I'll be coming into some money soon and I have been thinking about setting up a small recording/tracking studio business for bands/artists to hire to record demos.

This is probably a terrible idea but I don't want to work 9-5 anymore for anyone else and with this never ending cycle of existential dread that I have been endlessly enduring while suffering from other mental health issues, I've decided to take a run at doing something I will enjoy before I decide to give up.....

So to start I will probably be running the software side of things on a macbook pro M3, either with Logic, Reaper or Cubase.

I currently have a couple of Drawmer compressors (1968 & 1978) and I have a few analog mono synths (moog subsequent 37, sequential pro 3, korg ARP)

I also have a few decent tube amps (Fender deluxe, supro black magick, supro amulet) and have plenty of fx pedals and some decent guitars too.

I have an RME fireface UFX II, a patchbay and a pair of Wharfedale Diamond Pro monitors.

So my main issue is that I am lacking a decent drum kit, some decent microphones and a mixing console, I'll also need some mic preamps and a couple of EQ's. I currently have my eye on a Warm Audio WA273-EQ.

I was thinking of picking up a 12 channel mixer, maybe a TL audio M1 tubetracker.

I think all in all, I would like to be able to build up a facility that can cater to small bands that involve a drummer, bassist, rhythm and lead guitar and vocalist and possibly a keys player.

I'm looking for suggestions on how I would go about setting up a small budget friendly studio by adding some decent pieces of gear to what I currently have.

Or if I am just going to be tracking bands, do I just need a basic, decent mid range mixing desk and the RME interface? Do I keep it minimal in this respect?

Looking at some used 500 series Hairball Audio Elements Bronze mic pre, are they pretty serviceable for most aplications?
Would buying a cheap 2nd hand 8-10 slot 500 rack be worth it? fill it with 4 pre's and 4 eq's... although it seems like the cheaper option would be to look for used warm audio stuff though, but is it the better option?

I am UK based if it helps.

By the way, this is a great podcast - used to be called 6 Figure Studio and focused on running a studio/audio business - go to the first episodes.

https://6figurecreative.com/podcast/

I have never done this but from reading around and following other people's stories , try not to focus on the gear too much and instead focus on the experience they get, how they like working with you etc etc.

You'll likely be relieved in the future that you didn't spend the money on gear and instead spent it on the business so that it funds gear later !

A deak can of course be great value in terms of all the pres you get - on the whole, in the mid-range of say 30-40 year old desks, not many people have the space and then not many people are willing to make the space for midrange stuff (they will for high end of course). Hence they're pretty cheap ..

And of course , once it's recorded, best value is to work ITB . Maybe spend on mics, desk (for pres) and interface with enough channels.. Get the function down before going fancy and entertaining gear lust.

But.. I have no experience in this so is only what I would do, for what it's worth.

I'm no expert but I think the two most important factors would be your room, and if people will want to work with you or not.
You need the high quality room, so the product sounds decent, and you need a type of personality that draws clients and brings out great performances.

Maybe you could contact Local Clubs to see...
If you could work out being paid, to record their Bands there?

Or just "Play the Pony's" instead.
LOL!

OK joke mode off again.
How about contacting schools around you, to offer a Recording Class?

Just a couple of thoughts.
Chris
P.S. Check out/get advice from Remote's Forum too.

Thanks for the link to the podcast, giving it a listen now.

I understand what you're saying and I agree it's important to invest money into the studio space and bills etc.

I am trying not to focus or prioritise the gear, just looking to spend a little bit on acquiring an EQ, either stereo or a couple of mono racks and maybe a desk and a couple of extra mic pre's. Probably at the maximum I would be spending £2000 on the extra gear.

I am covered on the interface front with plenty of inputs on the RME fireface and I have an ADAT on hand if I need it from a good friend.

Thank you again for the input, definitely taking what you say into consideration.

True true, I have a small network, some people I talk to who are active in the local music scene.

Regarding the room and space, that's probably going to be the biggest hurdle I think. Thank you!

Thanks Chris, good idea to look into local schools....there is an Arts Centre college that offers music production courses but they have facilities and rooms that the students can use for free as far as I am aware...still, I might as well give it a go.

Cheers!

I’m not saying you shouldn’t pursue your dreams, but for context I used to have a commercial studio (shared with a couple other people because I can’t quit my day job) and have done various freelance work off and on as an engineer (at studio, or bringing my equipment to a location, mixing, producing, composing for film, etc) since the mid 00s.

In my experience bands have less money every day, everyone already knows someone, bands with label support will 100% of the time be going to a big name studio with a big name engineer, and if you do find steady work you’ll need to do twice as much of it to make half as much as you do today. I found it unsustainable to make enough money to simultaneously pay rent / business costs and pay myself a reasonable wage - why I quit having the physical studio.

