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Clients showing up late...
I've had a lot of this recently. Somebody books a session at 11:00, and nobody turns up until 11:30. It's pretty annoying, because it means that we're going to be working later into the night. I work in a studio which charges pretty decent rates, so I usually work with professional projects and mostly really nice people, so I really don't mind staying a bit late. But clients booking me and not turning up until 30 minutes later is just plain annoying. I'm wondering how many of you guys get the same issues and if you're doing anything to prevent it.
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Old November 27th, 2012, 09:48 AM #2 (permalink)
egan.
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Just let it be known that you bill from the booked time and make sure there is an email confirmation stating the time. You'll probably end up making some exceptions but it's still a good policy.
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Old November 27th, 2012, 09:51 AM #3 (permalink)
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It doesn't bother me. The session begins at the alotted time and doesn't go later because of it. I usually have some small jobs I can attend to in the mean time.
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Old November 27th, 2012, 10:21 AM #4 (permalink)
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The band i've been doing normally shows up like 1hr or 1h30m late, I arn them and they suffered once because I had a band ready to rehearse right after they started lol
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Old November 27th, 2012, 10:45 AM #5 (permalink)
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Happens all the time. They have a window during the day to get their work in the studio done. If they are late they have less time to work. Simple as that!
Once had a band arrive 3-4 hours late because they were out the night before and were hungover. They had 2 days to do 3 songs. They brought it up when paying for it and I stood my ground, I was there and did as much setting up as I could prior to their arrival. It's their problem not yours.
Ever had a band show up really early to the studio to try squeeze more out of the day? I told a band come at 11 before and they arrived at 9.30. That was weird. I was in bed when they arrived!
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Old November 27th, 2012, 10:48 AM #6 (permalink)
B36arin
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If we have other people booked later they get priority, of course, and if I'm working by the hour I always charge the full amount. But we usually only book full days in the studio. The guidelines say that a full day is 10 hours, but most of the time we need another hour or two to get the last stuff done. I've been considering being much stricter with the 10 hour rule if bands show up late, but then again that'd have an impact on the final result, which would make the rest of the day less meaningful. Charging for extra hours is another idea which we've been considering but haven't put into effect.
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Old November 27th, 2012, 11:05 AM #7 (permalink)
if6was9
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Charge a higher overtime rate for after hours. Means they'll be keen to get it done within the cheaper timeframe and will be more inclined to show up on time
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Old November 27th, 2012, 11:16 AM #8 (permalink)
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It doesn't bother me. The session begins at the alotted time and doesn't go later because of it. I usually have some small jobs I can attend to in the mean time.
+1
I have my working hours and if the band decide to come later (for all the lame reasons) then they are gonna have to pay me more if the recording takes longer then we set up for.
And to OP. Why work 10h?? I usually always work 8hours + 1h lunchbreak (which rarely is 1h) Those times i've gone over 9h then the results always suffer. Be efficient and work normal days if you are gonna have a healthy relationship with your job.
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Old November 27th, 2012, 11:28 AM #9 (permalink)
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And to OP. Why work 10h?? I usually always work 8hours + 1h lunchbreak (which rarely is 1h) Those times i've gone over 9h then the results always suffer. Be efficient and work normal days if you are gonna have a healthy relationship with your job.
The 10h includes a lunch break, which is usually one hour, so there's not that much of a difference between our days. 10h is just about breaking point for me, after that things aren't efficient and it's better to do it the next day. But we've been getting quite a bit of one day bookings lately, and getting the clients to book another day is usually too expensive. If I work from home or do stuff outside the studio I usually do slightly shorter days and charge by the hour, but most of my work at the moment is in the studio.
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Old November 27th, 2012, 11:35 AM #10 (permalink)
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I should probably mention that I'm mostly doing engineering at the moment, almost all projects which I do in the studio have an external producer. If I'm producing and have the final responsibility of the end product I'll always stop when things get too fatigued, which can vary from day to day.
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Old November 27th, 2012, 12:36 PM #11 (permalink)
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I charge by the hour. If I'm there at noon, my billing starts at noon. I never really have much issue with this, as I'll always talk to the artists beforehand and will almost always have some setting up to do anyway. If you're charging roughly by "the day", you have to expect that there will be some spillover from earliness/ lateness/ and the sessions going overtime. It's like being a salaried employee. You know you'll have the odd bit where you don't get fully compensated.
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Old November 27th, 2012, 01:53 PM #12 (permalink)
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Musicians are typically ALWAYS late. Usually there is always stuff to get going before they show up anyway. Booting things up, double checking mics, starting to get stands going, etc.
So there is plenty to keep me busy till they show up. And since I am working on things, I start billing and make that clear to them. I haven't run into a problem with that yet.
