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Old 04-25-2012, 06:14 PM   #1
jonespnice
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Default Some guys want me to give them Reaper mixing lessons, how much should I charge?

Some guys that I know want me to show them how to mix and they asked me how much would I charge, but I don't know. If I do this I will teach them how to use equalizers, compressors, gates, reverb/delays, distortion, side-chaining, automation, and the concepts of 3-dimensional mixing. This is a lot of stuff to go over and I haven't really outlined it in detail to have an idea of how long it will take to cover this (I may have to drop some things just so it won't be so long). I know most of this will have to be at the beginner's level but I think it would be satisfactory enough to give them an idea of the hows, whys, and whens of mixing. I plan to have a demo project to demonstrate all of this while using Reaper as my Daw.
My question is what would be a fair price to charge?
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Old 04-25-2012, 07:34 PM   #2
kgarello
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Charge an hourly rate that reflects what you feel your time is worth.

I charge more now for tasks that don't improve my engineering skills.

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Originally Posted by jonespnice View Post
Some guys that I know want me to show them how to mix and they asked me how much would I charge, but I don't know. If I do this I will teach them how to use equalizers, compressors, gates, reverb/delays, distortion, side-chaining, automation, and the concepts of 3-dimensional mixing. This is a lot of stuff to go over and I haven't really outlined it in detail to have an idea of how long it will take to cover this (I may have to drop some things just so it won't be so long). I know most of this will have to be at the beginner's level but I think it would be satisfactory enough to give them an idea of the hows, whys, and whens of mixing. I plan to have a demo project to demonstrate all of this while using Reaper as my Daw.
My question is what would be a fair price to charge?
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Old 04-25-2012, 07:41 PM   #3
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My question is what would be a fair price to charge?
The price that is acceptable to both you and them. That might sound like a smarty pants answer but that is what constitutes a successful working agreement or contract (both parties are actually happy with the deal). That ALSO means you are making enough to justify your time financially; meaning you should charge what makes it completely worth your time. The trick is for that to also be the amount the other party is happy to pay. You need to find that number. You can begin by calculating how much 1 hour of your time is worth, not the quality of the hour but the actual timespan of 60 minutes. Your never going get that hour back, make it count for you and them and you'll be fine.
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Old 04-25-2012, 07:44 PM   #4
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You should probably charge close to if not more than your studio rate. Since you are possibly working yourself out of a potential client. Tell them that rate.. then if they are turned off ask them there budget to see if its worth your time.

That is a lot of material to cover for sure. If you allot for them to actually grasp the concepts and test them out, you will be there for 2-3 days easy.

I still have a few clients I teach Pro Tools to back in NY and if the person isn't gifted in the learning department its going to take way more time than you think.
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Old 04-25-2012, 08:16 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by JonnyGinese View Post
You should probably charge close to if not more than your studio rate.
This is good advice, and I would charge more because it WILL take more time & energy than you think.
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Old 04-25-2012, 10:07 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by kgarello View Post
Charge an hourly rate that reflects what you feel your time is worth.
I've never done this before so I'm not sure, I'm the type of person that always give people a too low quote. What would you charge?

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Originally Posted by karbomusic View Post
The price that is acceptable to both you and them.
Where should I start with my quote or should I ask them first how much are they willing to spend and then decide if that is too low or not?

Quote:
Originally Posted by JonnyGinese View Post
You should probably charge close to if not more than your studio rate. Since you are possibly working yourself out of a potential client. Tell them that rate.. then if they are turned off ask them there budget to see if its worth your time.
That makes sense but let me ask you should I limit the amount of people that I allow in or should I increase the price if they want more people to attend? I believe it would be 6 people.
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Old 04-25-2012, 11:30 PM   #7
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Where should I start with my quote or should I ask them first how much are they willing to spend and then decide if that is too low or not?
Figure out the least you are willing to take and the most you would expect to get. That is your range of opportunity. They also have a an expectation of the least they might pay and the most they are willing pay but you don't know that number, only they do. You aren't supposed to know. If there is an overlap between those two ranges then you have a high chance of making a successful agreement.

So you should ideally start above the least you are willing to take, actually closer to the most you would expect. This gives you the ability to come down on the price if your initial offering is too high for them. Like I said as long as the two ranges above overlap (IE: the least you are willing to take is lower than the most they are willing to spend), you are almost guaranteed a suitable transaction for all. If there is no overlap then it's probably doomed to fail but there is only one way to find out, negotiate. I'm not trying to make it sound cryptic but there is no real number I can give you that will satisfy the above requirements, I'm not there, you are.

If you have a single solid number and thats what you need, end of discussion then quote that number and be done with it. Otherwise, negotiate the price.
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Last edited by karbomusic; 04-25-2012 at 11:38 PM.
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Old 04-26-2012, 04:47 AM   #8
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My question is what would be a fair price to charge?
Where do you live, what is the standard of living?

