calling all singer-songwriters / instrument players!

[daniel_san]

hello guys, my name is Daniel, i'm a first year student studying HND Sound Production. as part of my Graded Unit, i need to design a business, basically. so i have chosen to design my own 'Session Artist' business! basically, it would involve singer songwriters, acoustic players, any bands with missing members etc that needed drum / bass guitar recordings, that i would record for them! the clients can either come into my studio and we can record together, or if the client already has their own recordings but just need the drum / bass tracks added, they can send their recordings via the world wide web, i can then record the tracks needed and then send the completed (mixed and mastered) tracks back to the delighted client!

as part of my market research, i need to send out surveys, and ask the public some questions.

if anyone could reply to this with the answers to these questions, it would help me a lot!

many thanks guys, Daniel.

Q1 - what is your views on the idea of a Session Artist Business? is it something you would potentially be interested in?

Q2 - if you have paid for recordings before, what sort of price did you pay, and how good was the quality?

Q3 - is there anything that you felt was missing from these past recordings?

Q4 - would you feel comfortable coming to record the tracks where i live with my parents?

Q5 - would you prefer to have real acoustic drum tracks with your songs, instead of perhaps, software drum samples?

Q6 - does the idea of some form of loyalty appeal to you? e.g. if you come back to my business for a third time, you get charged half price?

Q7. would you rather pay a high price for a high quality recording or a low price for a recording of lower quality?

[Flights]

Hi Danny Boy

Q1 - what is your views on the idea of a Session Artist Business? is it something you would potentially be interested in?

A1- Possibly, our bassist is crazy an often strips down to his pants. It can be distracting at band practice so I can imagine it being a nightmare in a studio enviroment where such a practice may be frowned upon.

Q2 - if you have paid for recordings before, what sort of price did you pay, and how good was the quality?

A2- I think we paid £80 between the five of us. well four of us paid more cos our other guitarist bailed early to ball some girl and paid £2 less than he was supposed to. The quality was good. Not amazing but not terrible. I feel we got our moneys worth.

Q3 - is there anything that you felt was missing from these past recordings?

A3- There wasn't enough delay and lo-fi fuzz. Also a seven minute bass solo was strangely cut from the final recordings.

Q4 - would you feel comfortable coming to record the tracks where i live with my parents?

A4- Yes, Mum's are the best cooks and I would happily pay for a cheeky plate o stovies. Our guitarist might tell your parents how to decorate their house and go on about how they should of bought a more expensive T.V, but once they get used to him they will find him easy to ignore. However your parents may be slightly uncomfortable to find our bassist down to his underwear mucking about with stomp boxes whilst screaming like a crack deprived pop star.

Q5 - would you prefer to have real acoustic drum tracks with your songs, instead of perhaps, software drum samples?

A4- Yeah acoustic drums ftw. Would also make speaking to our drummer alot less akward.

Q6 - does the idea of some form of loyalty appeal to you? e.g. if you come back to my business for a third time, you get charged half price?

A6- Chuck in a free plate of your mums stovies and you've got a solid deal

Q7. would you rather pay a high price for a high quality recording or a low price for a recording of lower quality?

A7- We would probably ending up paying a high price to keep John happy. Then pay his share between us.

Hope this has helped.

[The Milner]

Q1 - what is your views on the idea of a Session Artist Business? is it something you would potentially be interested in?

It could be quite interesting depending on the details of it all

Q2 - if you have paid for recordings before, what sort of price did you pay, and how good was the quality?

I've paid anything from £45 to the best part of £5k for recordings over the years with variing degree's of success and failure. I have always though that the most important thing when recording is being ready and good, not the studio.

Q3 - is there anything that you felt was missing from these past recordings?

Cow bell solo

Q4 - would you feel comfortable coming to record the tracks where i live with my parents?

I wouldnt see any issue with that so long as they dont interrupt the rocking and the rolling.

Q5 - would you prefer to have real acoustic drum tracks with your songs, instead of perhaps, software drum samples?

Has to be a real drum kit or its not worth the hassle, for me anyway.

Q6 - does the idea of some form of loyalty appeal to you? e.g. if you come back to my business for a third time, you get charged half price?

yes

Q7. would you rather pay a high price for a high quality recording or a low price for a recording of lower quality?

depends what the recording was for, if its a commerical thing you would have to go for quality, if its demo's there is no point spending a ton of money.

[Jaaakkkeee]

Q1 - what is your views on the idea of a Session Artist Business? is it something you would potentially be interested in?

I like the idea. If a decent band/artist asked me to do it and was paying, I'd definitely do it.

Q2 - if you have paid for recordings before, what sort of price did you pay, and how good was the quality?

I've paid from £80 for 6 hours to £180 for 8 to £300 for a full song. In my experience the most expensive were the best quality.

Q3 - is there anything that you felt was missing from these past recordings?

Due to extensive writing and demoing the only things missing were the parts you can only do live.

Q4 - would you feel comfortable coming to record the tracks where i live with my parents?

I would record instruments but not vocals.

Q5 - would you prefer to have real acoustic drum tracks with your songs, instead of perhaps, software drum samples?

Real drums are always better, unless you're doing cheap demos.

Q6 - does the idea of some form of loyalty appeal to you? e.g. if you come back to my business for a third time, you get charged half price?

Yes. I wouldn't ever expect half price but somesort of deal is welcome and will keep me coming back.

Q7. would you rather pay a high price for a high quality recording or a low price for a recording of lower quality?

Depends on it's use. Low quality has it's uses in demoing and you need a low price for that. But for real release, high price for high quality.

[daniel_san]

wow, thanks very much for the replies guys! this is great stuff. exactly what i'm needing. although i feel the first post went a little out-there at times.

[Jaaakkkeee]

I'm the mental stripping bassist from Flights' post.

[The Milner]

Phil has problems, they are called jake and john.

[Jaaakkkeee]

Phil has problems, they are called jake and john.

I'm not a problem for phil, apart from his petrol tank.

[Flights]

My post was the most accurate and truthful post I've put on here.