What to charge for recording session

[Harrythebassdawg]

I've recently started getting enquirys on my rates for recording session.

Is there a standard rate?

Obviously its often going to vary on the profile of the recording, and the stature of the player.

I'm semi pro, looking to quit my part time job and go pro by the end of the year, I'm plenty experienced at recording in good studios, so it'll be a proper job.

Do people generally charge per track or per hour/day, or both?

Any idea of what other people do would be great!

Cheers,
Harry

[JTUK]

You could check out MU rates but you can offer 3 hours for £X or £150 a day for starters.

You need to know who your market may be. If these enquiries are from the same studio, have a quiet word with the engr as per the standard rates.

If the gig is very sorted, it depends on what load they expect to get through and what is a day in terms of hours.
The starts are normally late...ie from 11 onwards and you don't start recording bass until into the afternoon...That could be a long day as you'll be into the evening after a few tracks.

Talk to the local studio engr who is enquiring, about what is what. One of the arbiters of how long a session is, is how long the engr can handle as he is working from start to finish.

I'd say for local demo jobs £150 for 8 hrs...just to get you started. Your market might only be able to pay £50 so make that 3hrs=£50.

You have to know who can and will pay what.
A lot of sessions are self financed. If it is for a production company, they may be more realistic with better rates.

[geoffbyrne]

Our last session included engineer & studio for 5 hours cost us £200.

G.

[Roland Rock]

[quote name='geoffbyrne' post='1176984' date='Mar 26 2011, 10:18 AM']Our last session included engineer & studio for 5 hours cost us £200.

G.[/quote]


I think you're talking about different things - the OP, as I read it, is talking about a bass player coming in do a session for a producer/band, as opposed to engineer/studio hire.

[Dood]

[quote name='JTUK' post='1176965' date='Mar 26 2011, 09:57 AM']You could check out MU rates .....[/quote]


The MU is such a great resource for sample contracts, teaching and session rates etc - Is my first port of call for most musicy enquiries. So +1 for this!

[Harrythebassdawg]

[quote name='JTUK' post='1176965' date='Mar 26 2011, 09:57 AM']You could check out MU rates but you can offer 3 hours for £X or £150 a day for starters.

You need to know who your market may be. If these enquiries are from the same studio, have a quiet word with the engr as per the standard rates.

If the gig is very sorted, it depends on what load they expect to get through and what is a day in terms of hours.
The starts are normally late...ie from 11 onwards and you don't start recording bass until into the afternoon...That could be a long day as you'll be into the evening after a few tracks.

Talk to the local studio engr who is enquiring, about what is what. One of the arbiters of how long a session is, is how long the engr can handle as he is working from start to finish.

I'd say for local demo jobs £150 for 8 hrs...just to get you started. Your market might only be able to pay £50 so make that 3hrs=£50.

You have to know who can and will pay what.
A lot of sessions are self financed. If it is for a production company, they may be more realistic with better rates.[/quote]

good reply. thanks!

[Harrythebassdawg]

yeah, just to confirm, I'm talking about freelancing as a bassist, rather than hiring a studio.

[Harrythebassdawg]

[quote name='dood' post='1177034' date='Mar 26 2011, 11:14 AM']The MU is such a great resource for sample contracts, teaching and session rates etc - Is my first port of call for most musicy enquiries. So +1 for this![/quote]

Yeah it seems a wise port of call,
I suppose I better get an MU membership then!...(although It would help If I had £100 lying around to join!)

[icastle]

For studio work I charge £xx an hour for the first four hours.
Anything over four hours I class as a day rate and charge a £xxx flat rate for the entire day.

[RhysP]

I started a similar thread last year - I've posted a link to it here as there was a lot of useful information given to me which will probably be relevant to you too:

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=92143&st=0"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=92143&st=0[/url]

Hope some of that helps.

Edited March 26, 2011 by RhysP

[lowdown]

[quote name='Harrythebassdawg' post='1177048' date='Mar 26 2011, 11:24 AM']Yeah it seems a wise port of call,
I suppose I better get an MU membership then!...(although It would help If I had £100 lying around to join!)[/quote]


What ever fee you get,
Further down the road other payments could/can come your way depending on what the session was for and what broadcasts etc.
So PPL is worth joining, they collect any other performance money that may be due to you.
[url="http://www.ppluk.com/"]http://www.ppluk.com/[/url]


Good luck with it all.


