Working Class Audio – Page 27 – Navigating the World of Recording With a Working Class Perspective

Making financial matters your new “Super Power”.

First off I want to say welcome to my new subscribers. I’m around if you have questions or requests. Feel free to reach out; just not in a stalker kind of way! 🙂 Contact me at ( matt at workingclassauio.com).

Identify your super power or the lack of.

super powers When I ended my studio owner run at Broken Radio I was in a position that required reinventing my audio world and I needed serious inspiration. I also needed inspiration to address the financial mistakes I had made running the studio and inspiration to organize my life that I had been living with blinders on since I was so focused on studio survival. Let’s address the money.

I think all people have what I would call “super powers” of some sort. Some people are good with relationships, some are good at cooking and some are good with money; I traditionally was not one of those people good at money! My habit was to always get a little in the bank and spend it thinking that since I had a little extra it was ok to spend; not a wise plan! The work would dry up or the clients would want to do a payment plan and cash flow is affected. Next thing you know the expenses would become late, bounced checks, fees, anxiety; avoiding phone calls from those wanting to get that credit card payment. That was how I handled things while trying to run a commercial studio which is a horrible way to run a business and is part of the reason I am no longer a studio owner. The irony in the name Broken Radio did not slip past me either. I came across this guy named Dave Ramsey who was a financial self-help kinda guy. I listened to his podcast and was amazed at the stories people told about paying off debt using methods Dave prescribed. Dave had a little bit of a Christian vibe going on. I don’t have a problem with Christians, I’m just not a religious person. I’m a holiday Catholic at best so I was a little suspicious at first; but after a while I just thought “Who cares if this guy drops bible verses in his show? I need to get my act together!” Part of Dave’s methods include setting aside money in an emergency fund. $1000 was the prescribed amount. He argued that it is inevitable that something could happen that would cause you to endure an expense that this fund would cover and that it was better to use that than to charge the expense on a credit card. Long story short I followed that idea, saved $1000 in a fund and didn’t touch it. Unexpectedly one summer my car ended up needing four brand new tires due to worn out front tire (damn 4 wheel drive cars!) . $600 was the bill. I can’t tell you the relief I felt knowing I had the money ready to go that covered that unforeseen issue; plus, it didn’t interrupt my cash flow! Of course once you spend it you need to put back what you took even if that takes another month or two. That might all seem like common sense to many of you, but to me it was a moment I realized that i had to really dig deeper and really focus on the money. I strongly encourage you to go check out Dave’s site if you do not posses the money super power. Start with the podcast and work your way over to the site. Dave’s series of steps will help to set you straight. Dave’s podcast helped me get a plan together to deal with the studio debt but I was also in need of a real method of tracking my money.

Tracking (money not instruments).

Part of my battle with money in the past was paper based bank statements coming in and getting lost in the shuffle of life and business. When I actually sat down with the statements (the ones I could find) and the accounting program I loathed downloading data from the bank, reconciling with the statements and honestly hating the whole process. My lack of enthusiasm stemmed from my bad money management skills and what seemed to me like a tedious method for tracking money. That was while running a business. One again, not a good idea and not the best attitude. These days post studio I’m using MINT.com for the tracking. MINT.com is an excellent and free way to take all of your accounts/assets and place them in a location that you can track them and which works on my phone and from a browser. If you suck at tracking where your money is going this is for you. I can see charts of where I’m spending and on what. The site has been awesome and recently was instrumental in identifying a bit of fraud on my checking account.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading! Until next post.

-Matt

New headphones!

I was in Tucson over the summer. I always go take part in the Potluck Audio Conference that my buddy Craig Schumacher puts on. It’s a great hang full of good information by other audio folks and musicians. I strongly urge all of you to go next year! I stopped by the Audio Technica booth to check out some headphones while I was there. They sell a hell of a lot of headphones these days I learned! WIth the success of Beats by Dre, they have come up with a competitor that is winning many people over called the ATH-M50x. They cost $239.00 list and Amazon is selling them for $169.00. They are cool but I did find the low-end to be too exaggerated for me plus I didn’t want to spend that much. In keeping with my goals you’ll read about in further posts, I found the lower priced ATH-M40x that lists for $139.00 and sell for $99.00 at Amazon not only priced better, but they also sound way more balanced to me. The midrange was clear and the bass didn’t sound bloated to me. These were headphones I could feel comfortable using as a reference when I mix. Super comfortable and being that they are closed ear means that I could listen to music around others and not disturb. Long story short, I ordered a pair. Cannot wait to get them. I’ll report back with my final thoughts.

Taking a general look back.

