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Quick Tips: Three Things to Remember

Written by Tyler Hakes. Published: Thursday, August 25, 2011.

This marks the last Pro-Logic column with Willie Green for the foreseeable future. With an increasing work load and dwindling column ideas, Willie has decided to take a hiatus from the column for the time being. Hopefully it will be back in the future. If you’d like him to cover certain topics when he does resume, please leave your suggestions in the comments below.

This month, instead of one single topic, I want to quickly go over a few short but important ones. Let’s dig in.

1. Fact: Professionals do not send files through sites with pop-up ads.

No two ways about it. No one is concerned with how many points or whatever you get, if you send files to an engineer and they wind up with a virus you can pretty much cross that working relationship off your list. Obviously, sending files over the internet is a vital part of today’s world, just use a site that doesn’t have 17 ads for new kinds of smiley faces. Yousendit.com, SendSpace.com and WeTransfer.com are great options. If it’s someone you are often sending back and forth with, a cloud-type solution like DropBox.com might be perfect.

2. Eventually, you will get to a point where you will be struggling to keep up with the amount of work you get called for.

That’s a great thing. Just be careful to give people (and yourself) reasonable time frames for getting work done, and it’s okay to ask clients to wait a week while you finish up another project. They’ll appreciate your full attention and on time delivery, and you won’t go prematurely gray.

3. Deciding what to charge as an engineer is one of the most difficult things to do.

You want to make as much money as possible, but you don’t want to price yourself out. But you also want to be fairly compensated, and you’ve been hearing around town that other engineers REALLY resent being undercut on rates. (This is a fact, when you’re charging $10/hour, you make it more difficult for other to charge enough to live off of)

I can’t tell you exactly how much to charge, and I won’t mention how much I do, but there’s a few important factors to consider. First, find out what people in your area are charging. You should get to know other engineers in your area anyway, buy some of the vets a beer and find out exactly what the record economy in your area is like. Second, you have to be honest about your skill level. If you’re trying to charge $300 for a $40 mix, you’re going to get exposed and lose clients very quickly. However, as you work on your skills, you can work with up and coming artists, develop a discography, and then over time raise your rates.

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