We spend a lot of time thinking about the technical aspects of creating a great recording studio. But what if the reason you don’t get clients has nothing to do with the gear? We give 5 reasons why people may not be using your studio, or if you are a freelancer, your services.
Your Communications Skills Are Bad
A few months ago my wife and I were looking for a skilled craftsperson to help restore some panels in a door in our house. It’s a door from the Victorian period and over time, proabably in the sixties or seventies, someone decided to strip out all the individual sections in the centre of the door, that contained about nine seperate panes of glass, and replace them all with one piece of glass. Somewhat similar to the kind of glass you find in a public toilet. It’s sheer vandalism.
Anyway, we are part of an app that helps you find people to do jobs. So I placed a question asking if anyone knew of someone skilled who could take on the task of restoring the door. Within an hour I had a message from a guy who said he was a skilled woodworker who could do the job. Great! I thought, a speedy reply. I messaged back asking if we could speak about the job. He said yes and within an hour I was explaining the job, I also sent some photos from my phone, with measurements so he could be sure of the task involved. A day passed, a week… nothing. I messaged again to make sure he was still interested. He said he was and needed to get some pricing on the wood. Another week passed. Then out of the blue I got two photos of some wood. No message, nothing. Perhaps that would be OK for you, but I decided to pass and ignored the message. I never got another follow up message or call.
If there’s anything that can get my eyes rolling it’s when someone tells me that on one hand they are struggling to get work, and on the other they don’t pay attention to emails, texts and phone calls.
If you get an enquiry for new work, get back to the client fast. Ask as many questions as you can to qualify what they need. Ask them how soon they want a response. Respond when you promised, or sooner if you can. Put things in writing, always if there’s money involved. Be as reponsive and as professional as possible. If writing emails to clients isn’t your thing (it’s not always easy) then get some help from someone who is skilled at it. If you work for yourself and on your own, then get someone you trust to give anything a second look. My wife checks a lot of my emails for spelling, to see if the numbers add up, and for tone. It’s often worth it.
Lesson One: It doesn’t matter how talented you are, if you don’t reply to customers in a timely and appropriate manner, then they will probably look elsewhere.
You’re Not Good To Be Around
We used to have someone on the Experts team who we called Tigger. Affectionately named after the character from Winnie the Pooh. This was because they were so positive about everything; people, gear, ideas… you name it. We sometimes felt like nailing their feet to the floor just to keep them grounded.
Here’s the thing. They are so good to have around, even on a bad day. Here’s another thing, they are always busy, partly because they are so great to be around.
Now if you’re an introvert what I’ve described may sound exhausting. I get that, I’m married to an introvert, so I understand that they get their energy in different ways than extroverts.
We used to live in London, we didn’t own a car, so we got London Black Taxis everywhere. The worst journeys were always the ones with miserable drivers, the kind who hate people. London traffic can be carnage, but even in bad traffic, a great driver who is pleasant can still make the journey bearable.
Here’s the point. If you don’t like people, then don’t start a business where you have to deal with them. Even more, if being grumpy is your default position and you can’t even fake being nice, then get a job where you don’t have to deal with the public. I joke that the older I get the fewer people I like, the number could even be below ten these days. I used to work in retail, people can be annoying, unreasonable, unpleasant. I get it, I know that I can be all those things too. However, that’s the price we pay for living on this planet, but some social grace can go a long way, especially in business.
Lesson Two: If you’re not a good person to be around, then reconsider your choice to work in an industry that involves working with other people.
You Don’t Know Your Stuff
A knowledgeable person, or if you run a facilty, an experienced staff, can be a huge asset to a studio.
It should go without saying, but producers and engineers should have a deep understanding of theory, recording techniques, and equipment, and they should be able to offer advice and guidance to the client or artists.
Studios can be stressful places at the best of times, especially for the talent, who is often wound up and on edge about the project anyway. If they walk into a place with gear that’s not working properly, or you don’t know how to do things, then that puts them on the back foot and unable to focus on the creative. It’s important to know your stuff, but with humility. Your skill should be transparent and inertia free. In other words, if you really know what you are doing then no-one notices. My clients don’t know half the effort that goes into some of their jobs, but that’s the point, when we do things right we make it look easy, even if it isn’t.
