Tragic Loss
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Posted on Dec 22, 2002 11:35 pm
J@PlatinumFX
Member Since: Jul 18, 2002
Well, it's been a while since I've been in here on a regualar basis. Lots of things going. I wish I could say they were good. Some of you might remember me speaking of the studio I used to work at. PlatinumF.X. Well in mid September a now former business associate, decided to pull out of the project, taking a lot of shared gear that was mutually invested in. He was also in charge of our finances as a business, and failed to notify anyone that he had let us fall 3 months behind on every bill. The monetary damage we've incurred totals over $250,000. Not to mention the numerous amount of recording contracts we had with artists that have been broken due to this. We've been scraping by for the last 2 months, picking up every penny we found, and have not been able to get any further out of the hole. Due to these circumstances I am having to consider giving up on my dream of recording and running a professional recording studio. I will never give up on the music itself but my dream seems to be falling apart before me. Sorry to be so dramatic but I really don't know anyone else who feels my pain as much as you guys and gals do. As of the moment our doors are still open but now it is Christmas time, and I am having to look at losing the one thing that brought me so much joy.
I hope none of you ever have to feel this, and would like to offer my assistance to any who need it. I'm not as old as most of you, nor have I been through the 'routines as many times as some of you have. But I do have a wealth of information that might be of use to any one of you. I only hope that before my time comes I can look back and know that I might have had a hand in shaping the future of music.
Thank you so much for giving me a place to voice my oppinions. =(
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Dec 23, 2002 01:51 am man i know how things can go. sorry to hear of your misfortunes as of late. things sometimes get worse before they get better. lets hope this is the worst of it and that things will improve for you. who knows, perhaps it will be an odd blessing in disguise.
just stick with it and do what you can. thats sometimes all you can do. just dont get discouraged with it. may work out yet.
all the best man.
Dec 23, 2002 02:29 am Thanks Collapse. I appreciate the encouraging words.
By the way I'm going to update my profile to include my ICQ, and MSN messenger contact info. in case any of you want to gimme a shout sometime.
I was trying to find dB's email addy but then again I'm not very good with email. So dB if you see this, chat at me on one of your messengers man. And you too Noize, Loki. I'm trying to focus more on the music, so the more people that can keep me on that subject, the better off I am.
Thanks again Collapse.
ICQ- 177906127 MSN- [email protected]
Dec 23, 2002 05:33 am Oh, dude, that sucks, I am so sorry to hear that. Some people just suck...stick to your guns (figuratively) and it'll come back around. I know Noize had some bad business bring him down for a while but he stuck it out and is still kickin it with a lot of hard work and patience, life has a way of working out.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Dec 23, 2002 08:49 pm Dude, first off. Don't give up on the studio dream. You will be suprised what you can do with a little bit of patient's and inginuity. The disaster dB speak's of nearly cost me my house and everything I owned. I ended up selling guitar's, and piece's of gear just to pay bill's. But I managed to keep the most precious piece's to keep thing's rolling here. And through the thick of it, I managed to put thing's back together even better then it was B4. I ended up at the end (which lasted for more then a year) working 16 hour's a day to keep the company afloat, and then in one fell swoop, packed up and walked out the door. I went back to work for less then a third of the salery I was making, but it was work none the less. And slowly thing's came back. They are still not perfect but, they are working and that is the best part.
I am in the middle of a battle between good and evil at this very moment, and it will only get worse, but I have to look around at the good thing's I do still have. And it is what make's it worth getting up in the morning. I have not had the time lately to attend to this forum the way I should, but that too will slowly go back to the way it was. I am mentally drained, but still manage to pull it together for the task's I have promised to finish, movie score with dB, finish a demo for a young band in the UK, finish a demo for a friend of my oldest son, and get my studio's web site up and running the way it should have been a year ago.
So don't give up because some thing's are gone, work a little harder at using the thing's that are still there and get the word out that you are only down for a brief bit of time, and that thing's will return to normal soon.
Peace,
Noize 2 U
LokiCone PokerMember
Since: Apr 07, 2002
Dec 23, 2002 11:59 pm Hey man, Sorry to hear about what's going on, but as everyone else has said don't loose sight of what you love. Keep with the music. Who knows, maybe this is all for the best.
