Recording Industry in Cape Town vs Gauteng?

DrGonzo

I was just wondering how the market in the Cape is vs up here in Gauteng?
How saturated are the respective areas with music studios...?

For respective Capetownians and Gautengers:

Do u find as a musician, you have to really look hard to get a decent studio at a decent price?
Or Do u find as an Engineer that you are battling to find clients? (not at all reflecting your skill as an engineer)

I know certain other factors are factors come in to play when demand is concerned but its just more a question about the supply side of things! hehe

Just curious, mostly out of interest and also a tad wee bit of future market research for my own endeavours... ?

Soundinmind

Hey bud (can say that cause you actually know me),

Some will say Cape Town doesn't have as big market as JHB and others will say its better. The case isn't either cause there is a difference and unless you have seen both sides it won't seem like it.

Let's brake your question up: Is there any good studios in either: Yes, there is and a lot of them do well in some way but they have become realistic about how they make money.

Do they charge fair rates? What is fair is the question here, bands complain studios are too expensive etc but in the same space, it should be said that you get what you pay for however! I do agree some guys are milking it with rip off rates for a place that isn't good or has a good engineer. This is where musos kill sound engineers that are good: The good guys do cost a lot but they have experience and what takes them an hour to do would take a normal sound guy a week to do. However its not the muso fault always, in the end its the venues and others whom rip them off equally.

Are there too many studios in either city: Yes, there is way too many bedroom guys doing the jobs for a friction of the price cause they have cracked software and they don't care, R400 a song is a joke honestly. I mean, if you workout how many hours it takes to record that song it goes below min wage that the sound guy is getting.

So how do you get into the industry: You'll need to decide how serious you want to take it, if you serious you can't run it from a bedroom setup unless you have a real name in the industry. I know some guys do but if you look at the difference, they bedroom guys deal with R2000 - R5000 album budgets while the real studio guys deal with R50 000 - R250 000 budgets. Another example is my one friend produces and records, he gets R10 000 per song.

Cape vs Johannesburg: Well there is more kids in JHB with bedroom studios here but in the same space, most of the music industry is here cause the main radio and TV stations are here, plus in JHB we have Tuks which helps bands a lot!

Cheers!

MIKA-the-better-one

Lucky enough you do not need a big budget to record these days..... and Bedroom studio's are an option. If planned and done well and you have someone who understands the process you can have some great results.

Also just focus on getting a certain sound.

Dont be fooled into thinking in order to be succesful is that you must have a hge studio and you have to fork out 10K + You dont....

There seems to be this assumption amongst Sa musicians that one must record in a hige studio and make all the stops to be a "big band"

Both CPT and JHB have the potential for good sounds.....

DrGonzo

Soundinmind wrote: Hey bud (can say that cause you actually know me),

I do!? I'm trying to see your profile pic but not very clear!? whats your name bud?

Thanks for the advice! Well Im just checking because I have been planning a move down to the Cape for a While and was just interested if it would be a bad or good move in terms of what I want to be doing in the future (playing and producing music for a living!)
But I rate wherever you end up it doesnt really matter because, if you are really good at what you do, people will come to you.

I know what you mean about bedroom studio thing (trust me, because that has been me for the last while!) but what im looking at in the future is a more serious setup with real gear and real space!

I know that some bedroom studios can put out perfectly acceptable recordings, but the fact of the matter is that when you are paying for a real studio you are paying for the space, gear, professionalism and results.

ALthough technology has come a good way, there is absolutely know way that a Rode vocal mic, amplitube and superior drummer production in a bedroom will out do a Sublime acoustic space, Top Condenser and dynamic mics, high end analog preamps and good recording practices.
Well thats kind of the philosphy I will go for my own studio one day! 8)
- The more Ppl start to rely on and get used to home recording, sub standard producitons, I think the overall percieved quality of sound will decline.

and no! even with a high end studio you don't need to be charging the hell out of clients, keep it affordable for even up and coming bands...

DrGonzo

Aha! I see! Maldwyn! Watsup dude!! ?

Manfred-Klose

the thing about cape town you must understand,

in cape town you build up a trust and good contact with clients, they keep using you forever. once you in you will always have business.

and there is just so many bands in cape town, we have a few producers with good reputation, and if you want to record an high end album, you go to one of those guys.

otherwise you just record EP in your friends home studio.

i dont know the joburg scene that well, but think there is way more bands up there than down here = more business on a constant.

for the under the par recording guy trying to make a name for him self, well make friends with as much people in the industry you can down here. even if its a band or a top producer.

you'd need a second alternative as well to have a constant income, like doing live sound and other stuff as well.

Soundinmind

Hey bud ?

nice one, on figuring out its, me. You right about the people coming to someone who is good, gear plays a small part cause the guy actually needs to know the gear while to make the most of it, comes down to experience and as they said get your skill and own it. In terms of pricing and rates, fair its true that we dont need too but we are then talking about guys like the studios Im at or people who always produce number ones, its worth it.

With up and coming its good that there is smaller studios, loads of them actually. All bands should be signed or doing really well both they invest in a serious recording, I would never expect a indy band to spend so much at a studio cause the end of the day they'll sell x copies and the rest will be copied. Guys who spend that much sell 400 000 copies and get national air play.

Anyway, nice thing about creative industry is that its not dependant on location, the skill is in the person. Only thing Ill say is Cape Town has Cape Audio College so they general student is a lot better at music production than the Jozi and PTA guys.

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Mo-Facta

Everything that has been said is wrong.

Gauteng is the best and Cape Town must die. It sucks.

Cheers ?

(Don't take me seriously)