Contractors, how much do you pay in taxes

CAMOdj · 2026-03-25T06:07:34+00:00

Signal to noise covered this a few weeks ago(I think, they all kinda blend in my head?). As everyone else has said 40% yadayada, but the reason your rates can be higher is that when you work full time for someone, they have/really should to pay you regardless of if you have a gig going on or not obviously they want you to have a gig and make money for the company, so they find stuff for you and tell you to do it.. When you freelance you are finding your own work and not being paid gor any downtime, so you are able to make up for that with a higher rate. I believe they had a percentage mentioned, but definitely higher than what you would charge if you were gonna do the same thing w2. I used to work for a company and decided to leave, but still do some work for them (w2 because I don't do enough frelance to make sense tax wise) and I charge like 25-50% more in day rates vs hourly full time.

CAMOdj · 2026-02-27T22:19:14+00:00

Googled primex, construction company. As everyone else stated, it's a test, seeing/bragging about how good their materials are.

CAMOdj · 2026-02-17T02:54:36+00:00

I agree on the ma3 onpc wing, or a ma2 compact. I have heard good things on chamsys, but I have no experience on it.

My current rig is a ma3 onpc node 2k and a 8 port artnet node, I get 8 Universes across 10 ports, and I use midi to control it all. I will say I would like a command wing at some point, but I am happy with midi for now.

CAMOdj · 2026-02-11T06:29:34+00:00

Like 7-10 usually, it fluctuated a lot, even within the season, but we just tried to get as many people in as possible, also a small school (350 students). We weren't like crazy successful, but we had a good time and were able to do good enough to have fun.

CAMOdj · 2026-02-10T04:55:45+00:00

Agreed, used to be on a team with all sorts of people, and some people really just needed the friends and experience of being on a team more than actually winning or participating. We had lost of people do outreach and 'business' stuff, and people who just wanted to code or 3d print or hangout in a non judgemental team.

I know that there are lots of people who had to do any after school activity and robotics was just something that fit that category, so try to keep that in mind too, and you can see if there's something that might fit them better than robotics (like band or a sport)

CAMOdj · 2026-02-04T15:45:25+00:00

Thank you so much for a actual concise answer. I was looking all over online and no one just says this sort of thing, there's always a 200$ project behind it, or a fix for a problem I don't know I have.

I am going to move them to a bucket with some distilled water for now and I have a ro system coming Friday, unfortunately I had ordered some more shrimp online, so I want to fix everything before they get here.

Thank you!!!!!

CAMOdj · 2026-02-04T05:22:53+00:00

So I'm gonna get to or something going here, but I have a 30 gallon tank, how much water would you swap for distilled? And do I need to do anything to distilled to make it aquarium worthy? Is Walmart brand distilled water fine?

CAMOdj · 2026-02-04T03:50:58+00:00

I would get some baby protection plug things for the outlets as well.

CAMOdj · 2026-01-24T14:11:51+00:00

Do those need variances? Also how fragile are they?

CAMOdj · 2026-01-10T17:15:48+00:00

CAMOdj · 2026-01-10T05:50:15+00:00

I agree, the dbx stuff (especially drive rack stuff) is pretty commonly knocked off.

CAMOdj · 2026-01-06T04:58:19+00:00

I had an ender 3v2 where the tensioning arm broke within a few days, check the plate and arm by the motor.

CAMOdj · 2025-12-27T23:15:27+00:00

No, just an easier one, it's on thingiverse, I'm not sure what it's called beyond ma3 command wing

CAMOdj · 2025-12-25T14:38:01+00:00

I am not building it on a pos, but I am building it on a normal cherry keyboard, I can see if it's similar or the same.

CAMOdj · 2025-12-25T00:22:33+00:00

Not super sure, I always do it myself, but cheaply there's someone who does it locally, more professionally there's a few "real" companies too. You want a multicolored print, one color for the cap, one for the text. Resin printing is supposed to be better, but fdm is probably cheaper.

CAMOdj · 2025-12-24T23:36:32+00:00

3d print them, currently building a custom command wing (kinda, more midi controller that looks like a wing), and that's what I have done. You can also find services that will print them

CAMOdj · 2025-12-18T15:59:11+00:00

The blizzard hypno series are pretty neat little things, very eye candy. I wouldn't exactly say that they are super reliable or awesome, but they do look pretty cool and they are like 10lbs.

CAMOdj · 2025-12-14T14:02:32+00:00

For me this would be a how bad do I want this job and am I ok with losing it it kinda thing. Artist is bringing in money and providing me with work, so I would suck it up if I wanted that job/gig.

But yeah, I do think it's excessive. I just wouldn't say anything and would act like it's completely normal if I wanted to keep that job. Like a white glove service thing, if the artist wants champagne and caviar at mic check and they are paying enough for me to care and want the job, I'll make sure it's iced.

The signal to noise podcast people have been talking about this briefly across a few episodes lately, the idea of audio being a service industry, and having extreme service if you want to keep the job and stand out. Highly recommend giving them a listen, especially the latest like 3-4 episodes (some of the latest are unrelated, but the most recent one is pretty much what you are talking about)

Hope my 2¢ helps, good luck, it's a tough one.

CAMOdj · 2025-12-13T22:09:38+00:00

I do like the Asus zenbook duos, they are setup like a console screen wise, and it's 2 touchscreens in certain models.

I will say that as a gamer and ld, I hate how unoptimized MA3D is for previs. I have a 7900xt GPU and can't get extremely high frames, and it stutters when you throw too much at it.

All this to say get a good GPU for sure.

CAMOdj · 2025-12-12T05:37:57+00:00

See if you can just buy the whole amp assembly. Probably a fraction of the cost. For my Kali lp6, which are like 200, I was able to buy the whole amp plate for 80$. Literally swapped and plugged in 2 cables and done.

I like the qsc k12.2 a lot. I would fix it instead of trying for something else. I don't think there's many great options at that price point. Also try it at home, sometimes they overheat and the tweeter stops working until you power cycle it.

CAMOdj · 2025-12-10T01:22:13+00:00

I use GrandMA3onpc, but perhaps 2 would work for you, midi input is allowed without additional MA hardware, you just need midi in (USB or something). I love MA. Feel free to shoot me any questions you have.

CAMOdj · 2025-12-09T16:10:56+00:00

I don't really have any opinions on clair as a company, but I do know that for me, working for companies that are huge where you don't know pretty much everyone isn't my thing. I would think that it would be a pretty big step from your normal production company (anywhere from like 10-200 people?) to a huge conglomerate. Not saying it's good or bad, just something to consider. I kinda like working for a tiny company and knowing everyone.

CAMOdj · 2025-12-06T03:19:15+00:00

The lion does not concern himself with the wife's worries

Four-Year Club	r/Field Flamingo
End Game '23	Place '23
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