Low-Budget Home Recording Studio Compared to a Professional Recording Studio - Research Paper Example

To What Extent Can a Low-Budget Home Recording Studio Compare with a Professional Recording Studio? (INDICATE HERE) Home-based studios are amongst the longest-surviving small firms in the media business next to independent graphics design companies. Often operated by a single individual from a residential space, a research interview was conducted among 20 freelance audio studio owners. All subjects make USD 4,500 and above to qualify in the study to ensure their businesses’ profitability. The author also accessed industry journals and on-line resources and annuals in order to obtain an accurate profile of broadcasting and advertising companies, two of the biggest media segments who commission work to audio production firms. It was revealed that the evolving face of mass media has been creating a lot of mergers and costs are being cut by advertising clients and broadcasters. Demand for content is driving a lot of production for fresh and innovative formats with smaller production costs in order to broadcast more content for television, mobile, and the web. The number of production work with downsized costs democratized single-staffed audio studios who can deliver high-quality work at a much lower price. A number of single individual who has a fully-functioning home set-up can now pitch for simple to high-end accounts granted by boradcasters, film outfits, and even a few independent record labels. The library research and the personal interview with sound designers both revealed that Pro Tools, a software used for recording, editing, and mixing sound has been proven to help the growth of independent home-based business for its reliability and cost-efficient as it replaced more expensive closed-architecture sound editing systems that were used in the early 1990s. Library research was employed in order to extract information on the most current market figures in clients’ advertising spending and current opportunities, if any, for home-based sound designers. Downsizing costs in the midst of expansions proved to be a good climate for freelance and outsourced work as proven by our 20 subjects. As all the 20 participants stated that the start-up costs of their home-based recording studios ranged from USD 3,500 to USD 8,000, depending on their choice of set-ups, number of peripherals they wanted to acquire and their geographical location, they also shared the fact that they have all been employed full-time by professional recording studios or post-production companies for more than three years before they set out to launch their home-based businesses. All of the participants believe that they were seasoned audio professionals in the field of sound design before they ventured into home-based businesses. A few issues on the implications of the absence of administrative and technical staff have been identified by the informants but a majority of the subjects (80%) still believed that outsourcing and efficient time management skills can solve such issues. Introduction: In our era of mass society, more and more consumers are becoming mid-range entrepreneurs as personal computers become powerful tools for business and the internet is a tool for a lot of starting businesses to get connected to clients. Globalization and consumerism now enables the once unattainable hardware to be affordable to a lot of small business operators. The arena of sound production, whether it’s for films, corporate videos, music albums, or television commercials, is one segment in mass media where music technology combine with efficient product design to empower individual sound designers and music composers to set-up home-based studios for a fraction of the cost of a large-scale audio post house. Inconceivable just merely 20 years ago, these home-based entrepreneurs have been getting an edge as they multi-function too as producers, talents, musicians, and recording engineers. More and more sound designers are leaving their idealistic full-time employment and taking on multiple audio projects to become full-time freelancers. The last fifteen years have been groundbreaking in the history of audio production. As innovative products keep becoming affordable in the mass market every year, studio essentials like wide screen monitors, top-quality speakers, MIDIs, mixers, and audio consoles can be set-up in a home studio with a minimal capitalization. Recording, editing, and mixing sound no longer has to come from closed architecture machines that cost tens of thousands of dollars. The advent of Digidesign’s Pro Tools, a highly reliable audio creation and production software, out performed other expensive high-end audio machines for a very affordable pricing. Computer-based audio recording equipment has been available for consumer since the late part of the 1980’s but without the easy advantages that Pro Tools had. It is a desktop computer-based system that rivals high-end professional studio mixers and recorders. Having soft wares like Pro Tools outperform complex audio machines are possible due to the rise of processing power and storage capacities of today’s affordable personal computers. The falling costs of RAM, and peripherals like