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CD Production & Promo CostsBy: Stephen FosterStephen is the owner of On Course Publishing, Howler Recording, and maintains two domains besides IDN: yardageguides.com, for golf books, and golphoto.com, for golf photographs. |
| Question: How much does everybody think should be spent on total production of a CD and also how much should should be spent on promotion for a successful CD? Stephen's Suggestion: This production budget thing is really, really complex. A friend of mine who produces albums here in Memphis works on an average budget of $100,000-$200,000. I'm working on a budget of about $5,000 on my current project. I'm calling in favors, working on it with musicians on spec (I'll owe them points later), doing extensive pre-production in my home studio (does the gear count as production budget?), and doing a spec deal for the studio time. My way usually takes a lot more time but I'm an indie, for cryin' out loud, and I want control of the deal. One of the best ways to keep costs down is to cut "live" tracks. This requires a lot of rehearsal with a full band, arranging the tracks so that the band does the song just as it will me mixed. In today's world of ADAT, RDAT & ProTools, tape is cheap & time is expensive. Just figure to go in and cut 5-10 takes of the each song. Don't bother to listen to each cut, just cut takes until you do one that cooks, and then do one more for good measure. You won't have to pay for overdub time, and THAT'S expensive. 10 takes of one song takes about an hour, like one good set. You'll have a good cut in there somewhere. Take a 15 minute break, and start the next song. Do the math -that's 10 hours for 10 songs. You'll find that cutting this way saves on remix time. Take the time on the front end to get a really good sound mix so that the mix goes to tape...that'll cut down on mix time. You save time on both ends that way. You'll have some overdub time for vocals usually, so figure an extra 10 hours. Figure your record time at $50/hr, 20 hours = $1000 to cut the album (add in 5 hours of setup for sound check)...that makes $1250. 3 hours per track to mix... say $1500. That's $2,750 to get a really nice album cut. A band can do this 'cause rehearsal is free time. But it's hard for a single artist to do it since s/he must hire the musicians, so a good way for the single act to do an album is with sequencing. A really good sequencing producer can do your tracks for about the same $$$, though, so it can be done. You may spend more or less depending on how tight your band is, and I always go prepared for goofs, hence my $5,000 budget. Another alternative is to buy the gear and cut it yoourself, but if you're not an EXPERIENCED engineer/mixer, be prepared to end up with a demo. There are just too many pitfalls to that path. I own a 24 TK digital studio, combining a Fostex D-80 with a Mac G3 with ProTools (16 Tks audio) plus 32 tk sequencer, and I'm an excellent sequencer/arranger/engineer/mixer/producer, and I'm doing my album in another studio. I don't want the responsibility of doing all the cutting while I'm trying to concentrate on the esoterics of the album, too many hats. The pressing can be done for $2,000 or less for 1000 CDs and look really pro. So you're looking at $5-$7K to do the album and get the first pressing, just about what you'll get by selling the pressing out. The second pressing can make you money though, so plan to get some promo going and try to sell several thousand albums. That's double if you hustle the albums from stage (don't be shy children) and find some college stations to play your best songs. More on promo later. Feel free to e-mail me with ridicule if I've made mistakes in this answer :) |