Going through some archives I came across this priceless piece of history: its the rate card from the studio my friends and I used to go to. You can see it here:TotalJerkStudiosPrices.jpg. After years of nagging, we did get him to discount our rate to $50 an hour, though.... Note that back in 1987 they charged $55 / hour + Tape. (Since they recorded at 3.75 i.p.s. tape costs didn't get too out of hand - and yes, for those of you who don't get sarcasm from flat text, that was definitely an insult! Considering the MX 5050 did 7.5 and I'm pretty sure 15 ips 3.75 for full-band music was not the best speed option available. I've done several transfers for bands who had their master tapes from this place and there is only so much you can get from a 20 year-old 3.75 1/4 inch master...). Well, last week I heard a guy bitch that he wasn't paying us $50 an hour for our studio. He said that rate was "way expensive." To quote my father, "you'll have that." But it made me take a moment and ask "are we really out-of-our-minds-expensive?" Or does this particular gentleman simply fail to value to real cost of a recording studio? So, what a fortuitous find. According to The Inflation Calculator: What cost $55 in 1987 would cost $102.50 as of this writing. So, not only are we less money in sticker price, we're less than half the price in adjusted dollars. And the funny thing was we were in high school, and we found the money to record. The guy yelling about my $50 rate has a full time job and no kids to support. And the studio was not sloppy. They had some decent mics from my recollection. And the Trident Series 70 was a good desk. Its essentially a Series 80 with fewer buses, an ill-tempered power supply and some shelving changes. No, it wasn't an SSL or a Neve, but it was a very respectable piece of gear. (Heck, it probably cost them an arm and a leg back then, too). So, what's the point of my rant? Well, for a variety of reasons, it has become less expensive to go to a professional studio. So, if you're thinking about this as a career choice, here's some factual proof that there is less money to be made that you may have thought. But for you studio owners that have people complain about your rates, at some point you might want to invite those malcontents to leave. After all, if they aren't going to invest $50 an hour for a real studio, are they really going to press their CD/Vinyl? Will they have it mastered by a full-time M.E.? Will they really practice? Maintain their gear? Play out? Market it? Sell their stuff? I'm betting the answer is a resounding "NO WAY." So, you know they don't take it seriously, maybe instead of torturing yourself you should let them record at their friends house. You know, the guy with the cracked version of Cubase and all the Waves plug-ins form a torrent...

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