Starting a Recording Studio

Recording Studio Stuff

Most people who think about starting a studio begin with gear. A better starting point is a sequence of decisions, because the early ones are free and the late ones cost money. This post is my own suggested order, supported where I can by two sources: the 2021 DCMS market assessment of studios in England, and the US Small Business Administration’s (SBA) market research and startup cost guidance.

The DCMS survey was small and the authors say it should not be used to generalize about the whole market, so I use it for context. It also covers England only.

1. Decide what kind of studio you mean

“Recording studio” covers several businesses. The DCMS report separates recording studios (live room, control room and machine room), production rooms (editing, mixing and mastering, often without a live room) and rehearsal studios (soundproofed rooms for hire, with a PA, not built for recording). In its mapping, recording was offered by 78% of open studios, production by 56% and rehearsal by 42%, and many offered more than one.

The first decision is which of those you are. A production room can run from a home setup. A rehearsal studio needs a fixed commercial space.

A keyboard, a small mixing console and a laptop on a desk with a speaker on each side, lit with orange light

Image: A small bedroom studio by Dejan Krsmanovic, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

2. Look at who is already there

The SBA’s market research questions include market saturation: how many similar options are already available, and what do customers pay for them. It also says to analyze competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, and any barriers to entering the market.

For England, the DCMS mapped 1,858 open and 624 closed studios, with 44.9% of the open ones in London and the South East. It says barriers to entry are low and there is enough supply. My own reading is that a studio’s competition includes the home studio down the road, which the report says is often used alongside commercial studios (57.1% of surveyed home studio users also used them).

3. Find your edge

The DCMS says the challenge now is for traditional studios to distinguish themselves and add value, through specific production and creative processes, the reputation of their staff, and artistic development services. In its client survey, the four most preferred characteristics of a commercial studio were price-to-quality ratio (63%), skills of the studio’s workers, and quality of analog and digital equipment (38% each).

So the edge is more likely to be in what you are good at than in the console. My own suggestion: write one sentence that starts “People should book me instead of recording at home because…”. If you can’t finish it, hold off on buying anything.

4. Start small

The DCMS found that 55% of the production rooms in its survey were home studios, and that production rooms were the least affected studio type during the pandemic. It also found they spent the lowest share of costs on rent (23%). Those are signs that starting from a small, low-rent base is a normal route, though not a guarantee.

My own suggestion is to run the first six months of business from the smallest space that can work. You learn who your clients are before you commit to a lease. The series post Home Recording Studio Basics: The Big Picture covers what a small room needs.

5. Put numbers on it

The SBA says calculating startup costs helps you estimate profits, conduct a break-even analysis, secure loans and attract investors. Its startup cost list includes office space, equipment and supplies, communications, utilities, licenses and permits, insurance, a lawyer and accountant, salaries, advertising and market research. It describes the break-even point as where total cost and total revenue are equal. Write the list down for a studio and fill in the figures from real quotes, not guesses.

6. Then do the paperwork

Only after the earlier steps would I choose a legal structure, register and arrange insurance. Those steps vary by country and place, and I cover the US ones in a separate post.

The order in one list

  1. Pick a studio type.
  2. Count the competition, including home studios.
  3. Write your one-sentence edge.
  4. Start in the smallest space that works.
  5. List costs and work out break-even.
  6. Register, license and insure.

Sources