If you are in the suburbs 60 an hour if you are in the city up to 250 an hour.
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Old 04-26-2012, 06:35 AM   #9
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I wouldn't charge any less than you would make working a crappy retail job. Your time and skills are valuable.
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Old 04-26-2012, 06:43 AM   #10
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The right price is when you don't stutter when you say it out loud to the customer. This means you are comfortable with it and confident, that your knowledge is worth it. And they just "feel" this in your voice.
Unless your budget is tight, than you stay on a safe side and give offer they can't resist, right?
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Old 04-26-2012, 07:30 AM   #11
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Are you teaching them at the same time in a school-lesson type scenario or individually in one-to-one sessions?

Is this a fixed length session? Open-ended session?

Do you charge for mixing at all? If so, consider similar rates. How much of your time will it take?

If it's general public, £10-15/hr ($15-20US/hr) is probably your limit unless you are a "name" or have an extemely good reputation.

Try looking in your local classifieds for rates for piano and guitar tuition, singing lessons, even maths or language tuition, and see what the rates and conventions are. Personally I'd rather teach for a couple of hours than single hour sessions (I think it ends just as you get going, from a student perspective), but other types of personal tuition may be your market research for this...

Is this to be tutor or student-led tuition? you going to have teaching plans or see what the student brings to you and steer from there, or have a more rigid syllabus? You can mix these in a 2-hour+ session.



My better half is encouraging me to do workshops, it means hiring somewhere to run them, but it can mean better value for money to people wanting a good introduction to aspects of sound engineering. I means you can spend more time and resources making learnimg more accessible as the cost is spread out over more students (a well-presented workshop is one step further than a good tutorial video). Workshops are also good launching points for further and more individual tutoring.

I keep thinking about it. I deliver live sound lectures and acoustics as well as recording and mixing tuition. It means more preparation, learning aids+resources, but it can be very satisfying work.


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Old 04-26-2012, 08:20 AM   #12
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Some other things to consider:

- Are you planning to prepare "course material", or are you planning to just kind of wing it? I think the rate should be higher if you need to prepare in advance (and I would also suggest that preparation would result in better content).

- What are these people looking to accomplish with their new skills? Do they want to get in the mixing business, are they wanting to mix their own bands to prepare demo tracks, are they just hobbyists looking for general self-improvement? The price someone is willing to pay would likely be different in each of those situations - i.e., how will THEY recoup their investment?

- What would you be doing with your time if you were not teaching them? If you'd just be watching TV, you could look at it as just pocket money. But if it takes you away from your primary source of income, you need to charge accordingly.

- Are you going to answer questions via email/phone/etc. after they leave? If yes, how will you recover a fee for that time?

- Are these people your friends? Do you want them to remain your friends? If yes to the latter, I'd think long and hard before I'd take any money from them for this.

- How about offering that they just come and watch you work for 30 minutes or so, no charge. Then, if they believe they can learn from you, and you believe you can teach them, you'll all be more informed about what to expect. If you go this route, maybe you could suggest they bring a 6-pack to share.

- Charge them $30 and give them each a copy of this: http://www.amazon.com/Mixing-Secrets.../dp/0240815807 - I'm not really kidding.
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Old 04-26-2012, 09:50 AM   #13
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If you are charging, I'd at least create some example projects and PDF exercise sheets.

If you have a "syllabus" I'd do lots of screenshots, licecap videobytes and also raid the internet for diagrams etc, and produce a resource "pack" of major points, methods, example mixes/methods and maybe some source sounds/samples for them to work through and compare. Even if they are friends, they'll come out of it thinking they got massive value for money.

If you get the resources right, you only have to produce them once. You can base some of the tuition on the same material and let the home study stuff be recap and further exploration then. You'll have to iterate with this preparation until you've got it tuned just right, but I'm presuming you'll not just be doing this for your two friends if you could get further work??

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Old 04-26-2012, 02:51 PM   #14
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How much does it cost in your area for music lessons?

Our area ranges from 30-60/hour.

Why should it be any less?

call your local music store and find out how much a half hour of lessons costs.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jonespnice View Post
I've never done this before so I'm not sure, I'm the type of person that always give people a too low quote. What would you charge?


Where should I start with my quote or should I ask them first how much are they willing to spend and then decide if that is too low or not?


That makes sense but let me ask you should I limit the amount of people that I allow in or should I increase the price if they want more people to attend? I believe it would be 6 people.
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Old 04-26-2012, 02:54 PM   #15
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I would give at most 15-25% off for 6 people.

Don't forget that teaching gets harder as classroom size grows.

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Originally Posted by jonespnice View Post
That makes sense but let me ask you should I limit the amount of people that I allow in or should I increase the price if they want more people to attend? I believe it would be 6 people.
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Old 04-27-2012, 01:37 PM   #16
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Originally Posted by JonnyGinese View Post
if the person isn't gifted in the learning department
Oh, man! I have to remember this one. So kindly worded.

It would cost me a fortune for lessons.
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Old 04-27-2012, 08:40 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Argle View Post
I wouldn't charge any less than you would make working a crappy retail job. Your time and skills are valuable.
So...$8 an hour. It's a win/win!
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