The best way to meet bands is at the local shows. You probably will not get to record shows simply because almost every modest concert venue has a desk capable of recording already, it’s just not a value added service anymore. Disappointing because I used to enjoy this a lot, but I sold my location recording rack when I saw the writing on the wall.

But if you want to proceed, my suggestion is that you need to separate yourself - what do you have to offer that the next guys do not? What makes you worth paying for (as most bands to some capacity can work at home for free)? That TO ME means a great space, experience, personality and above average - pro level equipment. If you don’t have all of that, then you need to make friends with existing studios and see if anyone will cut you a break on studio time blocks or take you under their wing if you promise to bring in paying bands. I would not chase spending $$$$ on your own equipment without the first three.

Great post!

I disagree.

It is definitely a terrible idea.
take a look around you. You are on a website that is one of the most successful sites of its kind because it caters to people who are recording themselves - that is the new paradigm.

IMO, running a studio and worrying about trying to make enough money to live on as you would from a 9-5 job will do nothing for your mental health in the long run. I have run studios all my life and even in the boom times, there are um... dry spells. Business comes and business goes.

You have to have something to take up the slack. 9 to 5 may be a grind but it is a steady paycheck. I got into teaching and a few other things that gave me more flexible hours. IMO, the existential dread of not having this month's mortgage or rent payment; of not having money for food; will be a greater psychological strain. I don't even think it is necessary to try it to understand this point.

you do not need a mixing desk at all if you mix itb. You need an interface with the capacity of X inputs and X amount of preamps if they are not included in the interface. You will want a headphone distribution system.

Everyone is saying you need to distinguish yourself. Clearly your budget will not let you accomplish that with your gear list. I don't know what reputation you have as a great engineer in your local community. But consider that your potential clients are all musicians - the brokest and most irresponsible group of people on the earth. How big is your city? How many other studios are there competing for business?

I work at a studio that is still in business, but we have a huge, extremely well treated room and a gorgeous grand piano and iso booths galore. A band can track in there, with great sight lines and separation and headphones. Where will your studio be located? In a room in your house? Just like the band's home studio? If it is in a commercial space, what is the rent?

One idea that might suit your low-end local-band concept would be to set up a mobile rig. You and the bands find a place to record - their rehearsal room, someone's barn, a church basement, anywhere where there is a good acoustic. Go there, set up and track. Then hopefully you get the mixing gig. You wouldn't need to provide the drums or amps then. This is something you could set up and see how it goes before you quit your day job or go part-time.

If you’re on a Mac I’d really recommend using Logic. It’s maintained, efficient and has a great set of stock plugins that will save you money.

I think the main advice here, to not focus on gear, is sound advice (pun intended). But instead focus on your space, what skills you offer and maybe also how your space is organised. How can the way you organise chairs or sofas with guitars, keyboards and so on increase a band’s communication? Or, with a singer in a booth?

I’ve been on both ends of that and looking through a window at mouths moving and you’re not part of what is said (most likely about your performance) can be wrecking.

So, as an artist, I think the ambiance and feel of a space is more important than the gear. But as someone who has his own space, that is just for me, I think the gear is most important. That it works how I want it to work so I can be creative.

Unfortunately I agree that this is not a good idea and you may have to spend a lot of money and go through a lot of stress and serious lack of money to pay the bills before realizing it's not a good idea. But if you try it, I hope you prove me wrong. Oh, and if I were you I'd learn and use Pro Tools...apparently that "industry standard" crap is still very much around and musicians are ignorant enough to think it matters, despite many other DAWs that can do what it does as well if not better for far less money.

Spend no money up front.

Invest money that comes in back into business.

Before start research the market where you are. No rivals?

For me the space and you are what I would look at. I don't expect you to have a vintage Neve and thus not charging £1500 a day. As long as things work and session flow is good.

See if there is a regular client you can get.

Remember regular business can be had away from the "cool" side of the business. For example Birdwatchers used to pay my bills...

Tough business to be in, but I get your need to break away from "the man".

Umm.. Can you tell me more about birdwatchers? Editing and enhancing their field recordings, expanding distant calls and reducing background noise? And what kind of rates would they pay?

Personally I would look to work on this side of things first, like seeing how you can go freelance in some similar line of work.

Transitioning to self-motivated work is a step in itself .. so probably best to get that down without them entering a completely new field of work too .

I couldn't hack a 9-5 either and felt.. yep existential dread, depression . In cycles I drifted getting in later and later until I was rocking up at 11 doing an 11-7 Until a reset after words were had .. and repeat. Until I went and did lower paid pracatical work in events, crewing. Then suddenly all the dread went away (replaced with poverty haha.. ).

