matta
Well-known member
Hey Guys,
Firstly, I want to say how great this place is.
I posted in the Black Market that I'm closing down my studio and had a flurry of PM's/E-mails wondering what is up and if all is ok so I thought I'd post here to inform the masses.
RE the closure, there were/are many factors involved the largest I guess is that my wife and I recently bought a 3 bedroom house in the suburbs. This has escalated our cost of living exponentially as much of it is bonded/mortgaged and while the studio pays for itself I'm not making much in the way of a monthly salary and I just can't afford to keep on paying what little I do earn into someoneelses bond/mortage when I could be paying it into my own.
It hasn't helped matters that the economic crisis has REALLY hit the studio. Business has been the slowest it has been in over 2 years and being in a commercial facility in a commercial complex is no fun as the the rent/rates and utilities keep coming.
I've also been informed that my landlords plan on increasing my rent as well as charging me for a parking bay (currently free), which is further reason to move out now before the lease is up for renewal as this increase looks to be 25% up from my current expenses.
On a personal level I'm also just tired of the commute and the long hours in the studio and would rather move back to a 'home/project studio' and continue working on projects I REALLY want to, maybe even my OWN music (which I've not done in 5 years), a novel thought!
I'm also having a lot of fun with 'Ashton Audio', the tech side of things, and to be honest it is more dependable than the studio work because gear is continually in need of a service/repair as well working on my commissioned builds/racking.
I owe much of this skill set to EVERYONE here as 5 years ago I joined this Forum not knowing which end of a resistor went where (um, the answer is BOTH incase you DON'T know) and through countless hours here and keeping my nose in books/websites I turned my hobby into a 'part time' career.
With tech work I have very little daily client interaction which allows me to work fewer hours and not having to worry if I need to pop out for something, unlike the studio.
I plan on converting the garage into a new workshop as there is plenty of space, a completely different kind of DIY project, but one I look forward to planning.
My wife and I are also starting to plan towards starting a family, God willing, and being closer to home (or rather working from home) keeping 'regular' hours is VERY appealing.
As you may/may not know for the past 3 years I've also pioneering a 'Basic Audio Electronics' module that I've was overseeing at a local community college and I'm now guest lecturing the same course at SAE in Cape Town.
This has driven me to develop the materials further and I plan on writing a guide/book for musicians to understand basic electronic theory as well as offering workshops and am in the process of finalizing a 'Fuzz Pedal' kit to aid in the practical/theoretically instruction.
I plan to see out my current recording commitments and aim to be out of the studio end September/October and from there, who knows, but I'm feeling very at peace about this decision and excited about the new challenges ahead.
It is sad in the sense I'm probably going to sell off most of my DIY projects, years of work, partly because I don't need it all, partly because I DO need the start up capital/money to cover expenses while I move into this new career path 'full-time', but hope that it finds good use in other studios and amongst friends.
Cheers
Matt
Firstly, I want to say how great this place is.
I posted in the Black Market that I'm closing down my studio and had a flurry of PM's/E-mails wondering what is up and if all is ok so I thought I'd post here to inform the masses.
RE the closure, there were/are many factors involved the largest I guess is that my wife and I recently bought a 3 bedroom house in the suburbs. This has escalated our cost of living exponentially as much of it is bonded/mortgaged and while the studio pays for itself I'm not making much in the way of a monthly salary and I just can't afford to keep on paying what little I do earn into someoneelses bond/mortage when I could be paying it into my own.
It hasn't helped matters that the economic crisis has REALLY hit the studio. Business has been the slowest it has been in over 2 years and being in a commercial facility in a commercial complex is no fun as the the rent/rates and utilities keep coming.
I've also been informed that my landlords plan on increasing my rent as well as charging me for a parking bay (currently free), which is further reason to move out now before the lease is up for renewal as this increase looks to be 25% up from my current expenses.
On a personal level I'm also just tired of the commute and the long hours in the studio and would rather move back to a 'home/project studio' and continue working on projects I REALLY want to, maybe even my OWN music (which I've not done in 5 years), a novel thought!
I'm also having a lot of fun with 'Ashton Audio', the tech side of things, and to be honest it is more dependable than the studio work because gear is continually in need of a service/repair as well working on my commissioned builds/racking.
I owe much of this skill set to EVERYONE here as 5 years ago I joined this Forum not knowing which end of a resistor went where (um, the answer is BOTH incase you DON'T know) and through countless hours here and keeping my nose in books/websites I turned my hobby into a 'part time' career.
With tech work I have very little daily client interaction which allows me to work fewer hours and not having to worry if I need to pop out for something, unlike the studio.
I plan on converting the garage into a new workshop as there is plenty of space, a completely different kind of DIY project, but one I look forward to planning.
My wife and I are also starting to plan towards starting a family, God willing, and being closer to home (or rather working from home) keeping 'regular' hours is VERY appealing.
As you may/may not know for the past 3 years I've also pioneering a 'Basic Audio Electronics' module that I've was overseeing at a local community college and I'm now guest lecturing the same course at SAE in Cape Town.
This has driven me to develop the materials further and I plan on writing a guide/book for musicians to understand basic electronic theory as well as offering workshops and am in the process of finalizing a 'Fuzz Pedal' kit to aid in the practical/theoretically instruction.
I plan to see out my current recording commitments and aim to be out of the studio end September/October and from there, who knows, but I'm feeling very at peace about this decision and excited about the new challenges ahead.
It is sad in the sense I'm probably going to sell off most of my DIY projects, years of work, partly because I don't need it all, partly because I DO need the start up capital/money to cover expenses while I move into this new career path 'full-time', but hope that it finds good use in other studios and amongst friends.
Cheers
Matt
