The board of the APRS recently had a very lively debate, which resulted in unanimous agreement to dispel any preconceptions that the APRS is an elitist organisation!

The attitude of the “good old days” of only allowing the most expensively-built studios to join had to go. It was still felt that the APRS should adhere to that original statement which is synonymous with striving for excellence recording places may have: project studio, home studio, non-commercial studio, privately owned studio, etc. In response, the APRS has undertaken a complete reworking of its recording membership levels, addressing the needs of the smaller professional and non-professional members, as well as the Association’s existing established membership.

But the key, was to also embrace the massive raft of professionals in the industry who do superb work in their own facilities, whatever descriptive title those recording places may have: project studio, home studio, non-commercial studio, privately owned studio, etc. In response, the APRS has undertaken a complete reworking of its recording membership levels, addressing the needs of the smaller professional and non-professional members, as well as the Association’s existing established membership.

Click here to read about the new membership categories,
benefits and subscriptions

The APRS has also announced a comprehensive review of the standard Terms and Conditions that recording and audio post production facilities are encouraged to use when dealing with their own clients. Again, updated to reflect industry changes, the new T&Cs include a number of clauses that refer to technological advances, particularly the way in which studio output is delivered. The APRS has now incorporated a structure that deals with the variety of different formats available so that all deliverables are covered. The Association has also incorporated important clauses dealing with studio security. This follows a number of well-publicised incidents where pirated recorded material has been released onto the Internet before its official release. The new clauses are designed to protect recording studios from any legal liability should any of their clients face a similar incident. Exact details of the new Terms and Conditions are available to members from from www.aprs.co.uk/legal.

AES, Barcelona - May 2005
A personal view, by Peter Filleul

Over the years I have been to quite a few AES shows – enough at least to witness the change in feel and direction the European and US AESs have taken since the new DAW environments started taking hold. The European show has moved the most. Now it’s very much a ‘broadcast show’ – by which I mean the majority of new exhibitors and most of the new kit being demonstrated has its market set firmly in broadcast recording, broadcast studio equipment and broadcast playout gear.

The flavour of the workshops and seminars has changed as well. Technical subjects still predominate, but the AES has at last bitten the bullet by allowing outside organisations to host seminar and workshop sessions, bringing some fresh perspectives to the event.

ESDA (The European Sound Directors’ Association), had responsibility for a couple of the shows’ workshops, one being "Anybody Want to Buy a Recording Studio?" This slightly mischievous title was fed with pearls of experienced wisdom from the likes of George Massenburg (USA), Malcolm Atkin (UK), Ian Terry (Canada) and Edouardo Lowenberg and Carlos Narea from Spain. These guys knew their stuff and delivered a chilling message of sea-change facing professional recording throughout the world.

Beyond the much moaned fall in business and hardening of record-company/client willingness to pay a fair price, the panelists described a world in which the business model has probably irretrievably failed. As labels instruct their A&R staff not to pay more than £500/day for studio hire and seek to dictate the terms of trade in their own favour, they have effectively declared that they no longer support the recording industry – so the
recording industry must look for new clients.

In coming months, we could do worse than take a deliberate look at the state of the studio business and find alternative business models that can safeguard the very existence of proaudio recording. Certainly, the days of record companies hiring enough studio time to enable owners to run and maintain state-of-the-art facilities are, at least, dwindling and are probably all but over.

Julie Bateman of TownHouse on Studio Rates:

My very first memory of TownHouse Studios was as a 15 year old being driven up from Hastings to visit my father in Chiswick. I wondered what was in the building with the strange painted windows: Well now I definitely know, warts ‘n’ all!

As anyone who works in the industry knows, studios have had a rough ride over the past 5 years and we are not out of the woods yet. However, I firmly believe that with great staff, grim determination and an ability to evolve, we can, and will be here for another 25 years.

I believe that studios are basically“hotels with knobs on” and should be a home from home to artists where no request (within reason) is denied! The warmth of the studio can often mean a lot more than the latest equipment, a point that has been proven to us time and time again by the volume of producers and artists that we see returning to us.

The role of the studio has changed a great deal from its hey-day with the“no expense spared” ethos of the late 70s and early 80s. Now more than ever, it is important to make sure that the recording process is as cost effective as possible. Not least because unbelievably, studio rates are lower now than they were in the 80s and record companies and producers are expecting more and more to be included in that daily rate!

There are several ways that this could be dealt with. One is to be hard-nosed and hold out for your book rate and see if you survive (many studios have fallen by the wayside with this approach). Another is to cut your rates so much that you are running at a loss, in the hope that a long term booking will be followed by a further
booking from the grateful client at a better rate (foolish and naïve!).

My personal favourite is to work out a rate that you can survive with, don’t go below it and as usual provide the highest quality service that this can afford. Coupled with enthusiastic and professional staff, I firmly believe that this is the only way you have any chance of survival.

Having come from a record company background, it makes me more than a little angry that we are being treated so badly. Being held over a barrel so many times makes it extremely difficult to keep your head above water; many closed studios will testify to this. The record companies must take some responsibility for their very blinkered approach. After all, once we’re reduced to a mere handful, we will be setting the rates and I wonder just how favourable they will be!

Want to get something off your chest? Email it to [email protected] and we’ll share it with the industry!

Get Qualified
Or Get Out Of Teaching!
By Sue Sillitoe

As part of its commitment to raising
standards in Further Education, the
Government has stated that, by 2010,
everyone who teaches FE students must have a teaching qualification.

While it is hard to argue against the sense of this, the practical considerations are more complicated, especially for people whose main job is not teaching, but who teach because they feel they have something relevant to offer. This was the position I found myself in.

For two years I have been teaching journalism at my local FE College – a position I was offered because the college recognised that, with more than 20 years journalistic experience under my belt, I knew the subject better than someone
who simply taught by the book. However, by 2006 and 2010, 90% and 100% of FE
teachers respectively must have a recognised teaching qualification. This goes for anyone who teaches any subject to post 16 year olds, whether they are in colleges, sixth forms, adult and community learning centres or private training organisations.

It became apparent that if I wanted to continue teaching, I had to get an initial City & Guilds Teaching Certificate Stage 1.
As my college was prepared to pay the £130.00 cost of my course I decided to do it. I knew it would be intensive but I wasn’t prepared for the workload, which had to be fitted in around paid work commitments. Over 16 weeks, I attended 32 hours of evening classes and wrote
eight assignments, each a minimum of 1,000 words long. If an assignment didn’t pass it was referred back for further work.

I devoted a day a week to reading up on the subject, compiling notes and writing my assignments. One assignment alone involved preparing 20 hours of lesson plans
and delivering the lessons, two of which were observed by my tutors and one by a specialist subject tutor.

I was lucky because I was already
teaching, so was therefore able to use my
existing lesson plans, but had I been doing this course in order to get a job I would have had to teach those 20 hours as an unpaid volunteer.

I passed Stage 1, which is sufficient for me as I only teach a couple of hours a week. But if you’re not qualified, be warned – whatever you teach and whoever you teach it to, you only
have a few more years to get qualified or you could find yourself out of a job.