Now I'm a freelance carpenter on corporate events earning good money and have time/money to rent a large ish studio space I could easily turn into a place of work (not for recording bands though)

Not to follow my example, but a freelance job you can fit studio stuff around I think is a good safety net.. and then you can jump full time to studio stuff later.

Methinks he meant The Birdwatchers band.

Er... no I'm talking about genuine "twitchers" as we call them in the UK. (People who like observing avians)

Some old guy in my village kept getting touch to rent a PA. That was not my thing, but if you live in a tiny place people will assign you a role in my case music and technology was allocated.

He needed it for their Bird Watching meetings. While it was a small crowd most were getting on and needed a bit of hearing boost. As he was prepared to pay £50+ for an evening rental I sourced a cheap PA which paid for itself after going out twice. Then other people stated asking to rent it too: Teds 70th birthday, little Lilly's children's party, village fate etc.

The purpose of the story is to illustrate that while I may be one of the finest audio types who ever existed, my massive ego would not of allowed me to pursue something as trivial as a tiny PA system. By doing something unfashionable and not very cool I made about £2k+ a year out of a £100 PA system. Yes I prefer mixing at Abbey Road, but can't do that every day.

Well, there's plenty to chew on!

Nice advice, I guess I should test the waters before jumping in something that I might not enjoy swimming in. Im glad you're doing something you love, it's a big dream of mine for sure.

There's a couple of small studios in the area and there's also an abundance of small/local bands.

A sobering thought regarding the stress of it all if things start to unravel somewhat. I did cut my teeth on Pro Tools during my university days, didn't realise that the industry standard thing was still in place. Thanks.

I think after reading this, I may just forget about the idea. When it comes to separating yourself from the rest it takes something special I guess.


A lot to think about, but after reading through all the replies and thinking about it....it's probably a bad idea.

So I guess i'll just buy myself a new synth and crack on.

Thanks everyone, appreciate the input and information.

It's good that you're thinking about this so carefully, and you've received some very good advice from voices of experience!

While I agree that attempting to replace your current full-time work with a DIY recording studio is not a good idea (it's really a recipe for certain disaster), I do think you could make incremental steps to finding work in audio/music recording. Put together a minimum-viable-studio to start with, only the very basics, with modest but serviceable tools that you can comfortably afford. A small, good-sounding room for tracking single instruments, voiceovers, audiobooks, podcasts, and things like that is certainly doable. If you're able to build your community and your reputation, and you can actually assemble a sustainable client base, building from there will be no problem and make lots of sense.

Trying to go big without that client base already in place will end tragically. Ultimately, that's all a studio needs in order to function: clients. But they can come in many forms, not just broke musicians!

Keep listening to the 6 Figure Creative podcasts - the beginning episodes at least. Goes through a little of talking about how to hone in on what pays bills and also work out what takes the time vs bringing the money.

For example, one of the hosts was finding recording bands took 80% of his time but was only pulling 20% of the money .. I *think* his other side was mixing mastering. Plus he found working with bands/musicians not his forte, finding his social skills not up to it in terms of getting the best out of them (in fact the opposite).

There are other options .. besides recording bands with no money!

Twitchers is what I thought .... but I had imagined they were asking for something completely different to what they were in your case!

The point is made though - there are different ways to bring in the money if one keeps themselves open to what's happening locally.

e.g. voice overs for local business ads or corporate videos, editing audio for local commerce, personal events. local musicians don't have to be bands either - singer/song writers or singers collaborating remotely who would get a better result in a studio etc etc.

That's why I used to specialize in Recording...
Russian Billionaires!

Until all the recent Fallout.
Usually above the 5th Floor!

Hit me Drummer.
Chris

How have things gone in this direction out of interest?

I'm very depressed and I've been drinking nearly every day. All motivation has drained away from me and I've completely disconnected from life.

With all due respect, it sounds like there is more at work here than just discontent with working a 9-5 job. Might be a good idea to talk with a professional about your situation.

Best!

Oh no ... I'm really sorry to hear that !

Just to cut to the chase here - whilst situations people find themselves in seem so deep and inescapable, YOU CAN MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN.

There are so many stories of immense change from people who have sat in the deepest chasms of despair and bad habit or even addiction. It often starts from just one single point of contact to break a cycle of thought.


So please work on reconnecting with someone, anyone sympathetic, decent and down to earth. Hopefully local too.

Just having another person to share the load with and to get a different perspective to your own, is the first part to getting out of a hole.

As a practical step, write down a list of people you know you can try, one by one. Then make a list of people you barely know, but still seem like the type who will see you're in need . And finally, make a list of people you don't know, professionals etc .. whoever you can think of, brain storm.

You will get rejections as helping others in need is not always something people feel comfortable, confident in doing and may rather ignore than feel uncomfortable or uncertain how to help ..