As far as hours, all depends on what is going on. I usually don't schedule bands back to back unless it is some really short stuff. But obviously the next band would get priority and the pay is hourly, so hours are hours. Day rates we go till the results suffer. Sometimes that is 8, 10, 14 hours. More hours usually means more breaks, so it works out.
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Old November 27th, 2012, 03:06 PM #13 (permalink)
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Just establish the hours beforehand. If the start time is 10:00, the clock starts at 10:00 regardless of if the band has showed up. If there's work to do in the meantime, the engineer should take care of those things after the clock has started.
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Old November 27th, 2012, 07:06 PM #14 (permalink)
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Follow these steps:
1) On the contract write that you bill from the booked time. (10 minutes of tolerance is fine)
2) Install a fucking huge digital clock that starts at the time.
3) BILL THEM!
4) If they arrive at time give them some cookies or a little quantity of beer.
5) This is band training!
PS: Do step 4 if the band member is playing tight. If not, electric shock him with a taser.
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Old November 27th, 2012, 07:27 PM #15 (permalink)
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^^ i lol'ed
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Old November 27th, 2012, 07:56 PM #16 (permalink)
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Old November 27th, 2012, 09:36 PM #17 (permalink)
tempe
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We charge hourly and well the clock starts at the time the session is supposed to start, not when the band rocks up. Let them know that they're paying for time they aren't using and then they're surprisingly more punctual next time.
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Old November 28th, 2012, 02:53 AM #18 (permalink)
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Agree on how many days you aim for, get at least half of the money for said days up front, if not ALL MONEY - before even booking it. If you have been paid, they will most likely show up on time.
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Old November 28th, 2012, 03:30 AM #19 (permalink)
jeid
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If a band turned up early, I'd literally piss my pants.
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Old November 28th, 2012, 05:34 AM #20 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by amarshism View Post
It doesn't bother me. The session begins at the alotted time and doesn't go later because of it. I usually have some small jobs I can attend to in the mean time.
^^^ This! Just because you show up late doesn't mean the clock didn't start ticking from the agreed time. For me it's usually 11-7. And if you show up at 1pm.. you're working til 7... and that's it. Otherwise overtime pay. That's how it goes.
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Old November 28th, 2012, 07:56 AM #21 (permalink)
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Ahhh this old chestnut.
TRUST me from experience, you have to be brutal or you will burn out and hate your life.
I seem to have a lot of bands turn up early these day's, so I tend to be at the studio at least 30 mins to an hour before the session starts, good time to put a brew on and turn the computer on, etc etc.
Valid points already made I'll reiterate.
If the band shows up late, that's tough shit for them; The day starts and ends at the hours we agreed upon. However there is usually something you can be getting on with whilst you're waiting; A lot which I prefer doing without a band breathing down my neck... like setting up the session on Pro-Tools/(insert DAW name Here).
Making an input list of the mic's / pre's/ Patching you're going to use on that day (super handy when recording drums)
Get out mics and put on stands and plug in to wall box and leave in a space into which to put drums/bass/guitar/kazoo.
Get on with any editing that needs doing.
Start organising your session and bouncing Triggers and soft synths.
etc etc etc.
Can't say I've ever found myself at a lose end!
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Old November 28th, 2012, 09:46 AM #22 (permalink)
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Re: Clients showing up late...
The easiest thing to do, as far as I'm concerned, is to just set things straight up front.
the client calls on wednesday say, books 12-6 slot on a Saturday, recording one track. I'd explain to the group(my "contract") the way things work in my place to make the flow and efficiency work.
Everyone pays up front. If I don't have at least 70% of booked time that day in hand, no one goes In The studio. However, burn them a copy of the project folder after the session, so my end product is a mix and the folder of all the raws
That says they get charged the slot they book. It's time they have reserved that another band could have made use of. 10-15 minutes late is fine every so often and it's fairly easy to tell who is a habitual offender.
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Old November 28th, 2012, 10:13 AM #23 (permalink)
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in the time of smartphones, send them a fb message, e-mail, sms or whatever exactly at the time
the contract says you start that says "you're paying every minute from now on".
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Old November 29th, 2012, 11:27 PM #24 (permalink)
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Why does it matter? I set a "closing time" of sorts. They then assume they can't go past that time. I then proceed to charge them for the hours that they've missed, because I didn't make the plans to sit around. Done.
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Old November 29th, 2012, 11:34 PM #25 (permalink)
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the thing that worked for my band when recording in a studio was that Tim the engineer said no matter what he would kick us out at 8pm so he could backup and edit in peace. It meant that if we got to the studio on time we got the full day and if we were late we were pissing our money away.He charged by the day and we had to pay for the day in advance too.
