Who wants to open up a MALL RECORDING STUDIO with me?

[thisDude]

I found myself wading through the plastic doll shopping mall today for my yearly re-up of timely fashions and I happened upon a recording studio right in the middle of the mall. As a home recording hobbyist I was curious as to what kind of rig they were running, so I kindly asked the attendant if I could look around in the recording area. They had a few isolation booths, a couple of sm-57's, a Motif and a Roland V-studio workstation/mixer. That's it. No computer, no effects (except the ones that come with the Roland), but they did have a scary manequin whose eyes followed me around the room - Great Vibe. There were 2 distinct groups of disallusioned clients awaiting service. One kid in group "A" was wearing a dog collar. Group "B" was argueing amongst themselves over the asthetic quality of a certain "boo's" booty. They reaked of body odor and marijuana. The time is now 11:20 AM. Are you ready for the kicker? They charge $15/hr to use their facilities. And while The Beatles could walk through the door and track gold with their setup, there was not a Beatle amongst them (maybe a little Ringo in the dog collar kid, but not worth mentioning). My plan is to undercut them, but I'll need some capital. I'm going to overclock my 800mhz Celeron, load up Protools Free and offer 2 channel recording/8 channel mixing through my Soundblaster 16 A/D. Strap the whole rig on the back of a rickshaw, hire illegal immigrants to mix and master, and park the rickshaw out in front of the food court. Who's in?

[timobrien]

I can't even stand to hear the little 10-year-old girl next door out on their patio singing karaoke Brittney Spears way out of tune..... it HURTS my ears too much. I think after a few weekends of it you'd want to blow your brains out!!! ;)

[F7sound -]

thisDude, I know what you're talking about. It's at University Mall! They were featured a few months ago on "Good Day Tampa Bay" (a popular morning TV show in this area - for those non-local). The business model is pretty "McDonalds" like. Run em in and out fast and cheap. It works on that level. I've spoken w/other studio owners in this area - some who think they've lost business to the "mall studio". My position is that the level of customers that record at the "mall" is below that of serious studios (which I consider myself). I'm not losing any sleep over the "mall studio". In fact, I hope they do well. If you decide to open your own "mall studio", you might enjoy it for a while, but after a short time, you might look at it as being a baby sitter. Who knows? It probably will make good money especially with the popularity of American Idol. Plus, everyone wants to be the next Tupac. Michael Oster [url=http://www.f7sound.com]F7 Sound and Vision[/url]

[thisDude]

F7sound I can neither confirm nor deny the actual location of said "mall studio" for fear of libel suites from my soon-to-be competition. ;) Seriously though, as technologies become cheaper and cheaper, the potential loss of revenue due to "McAudio's" from serious studio owners has to be addressed.

[G. Ratte]

[quote] If you decide to open your own "mall studio", you might enjoy it for a while, but after a short time, you might look at it as being a baby sitter. Who knows? [/quote]Baby sitting! That's funny, pretty true. I did super-low-budget stuff for a long time recording a wiiiiide range of the talent/taste spectrum. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you'd be working with skilled guys. Othertimes, it'd be high-school gangsta rappers who'd drop by after school to stumble through their poorly-enunciated tales of mayhem and then be picked up by Mom later on. When a Mom was dropping by, we'd make an effort to pick up the pr0n mags scattered around. Ya know, a classy joint. The studio was like a big clubhouse; no adult supervision. They're usually nice kids and everybody's gotta start someplace, so I couldn't complain. Funny situation though.

[F7sound -]

[quote]Originally posted by thisDude: [b]F7sound.... Seriously though, as technologies become cheaper and cheaper, the potential loss of revenue due to "McAudio's" from serious studio owners has to be addressed.[/b][/quote]But, do you want the "dog collar" kid and the "body odor group" and the Britney Spears wannabees in your studio? That's what they cater to at the "mall studio". You'd be spending all your profits on equipment repairs, carpet stain removal, and bail (for when you get busted cuz one of your customers has a couple of joints in his pocket). Besides, how much can you undercut $15 an hour and still pay your illegal immigrants, rickshaw rental, plus keep a little something for yourself? Michael Oster [url=http://www.f7sound.com]F7 Sound and Vision[/url]

[the stranger]

Hmmm....

[Barandine Vondenger]

I say go somewheres else,charge twenty-five smack-a-roonies,work three shifts a day,kinda like an all hour laundromat always open for biz. all you really need for SPACE is a BIG CLOSET with some aig cartons, painted freaky and jazzy colours. oh yeah! in,out and let them hold a copy of their performance. no bells no whistles no charge for the expert mixin'(done on the fly)have a minimum ding and say stuff like the GOLD mike is five more smacks than the silver mike and reverb is free and if you go over time you MUST PAY to PLAY "*no extra mixin' unless by appt. only" Let them DO KEREOKE in fact ENCOURAGE IT as that will be your gimmick,or "G" have a picture of a hot young thang sangin' her purty little brains out. call it ONE HOUR STAR service "we can make you sound like a star in an hour or less. (let them DESIGN their own ceedee covers and jackets and slap a label on that puppy! arf,arf! Elvis got noticed at one of those places. yerah that's the ticket!