I’m more expensive because I’m experienced, and VERY GOOD at my job.
Please Remember:
The opinions expressed are mine only. These opinions do not necessarily reflect anybody else’s opinions. I do not own, operate, manage, or represent any band, venue, or company that I talk about, unless explicitly noted.
Want to use this image for something else? Great! Click it for the link to a high-res or resolution-independent version.There are times when I quote a price for a job, and the person on the receiving end squirms a little. I’m hardly the most expensive audio human on the planet, but I’m not the cheapest either. My pricing can seem a little steep to some, and that brings up the question of “Why?”
What might be unexpected here is that I’m not going to talk about vehicles, gear, insurance, or any other expense. That’s not the major driver.
For me, it’s all about experience and results. It took a strikingly long time, but I’ve reached a point of very high confidence in what I’m able to accomplish. I express that confidence in the form of a question:
“Have you noticed that, when I’m around, everything I’m responsible for works properly – and if that suddenly becomes untrue, I have a fix at the ready?”
That’s what you’re paying for. I’ve studied my craft at a depth that few other audio craftspeople dive into. I’ve written the equivalent of at least two books on topics pertaining to live music. Unlike some other technicians, I’m not interested in the easiest solution. I’m interested in the solution that delivers the best possible show to both the musicians and the audience. Signal flows that boggle other operator’s minds are routine to me. (To be fair, though, there are some signal flows out there that are incomprehensible because they ARE truly bad implementations. I know the difference between those and the routing solutions that are complicated because they have to be.)
I don’t carry the most expensive equipment in the business, but I know how to get absolutely everything out of what I have on hand. It’s because I understand the physics involved in what I’m doing at the necessary level to know the limits of what I’m doing.
You can be quite sure that I know why I’m taking an action, as opposed to simply following a checklist I don’t truly comprehend.
My point is that I’m not a “$50 and a bar tab” engineer, because I’m not in this to muddle through making a few things louder for a couple of hours and then drive away. I’m here to understand, predict, execute, and have alternative contingencies for a show from top to bottom. That kind of experience and thought costs a few bucks, and clients that want that kind of attention are the people I want to work for.