Leasing a building to move my home studio into; thoughts and concerns?

j.ras

New member
I've been recording a lot of rap vocals and some singing in the basement studio over the past 5 years of being in my current house, I haven't really advertised and all the traffic has just basically been word of mouth. Running it out of my house has been convenient and all but it is starting to take a toll on different areas of my life, so I feel like it's the right time to really expand and work with a lot of different crowds.

The biggest thing for the move would be covering rent for the studio. Since I don't really have a savings for that kind of push, I have several clients that are interested in getting involved with investing in the start-up of moving the studio and really taking everything up a couple notches. I want to help everyone reach their goals and provide the right tools for them to get what they want, and a LOT of people around here want a professional sound at a reasonable price. That's EZ Music. :)

The goal is to have 2 studio set-ups in the building to start out, eliminating the bottleneck of people not being able to record anything if I'm already working with someone on my current set-up. I'm thinking a really simple set-up to start with the second station (HP laptop, kontrol 6, ISA One pre-amp, couple new mics, krk8 monitors). I have a couple artists/producer friends that are experienced in pro tools and I could help teach them how to engineer a recording session to help with getting more work done. We have a good sound-whether it be instrumentals, original tracks, or tracking vocals for an existing beat. We all just need to work more and get better at distributing to getting the people what they want and really build the brand.

I guess the reason for this thread is to just get some opinion and maybe spark some motivation in others who are interesting in doing music for a living. I've been sitting back and waiting for the right time, fearful my next move wont be the right one in order to achieve whatever goal I think is right for me at that time. Kind of feel like I just have to take a dive in.
 
If you are young and unmarried, I would say go for it, with a few caveats:

1) Try to have some money in the bank. Going from home to rental is a big step, and if this is your only job, you will need something to fall back on, possibly for quite some time.

2) Make sure that you have a budget and a business plan (see above)

3) Make sure that you budget money for security and insurance, and follow the time established practice of keeping a stand alone studio unmarked (no signs or advertising, or at least obscure or not obvious). This is for security also-- unless you will be a literal 24-7 operation, with people you really trust there when you are not, putting advertising outside of your building is like putting up a sign that says "Backthe truck up here, boys, and get ready to load up."

4) Choose your location not only based on price, but on important factors-- security (personal and business assets), ease of access for clientele, etc. Also, make sure the landlord/lease-holder knows what you're up to, and you may want to look into local business regulations. You don't want to have to make modifications to the rooms only to find out that you can't, or get all set-up only to find out that you have to tear it all down.

5) Be wary of investors. Consider doing this on your own or waiting until you have saved-up enough from the day job to do so. You may think these guys are great now, but conflicts inevitably arise.

The above comes from a studio owner with "partners"/associates/co-investors, who doesn't get to spend much time at the studio because he's always working to pay for it... Also, I can't wait to get my own place (like, completely my own); choose wisely.

If I think of more tips/things to look out for, I will add them later.

GJ
 
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