Budget Busted! How To Avoid Budget Problems

Thoughts from a Seasoned Music Producer on how to properly plan your budget and finish your project on deadline.

 Fortunately, I have had the opportunity to work with seasoned professionals throughout my career and have seen why they’ve always released on time and with satisfactory results. Two key items come into play.

1. Objective
   1. How many songs on the album
   2. Live musicians/Producer/Beat Maker
   3. Engineers
   4. Hard copies or digital download
2. Budget
   1. How much can I spend
   2. What is my break even point per single and/or album

These few points have helped me price a project and rarely go over budget.

For example, let’s use the typical mixtape promo release. What is a mixtape? The mixtape is a collection of songs that a hip hop artist would use to promote his songs. Usually the beats are leased or given to the artist by an upcoming producer for free to help promote the production as well. For my example I will assume you got the production from an up and coming producer and he didn’t charge you anything. This will be a 5 song EP.

Items	Cost per	Amount	Total
Production/Beat	$0.00	0	$0.00
Studio Time	$50.00	1	$50.00
Mixing	$50.00	1	$50.00
Mastering	$25.00	1	$25.00
		Per Song	$125.00
		5 Songs	$625.00

An artist that is prepared can realistically record one song in one hour. We’re talking about two 16 bar verses and an 8 bar hook. In addition to the structure of the song, layer double, triple and ad lib vocals. Once these vocals are laid down to the 2 track instrumental then the engineer takes over the balancing act of mixing. The trick here is to make the vocals sit in the song and not like you’re rapping over a karaoke song.

An experienced mix engineer will get your vocal balance to the music in about an hour or two. This is dependent on the quality of the recording as well as mic choice used for the artist. That’s why it’s important to hire a professional recording engineer since he will be selecting the proper mic for your voice and room. Not all microphones work on all voices.

The last phase is the mastering of the song. The mastering engineer takes that mix and brings it to industry standard levels. The reason I would recommend mastering is because it makes your song competitive to the quality of a major recording artist.

To be competitive you have to think how your market is thinking. A major label is thinking in volumes and how they can monopolize on their target market. The music business is no different than any other business.
I know this seems very basic but you wouldn’t believe how many artists starting a project have no idea what their budget is. Having a road map to your destination keeps you focused and side tracks distractions. Writing it down saves you time and money.

Does Sound or Recording Quality Matter?

The short answer, YES. In today’s world where everything is at an arms reach, A&R’s want to hear something of great quality. Of course like anything in life there are exceptions to the rule but they are far and few between. In a sea of submissions these guys/gals are skimming tracks to see what stands out. If they hear a less than acceptable quality song they will move on. Besides, why should a label invest in your product when you won’t invest in it?

Another key factor an A&R will look at is the impact that your brand has on social media. How many quality followers do you have? Growing a fan base is easier if you have a great sound. If it sounds professional it will be respected as a professional product.

Now recording at home or at a friend’s house is not a bad thing, as long as there isn’t a lot of background noise in your recording. Your files could be sent to a professional mix engineer. The mix engineer will take your files and blend them in a way to maximize the message of your song. As you record at home, be mindful of  clipping (distorting) any audio as well as making sure your punch ins/outs are clean. Also send a reference of what you think the song should sound like. This serves as a road map to the mix engineer.

I know, I can hear you saying “I recorded my song a while ago and I do not have access to those files. What can you do?” Good question. Your song might be salvageable by a Mastering Engineer. A professional can work wonders. Here’s an example of a song that needed a little bit of TLC. The first 30 seconds are the submitted mix and the last 30 seconds are what the mastering engineer did to bring it to industry standard levels. Click here for sample (Explicit Lyrics).

In closing, the quality of the recording does matter. It matters because you never know what song is a hit. Once you remove the variable of quality, the song will reveal itself both to your audience and hopefully the A&R at the label.