Thread: Thinking of starting my own studio. Talk me out of it!

Well 2 important things, firstly, just speak to your local tax office about tax and licenses. I wouldn't have thought you'd need a license if there is no element of performance, serving alcohol, or interface with the 'general public' - as opposed to customers paying you by the hour for the service you provide. Your local TO will be very helpful, and its best just to speak to them and get the gen way before you have the building. That way if you find there's a problem you're not committed and you can choose what, if any, risk you are prepared to take.

Secondly your market. This is the be-all and end-all. You say you know a market is there. Its something I haven't really done as I opened as a rehearsal studio with a recording sideline, but as I build that up I know I need to get out there and speak to bands to progress. So do you. Go and speak to people. Find out what they would require, nobody will turn down a free consultation, head to gigs, buy them a drink, and you'll start to get a feel and maybe even some tentative bookings for a few months down the line.

You'd make more money if you just rented a flat to somebody as bands don't seem to see the value of floor space plus the added value of the recording equipment for its true value, and the dwindling market and increased competition from those already committed to monthly rents and wage bills doesn't help. BUt thats not the point, this is something you want and thats the most important thing in this life, by god, make yourself happy! Just make sure you have a small income stream from something - even if its renting the live room out for rehearsals in downtime, fixing amps, e-mastering or mixing, whatever you can do to add value and other supplementary streams to make sure that in the quiet times, summer generally and across Xmas, that you aren't in despair.....

You really need to write a realistic business plan. The fact that you are thinking of the rent as $410 per month (making the other band members splitting the cost of room #1 your (unpaid?) partners) shows me you have not thought this through carefully. Do you really know the market? The bands, the live venues, the other studios? We're talking Oakland, CA here. You're in the middle of a huge, rich metropolitan area. Do you have a good estimate on how many people have better equipment than you in their basement? There must be hundreds (thousands?) with in twenty miles of Oakland.

Try the Small Business Administration, your bank, local community colleges to see if there is a course on writing a business plan. (You can look at books or on the web, but you are need someone who can read it and give you a reality check.)

I'm not saying this is an impossible idea. But it isn't something that will come off without a lot of wrok and planning.

An 8 channel interface is not sufficient to open a recording studio IMO.

+1 on writing a complete business plan. This is the single most important thing you can do for yourself. Those that don't have a plan usually don't have a business for long.