hard drives also make data storing possible. Audio Studio Set Up Essentials: The Recording, Editing, and Mixing Process Efficient sound production relies on these basic processes: Recording – needs good quality input from the recorded voice or musical instrument. A set of good quality microphones and mixers are important. Experts recommend mid-range microphones like AKG C414 microphones, Beyer MC740 and MC834 for voice recording. For musical instruments, AKG C12 VR, Focusrite Red 1 Quad mic pre are the frequently used microphones by audio houses. The MACKIE 1642-VL2 Pro is a reliable mixer to use for recordings to ensure the highest quality sound input of the recorded material. Editing – This is a vital part of the sound design process which takes the bulk of an audio session. The best takes are extracted from the recording session; it gets cut together using a soft ware like Pro Tools. Elements like additional music, underscore and sound effects are all selected and edited into the audio sequence in order to create a completed work that is ready for broadcast. An audio designer’s capabilities are put to the test during the edits in terms of choice of sound effects and creations of creative music cuts. Mixing – This is close to the last stages of an audio session where the audio engineer or designer balances the level of the recorded music with the other elements of audio tracks like, underscore, sound effect, or grading the levels of different musical instruments and vocals. Output – delivering the finished work comes in forms of compact disks, DVDs, or digital files such as WAVE files, MP3s or AIFF files. DVD authorizing softwares usually come together with personal computers as well as CD burners. Pro Tools, an audio creation software has built-in output function to convert a project file into a format that is accessible to clients. Two factors are also essential in the success of a home-based recording studio; human resource and financing for minor construction and sound proofing. Once initial set-up is done and the studio is in proper shape for accommodating work, client servicing has to be done properly in order to maintain a database of clientele. Human Resource. A bulk of an independent sound designer’s work lies in the actual production hours. However, accommodating work orders, organizing timelines, delivery dates and coordinating with a client are also essential to maintain client servicing. As a fully functioning studio will require a producer to liaise between operators and clients, an operations employee to manage spread sheets, financial and legal issues, and a studio technician to maintain the machines and perform patching, software upgrades and repairs, an independent sound designer has to be both creative and well-organized to perform all these tasks to run a fully-functioning business. This study also aims to enumerate ways a freelance sound designer can sustain a business without a staff to perform operational or technical duties. Accoustic Enhancement at Home – Sound Proofing Minor construction has to be done to convert a room to a functioning recording studio. Sound proofing means stopping sound bouncing around within the space it is in. Sound can be absorbed by soft materials like carpets and thick curtains. Double-skinned walls constructed with blocks of cushioned fabric with a base of a solid concrete structure allow the best audio quality input without distortions of echoes. But without the presence of individualized labor and organization, plus the existing costs of construction, music libraries and sound effects library, these hurdles make home studios less than ideal working environments. The secondary purpose of this study is to enumerate practical solutions of freelance sound designers on addressing common problems encountered in home-based studio set-ups. To further understand how a recording studio works, written below is the description of a regularly -staffe audio production house: Producer – The producer is in-charge of choosing and casting voice over talents, singers, musicians, as well as sound editors and engineers. Most often, the producer also creates the busgets of each project and make sure that the work is delivered on time and within the given budget. Often performing a lot of administrative function, the producer directly tackles clients and works closely with voice over talents and sound engineers. Artistes - artistes could be voice over talents, musicians or singers. Often paid per project, artistes have availabole demos, recorded sample of their work within the audio post house. Operations Manager – the operations manager is in charge of cash flow decision and maintaining human resources. As most audio houses dont hire Human Resources officers, the operation manager has to manage a team of employees like sound engineers, producers, and coordinators. Financial decisions are done by operations managers – expansions, job openings, salary increments and other relevant decisions within the company. Sound engineers – most often also act as the sound designer, sound engineers record voice over talents and musicians as well as editing and mixing the final work for clietn delivery. Not all sound engineers play music instruments and most of ten employ a freelance sound designer or musician to create music from MIDI, or to record live sound. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract Introduction Purpose Knowledge Acquisition Methodology Results Discussion Reference list and Bibliography Appendix PURPOSE This study aims to (1) examine how a home-based recording studio can compete with efficiently-staffed audio production houses. It also (2) seeks out practical solutions from audio professionals in tackling the problems of operating from home set-ups with desktop audio mixing stations. Research Questions ? How long have you been a home studio set-up ? ? Do you use it for voice recording? Music recording? Audio mixing? Or all of the above? ? What equipment do you have in your small-scale set-up for voice / music recording? ? Roughly how much (in USD) did you spend for your home set-up? ? Is your home studio still operational? Can you state some of your clients? ? What do you think are the advantages of a home-based studio as opposed to a professional audio suite? ? What are the hurdles of a small-scale audio suite set-up at home? ? How do you solve problems such as handling multiple clients and technical problems? ? What about accommodating multiple jobs during peak season? What difficult issues do you encounter on short turn around times from clients that large-scale audio houses can easily solve? ? Do you take advantage of government grants for funding? ? Will you recommend seasoned audio professionals such as yourself to put-up home-based studios? Why? Knowledge Acquisition Recessions in the advertising industry brought about massive cost-cutting schemes by both Marketing and Creative Service Departments. This condition brings a threat to big-budget audio production houses as advertising brands’ business models and budgets change whilst still having the need to advertise and broadcast content. However, the positive effect of this downturn in advertising is the “democratization” of the ad music production business, where single composers with home audio set-ups can now service a slew of big brands against large music companies. The explosion of single-proprietorship audio houses serving as vendors for prestigious music channels such as MTV Asia LDC, CNN, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network have been growing steadily. Media journals such as Content Asia and Television Asia stated news on broadcasters’ expansion plans to serve the need to produce a lot of content on television and digital formats. The journals also shared figures on advertisers’ spending numbers in order to keep their hold on audience. Annual Reports of government boards like the Media Development Authority in Singapore were also accessed to investigate on any opportunities for single-proprietorship media companies such as home-based audio or design houses. These following are a summary for relevant information for the study: ? Content is a major driver for the adoption of new mass market services such as mobile television and would be an essential component of success. As new media developments become main stream, broadcasters keep creating enormous content in order to satisfy audience and to maintain ratings and revenue. Most of these productions have lower production budgets to enable broadcasters to create more content, a hostile climate for big-budget production houses. Freelance sound designers profit a lot from these opportunities. ? The number of advertisement seconds remain strong on free television in Malaysia, an emerging market. With TV3 having 6,513,240, nTV7 having 4,416,272, 8TV having 3,936,593, RM2 having 3,783,053, RTM1 having 2,129,086 and TV9 having 1,512,604. ? In Korea, there are big 5 foreign-invested joint ventures – National Geographic, FOX, Cartoon Network, MTV and ESPN. This is an opportunity not just for full-scale production houses but also for independent sound designers as all content require sound work. It has been noted that alliances and expansion cannot dictate massive budgets in order to create healthy revenues. · The business of digital distribution has been becoming more profitable to both prestigous record labels and home-based muscicians and soudnd designers. A business model where music gets sold via the Internet, exclusively through granted customers sign-in names and passowrd upon credit card payment, bug music labels such as BMG and Universal Records have been compiling library music albums for scoring to any media company in need such as broadcasters, advertisiers, and some event companies. These companies have also been purchasing music made by independent musicians with the condition that they submit an album of their underscore music that is sorted by a certain music genre, e.g. “jazz undescore”, “fashion underscore”, “childrens music”, in order for clients to easily browse music websites. This offers home-based entrepreneurs to have low overhead plus a steady stream of additional income as long as their music is still commissioned on-line by big music labels. ? In the arena of audio production, localization in the market also create job opportunities for contracted work in audio design. International distribution of Korean and Spanish telenovelas open job opportunities to contracted work. Prestigious