Recording Studio setting up?

alant1000

mark_dumpleton wrote: »

Hi all,
A couple of good friends and myself are in the process of setting up a recording studio in our school (we are 17 year old sixth formers). This is hopefully going to be open to both the students and outside community to use, therefore being beneficial to the community.
We are, however, limited with capital and do not know how to raise some the most effective way (such as grants, or if possible other ways in which we would not have to pay the money back!)

We have all of the major equipment but are missing leads and connectors, etc, so needed somewhere in the region of £150-£200.

Any help with sources of finance for us would be appreciated!

Thanks, Mark Dumpleton
Director, QEGStudios

hi,

firstly all the best with the venture, i've worked as a DJ for many years plus my goods friends have a band so have spent many times in recording studios.
In my experience its best to offer a variety, so have you got both band and DJ facilities? In terms of leads etc, i would definitely recommend Ebay who are a very good source for cheap leads.

If you know any bands or DJ's you might want to think about doing a pub or bar gig to raise some money, let everyone know the cause rather than you keeping the money and you might drum up more support, sell tickets for a fiver or something.

Another thing about studios which i am sure you already know , but most people expect to hire a studio with an engineer there, so you might find yourself stuck in a room with an out of tune band all Sunday, but people expect someone onsite to be able to do the sound levels etc, and most want to be able to come out with a CD of either their tracks or DJ mix, so you'll need a PC with cubase. This type of studio is what people will want to hire, otherwise they will just go round a mates to make some noise instead. With an enginner, you can be looking at £150 per day.

Good luck

hm71_2

where we live in essex we have a fundraising advisor that works out of the council- they work with our arts, sports & community sectors to help with funding applications.They tend to know who you can apply to and how to word your application. might be worth a call to your council or your 6th form college may be aware who it is.
There is an national organisation called youth music http://www.youthmusic.org.uk/
this is "a Young persons music charity set up in 1999 to promote music making opportunities and to provide advice to those with the least access" they may have an office or advisor near you or be able to point you in the right direction. My daughter has done some work with them for singing. They don't tend to like profit making groups but our local studio offers discounted rates to people under 18, schools & youth organisations this therefore covers this aspect.
It may also be worth approaching local dj suplliers for what they called b grade or returned stock this can be sold at up to 50% of RRP.
hope that helps & good luck
A tiny point though if it is within the school, would they not benefit from it being there, and so could they not invest in it for a return to school funds????

hope that helps

mark_dumpleton

Hi,
Thanks to all for help and information there, it is very much appreciated!
We are planning a concert with local bands who are planning on recording in the studio, to raise awareness of the studios and of the cause, etc.
We will look on eBay and the like for supplies, and we will also try any local dj suppliers (thanks hm71!). I'll get drafting out a letter to send to some artists, etc (thanks positivelymummy!).
Thanks for all info and help!
I wonder if anybody on here has any ideas who I could contact, specifically, in terms of aquiring assets?
Yours, Mark

hm71_2

as I have said previously try www.youthmusic.org.uk they are a very useful source. may have someone who could help via the assets and issues laid out below.

just to be a bit of a killjoy if you intend to let it out you really should have some form of public liability insurance. if any one falls etc there is always someone willing to sue!!!! I'm thinking as well that with all the electricity etc won't there have to be some sort of certified inspection like they do in hospitals etc...

If you intend to hold a concert as well you will have to check venue for h&s reasons and to check the venues public liabilty insurance.
I know this is all boring stuff but you will be very surprised what people claim for.:rolleyes:

honeypop

Just out of curiosity I have a few questions to get my head round what you are doing:
I was wondering how would access to this studio work at evenings and weekends when the school (I assume) is closed? As this must be when people are most likely to have the time to use such a thing if they have work/study during the daytimes.
Would you be renting the space from the school or are they providing it free and don't expect anything in return?
You mention being the Director of QEGStudios (I assume this is the name of the studio you are setting up?) so are you in this to make money from it as a business or just providing a service and the profits as such go to the school?
(ps From my business studies days, I'm not sure you mean Director, unless you have already set up as a 'company', although this is irrelevent to my questions!!)

And as hm71 says, you would need PI insurance and possibly electrical testing regularly so factor this into your costs. Also as alant1000 mentioned, people will expect a studio with engineer included so hopefully this is what you are providing.

BWZN93

One more thing. My other half works in a practice studio at the moment so we have a lot of contacts in recording etc. PAT testing - can cost quite a bit of money given the amount of equipment and the the bashing it all recieves so it would be worth getting someone certified on one of those quick courses rather than continually paying out for someone to come in and do it.

As someone previously mentioned, you will need a sound engineer of some description. A freind of ours owns his own recording studio after sound engineering for several years as an employee, and these people do cost money. Bands only use these places once in a blue moon because it costs a lot of money and often come away with poor quality demo's because of the time constraints incurred by not having a great deal of money. If you are expecting people to use the equiptment themselves then be aware that things will get broken quickly! Not only that, they would rather buy protools etc and do it in their bedroom/home/practice studio - approx the same cost and the ability to record whenever they want to and fine tune things to their own requirements.

I apologise if the tone of my post is a bit negative - its just that I know a lot of people in this industry in Bristol and its tough to make any decent money from it as the custom just isnt regular, frequent, or flush with cash!

Jo x

barrymung

What TV region are you in?

ITV shut the Meridian studios down in Southampton a few years ago and I know a few "good causes" managed to scrounge some equipment before the rest was auctioned off.

mark_dumpleton

Thanks ever so much for all replies, just got back from holiday this evening so will try to answer all replies as soon as possible.
Barrymung - we are in the Belmont receiving area, so in Lincolnshire (get Calendar news on ITV)

Mark