From: Portland, Oregon, USA

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Sierra "HJ Custom" D-10, Peavey Session 500, Goodrich L10k

From: Mississippi

From: The Malvern Hills

From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

From: Montreal, Canada

From: loganville, Ga. USA

It really is satisfying to have a client come in with just a sketched out rough idea, and leave with a fully-realized product and a grin.

From: St. Louis, MO USA

Brad

From: France

From: Portland, Oregon, USA

From: Arendal, Norway

From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

I expect to have him do mastering for me also.

From: Denver, CO USA

posted 01 December 2006 07:30 AM     profile     

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I started hanging around studios right out of high school in '71. Bought a steel in '72 and became more focused on that for a few years, though I was constantly in the studio also. Built my first commercial studio in 1979 in the mountains outside of Denver from the ground up. Moved the studio into a new facility in downtown Denver in '85, then built my last facility in southeast Denver in '91 (three studios, 6000sf, lotsa overhead ). Sold out to my partner in '99 and went back into the freelance world--not the best of time to be a commercial facility owner. I designed a studio at the church I play at, and it turned out so nice I do most of my work there, utilizing bigger, tracking studios in Denver and Nashville for the basics. I moved most of my gear into the church studio, and I do their projects (usually about 3 records a year) and they let me use the studio for mine.

I also have a fully transportable studio that I can move easily to any location to work, which is great for certain clients. A couple of years ago we did the latest Nitty Gritty Dirt Band record up in Jimmy Ibbotson's house in Aspen, and I have taken it to several other locations for recording projects. Sometimes it comes home to my house for certain mixes, though I prefer not to have clients on top of my family.

As Glen mentioned above, the studio climate is ever changing, and you have to adapt to survive. I work with many of my clients in helping them set up their home studios--they utilize me more for tracking and mixing these days. By working with them, I still retain some of the work. I also travel where needed--I have been mixing for a production company on the east coast and have been there about 8 times this year already. I also have a lot of music business experience, and do some consulting work for some clients. The in late '90s, I ran a division of Pamplin Records for about 4 years, overseeing all the business affairs of the label as well as producing/engineering several releases for them, as well as some outside clients.

It's been a heck of a ride, but I have made my living in the music business for about 35 years now. There were some early years where the steel was my primary source of income, but mostly it has been the studio (though I have played more gigs the last year than the last several combined ). It translates into a heck of a lot of hours, but I have lots of great gear, a great house and my wife is a stay at home mom (though she did work for Chilis as a training manager for many years in the 80's and early 90's--we have been together for 30 years--our kids are 17 and 7). It will be an interesting next bunch of years as we see how the music industry shakes out, but I am confident I will still be in it...

From: Santa Cruz, California, USA

From: Bremond, Tx, pop 876, Home of the fighting Bremond Tigers

From: Portland, Oregon, USA

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Sierra "HJ Custom" D-10, Peavey Session 500, Goodrich L10k

From: Cayce,SC USA

From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

From: Hermosa Beach California, USA

From: Salt Lake County, Utah

But I lost many times more (in one way or another) at the endeavor, got chewed up and spit out a few times, stiffed, lied to, blamed, jerked around, strung along and railroaded by many people, taught and applied erroneous and skewed recording techniques and principles, talked a lot of big talk, stepped on some toes, catered to some total morons, made an ass of myself here and there, had some stuff stolen, broken, burned-out, spilled-on, rewired, messed-up, and made many recordings, most of which went only as far as the scrap heap, and that's basically where the whole venture ended up as well.

From: Sylmar,Ca. USA

In 1998,I bought a large property in Sylmar that had a guest house about the size of my other whole house and built Class Act part 2 there. Of course this was right around the time everybody and their brother bought a ProTools rig and set it up in their bedroom.As everyone has said,the business model of having people come to your studio and pay you a living wage to record them with your $10,000.00 mic collection,vintage mic preamps and 30+ years experience is going the way of the dodo bird. Canned samples,softynths,lo-fi plug-ins,cheap Chinese mics,auto-tune and talentless artists making their own DIY CDs is the norm nowadays. Luckily I've been around a long time,know a lot of people in this town and can still occasionally do quality projects that mean something to those of my generation - like the Murph CD,a few jazz projects,etc.
Between that,a little TV/movie acting,playing gigs and doing the occasional photography/video gig(I shoot and edit)I've so far managed to get by without a "real" job. Unless I hit the lottery or suddenly become rich and famous at age 59,I'll never be able to "retire" - nor do I want to.

From: Jasper, TN, USA

From: Phoenix (It's A Dry Heave) AZ

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