Choosing A Studio--Part One

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

There is no easy way to do this. Every studio will have its own personality, and its own sound. Basically, if you have some time on your hands, and a few of us do at the first of the year with the snow blowing outside, you can do a little research and find the best fit for you. Each week for the rest of the month, I will go over one aspect of choosing a studio. The first one is the most important for many songwriters.

Cost is often the most important consideration for many of us musicians. Costs in your area can vary widely--in Austin, it can be anywhere from $10/hour to hundreds per day. A lot will depend on what you need and how large the studio is. A studio with just one large room in someone's home will be a lot less than a multi-room facility that might have other bands using it at the same time you are. Established studios may charge more for some folks, but may give discounts to promising artists, or offer a cost reduction for a percentage of profits--ask plenty of questions and find out just what features each studio offers and at what prices.

Check your local music stores, musician's newspapers, and Yellow Pages to find the studios in your area and call each one with paper and pen in hand and take notes on what they offer and the price breakdown. With every one you call, make note of what they offer that the last one didn't and use this information to learn to ask more specific questions as your search continues. Feel free to go back and ask further questions if you find out other features that you should have inquired about--if a studio is evasive about giving out this information, that should be a warning to you to be wary of them--a reputable studio should be more than happy to give out this information, even if they are heavily booked-up--they wouldn't be so heavily booked if they didn't do a good job.

If you know how to run studio equipment yourself and/or have an engineer or producer of your own, it will often be cheaper than if you have to take up the time of their house expert. If you get a newer employee rather than their best person running the equipment it might seem cheaper, but if that person takes a long time and makes a lot of mistakes, the better person might save you money and give you a better sound in the long run. If it is a new studio, expect to pay more because you will have to often put up with mistakes they will make "working out the bugs" in their new setup, but many know this and will offer specials.

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