Apologies
Haven't updated here for ages ...
... we *have* had more recording sessions, and we've also cancelled at least one session due to non-availability of musicians and of a rough mix to work on things like solos ...
... the trouble with recording with people who all have lives and (in many cases) paying jobs and families and such is that it's hard to say that a non-paying hobby should take precedence over the exingencies of life ...
... which is why we're running behind on the original recording schedule (the rough mix CD that was going to be sent out in June, or early July only arrived today, three days before the next recording session) but when it's all being done as favours by friends that's what has to be expected ...
... using a "professional" studio with engineer would cost something like 25 pounds an hour and you'd still be paying if you were sitting around with the engineer drinking tea ... and you'd still be hard pressed to record 8 separate tracks for a song, including retakes, microphone setups etc. in, say, four hours, so a maximum of two full tracks a day, and so we'd be looking at (for our 15 tracks) about 60 hours at 25 pounds an hour = 1500 pounds of studio time, plus travel, food and drink, somewhere to sleep etc. which will probably come to about 2500 (8 nights at, say, 30 pounds per person per night for five people plus about 150 in travel costs for each of four weekends plus food & drink etc.), plus the actual manufacture of the CD disks (mastering, labelling, inlay cards etc.) which is another 1000 pounds, so producing a CD, at the cheapest, comes to 5000 pounds. Which means that selling 500 CDs at 10 pounds each (12 quid retail, 8 quid wholesale to dealers, averages out around 10 quid a disc) ...
... "using" generous friends who've put a lot of their own money into putting together a home studio, plus who will do the cooking and provide accomodation etc. means that we can nearly halve the cost of making the album (travel costs remain the same, but there may be more weekends because we won't necessarily be as productive as in a "pro" studio, on the other hand, there are fewer microphones etc. to try out so we can get down to recording that much faster!) ...
... so basically the budget says we have to sell between 200 and 250 CDs to "break even" on our basic costs (oh, and there's a percentage that has to be paid to the Recording Rights people for permission to do the cover songs (Sally Free and Easy, Dust in the Wind) plus we need to make sure that the songs we've got individual permission to do (Second Hand Songs and the parody Second Rate Songs, Swing the Cat, Lament for Gwyddion) are adequately compensated (hey, how does a few "free" CDs sound? Oh, you'd rather have the cash ... never mind!) and thankfully Pacobel isn't taking any royalties for his "Canon! (Well, if he'd answered the email we sent him ... <big grin>)
Fingers crossed, the CD will be available for the February filkcon (ideally I would like it out sooner so we could get it to the January filkcon in Atlanta, but that doesn't seem likely at the moment) and then there should be copies available at the Eastercon and at any other conventions we get to this year. It will also be available via the usual filk outlets.
So if I don't give *you* a free copy, it's not because I don't love you, it's because until we sell 200-250 copies, then we've had to put up all this cash and every sale leaves us a little less in debt. Once we've sold our first 250 CDs, then any money we get for the rest goes towards paying for instruments and strings and such, possibly getting a meal out (yay!) and then the rest goes towards the costs of doing the next recording (and perhaps getting another microphone or some other bit of tech that will help!)
We still haven't discussed what our internal band price for CDs will be (how many "free" copies we each get to give away as Christmas presents or have to swop with other artists for their CDs ... and how much each additional CD will cost) and how many are for "marketing" (to be sent to venues where we might want to perform or to radio stations etc.) but that can come once we've finished recording and actually are ready to order the CDs.
Basically producing 500 CDs costs an amount, we've been shopping around and has found us a couple of wonderful deals, but a large percentage of the cost is the set up costs (converting artwork, getting the masters made up for the disc and for the inlay cards etc.) so the difference between ordering 500 CDs and 1000 CDs is not twice the price ... but we don't expect to be selling more than a few hundred (200-300 CDs) so 500 will be enough and if we ordered 1000, even though it isn't *that* much more, we'd just end up with boxes and boxes of CDs in someone's garage for the next ten years plus an additional cost that would have to come out of the 300 sales and would probably mean we wouldn't break even.
But that's the music biz!
Current Mood: accomplishedCurrent Music: Cosmic Trifle - Arden - Rough Mix CD 
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