Dec 24, 2002 01:09 am But they took the 2" -cries- and the two lovely O2R's that we worked so hard for......not to mention all the outboard gear and the Mac.
All I have left is the VS880 and the 1880, a single VM3100 and a few rackmounts.
I know the music will always be there, I'll never give up. But I worked so hard at getting that place setup.....the console room is a cave......we built every wall by hand....Jerry Cantrell's autograph is still on one of those walls.....so many memories. It kills me to think of starting over.
The engineer/bandmate, I work with is at wits end over the mess. We can't afford to replace the gear, nor can we file for theft due to the fact that he was a legitimate partner.....we could take it to court, but we'd only succeed in losing more money to an attorney. And all of this so the @$$ could runaway with the equipment again. I don't know guys. I'm stuped on this one.
Dec 24, 2002 07:50 am Noize, now I feel guilty for having you help with the score...I didn't realize I was being a drain on you...I am such a loser... :-(
But I couldn't do it without ya...literally...
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Dec 27, 2002 05:59 pm No, dB the point is no matter what the situation. It is the music and the work that is as important as the rest of it. I may not be of sound mind and body, but it is what I do to make my world go round. And without it I would surely curl up in a corner somwhere and drink myself into oblivian. So it is the work that keep's thing's sane in my little world. Even if I had to do it with only one synth, and a 2 track tape deck. I would find a way to do it.
zekthedeadcowEat Spam before it eats YOU!!!Member
Since: May 11, 2002
Dec 27, 2002 08:05 pm I think you realize you're going to have to restructure...and hopefully it goes well.
I'll assume that you're good at what you do. Maybe you could hook up with a lable as a producer on the side.
One thing on my mind is that $250,000 debt. In three months? or is that the missing equipment too? If so then don't even think about that cost just think of it as never existing. Yeah, it's not happy but real solutions never are :)
By your wording I'll assume hat loss includes equipment and that bills are around $50,000 (or less) other wise you have some serious cash burn issues.
so that "bill debt" of $50,000 is much more managedable than $250,000 ... you don't owe someone $250,000 (hopefully)
$50,000 is still a heafty sum of money... so start with paying off the debt before you replace that un-necessary 2" tape machine... and yes I said un-necessary because you said you're scrapeing by without it and I'm assumeing that you're buying some equipment to fill the void in the studio... if you have business then live with the void but never live with debts :)
you're going to have to prove that your studio still has what it takes to succeed. This means you have to work harder :) Do something that no other studio does and trim the excess fat along the way. sell the pool table (if applicable) and things you don't use... If you arn't filling you're schedule then you need to be talking to bands and lables to let them now you're open.
...and if it comes down to it... plan your "escape route" If it all ends what are you going to do? Do you have a degree? could you teach audio engineering? do you have and producing experience? Could you manage bands? Could you incorporate any of those abilities into your current services? etc.
good luck...and hope you "win" :)
Dec 29, 2002 08:13 am Thanks for the breakdown Zek, from a business perspective. Yes, when I said $250,000, that was an estimate on loss not debt. Though, we have incurred quite a bit of debt, things are looking up. As I stated, the ex-partner left us 3 months behind on every utility + rent. And when I say scraping by, I mean scraping by to live. All of our customers left us when the equipment was taken. So we don't really have a steady customer base. We don't advertise publicly because we are a private studio, this way all doors can remain locked at all times. Our business has always been based on word of mouth. But there are no "escape plans". I don't have the option of giving up, I have nothing to fall back on as far as work/living arrangements. I mean, I'm 23 living at home with my mother(hah) and the only thing I've ever done is music. Literally eat, sleep, and breathe music. If I'm not writing, or practicing, I'm listening to it. It's my life, so failure is definitly not an option. One way or the other I'll make it. And I'll have anotha 2" Sony too. And btw, you gotta have that. It's almost a neccesity along with the 2 O2R's. But that's just my oppinion. I like to think it's more than a coincidence the amount of Top100's that were recorded with that formula. Anyways, I'll talk at ya later ;) I gotta go work on my tunes........
zekthedeadcowEat Spam before it eats YOU!!!Member
Since: May 11, 2002
Dec 30, 2002 10:05 am "...I'm 23 living at home with my mother(hah) and the only thing I've ever done is music."
...are you sure you're not me? :) I'm 23, living with my parents, and finding myself unable/unwilling to get out of music. heh
