

paul kolderie didnt charge me to use his 60's J45, or his drums, or piano at camp street. He's kinda real, I'd say. his studio didn't seem at all hack to me. not at all. none more hack.

bradley hartman didn't charge us to use his vintage flanger (mutron? mxr? its whatever sneaky pete used) at his studio - and certainly not $15! he's recorded a coupla cool things me thinks.

all these folks had all these weird gold/silver record looking thingies on their walls. like.....lots of 'em. stuff that isn't cluttering countless "used" bins even.

weird. i did business at "fake" studios! nice. fake studios rule apparently.

I agree full on with this, and to be quite blunt fuck people who say otherwise. I record at home mostly but from time to time I find myself going to other studios. I'll be damned if i'm gonna pay some asshole an exorbitant amount of money to be told I can't use some of the very features his studio apparently offers. A lot of people will choose studios simply for their gear list so the very idea of doing this is just ridiculous. Studios make money either hourly, on a day rate or a project basis and I would think that these rates should be decided after taking into account what your studio offers, I spend a lot of money recording music in my home as well as in other places and I will never pay extra to use anything at any studio anywhere.

[Brian]

To summate, what people have said is, put the charges for all you offer into your regular rate and don't parcel it out. You'll make more money by charging everyone for things instead of piece meal.

When you open a business, you have to do a plan which means a break even analysis, projections for a few years based on 20%, a market study to see if there is any market, and you'll need to know what your office costs and equipment maintenance are going to run per year. That's how you determine what your pricing should be based on industry standards and practices vs what you have to charge to succeed.
Policy is determined by the owner and either accepted or rejected by the clients.
That's the "ultimate reality" that doesn't evolve out of opinion regardless of anyone's position.
One thing is for sure, if you don't charge enough money, you'll be out of business unless you become wealthy, hit lotto, marry a rich woman, inherit money, already are endowed with a trust fund, or become a "rent boy". None of those have anything to do with audio recording or business acumen.

[japmn]

If freelance engineer you charge the more moneys for the expensive mikrofons and other organs like Melotron or Optigon because they break them. If you are engineer you are allowed to break your mikrofons and the organs so you do not give more charge to them.

[TapeOpLarry]

Hey! It's Jeff Robinson folks. He likes to come over and get yer panties in a bunch. He is a real creature (http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sq ... q8gldke~T4) but lord knows what he's like in person - doesn't come across too well online. Must be bitter from all those assistant engineer sessions. Ha ha. But damn, everyone can run their little sandbox any way they wish. I can't fathom setting a nice instrument or such out in our live room and asking for money every time someone wants to use it, but then again I'm pretty tired of paying for replacing drum heads and getting the piano tuned.

I thought the old joke was that studios kept their 24-track decks around in order to charge for Pro Tools rig rentals?

[snoopy23]

I think renting gear from your studio is petty. Paying extra for extra cd-r's, renting tape, and charging for gear that you have to rent for the project is acceptable, but renting the gear you have in your studio is just silly. Why is it there if not to provide options? Woudl you charge them to use a compressor on their vocal track? Or the mmics on their drums? If it is really rare gear, perhaps a written agreement of responsibility would be in order to protect your investment. But if it is a Marshall amp instead of their Crate combo rig, for chrissakes pull out the Marshall and let them use it. You'll both be happier in the end.

[TapeOpLarry]

I will say this: If I had some really, really good guitars and rare vintage amps I might keep them in a closet locked up and only bring out for long-time clients or for rental if people really, really wanted to use them. Why? I could tell you about the time a local music store rented us a guitar for dirt cheap and the musician dropped it on the floor. That took months to smooth over...

[chris harris]

I will say this: If I had some really, really good guitars and rare vintage amps I might keep them in a closet locked up and only bring out for long-time clients or for rental if people really, really wanted to use them.

Hell... I'd probably keep that stuff at HOME and only bring them to the studio if I intended to use them. I probably wouldn't even tell someone I had that stuff unless I planned on making it available to them.

[TapeOpLarry]

Well, yeah. I kinda took the junk home and left the good stuff at the studio, but none of it's THAT good!

[@?,*???&?]

Hey! It's Jeff Robinson folks. He likes to come over and get yer panties in a bunch. He is a real creature (http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sq ... q8gldke~T4) but lord knows what he's like in person - doesn't come across too well online. Must be bitter from all those assistant engineer sessions. Ha ha. But damn, everyone can run their little sandbox any way they wish. I can't fathom setting a nice instrument or such out in our live room and asking for money every time someone wants to use it, but then again I'm pretty tired of paying for replacing drum heads and getting the piano tuned.

I thought the old joke was that studios kept their 24-track decks around in order to charge for Pro Tools rig rentals?

F---in hilarious!

[@?,*???&?]

I will say this: If I had some really, really good guitars and rare vintage amps I might keep them in a closet locked up and only bring out for long-time clients or for rental if people really, really wanted to use them. Why? I could tell you about the time a local music store rented us a guitar for dirt cheap and the musician dropped it on the floor. That took months to smooth over...

Yep. I've had that happen to one of mine. The guitar player dropped it and had absolutely no remorse afterward. Used by an unsigned band on a record that never came out. Pointless.

As for a 50's Bassman or a Badcat Blackcat 30, then if you don't know why these are great amps to begin with, then you have no business using them for free.

[chris harris]

smells like bait.