dubbing houses like SDI Media now commission freelance audio producers to produce dubbed programme episodes in order to service a big bulk of clients with mid-ranged budgets. ? In Singapore, government grants that enhance enterprise development benefit both single-proprietorship businesses and large-scale media houses from programmes that help to hone business skills. Specific areas of development include “identifying enterprise positioning and strategy plans”. Another one is “exploiting intellectual property”. This was done through various programmes such as mentorship programme with Pembridge Partners LLP, a London-based business accelerator and investment group focused on the creative industry. ? A thriving, self-sustaining media financing ecosystem in Singapore has over SGD 500 million worth of media funds available for media projects and companies, injected by banks, financial institutions, and strategic investors. ? In Asia, the expansion of refuted media giants are ever-present and expanding. Television Asia’ Annual Report that there are 19 big content providers actively operating and producing local and international content such as Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., NBC Universal, Endemol and many more. Endemol has already established local operations in India, Thailand and Malaysia. During the last 12 months, the group has secured commissions for over 35 series across nine territories in Asia. Today Endemol is also expanding in China, Japan and Korea. Endemol produces entertainment programming in all genres (sports, drama, comedy, factual, reality and game shows) as well as branded entertainment and sponsored content. Endemols intellectual properties include: Big Brother, Wipeout, Deal or No Deal, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, The Successful Mr. and Mrs. Pells and 1 vs.100. · For 2010, Taiwans nationalwide effort in digitalization of the broadcast industry in , is expected to bring about various business opportunities worth an estimated US$11.8 billion. This translated to various opportunities for in-house work for large-scale recording houses and also for freelance home-based studios. As equipment like analog to digital converters are readily available and often already installed in home recording studio set-ups, freelance sound engineers who are home-based will be able to pitch for simple projects like these, small-budget projects that are fast-moving. The final product, the finished digital work can even be forwarded through digital deliveries on-line, even a low-end, low-budget projects can yield good income. · April 23, 2010, the Media Development Authority of Singapore just announced funding boost for large-scale projects that promise a global reach during the annual business forum. · Scripps Networks announced the upcoming launch of Food Network Asia, another international brand that is expanding global reach to local market by setting roots in the Asian region. Furthermore, Scripps Networks President Greg Moyer announced that the channel, slated to be air in Asia by July of 2010, will contain 20 percent local content. l Methodology (1) Research interviews were used in order to gather practical and up-to-date information from business professionals who operate home-based recording studios. Twenty selected seasoned freelance home recording studio owners were selected to be a part of the study. All of these participants have worked for at least five years in a recording studio before starting up their own business. All of the participants also earn more than USD 4,500 as home-based audio designers. Below are a description on how the interviews were conducted and how follow-up questions were asked in order to have a more comprehensive collection of data. As the data cannot be measured by simple YES or NO, the informants were asked very specific details on the topic. The researcher also chose informants who make more than USD 4,500 monthly in order to make sure that these independent audio designers are earning enough income to sustain their business. Instrumentation The 20 participating informants were all notified by e-mail about the topic of the study. All were given two to three days to prepare for the appointed date of the interview that was conducted either in person or through a phone call. In the first part of the interview, respondents were asked basic questions like “How long have you been working at a home studio set-up?” and also asked how extensive the work is that they do for clients. They have to clearly state if they just work from home to record sound, edit audio, mix audio, or all of the written tasks. In the second leg of the interview, the informants were asked how much in U.S. dollars their home set-up costs from basic construction, hardware and software acquisition, and equipment. The informants also had to share the technical specification of their equipment at the studio. This relevant part of the interview had the respondents enumerate obvious advantages of running a home-based recording studio, the core of this study. The informants were asked to specifically enumerate advantages of home-based recording studios that bring in profit to their company in order to have a solid basis of the recorded answers. The succeeding