How to Get into the Studio and Record Your First Record
Hi everyone,
This week, we’re going to look at some strategies for getting into a recording studio to record your music. Being in a band, obviously your music is one of your highest priorities, and when you’re first getting started, it’s extremely important to get your music recorded as soon as you can.
We hope you enjoy this issue of the Gorilla Newsletter.
Cheers,
John Michalak
Author of “The 5 Steps to Becoming the Biggest Band in Town”
Vice President of Gorilla Music
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How to Get into the Studio and Record Your First Record
By John Michalak
If your band doesn’t have any music for sale, then you need to get into a studio so you can record and release some of your music. Studios can be expensive, but there are ways around the high cost of recording.
The first thing you should know about buying studio time is that the price is almost always negotiable. Buying recording time is highly negotiable, because it’s a perishable commodity; once the time passes, it’s no longer available for sale. Studios also have many undesirable time slots available for sale, which means if you’re willing to record in off-peak times (usually around two in the morning), then you’ll be able to get a better price.
Sometimes, recording studios are even willing to trade studio time for labor, services, or products. Again, this is because once the time passes, it’s gone forever. A studio will always prefer to get something for the time they could be selling than letting that time go to waste. If your group or someone in your group can offer the studio some service that they can use, then you might be able to get either free studio time or at least time at a reduced rate.
Another great way to get your music recorded is to try to finance your studio time. Offer the studio a down payment of say $500. Then, record only enough songs to release a 5 song EP, which you will agree sell at a record release party to recoup the cost of recording the record.
If you’re able to get a reasonable split on the tickets sold for the event and you’re able to sell at least 100 records, you should be able to recoup the money needed to pay for your studio time. This is of course assuming you were able to get in and out of the studio in about 50 hours or less and that you were able to negotiate a rate of less than $30 an hour.
Working with an Artist Management program is another great way to get started with the recording process. Artist Management can help you set up a recording schedule that works best for you and your band, can help you further finance your recording, and often have relationships with recording studios that could possibly get you a price cut on studio time.