I recall being at Abbey Road for a session, the engineer was on the desk and the Pro Tools operator doing his magic to one side of the desk. His name is Paul. I recall how he just sat there for the session doing his magic with Pro Tools. He would run takes, drop-ins, and all the other stuff required in a session. He was great to be around and really knew his stuff… but he never needed to tell us. He just made sure he did his stuff so that the artist could do theirs. Of all the people I recall from that session, it’s Paul, the skilled one who kept quiet during the session, who made the lasting impression on me. Whenever I visit Abbey Road I always try and make a point of catching up with him.
Lesson Three: Having great gear is an asset, but having skilled people who work with humility is an even greater asset. If I had to choose, I’d take skilled person over the gear any day of the week.
You’re Inflexible
Music and post production can be unpredictable, things can change in an instant. Sessions get cancelled, sometimes at short notice. Projects get changed into something that they weren’t in the first place. Or the client asks for something in the session that is not a normal request… yes after the WIFI password!
Freelancers and studios that can adapt to changing circumstances are often the most successful. This includes the ability to accommodate last-minute changes, work around unexpected obstacles, and adjust to the needs and preferences of the artists. A flexible approach can help ensure that the project stays on track and that the final product is of the highest quality.
Sometimes the client may ask for something you are not skilled or equipped for, for example to have their music project mastered, or a surround mix of their movie. Build alliances with trusted external providers that can help you when these things happen.
I used to run a post house in Soho, London. Sometimes we would get requests to deliver an advert or trailer with the audio mixed for cinema specification. Our sound studio wasn’t certified to do this, so we used another local studio to handle the mix for us. We also used the local Dolby screening room in Soho Square for client approvals. This meant we could say yes to the client, even if we didn’t have the skill in-house.
Lesson Four: Expect the unexpected, and respond to it with good grace. If you can’t accomodate the request then try and find an alternative in-house or externally. People hire us to solve their problems, the more problems you can solve, the better!
It’s A Sh*thole!
American psychologist Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation" in the journal Psychological Review, set out what he called his hierarchy of needs. You may be familiar with it, however, I’d like to set out from experience my Studio hierarchy of needs.
Wifi
As sure as eggs, the minute a client arrives in the room, the first question is; “what’s the wifi password?” Make sure you have fast, reliable internet, so they can watch a YouTube video of a squirrel riding a motorbike while you’re comping the vocal! Joking apart, this one thing can save you a lot of time and headaches, you’ll be surprised how much more patient a client is if they have internet access.Food/Menus
Food comes after wifi. Make sure you have menus from all the best places to eat, either so they can send out for food, or when the runner comes around to go get food. Also make sure you’re up on the best places to order from AND the ones to avoid. You don’t want unhappy clients because the food was bad/expensive (or both) or it gives them the shits!Toilets/Restrooms
Which leads me to my next point. Have clean, tidy, working toilets that are suitable for all. Make sure they are checked regularly. And when it comes to toilets it’s the little things that go a long way. A little basket of stuff like deodorants, sanitary products, toothpaste and the like is good to have. Also a mirror on the wall over the sink is good, people like to check their hair, face and mouth after eating.A Place To Chill
For a lot of clients, especially the first time, the control room can be exciting, so they want to hang around. However, it can soon get boring as you’re dealing with another part of the band, or the TV producer isn’t that interested in you removing all the noise from 30 channels of audio. A place to chill has two purposes; first, it gives your clients somewhere to go hang and chat about other stuff. Second, when people get bored in control rooms, they start to talk, before you know it and you can’t hear yourself think. So it helps to keep the noise level down in the room without having to throw them out into the street.
Of course, you may work from home and never have attended sessions, so this last section really won’t apply.
Lesson Five: Studios that provide comfortable and clean amenities can help artists and staff stay focused and energized throughout the day, and that is hugely attractive.
In Summary
With our industry being so technical, we can sometimes forget that what we do is really about people. It’s about giving them the best possible environment to be creative. Gear plays a part, but it’s often who we are, and the spaces we offer that gets the best results.
I included a picture of the lounge from Kore Studio, London, in this article. I did so because, for me, it epitomises all the things I want to find in a good studio. It’s run by George Apison, who knows his stuff and is a really great guy to be around. The facilities are top notch and the gear all great too. He didn’t ask me to mention him in this article, but I think he deserves a mention for demonstrating how good a studio can be.
What about you? How do you make sure you keep people coming back to you? Please share you ideas with the community in the comments.