BILLIE’S BONES ALBUM BUDGET

Here’s a read-out of what went into our budget planning. It’s what you don’t see here that made the difference between my being able to record this album the way I wanted (with the band and production crew I wanted), or not.  After recording over twenty studio albums, I have a pretty good idea of what items need to be covered in advance, but I still check and double-check with my production crew and business managers.  We try to estimate as closely as possible; when in doubt, we estimate high.  And we always add in 10% as a “contingency fund”, just in case.

What’s not in here are:

Studio cost for the six weeks of overdubbing and editing, because we could do all that at the home studio.

Assistant engineer for overdubbing and editing, because Philip is on salary and could handle it. Savings: 6 weeks at @ $1500 a week minimum, $9,000.00 

Production assistant cost, because Tina is on salary. Savings: 12 weeks at @ $1,000 a week, $12,000.00 

Rental cars and taxis: Having Tina there eliminated any messenger service, taxis or car rental costs for the out-of-towners, delivery fees and the like. When Marc needed a car, he borrowed Philip’s or mine. Savings: rental car 10 weeks $2,000, messengers etc $1,000; total $3,000.00

Bookkeeping costs, because I and my business managers (who are on a percentage of my income) did all of that. Savings: @ $3,000.00

Rentals for microphones etc. during editing and overdubbing.  Rentals can become exorbitant if you don’t watch out; when Michael Jackson was recording an album a few years ago, he was using three studios around the clock, and renting a DX-7 keyboard for $50 a day. That doesn’t sound like much, but when you multiply it by 90 days, you might as well buy one. Savings: @ $3,000.00

A lot more rentals for tracking; we saved because we brought in Marc and Jeff’s equipment. Savings: 3 days times minimum $800 per day; $2,400.00

Accessories: On big-budget albums, guitar strings and the like are paid through the budget. I went through about 50 sets of strings this record, between sessions and overdubbing; D’Addario provided the strings gratis, which saved about $350.

Instrument rentals; fortunately, between the production crew we owned enough keyboards, guitars, percussion equipment etc. to cover whatever we needed. Savings based on previous albums, @ $2,000.00

A lot of the equipment we'd normally have to rent, or purchase, because we were working in the home studio a lot. We owe all the endorsers a huge thanks for providing everything from mic stands to headphones. Savings: @ $1,500

Cartage for Brock, who drove in with all his gear, saving us about $250.

Hotels for Marc, who stayed with Philip instead, saving us about $4,000.

Union fees for me, because we were allowed to self-pay.   Although my “fee” went on the final books, and my pension was paid through the union, otherwise it was a wash, and I saw no need to charge it to the budget. Savings: @ $3,600.00

Producer’s advances: since the chance of making royalties off an album, even an independent one like this, is so slim, most producers take their money up front. Neither Marc nor Jeff received an advance, saving us somewhere between $5,000-$100,000.  (Really - and the “famous” producers get as much as $50,000 per song!)

Engineering fees: Although they’re in here as a lump sum, they were really low.  Jeff and Marc just asked for enough to cover their own basic expenses (mortgage, rent, utilities and the like) for the duration of the project.  If I’d paid them by the hour, it would have cost between $35,000-$55,000.

Artist advance: I didn’t take one; all the advances I received went straight into the budget. That meant my own living expenses weren’t covered, which is part of why we began financial planning for this album two years ago – so there’d be enough in savings to squeak through.

Arranger fees: A lot of albums bring in an arranger, someone who chooses the musicians, writes the charts, rides herd on the session. I did it instead, for free, and we saved somewhere in the region of $4,000.

Copyist fees: The advantage of having had to earn a living as a copyist during my lean years stood us in good stead; I could do the charts, and even orchestrations if necessary.  A copyist for this amount of charts would have added at least $3,500 to our budget.

Roadies: Some big-label budgets include fees for the player’s “assistant”, usually a roadie, who’s there to change strings, tune the instruments, set up and tear down. Philip took care of my equipment, and each player took care of his own. Savings: anywhere from $2,000.00 to $5,000.00

Down time: That happens when nothing’s happening due to various factors – a lightning storm that shuts the control room down for a few hours (but the musicians still have to be paid); a singer who shows up six hours later (I’ve seen it  happen) while the musicians and engineers wait, and the like. Savings: inestimable!

Sushi: I’ve seen big-label producers decide they’re hungry, and order take-out sushi for fifteen without blinking an eye. While we had catering, it was reasonably priced, and everyone knew if they needed more, they had to bring it with them. Tina is diabetic and needs to “graze” all day; she brought her own supplies for that.

Stupid stuff: With a big budget, you can bring in a sushi chef, take a sick day and still pay everyone, buy some spare equipment you don’t need for the project but are going to use on tour, pay for a masseuse to come in at the end of each session, have a dog handler so Fifi doesn’t have to be alone while you’re at work, hair and makeup artist so you look good every day in case there’s a photographer… I’ve seen acts charge all of those things to the budget, and more. There was no stupid stuff on this album budget!