This summer I've kept pretty busy. I finished my course at Berklee music with an A- in mixing. I am volunteering at my local AES as the event committee chairman, if you haven't become involved in your local AES chapter I encourage you to do so. Most importantly I have formed an alliance with a couple of friends a recording co-op of sorts. One friend has space but no gear, I have gear but no space and the other friend is a producer. We are bringing our strengths together and a combined total of over 50 years of experience to create for our clients the best possible product their money can buy.
The vision of this recording co-op is to help not only each other but the artist achieve more than we can individually and to provide a better product than a bedroom recording. The idea behind it is to form partnerships with individuals that have a talent or equipment that they are willing to rent out....yes we will get paid, it is not a charity organization.
Let's say I have a project that I need to record drums, I go to the co-op and find a good drum recording room and book the time, then I may need drum mics, so I go back and find a co-op member that has drum mics that suite my needs. I bring my gear and record the drums, client is happy...we get paid.
I believe that for these times, this is a better way for guys like me to operate, it draws on the strengths of others and instead of needing to go out and buy a bunch a cheap mics I may never need again, I can rent them from other members of the co-op and concentrate on buying gear that suites my strengths. We don't share clients, just resources, knowledge and strengths.
I know this kind of thing already exists in free form, you find a client, you book the studio and you rent what you need but I think having a pool a resources to draw from that doesn't cost a whole lot so we can be value oriented to our clients. In other words, co-op members won't charge each other an arm and a leg for services but will still make money.
The whole plan is still in it's infancy and I welcome ideas, If you are interested in being a part, let me know.
