I dare you... search ebay for Studios 301

[daniel_c]

To quote the short man... "What the?"

[jkhuri44]

AAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

i dunno if thats funny or sad? and what concerns me more, is if 301 are THAT desperate for clients, what hope do i have of getting them.

god that is depressing.

[norm]

As long as this is not regular it is a great way of advertising your Studio. Note how they have listed gear/studio,s/price and credits. They will get more exposure here for sweet F/A than any amount of advertising. Smart business move in my books.

[jkhuri44]

As long as this is not regular it is a great way of advertising your Studio. Note how they have listed gear/studio,s/price and credits. They will get more exposure here for sweet F/A than any amount of advertising. Smart business move in my books.

its an ok business move...its more of a sign that there is no business.

[Aearth]

I saw the auction, man it was depressing.


nIC

[NYMo]

[quote]i dunno if thats funny or sad? and what concerns me more, is if 301 are THAT desperate for clients, what hope do i have of getting them.[/quote]

Hi there,

Jamil...your chance is pretty good..as you are not charging $1430 a day ;-)

Could also be a blown out booking ( I am trying to be positive !)

Anyways..i've thought about doing it myself, as a lot of small studios have done in the recent past.

For the paltry insertion fee and the number of people who get to see it, is surely a great bang for the buck ??
If you get one client from it..its paid for itself many times.
(and as 301 knows..its pretty hard to get a project finished in a day ;)

Be interesting to see what the final price will be...I've got bets that its between $8-900

Cheers
N
Y
M
O.

[Chris H]

The real sad news or to put it another way, an indication of the state of the recording industry, is the fact that on regular occasions over the past few years you can book a "down time" session at Sing Sing for as little as $500. In business terms, if this continues much longer the only large studios left will be privately owned where the overheads are very low ie the building is owned and paid for by the studio owner.

[Senad]

the only large studios left will be privately owned where the overheads are very low ie the building is owned and paid for by the studio owner.

yep...

[daniel_c]

Apparently Studios 301 is only worth $405 a day.....

[NYMo]

Hi there,

Jeezus....what does that say for the rest of us :(

(Maybe a cracked copy of Cubase and a Samson mic is good enough
for most people out there !)

Cheers
N
Y
M
O

[Chinagraf]

What? You mean I have to BUY a Sampson mic? Can't I just get a cracked copy of one of them too?

[jkhuri44]

i've got a cracked neumann....

sounds really bad, being cracked n all.

[chribble]

should be called studios 405. too soon?

man i shouldve bid. i'd love to record in there once just for experience.

It's a massive shame, but maybe $1400 a day is too much?

[NYMo]

Hi there,

Luckily I got to spend 5 weeks there (original 301) in 1985.
We were the first band to do an album on their SSL...happy memories !

Cheers,
N
Y
M
O

[Aearth]

Apparently Studios 301 is only worth $405 a day.....

I think we will have to get use to this. Bands are buying their own rigs and hiring engineers direct.
Soon big rooms will be doing mixing more than recording, maybe mix only.
I sold my PTHD3 rig to a well known Aussie band not a studio for $10K, that's a $25K loss.


nIC

[heathen]

Cool this means I can charge about $40.50 a day, wooooohoooooo! I might even buy a big SSL one day and a great studio and start doing everything for free, hell I might even pay bands $100 bucks just to record there so I can have some fun. I even know a few rich guys who might invest, would be a great tax dodge.

[Aearth]

Small studios are going to be hit the hardest. If big rooms are getting $400 to $500 a day, that is the rate for small rooms, well it was. If you are a band what would you prefer, a big comfortable room with all the gear including play station or a small sweaty room with no air conditioner, poor outboard gear and Chinese mics.
The small rooms that are doing well are not just engineering buy playing the instruments, helping in the writing, arranging and producing. In other words a total partnership.

nIC

[Chinagraf]

The only (and I mean only) plus I see coming out of these trends is it becomes less about the gear and more about your individual talent. Maybe a few less trust fund babies setting up vanity rooms and getting work because they can afford the best equipment.
Then again, I've been wrong before... just ask my missus.

[Aearth]

The only (and I mean only) plus I see coming out of these trends is it becomes less about the gear and more about your individual talent. Maybe a few less trust fund babies setting up vanity rooms and getting work because they can afford the best equipment.
Then again, I've been wrong before... just ask my missus.

That and more.
Bands have to become their own production company with everything in place. I mean from killer songs, recording/production, video, radio play, fans/heaps of, gigs with a shop front to sell merchandise, iTunes, showmanship, an awesome manager. You have to have all and more to survive and before a recording company will take you on.
All this is how it is to be a working/recording band. There is no free ride anymore.

nIC

[musikwerks]

There never was a free ride. It's always been more of a 'deferred payment' ride.