part of the research interview held with the particiapants seeked to find out how long their home-based recording studios have been operational. A follow through question “What are the hurdles of a small-scale audio suite set-up at home?” was also asked by the author in order to find out what factors may hinder productivity in the studio and how they solve these issues. Whether the problems, if any, are about manpower, organizational support, costs, or lack of technical support, the informants were asked what common problems they faced during the day-to-day operations of professional audio studios. The informants were also asked to cite the operational difficulties that their business may currently be experiencing and also what they do in order to solve their issues. It was then followed by another related question asking the informants if these problems could cause shut downs of companies when they remain unattended. The next item of the questionnaire asked the informants if they recommend other free agent audio professionals such as themselves to set-up a home-studio and why. The author asked the informants answers that have to satisfy the basic need of a comfortable working environment and creating enough income, whilst ensuring that the individual still maintains a good quality of life. Another purpose of this study is to come up with practical reasons that could encourage entrepreneurship among independent audio designers. The last item of the questionnaire asked the informant about time management and creative solutions required during the peak season. The informants were asked how they solved administrative problems and extract human resource somewhere else when there is a need. (2) Extensive library research was also conducted in order to gather enough access reviews of renowned end-users of audio systems. Handbooks and manuals were also highly relevant in supplying a clear background in audio production. Data Reliability: A tally was performed to compare the answers of the respondents in order find out the advantages of a home studio over professional audio houses. The 20 selected seasoned freelance home recording studio owners have all been home-based for more than three years with an average monthly income of more than USD 4,500. A prior e-mail was sent that stated the scope of the study in order to give the subjects enough time to prepare. All the respondents were interviewed in a casual manner and all were given enough time to state and revise their answers. Results: The results drawn from the research interview are included in this section, reflected from the research questionnaire written down in the introduction section. All the informants stated that the low-cost of their high-quality final mixes is the clear advantage of home-based recording studios over more expensive professional recording studios. Too add to this point is that all of the participants provided very usuful additional information about their clients. In the field of designing of sound or cutomized music for corporate clients, all the participants stated that professional recording studios outsource them freelance jobs for recording with voicing talents and sound mixing for ad hoc projects especially during the peak advertising months of August until December when most of the advertising spending and marketing campaigns taike place. Several participants stated that the low overheads and the affordable cost of audio equipment enable them to operate at home, charge very cost-friendly rates while maintaining the value of their final output. It was revealed during the first phase of the interview, all the informants stated that as they record, edit and mix sound from their home-based set-ups, the access to a functional studio also enable them to record their own albums of production music that they can sell to music labels. These albums, mostly compiled as a certain genre, get bought by big labels such as Warner Music, BMG and Universal Music as on-line music stores. Digitally distributed to reach a wide number of broadcast and advertising clients via the Internet, these portal are available to clients upon credit card payments. An example of this is BMGs music library found at www.unippm.com.hk. These big record labels purchase albums made either by prestigious recording companies such as themselves or production music albums produced by independent musicians and sound engineers. The informants proved this to be profitable as they get paid a certain royalty that providesd a steady stream of income to sustain their small business. Verbatim comments quoted from the informants are recorded here including additional insights and practical views on daily operations of a small business such as a home-based recording studio. 