42
Recording for Profit—The 
ound of Money
The purpose of this book has been to explain the business aspects of operating a recording studio of almost any size and niche, be it in your garage or a postproduction facility in a 50,000 square foot space. In addition, I have attempted to advise you about where our professional audio industry is going and how it is going to get there, but only in the near term. I have also tried to suggest how to stay ahead of your competition by working smarter not harder. It's called common sense. Recently, a reporter from one of our leading trade magazines called me for a quote about where I think the audio industry is going to be in ten years. I laughed, because I think it is formidable to even think about where it will be in three to five years from now, because it changes so quickly.
We have explored only the last 30–40 years in this book, and attempted to look at the major changes that have transpired during that time in the development of our industry. I have also tried to review the important unconfirmed ideas and potential standards that we are attempting to confirm today. I can say that very confidently, whether you are reading this book in the year 2000 or 2005 or even 2010, because there will always be new processes, influences, ideas, and programs trying to get our industry's attention and approval. We are ever-changing, and that is one of the most exciting experiences to be enjoyed in our business. Because of this, and a host of other reasons, I believe it is improbable that anyone can project where we will be even five years from now. So, your problem is timing—trying to decide which trends will really happen (so you can beat the rush) and which are just passing through and will disappear tomorrow. Others won't develop to the point where you will need to respond to them as trends until several years have transpired.
There was a very expensive luncheon at the Pierre Hotel, presented by SSL in October 1985, for 200 of the leaders of our industry who were attending the AES Convention in New York City. The purpose of the luncheon was to introduce a “Report to the Recording, Post-Production and Broadcasting Industries from Solid State Logic: The Future of Audio Console Design—Establishing a Dialogue.” In this short 35-page booklet, the Forward read: “This report is not presented as the definitive word on the subject of console design. It is intended only as a starting point for anyone who wants to gain a better understanding about the possibilities and practicalities involved in the future of audio console design.” What they were talking about was their design for a digital console, because they thought that analog consoles had been developed about as much as they could be, and that it was time to move on to digital. They further stated: “It is clear that the music, recording, broadcast, film and video post-production industries—and the consumer electronics industry—are all moving towards a future based on digital audio and video storage, synthesis, manipulation and transmission. The performance capabilities, operational efficiency, and potential for creative innovation that would be made possible by a closely coupled entirely digital audio/video chain are, in a word, profound. In considering the future of audio console design, this fact cannot be overlooked. Programmable analogue technology can never complete that chain. A fully digital console will be required.” Prophetic.
In 1998, 13 years later, the first SSL digital mainframe console sold in the U.S. market, the Axiom MT, was installed at Quad Sound in New York City. Who among you could have known that it would take that long for this obvious progression to be accepted by our industry? When I walked out of that luncheon I was ready to order one for delivery the following year. I thought this was the new wave of the future, and I wanted to jump on that bandwagon as I had with multitrack digital in 1979. That would have been a giant mistake. Thank goodness I didn't, because I had the knowledge of the bad experience of my friends at CTS studios in London, who had purchased a digital mainframe console for their scoring stage in 1984. It never really worked properly, and they replaced it with another analog console a few years later, after they and the manufacturer spent a great deal of wasted time and money trying to make it reliably meet published specifications.
On the other hand, it took us only ten years to go from 8-track analog multitrack tape machines to 32-track digital machines (1969-1979). But we did not “leap in a single bound” like Superman—we went from 8-track to 12-track to 16-track to 24-track to 32-track. Those of us who were smart bought analog consoles that had a minimum of eight more inputs than were needed at the time of purchase, so we were ready for the next advancement in the number of tracks, which usually came within two to three years. Then came hard disk memory, and we were advised that audio recording tape was dead. I first heard that in 1987. Now, more than 13 years later, we still have a number of creative artists, producers, and engineers who vastly prefer analog recording to digital, much less recording to hard disk memory (even though the price per gigabyte of disk space continues to become less and less expensive). In our industry, some things move quickly and some move very slowly.
The point of this is that you cannot project that quickly what will transpire next in the professional audio industry. You must be patient, which is next to impossible for people like me, or the technological progress will eat you up. The 3M 32-track digital tape recorder is a classic example. It lasted less than three years and was then replaced by both the Mitsubishi and the Sony recorders. The Mitsubishi 32-track lasted a few years longer and then died. The Sony remains the digital 24/48 multitrack tape machine standard today. If you purchased the wrong machine at the wrong time, those pioneer arrows we have been talking about probably hit you.
Today, there is the matter of the Internet and digital fiberoptic and satellite transmission of data, which again, in such a short period of time, has changed our industry. What's next? A complete revision of distribution methods for digital music from the Internet, for starters. The example is the same as in the past. Several formats competing for your attention—Format Wars we call them. There will always be innovations of this kind waiting for a majority solution in our industry. It is to be expected. Who will win, and who will remember the losers six months later? Very few of us. We are all forward thinkers who want to be on the cutting edge of our global industry. That is how we get our rush. That is what makes us get up in the morning and look at each day as a new challenge. This is an exciting life and that, in my mind, is why we put up with all of the BS necessary to experience that rush.
When I entered this industry it was to try to get a “Ticket to Ride.” I was an outsider who had a skill—business acumen—that very few others had. They were into the music and making it. I was into the music and making it PROFITABLE! They thought I was weird. I thought they were weird. Because of this, we got along. I understand that many of you are not in this for the money, you are in this industry to make the music better. But why not make some money along the way so you can, at the very least, purchase more toys to make the music better? I have tried to give you some guidelines, some basic tools to make your facility viable. Now it is up to you. Don't give up until you find your way to accomplish that success.
When Gary Kellgren found me and we started Record Plant, we had a lot of blind luck. Fate was kind to us. We were two opposites waiting for a successful accident to happen. He was the super-creative audio engineer, and I was the MBA in love with music. We had a vision and wanted a chance to be members of “The Club” of successful music providers. Together we did it. Now it is your turn to carry on this powerful tradition of servicing your clients to the allowable extreme. You can't count on luck to find the perfect partner—go on a quest to find your antithesis, your opposite, to ensure that your business will be a success. You need to cover both sides of the street, and that is my edict for the simplest way to accomplish that task. As I have said repeatedly, find someone who does what you do not do, and let them do it. Cover that base and this book could set you free, because you then will also have your ticket to ride. Hopefully you will know what to do with it and become successful doing something you love. I wish you the best of luck in achieving whatever success you seek. The best part is, if your experience in this industry is anything like mine, you are going to have a lot of fun along the way.