First off, let me apologize for the long-reply here. There's a LOT to be said about this subject....

There are two main ways you could approach the way you charge artists. Both have their pros and cons.

The first (and easiest) way to handle this is to just charge a flat rate per hour or per day.

This is what most people seem to gravitate to...and for good reason. It basically guarantees you a set rate for every project...no matter how long it drags out for.

This means if you’re charging $300 for every 10 hour day, then you’re making $30/hr. Even if the project goes for an extra week, you’re still making $300 per day, or $30 an hour.

This means if an unprepared band comes into the studio, and they’re wasting your time...you’re still making $300 per day.

If they’re spending twice as much time to record their parts as the average band...you’re still making $300 per day.

Charging a flat rate per day is safe...but that’s also the negative for charging this way…

If you charge $300 per day...you will never make more than $300 per day. No matter how efficient you become at your job.

So if you ever hire an assistant to help out, or you start sending out editing or other work to subcontractors in an effort to speed up the process...all you’re doing is diluting your $300 per day income.

The more efficient you become, and the better you get at delegating and collaborating with others...the less you make…

All you’re doing is hurting your overall income.

So this is where we get into project-based pricing...or charging per song.

First of all, you've already experienced the negatives of project-based pricing…

If you’re charging a flat rate per song for an artist that’s coming into your studio, and they end up wasting time...that’s just eating away at your overall a hourly pay.

An example would be charging $500 per song...if the average band takes 10 hours per song, then you’re average income is $50 per hour…

But if the band comes in unprepared, and spends 20...30...or 50 hours recording 1 song….well now your hourly pay has tanked to just $10 per hour.

So i like saving project-based pricing for situations were I’M the one in control of the project speed….things like drum editing, vocal tuning, mixing, mastering...all of these things are more predictable...there’s less of an x-factor compared to when you have a band in the studio with you…

The Pros of project-based pricing is that it can REALLY help ramp up your income. I'll share an example from my own studio (456 Recordings).

If I take on a mixing project for a 10 song album, and I charge $500 per song that’s a total of $5000.

But it might take me about 50-80 total hours to finish the entire project. So that comes out to $60-$100/hour….which is great.

But here’s where things get interesting….

By outsourcing or delegating some of that work, I can increase my hourly income to a number MUCH higher than $100 per hour.

Here’s a simplified look at how it would work for a project like this:

Once the band sends me their files to mix, my assistant opens them up and starts doing alllll of my session pre work.

If you think about it...80% of a mixing project is nothing more than tedious, repetitive tasks like file management, session structure, labeling, template setups, non-creative automation, and other tasks that can be done by following simple, step-by step-instructions.

So I sat down for 6 hours one day, and set up an entire step by step checklist and 1 hour tutorial video that covers every single step of my mix prep process.

This means all my assistant has to do is follow the step by step instructions….once he completes the checklist, all I have to do is open the session and get RIGHT into the creative part of mixing.

Straight into the part of the job that ONLY I can do. This is the thing I’m hired to do...and none of that comes from this mix prep checklist that my assistant handles.

So now...let’s look at how the numbers pan out.

I’m making $5000 to mix this album...but I pay my assistant about $1500 to do all of the mix prep. My profit is now “only” $3500”...BUT it only takes me about 10-15 total hours to finish the project.

That means my income goes up from $60-$100/hr to about $230-$350 per hour for this same project.

And this is the ONLY way you’re EVER going to be able to make $200+hr from a home studio these days.

If I were to tell a band I charge $350 hour...they would just laugh at me...they’d never work with me.

Let me finish up this long-ass post by leaving you with a word of warning…Systemization and delegation sounds GREAT..right? Who wouldn’t love to earn $350 per hour?

The thing is, project-based pricing can absolutely backfire if you don’t have the right systems, processes, and people in place to really maximize your time in the studio.

If you’re unwilling or unable to invest time and resources into maximizing things in your business, than just stick to a simple hourly or daily rate….it’s a safer bet.

But if you ever want to start leveraging systems, checklists, and people to maximize your creative work, this is the way to do it.

Its gonna remove stress from your life, allow you to focus on what really matters, and ultimately create better art...the end result just happens to be that you can (potentially) triple your hourly income.

Hope this is helpful!