MOTUnation.com

Hello.

The following is not really my cup of tea, but I might start doing it to fill up some of my currently free time, since I've been asked multiple times.

Gig: Produce demos for singers (typically between 8 to 12 songs).
- They would sing over commercial music-minus-one music tracks of cover songs.
- There would basically be 2 kinds of singers: The Good Singers (GS), with little need of editing, and the Bad Singers (BS), who will need a fair deal of editing (i.e., pitch correction).
- They might want to package and manufacture CDs ( I have friends who would take care of this last point)

I can basically see 2 scenarios:
1.- Scenario A
Here, the singer would come in with his music-minus-one tracks, and start rolling.
I would record 2 or 3 songs per session till we complete the 8 to 12 songs for the demo album
Mixing
Mastering

2.- Scenario B
This scenario would be exactly like the one above, plus a little pre-production work, such as helping them put together a list of songs to record, including some research to find good ones, help them find, gather and compile the music tracks and lyrics to be recorded, etc.


- How much would you charge for such a gig for both scenarios, taking into account GS and BS singers?
- Charge by-the-hour, or make some kind of package deal? If it's the latter, how much?
- How much time would you allot for each song (recording, editing, mixing)? Would you set maximum amount of time per song and charge extra if the time is exceeded? This would be specially important in the case of BS, I suppose.

- How much for the mastering of the demo album?

- Any additional terms or conditions you'd advise me to take into account?


The albums would be mostly for whatever non-commercial usage the artist needs, mostly demoing it around, promoting themselves, giving it as presents, etc.

Please imagine you would be doing the gig when you advise me, like if you were giving me a quote.

Thanks in advance!

FMiguelez wrote:1- How much would you charge for such a gig for both scenarios, taking into account GS and BS singers?
2- Charge by-the-hour, or make some kind of package deal? If it's the latter, how much?
3- How much time would you allot for each song (recording, editing, mixing)? Would you set maximum amount of time per song and charge extra if the time is exceeded? This would be specially important in the case of BS, I suppose.

4- How much for the mastering of the demo album?

5- - Any additional terms or conditions you'd advise me to take into account?

I can tell you how I do it. Your situation, of course, may dictate differently.

1. I have a flat hourly fee for studio services. It doesn't matter if I'm tracking, mixing, or whatever. You pay me for my time regardless of task at hand (or GS or BS). It's the same for everyone.

2. I don't like package deals. When I started out I thought it was a good idea, but as time went along I saw it getting in the way. Everyone's always looking at the clock on a package deal. The client wants to get his/her money's worth and wants more hours. You, on the other hand, don't want to get taken to the cleaners and want less hours. In the end creativity suffers.

3. This is tricky. What I usually do is get a feel for the client's budget, then divide that by number of songs. Once I know what they can spend per song I've got a handle on how much time to spend on each song. If it looks like we're getting behind schedule, I make sure to point that out and pow wow to either re-think the project or re-think their budget. This usually doesn't happen though. I'm pretty good at keeping on track.

4. See number 1.

5. If the project is sizable or the client is a repeat customer, I'll often cut them some slack on the price, but I don't do this up front. Instead of lowering my rate, I'll usually throw in some time near the end of the project and say it's on the house. That way no one ever says, "Phil's prices are negotiable." I hate haggling. That's why I state my hourly rate up front and stick to it.
BTW, don't release ANYTHING until you get paid.

As they often say on the interwebs, YMMV.

Phil

Hourly, hourly, hourly is the only answer I'd ever give. These gigs are harder than tracking original music with a live high school age band, due to the high suck factor and general ignorance encountered. You will meet people who have worse than absolutely no sense of rhythm, or sense of pitch. That's why they work as doctors or lawyers in the day! No offense intended towards doctor and lawyers! If you get into preproduction, you might comp some of that time if the project is large enough.

I'd do a package deal with a fairly high total and non- refundable deposit. At least 1/2 in advance.

. This is tricky. What I usually do is get a feel for the client's budget, then divide that by number of songs. Once I know what they can spend per song I've got a handle on how much time to spend on each song. If it looks like we're getting behind schedule, I make sure to point that out and pow wow to either re-think the project or re-think their budget...

My thoughts are similar.

If it's really amateur hour, I move to the next song when the time is up. You might get lucky and get one or two in the can but probably won't. Now you can give a realistic estimate for finishing the project.

If you get one of the good singers, this won't be an issue. You should have some time for post or even to finish.

The discipline of allocating X time per song also helps those good singers who don't know when to stop and move on.

Charge a lot.

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:Charge a lot.

Then double it!

I've done more than a few of these kinds of projects. However, they were originals, so I ending up producing lots of background tracks. My first piece of advice is not to take any more advice from me than this. Stop reading now.

Why are you still reading?

I think it is lucky that you are only thinking of pre-fab accompaniment tracks. That makes it all so much easier. The other thing is that this is not like a reputation killer.

In an initial pre-production meeting, you ask them to bring any recordings of themselves-- so you can assess the amount of editing you might get saddled with. Then you can suggest something like: "If we go with an hourly rate, you (the client) have some control over the pace and quality-control; i.e., how many takes we do, how long we spend in editing & mix. The client's degree of preparation, and expectations will primarily affect the cost. If we go with a package price, our time-limits on tracking, editing and mixing will be hard limits. In this scenario, the degree of client prep and experience will affect the quality of the demo."

If you do lots of these projects, then you can expect the fees to level out. You'll get better at bidding and make up for losses over time.

Coincidentally, a dear friend just left moments ago after we had a pre-production meeting for a CD of lullabies she is going to record with me for her daughter. It'll be an easy one. She's a good singer. We did a hybrid where I gave her a nice hourly rate, and we estimated time on each tune and came up with a package price from that. Not all clients can be that in on how the sausage is made.

I should add that in every case I've taken on this sort of job, I've had to find the background tracks for the client, get approvals, purchase them, re-bill to the client, etc.

Hourly.

Thanks for all the helpful advice, guys.

So hourly it is

I already found a good place to purchase these background tracks, so that will be quite useful.

I´m not really looking forward to this, but I´ll take it as a way to earn extra cash and fill up those "down" moments. Guess it´s better than waisting time monkeying around the internet

I may impose some kind of previous screening and pick the better ones. I really don´t want to deal with BS pitchy karaoke singers. Those really go on my nerves and I get moody.
You know how everybody is an artist now-a-days???