Reflecting on my journey from early recording experiences to where I am now, it’s been quite a ride. My first exposure to recording came from experimenting with cassette recorders, using both blank and commercial tapes. Multitrack recording didn’t enter my consciousness until high school. By then, I had been playing drums for years, saving up for a car from my job. I nearly derailed that plan by considering a Fostex multitrack setup, which was seen as inferior to the 2-inch, 24-track standard. On the advice of a local recording guru, I held off, bought the car, and kept playing drums.

Fast forward to 1994—I had moved from New Mexico to San Francisco and was on my second band and record label deal. This was a time when six-figure budgets were the norm, tape was the primary medium, and the internet had yet to impact our lives. That same year, a band I admired, Spackle, asked me to produce their record. I cobbled together a couple of ADATs (new at the time), a Mackie board, and some borrowed microphones, and we recorded at Bay Area Rehearsal Studios (BARS). Overdubs and mixing were done at Studio 684 in San Francisco, formerly known as Sound and Vision, run by Michael Molinda and Neal Breitbarth. They had played a role in the early recording development of one of my bands, The Sextants. The studio was now owned by Buddy Saleman, another early mentor of mine. I mixed the record on a small Trident board with minimal outboard gear, and Studio 684 became my main recording home.

I recorded many bands there and met another mentor and friend, Jerry Stucker. In 1998, I took the plunge into Pro Tools—expensive as hell back then, only capable of 16-bit at 44.1 or 48k. I started with the Pro Tools 3 system and later upgraded to a Mix Plus system, which was bigger, better, faster, and even more expensive.

In 2000, I moved to a shared co-op studio in Emeryville with engineers Lisa Richmond and Josh Roberts. I met Josh a few years earlier when he was the tour manager and FOH guy for my band, Seven Day Diary. Eventually, Lisa moved on, and Josh and I took over the studio. We upgraded to PTHD and had a nice setup. Life at the Emeryville studio was great—the overhead was low, and the gear was just right.

One highlight during my time there was recording The Samples’ last album, Rehearsing for Life, in 2005. It was a strange time, with Hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans during the sessions. We kept the TV on to follow the news and watch in awe at the devastation while venting about the government’s response.

In 2007, I had the opportunity to take over the former Coast Recorders Studio in San Francisco, sharing a building with my mastering engineer friend, Michael Romanowski. I renamed it Broken Radio Studios and opened in June of 2007, but moved out by December 31, 2011. I couldn’t have picked a worse time to open a big studio—the economy was tanking, but I pressed on, spending thousands to redo the control room and buy more gear. Life became stressful, especially after my second child was born in June of 2008. With three maxed-out credit cards, little business, and high rent, I was stuck in a tough spot. I took almost any gig that came through the door, but the silver lining was that I honed my recording skills significantly.

As the lease renewal approached, I realized I couldn’t continue and, with Michael’s help, got out of the lease. By January 1, 2012, I was relieved not to be a studio owner. I had to reinvent and reconfigure my audio career, focusing on mixing from home. I initially set up in one bedroom, but eventually moved into my kids’ playroom, which had surprisingly good acoustics due to its irregular shape. It was a humbling transition, but the right move financially.

Since I no longer had my own studio, I began working with other studios for tracking. One standout was Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, run by Ryan Massey. It has everything I need—plenty of space, a great live room for drum sounds, and, unlike my old studio, a dedicated parking lot.

By 2014, I had been mixing at home for a couple of years, and the quality of my mixes had surpassed what I used to do in professional studios. I attribute that to maturity, skill, and a determination to make it work. Letting go of the idea that I needed to be in a studio to mix properly allowed me to really focus and get the job done. I sold my last Pro Tools HD rig and put together a more affordable and reliable setup—no board, no hybrid approach, just 100% in the box. For simple overdubs, I bring clients to my home; for full band tracking, I take them to Sharkbite, Tiny Telephone, or Studio Trilogy.

I’ve moved past the stigma of working from home. I’m doing great work, taking care of my clients, and I get to be around for my kids when they need me. Financially, things are looking up too. There’s more to share, but I’ll save that for future posts. Thanks for reading.

Hello fellow freelance audio folks, musicians and music biz types!

My name is Matt Boudreau and I’m a freelance audio guy. I’ve been recording, mixing and editing audio for 20 years now. I’ve also been playing drums for 32 years, ran my own studios for 12 years and for the last 8 years have been a Dad. In 2012 I left studio ownership and returned to the world of freelancing with a mountain of debt and a desire to get on the other side of it.

Without the burden of owning a studio, I’ve developed this idea of working that I started to call “Working Class Audio”. It’s nothing revolutionary but rather a set of ideas that many freelance audio folks fail to address and end up getting out of audio as a result. My goals were to continue a high standard of audio work without succumbing to gear lust and going further into debt, develop a healthy relationship with money and business, and in my case continue to be a good parent who is present for my kids. Working Class Audio is my conduit to share those experiences and ideas.

Stay tuned as Working Class Audio takes shape in the form of a blog, a podcast, video tutorials and therapist office.