[Chinagraf]

[quote="musikwerks"]There never was a free ride. It's always been more of a 'deferred payment' ride.[/quote]

k'noath. Deferred bank loan at 65 percent interest. Label schmabel..

[Aearth]

There never was a free ride. It's always been more of a 'deferred payment' ride.

That's very true, but bands have always thought that the record company will pick them up and all will be rosey. The publishing, the recording expenses and promotion of the band was all going to happen by someone else. NOT anymore, that is all band work now.
Anyway the recording studio needs to get on the "band wagon" and be the silent member from here on to survive.

nIC

[qiktune]

From AT Mag issue 28 Dec 03...

Andy Stewart: But at what point does the rest of the industry say to you, "Hey, you're undercutting us and sending us broke"?

Tom Misner: Actually in 1982, back when I was a smalltime operator in Sydney running a studio called Central Recorders, I tried to organise a meeting with some of the other studios to try and establish a bottom-line price that a commercial 24-track studio should charge to try and stabilise the industry. But no-one really agreed it was necessary and they all started competing with one another and eventually ran each other out of business. Studios 301 has always had to compete with other studios and that's what it does, but it's always been an expensive studio.

Andy Stewart: But you could, in theory, run it at a loss if you wanted to, which I guess is what other studios fear as they don't have the luxury of another income. So could you?

Tom Misner: Totally. I could easily...but someone would really have to annoy me for me to do that. I don't want to run any of my businessess at a loss if I can help it. but if someone really annoyed me I could put the SSL 'K' out at $100 a day and close other studios down.

I would suggest reading the entire interview before making a judgement call....I read it last night and thought it'd fit right in with this thread.

[musikwerks]

I could be wrong here, but I believe 301 is part of the SAE empire, which is an educational facility with considerable government subsidies. I bet commercially it's run at a loss for some time but as a classroom.... another story.

No one can compete with Tom if he decides to go for it. Unless you all start working towards educational accreditation.

[rick]

301 are going through a cultural change at the moment , if they cannot make it pay ie ( make a profit )
well it could well dissapear and become a block of apartments for toms empire ,
and all of the staff have been made very aware of that ( or retrenched)

so its a "lets turn this money losing studio around how ever we can time" over there

its probably ok in the scheme of things for them to learn how to compete again
its been years since they actually did

[qiktune]

it could well dissapear and become a block of apartments for toms empire

Sad....

[TimS]

I could be wrong here, but I believe 301 is part of the SAE empire, which is an educational facility with considerable government subsidies. I bet commercially it's run at a loss for some time but as a classroom.... another story.

No one can compete with Tom if he decides to go for it. Unless you all start working towards educational accreditation.

and to note that they ONLY employ SAE students into positions within the facility.. I spoke to the Studio Manager some time ago and was told this..
So their workforce is also expendable as they get the interns directly from SAE.. last to come, first to go..

[ChrisW]

I don't think it's necessary to get too cynical or conspiratorial about it.
I don't know much about the Sydney studio scene, but my contacts in London say the general music scene is quiet (with a capital q).
If studios there are empty from week to week, and faced with closing their doors forever (many already have), I can well imagine they'd consider some creative marketing like an Ebay auction.

I mean it's another sign of the times that the 301 auction had so few bids and ended up at $405.
Not enough people willing to spend big money to record in a top class facility.

[Aearth]

Well there are plenty of bands out there recording, so it's not a matter of talent (do I dare say that). They are doing it them selves with the DAW systems available and fast computers. Also hiring probably the interns SAE churn out for a six pack.
There's also more music and music styles out there then there ever was. There's so may ways to listen to music cheaply these days
and I'm talking about piracy, mind you that is probably one of the biggest causes of the recording demise.



nIC

[heathen]

Screw it, lets set up our own audio school, who's in? We can put even more "audio engineers" out there.






Blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I hate teaching!!!



Actually really been seriously thinking of selling my gear, bugger the new studio it won't pay anyway. I think I'm just gonna set up the best home theatre in our suburb, get my landscaping finished and drive to Port Douglas for the whole of next Winter and think about going to uni.

Stuff being in partnerships with lazy assholes who don't and won't pull thier weight, been there done that too many times.

Me:"Guys you need to get gigs".

Band member: "Oh man hows we gonna do that".

Me: "Send out demos a bio and a short cover letter to venues you wanna play".

Band member: "Oh man dat gonna cost me like fiddy bucks an a whole affernoon ya hear".

Me: "Yes well you need to do this to get gigs and maybe start getting some money".

Band member: "Oh man you da one wids da cash look at all dis gear, can't you do it".

Hmmm is this the actual point where Phil Spector would pull out a big handgun stick it the little fuckers mouth and say, "you do it or you die"? Anyway I've gotten more mellow in my late 30's and just could'nt be bothered with gen Y anymore, don't wanna hurt them, just wanna avoid em now like a SCES.