.. so just work through the list regardless.

Be up front and vonlerable, explain that you having some life problems and are reaching out for some help, even someone to just meet in person and talk, one coffee, 20 minutes.

Just see how it goes. No judgement at the result of each one.

And as a doctor said to a loved one of mine, be depressed OUTSIDE. If you're going to feel that way anyway, do it outside, on grass, under trees, in the fresh air ..

I hope things change soon, I really do !

And also, try to cut out *anything* stressful, time sapping and negative - like the news, social media.

I don’t think it’s a bad idea at all. On the contrary, I think it’s an excellent idea. I just think you need to transition between your steady job and your new career in audio. Also, especially at the beginning of your career, you can’t really pick and choose what jobs to take. You have to take everything you can get.

In my case, I worked for 15 years as an admin in hospitals and health centers. I’d finish my shift, and then I’d go record bands in a small room my business partner and I rented. We used a Focusrite 18i20 2nd gen. We paid very little for the space because it was a shared rehearsal room—two bands used it, plus us as a studio. On weekends, I did (and still do) live sound.

After years of working like that—16 to 18 hours a day plus weekends—I was finally able to quit my full-time job. We moved to a bigger space.

Now, we record audiobooks, work with bands, and I still do live shows on the weekends.

I definitely wouldn’t spend money on EQs or expensive microphones. A 4th-gen Focusrite 18i20 is more than enough to get started. Later on, you can expand it via ADAT. You can get excellent recordings with a 52, a few 57s, some 604s, a pair of 81s, a Warm Audio 47jr (an absolutely incredible mic for the price), and a couple of DI boxes. Add a few mic stands, and you don’t need anything else to begin.

Learning your tools and mastering mic placement will make you a great engineer.

Finally—and I can’t emphasize this enough—you need to be attentive and easy to work with. At first, it’s all about building trust with your clients, growing alongside them, doing a lot of debut albums for new bands, supporting them when they struggle, having patience, being a good host, and keeping your space clean. All of these things are just as important as getting great sounds.

This year marks 10 years since I stopped using drugs. My daughter is already two years old. And I couldn’t be happier that I made this huge life change. I get to do what I love for a living. I get paid for it. I’ve met so many amazing people. And yes, there will be ups and downs, but over time, everything falls into place.

Trust yourself

Sorry to hear you’re struggling OP. Nat8808 has some great advice there, hope it helps you and hope things look up soon.

Here’s an angle:

Where I live, getting a rehearsal space is very difficult, and expensive.

If you have a space, and you can rent it out as a combined rehearsal space / demo studio, with you as tech/assistant, you have a whole other angle than ”getting into the studio” for these bands.

Let’s say the space you have is pretty much there anyway. Let’s also say you are also in that space anyway.

Now imagine that you get a different band to come rehearse every weekly night. So 5 bands. Let’s say they pay monthly for this space what the upper tier of a kitted rehearsal space would cost on that basis (1 time/week).

That money alone might cover your base line cost for rent, heat, bills. And you wouldn’t necessarily need to be there.

However - since the space sits there unused all day and all weekends… let’s say you get some of these bands, or their solo/side projects (a potential goldmine!!) in there on weekends, or in the day.

And you take a modest fee.

Well, now you’re going somewhere.

What differentiates you here is time and access, not pro level gear. What these bands would get is the possibility to record demos during rehearsals (you can come in for that, it could be included in rent once a month per band). And they get the time to learn this space and this gear and work on their demos and sound this way.

The main problem for non-professional is often being nervous in a pro space with not enough time. This solves that problem. A business idea is by definition the solution to a problem.

If you have a lot of time on your hands, and a space, and know that bands need rehearsal space, maybe try that angle?

Better to be a higher end rehearsal space than a sub par commercial studio, is the idea. Then you can grow into that eventually.

I am very sorry to hear that. I have friends who have struggled with depression. From what I have seen, their specific external circumstances are the least of it. There are people who are dirt-poor and happy. There are people who win the lottery and are miserable. And everything in-between. There are no easy answers, but surely, drinking isn't going to help.

IMO, the need to seek professional help for your depression comes first. The roots of depression run deep. Probably deeper than your dislike of your 9-5. Deeper than just hearing the cold water about the current state of the recording business. Could you do what ivanock did - work two jobs for years until you could get the studio going well enough to quit your day job? Tough to do under any circumstances. Never mind if you are drunk, depressed and unmotivated.

Get help for the depression first.

I agree with joe: deal with your state of mind first. IMO being in a severe state of depression is not where you mind needs to be when considering such a big move. Further, this will make it harder for you to deal with/get along with clients...even in the best state of mind, that can be a challenge, as musicians can be real PITA moody little sh#ts at times, lol. g/l