Save some money while building your studio

For my blog this month, I want  to talk about some potential ways to save some money if you are planning on owning and operating a studio. If you know anything about, or are involved in the recording industry, then you know that operating a recording studio in the capacity of music or film is a very costly investment. But what I personally feel that people don’t consider is that there are ways to save money in different areas. One example that could prove more cost effective is to only use the “traditional studio” for just the components that you may not be able to record inside your home or rental property such as drums or orchestral instruments. I’ve done a little research on studios in the Orlando area and what I’ve found is that some of the top studios have some pretty steep rates even the minimum can be as much as $1000. With some quality outboard gear and microphones you could potentially do an entire album in your own home. I think it would make better sense to use startup capital to focus on better equipment then to spend on facility costs, rent/mortgage, property taxes and a massive electric bill. For mix engineers this definitely applies. Just about every mix engineer that I know doesn’t operate out of a studio, but rather out of their home. It seems to be the most logical idea these days. Most mixing gear is compact and mobile anyway and  software and plugins are starting to sound identical to analog gear. However, where there is an advantage, there is usually a drawback. In this case, working from home with clients could cause concern for security. This definitely applies if you have a family and high dollar assets. Of course, this is all based off of my point of view and how what I have experienced from being in the recording industry.

Blog Post 1 Business Plan Development

There are two view points from two different business experts that I will be examining. The first business expert is Marcus Lemonis.  Mr. Lemonis is best known for star of the hit show The Profit. He is a Lebanese-born American, business owner, inventor and investor. He is the current CEO of Good Sam Enterprises, which markets to outdoor enthusiasts. Lemonis also writes and reviews business plans. He expresses the importance of writing a business plan in video series titled Small Business Myths. He explains that it’s myth that many people believe they don’t need a business plan and that he has encountered several business owners with great ideas but they miss the mark by not writing them down. He says that annotating ideas can be in any capacity ie: pen to paper, white board, digital etc. Writing down ideas allows the business owner to share there ideas with other people and receive feedback on those ideas. Strategies such as attacking the market, beating the competitors while learning from them, listening to customers and finding the right people to surround yourself around, are all the things he says should go in a written business plan. The second business expert that I will be researching is Guy Kawasaki.  Mr. Kawasaki is from Honolulu Hawaii and is a well-known marketing executive in Silicon Valley. He got his start as an Apple employee, originally responsible for marketing the Macintosh in 1984 and speaks at conferences,  and universities, as well as writing books on entrepreneurship and writing successful business plans. On his website, Guy Kawasaki.com, he provides a template on how to write a successful plan and explains that a good business plan is an elaboration of a good pitch. The writer should keep the written business plan It clean and concise with all the relevant stuff that investors want to hear. I got some great stuff from these experts advice. I have already started writing a business plan and have bounced my ideas off of potential customers and of course my business partners.

Digital Marketing Mastery Journal

To me, marketing has been somewhat of a conundrum in terms of what works and doesn't work within a particular industry or market. What I have learned in this clsss has provided me some valuable tools and a deft understanding of market as a whole, specifically on the digital platform. The Digital Marketing course could not have happened at a better time because my company, Juxta, has recently been registered as a legitimate business entity. My business partners and I have put tireless effort into our production campaign as well as the administrative tasks that are critical to building a consumer oriented company. Marketing plays a major role in that task list. Juxta is a solely ecommerce based business, so search engine optimization and search engine marketing are essential to bring in as much traffic and recognition as possible. Juxta is now going to be using Google Analytics and Ad Words once the website is completed thanks to learning about how to use it in class. Since we are marketing primarily on YouTube, and using it as a stream of revenue, understanding how to monetize our content is extremely important. Using keywords especially in the titles of our videos will hopefully make them stand out. Of the 10 months of being in this program, this has probably been one of the most useful lessons learned. I am a strong believer in building a brand and nat just advertising a product, so I feel that Organic SEO is the best way to go for Juxta because I want my customers to believe in the brand. One of my favorite quotes from Seth Godin is: "The brave thing is to find the unspeakable fear and speak it. And to stop rehearsing the easy fears that have become habits." This relates to business in general. What I hope for in the future is that I can retain all of the knowledge that I have learned this month and continue to use it for Juxta or whatever business that I find myself venturing in.

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Producing Modern Metal

There are a lot of opinions out there on the “right” way to record and produce   extreme hardcore and metal bands. Even some of the best engineers in the industry will disagree on the right tone, the right drum heads, mic placement etc. I found a good article on the website Sound On Sound, on some cool concepts of the process from pre-production to finalizing the mix. One interesting facts about metal music is that it contrasts from pop and mainstream rock in the context that pre-production does not take near as long. This is because the structure and arrangement of such songs have to mold to the format and length of commercial radio airplay. You will  never hear 10 minute Between the Buried and Me songs on any local rock station, so there is no need for deciding those specific details. Another great takeaway from this article was understanding the importance of using clicks. From my own personal experience as a musician as well as producer, this is paramount when playing music in the metal genre. Most modern metal bands play at a fairly high bpm. Keeping that in mind a producer has to sometimes stress the importance of that to a band even if they are strongly opposed to the idea. It makes the songs sound tighter and gives a professional sounding recording versus an amateur demo. Another article that I found was an interview with one of my personal favorite engineers and mentor Jamie King. Jamie has produced over 500 metal and rock albums, including most notably, progressive metal band Between the Buried and Me. He takes a solid and simple approach to producing, mixing and sudo-mastering.  He believes that a good producer of music should give the client what they want. His interview explains it all in detail.