18 out of 20 (80%) respondents use their facility for voice recording and audio mixing due to the clients’ need for of broadcast promos, sales videos and digital content. The informants also stated that very few television commercials require original music from them and that the availability of library music resources enables the production to reach the final stage so much faster. Library music enables sound designers to deliver their work in just a day or two without sacrificing any quality. The affordability of library music also enable them include royalty within the production budget. In terms of start-up figures for capitalizations, the answers from the informants varied between USD 3,500 to USD 8,000. The brand of equipment like mixers and microphones, quantity of equipment and the size of peripherals such as hard disks caused the varying price difference on the cost of a home-based recording studio. Data Quality The results obtained from this report are primarily reliant on the research interview that was conducted among 20 home-based audio professionals. All of the participants said lower production cost is the best advantage of home-based recording studios. Riding the wave of recessions in the ad business and a consequent rash of mergers created a cost-cutting climate in the industry that was hostile to big-budget companies. Adding to his, low overheads enable them to charge lower rates to clients without sacrificing any of the quality. The validity of the results from data is quite high as respondents answers are all based from their practical experience as entrepreneurs. The advice they imparted all came from their common solutions in their day to day operations. Issues and Implications To add to this, however, is the fact that a single-staffed music business suffers set backs from lack of administrative and technical support. 8 our of 20 (40%) respondents all said “yes” when asked if lack of staff is a problem. All of respondents express that they are all sustaining their businesses and have no plans to work for big companies. 16 respondents also stated that the erratic hours of work take away a lot of personal time including weekends and holidays. 18 people (80%) believe that a home-based studio operator has to posses a high level of flexibility and time management in order to sustain their business. The data related to the results are shown in Table 1. Table 1 Does lack of Administrative and Technical Staff effect the operations of a home-based recording studio? Participant 1 YES Participant 2 YES Participant 3 YES Participant 4 YES Participant 5 YES Participant 6 NO Participant 7 YES Participant 8 NO Participant 9 NO Participant 10 NO Participant 11 YES Participant 12 YES Participant 13 NO Participant 14 YES Participant 15 NO Participant 16 NO Participant 17 NO Participant 18 YES Participant 19 YES Participant 20 YES The last question aimed to find out if government grants for small media companies are being utilized by these independent sound designers. Only 20% of the respondents said they are aided by government grants as only 4 out of 20 respondents currently receive government grants. Table 2 Have you applied for any government grant or funding to sustain your home-based studio? Participant 1 NO Participant 2 NO Participant 3 NO Participant 4 NO Participant 5 NO Participant 6 NO Participant 6 NO Participant 7 YES Participant 8 NO Participant 9 NO Participant 10 NO Participant 11 YES Participant 12 NO Participant 13 NO Participant 14 NO Participant 15 NO Participant 16 NO Participant 17 NO Participant 18 NO Participant 19 NO Participant 20 NO Conclusion The following are conclusions that were drawn from the research interview with 20 audio professionals who operate home recording studios. All 20 participants stated that low-cost and high-quality work delivered by small-scale audio houses is the definite advantage of home-based recording studios. With the cost of production computer soft wares and peripherals, the start-up capitalization for the installation of a self-contained audio suite is within an independent sound designer’s budget. Governments offer funding for media companies but even with only 20% of the participants applying for grants, all respondents claim that they make more than USD 4,500 monthly, a profitable amount for home-based entrepreneur. This is due to the absence of overheads such as commercial renting fees, leases, and payroll. As gleaned from the interview, 80% of the respondents serve broadcasters for promotions and advertising clients for television, radio commercials and corporate videos. The data gathered from media journals and annual reports stated advertising and broadcasters’ campaigns to expand their brands and create new content even for their digital media branch. Partnerships and expansion do not happen with massive production budget as business models dictate budget cuts in order to produce a bigger amount of content. This climate is not good for large-scale audio production houses and that is why freelance sound designers now claim that they can win pitches for broadcast promos, corporate videos and radio commercials over professional recording houses. References: Caloisi, Geny (2008). “Social Networks at Work”. AV Magazine. Pages 24-25 Ciletti , Eddie (2006). Installation Basics. Mix Magazine [Online] October 1, 2006. Available at: http://mixguides.com/articles (Installation Basics) [Accessed 20 April 2010] Collins , Mike (2002). Pro Tools 5.1 for Music Production. Focal Press. Jones , Graham (1987). The Business of Freelancing. BFP Books. Focus House, Green Lanes, London, UK. Levine , Mike (1997. How to be A Working Musician: A Practical Guide to Earning Money in the Music Business. Billboard Books, New York, New York. Read More