For a while now, I've been doing freelance work whenever I have the opportunity to do so. Because of that I've been collecting equipment that I thought I would need to do that job well.
At the end of the year, I decided to streamline and focus my life, so I sold almost all the gear I had and am working on getting rid of the rest of it, except my copy of Pro Tools, plugins and my controllers. Why? Well, beyond the refocus, I came to this realization....there are these businesses out there that are designed from the ground up to help me do what I do better. They are called "studios". I am talking about built from the ground up and acoustically designed to record sound- studio…..not your basement.
The studio is the freelancers best tool. they have the gear and rooms that help you capture great sounds without having to invade some ones basement. The studio's focus is to help you get the best sound you possibly can. Some even provide instruments...something I as a freelance engineer would not stock for sure.
So, I have decided to declutter my life of the gear, and start using studios and it has relieved me of the stress of feeling like I need to acquire these things in order to be successful. Let them deal with it, that's why they went into business. I can track in a beautiful room then using my Pro Tools rig, mix where I want.
I see this as a two fold solution. 1- it de-stresses my life and 2- it helps the studio economy, and that's a good thing. Work the studio fee into your fee and pay the studio from that. If you feel that your client doesn't have the budget, try working something out with them and try working something out with the studio manager, I'm sure they will find a way to not turn down cash. Get the client in the studio for a tour, that will raise their level of excitement and they will want to record there after actually being in the room.
Finally for me, it gives me confidence in my recordings. I've never really enjoyed basement recordings because I knew that wouldn't be the best way to do a project and if it isn't going to be a stellar project, I really didn't want to waste my time. So I can feel good that I am getting the best possible tracks to mix with, I don't have to blow every penny I earn collecting gear, the band is super excited and the local studio is making money. Sounds like a Win-Win-Win to me.
