# Budget for live recording



## vlado hudec (Nov 3, 2010)

Hi guys,

I am working on a project (MMORPG game). I write music, of course ..it will be 20 tracks, 2min each. 

Audio director told me, they want to record strings and brass live. Probably in Bratislava or somewhere in Russia. They have $50k budget.

I never record with live orchestra, so I would like to ask you, is $50k enough for recording around 40min of music? (only strings and brass will be recorded live)

And how much it would be..recording + mixing + mastering.

Thanks a lot !

V


----------



## DeactivatedAcc (Nov 3, 2010)

Check your PM


----------



## vlado hudec (Nov 4, 2010)

thanks guys for PMs.

I have one more question 

When composer is going to write a whole soundtrack (40min in my case), is it common to get any money (let's say 20-30%) upront? I mean, he sign a contract and he ask for some upfront money for buying new samples or upgrading hardware..

And when budget for music is $50k and composer will ask for composing music and also take care about recording, mixing and mastering, so he write the music, make safe a recording, mixing, mastering... it will cost some money. So my income would be $50k - (minus) costs for recording, mixing, mastering...?

Or fee for composer is negotiate at the beginning, when contract is signed?

Thanks a lot !

V


----------



## Christian Marcussen (Nov 4, 2010)

> When composer is going to write a whole soundtrack (40min in my case), is it common to get any money (let's say 20-30%) upront? I mean, he sign a contract and he ask for some upfront money for buying new samples or upgrading hardware..



I don't know if it's common, but my last two gigs have been like that. 20% up front, then half of the remaining money at some milestone (half way done) and then the final half on deleivery. 

As for fees. Normaly I state my rate and then tell them any recordings are in addition to that. Your case sounds different as it seems they have a totalmusic budget for you, before any talk of rates or costs of recordings.


----------



## realstrings (Nov 4, 2010)

Budget - it depends on too many things! Size of section, complexity of music. I've done score prep for a few projects and used a few different orchestras round Europe/Russia. Strings were particularly good in Bratislava and Sofia (both orchestras at the Radio stations). Brass - not so successful, but maybe others would disagree.


----------



## vlado hudec (Nov 4, 2010)

As far as the orchestra sections (strings and brass)..I think, it would be large ensemble (14, 12, 10, 8, 5 or so for strings and 6 french horns, 4 trombones, 4 trumpets), because, this have to be epic music, so it would be sounds big.

Or would it be good results also with less musicians?


----------



## Pietro (Nov 4, 2010)

Check your pm .

Depending on what kind of sound you expect, 50 strings and 15 brass (6/4/4/1) might be a fairly optimal setup (need to hear the music to decide).

A lot depends on the mix. If you do the recordings in Bratislava with the same staff we did, you will have A LOT of mixing options. And you better don't do the mixing yourself .

I believe string section alone was like 30 mics.

- Piotr


----------



## Mr. Anxiety (Nov 4, 2010)

Hey Everyone,

This is a really good thread that can be of help to a lot of members here. It would be great to keep the comments on the thread itself, instead of PMs, so we all can learn from it.

Thanks,

Mr A


----------



## dannthr (Nov 4, 2010)

Vlado, you are entering highly variable territory when it comes to dealing with game studios.

I will say, however, when ever I have dealt with large-scale studios with experience outsourcing music/audio, commission has always been half upfront and half on delivery and their payments are ridiculously slow (90-day billing cycles, etc).

However, they have always covered the costs of live musicians.


When I deal with indies, I arrange a milestone schedule based on this system I've created:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/ ... hedule.jpg

It has been very effective in managing the incremental milestone and payment delivery system and has ensured that neither the client nor the composer are extending the trust too far. It's a great way of baby-stepping the relationship, so to speak.

With that said, 50k with 40 minutes of music, okay, I can see, that, but 50k includes your creative fee? That seems like a tight budget. In that case, I would spot treat the soundtrack with live instruments making sure that you get the right sound to the critical tracks.

Finally, mixing/mastering--well, you want your mixer/masterer to understand music for games and you want them to work on the whole project, not just the stuff you record live--the whole game has to feel coherent because game music is far more complicated than linear film music--sometimes these cues and sounds will need to interact with one another.


----------



## vlado hudec (Nov 5, 2010)

dannthr @ Fri Nov 05 said:


> With that said, 50k with 40 minutes of music, okay, I can see, that, but 50k includes your creative fee?



Hi Dan, good point, I forgot ask this, thanks


----------