Garry

[jakenewmanbass]

[quote name='lowdown' post='1177517' date='Mar 26 2011, 06:52 PM']What ever fee you get,
Further down the road other payments could/can come your way depending on what the session was for and what broadcasts etc.
So PPL is worth joining, they collect any other performance money that may be due to you.
[url="http://www.ppluk.com/"]http://www.ppluk.com/[/url]


Good luck with it all.


Garry[/quote]
I was just going to say the same thing....
I'm quite enjoying hearing Eliza Doolittle everywhere I go.... shops, radio, TV, sports centre etc etc.
The reason... I'm PPL registered and I'm on her album
When it comes to fees, remember that union rates are generally regarded as minimums, budgets are tighter these days but if you are working for established producers and signed artists then you can push prices up a bit. I do anything from a speculation for points up to set rates above union minimums depending on the job.

Edited March 26, 2011 by jakesbass

[lowdown]

[quote name='jakesbass' post='1177520' date='Mar 26 2011, 07:55 PM']When it comes to fees, remember that union rates are generally regarded as minimums, budgets are tighter these days but if you are working for established producers and signed artists then you can push prices up a bit. I do anything from a speculation for points up to set rates above union minimums depending on the job.[/quote]


Someone above has said 150.00 for a eight hour day, but in reality you should be looking at getting that or around that fee for
A three hour session [And that would be roughly around the MU rate, which would include porterage etc]
400 to 500.00 for a whole days work would not be unusual.
But like you said Jake, it depends on the budget, the profile etc.
And more often than not, you would be told the fee and its a case of take it or leave it. If its someone you know they would try
and get the money up.




Garry

Edited March 27, 2011 by lowdown

[JTUK]

If you just starting, you'll have to take what you can get which will depend on your contact pool.

£200 a day was a standard fee nigh on twenty years ago, AIRC but plenty of people can't get that now.

First thing is, to get and keep the gig. I doubt you'll be able to dicate what you WILL be paid at this time.
Plenty might do it for less, so it depends what sets you apart...you know the engr, he can earn out of you, you are good at the job etc etc
The first thing I'd ask is what is the budget but it depends who has control of it.

It is possible that the studio/engr takes resposibility and charges the client and then subs out the musicians..and takes an 'arrangement' fee
for doing so.

Get the job first and see the lie of the land.

You'll have to build up this relationship and try to reconcile with how it works.

[skej21]

[quote name='icastle' post='1177084' date='Mar 26 2011, 12:53 PM']For studio work I charge £xx an hour for the first four hours.
Anything over four hours I class as a day rate and charge a £xxx flat rate for the entire day.[/quote]

I once read something about Pino Palladino's session rates and he did something similar to this but tailored it to the job, which I have also taken on (at certain jobs) as it makes sense for both parties.

Pino would say;

For studio work I charge (for example) £60 for the FIRST two hours and then £120 an hour for hours 3 & 4.
Anything over four hours I class as a day rate and charge £xxx as a flat rate for the entire day.

This works because sometimes you can get the ACTUAL bass playing done very quickly (if it's basic stuff) and by offering a really cheap first two hours but then doubling after, it makes the engineers work quicker and try to get you in and out a.s.a.p. This also stops them wasting time faffing about with your sound/amp for no reason.

It also means you get the job done quicker and waste less of your own time and they only have to pay you a small amount if they can get you in and out of the door quickly.

Only advice I have is that you have to be really careful when offering such a deal, because you have to be a really good judge of how quickly you can get the specific job done, because they will NOT want to pay you a doubled rate if you said you could get it done in 2 hours and then couldn't. They will only be happy paying into the doubled rate if it's their own mistakes that result in keeping you at the studio.

[icastle]

[quote name='skej21' post='1178062' date='Mar 27 2011, 10:12 AM']I once read something about Pino Palladino's session rates and he did something similar to this but tailored it to the job, which I have also taken on (at certain jobs) as it makes sense for both parties.[/quote]

Yep, it wasn't Pino Palladino who gave me the idea, it was Paul Young's keyboard player who told me about it way back in the 80's when I was first starting to take music seriously.

The advent of MP3's and intense use of internet has made it pretty easy to deliver the goods in a reasonable number of takes.
I usually get a rough recording of the material to listen to before I need to go anywhere near the studio so I can work out a few ideas beforehand or learn the original bass lines if that's all that's needed.

[Harrythebassdawg]

Thanks guys, all very helpful!