Everyone's situation is vastly different than everyone else's. This applies to clients as well as engineers. When the needs of one persons situation conflict with the needs of another persons situation, conflict can arise. This is true in relationships, partnerships, politics, and even business. It's especially true in freelance business. This is why it's important to be choosy about the clients you accept money from. If the values and needs of the person you have just accepted work from don't match with your own, then it might be a very rocky business deal with a lot of added stress that isn't necessary. Allow me to elaborate.
I'm a professional mix engineer. I've decided to close my studio to work from home, and have set up a mixing room there. I did this so that I could make mixing my second priority, and make caring for my family my first priority. My twin teens have autism, and require 24/7 one on one supervision, which makes mixing take a good amount of time for me. It took me a little more than 2 weeks to get to the editing and mix of one song, which I finished just this morning. This pace would cause many to turn their noses up at the very notion of working with me, and that's fine with me. Audio is priority #2, and family is #1. I still want audio work, but I'm not going to just accept every project that someone asks me to mix. I have a few criteria that I need to make sure the potential client and I are crystal clear on before I consider a new client.
1. They absolutely cannot rush me. I charge per song on mixing, and I do that because I could find 5 or 10 minutes here or there to sit down behind pro tools before being called away to handle an autism related mishap. I may not find time to get back to the pro tools rig for 2 days. I have enough stress, so worrying about client deadlines is not something I'm willing to do. This is made crystal clear up front.
2. They pay in advance. Nothing irks me more than a client who is unwilling to pay once a project is finished, especially after I've put in a lot of time and focus into their project (time I could've spent with my family).
3. They leave me be til I'm ready to post a mix. Once I've got the first mix finalized, we can talk about revisions and other directions. But if you're constantly coming at me to ask me how it's going, you're essentially rushing me. Refer to point #1.
4. They are committing to the tracks they send me. I can understand if something NEEDS retracked because of the multitude of reasons things need retracked. But if you're coming at me with constant indecision about whether you should've done this or done that, you're forcing me to stop work until you make up your mind about what you want. There's no point in me mixing any further til all of the elements are in place, and if you're considering making changes your progress will be stopped until you're ready. The amount of things on my plate are many as a stay at home dad to special needs teenagers. If your indecision forces me to pause working with your track while you evaluate what you want to do, I'm going to put you in the back of the line of work and move on to the next project. This will cause your tracks to take longer, which isn't what any of us want.
With the above in mind, why would anyone hire me?
Simple. They want ME on the faders. I've made efforts to brand myself as the valuable commodity, instead of my facility. When you brand your facility as the valuable commodity, you give the impression that any engineer could come into that facility and do the job. When you brand YOU as the valuable commodity, you create brand loyalty around having YOU behind the faders. This ensures clients who will seek YOU out, and who will be more than willing to accommodate any sort of special circumstances (like my home life) making the process slower than with other engineers.
By being choosy about who I let hire me, I eliminate a lot of unnecessary stress from my life. I've got enough of it as it is. Not everyone is in my situation, but this is the criteria that is necessary for ME. It keeps people from hounding me over the progress of their mix, which will cause me to go into panic mode if I'm worrying about a deadline for a client while being kept away from the mixing room by my family needs. It keeps me from worrying about people flaking out on the payments. If I don't get paid, none of the time I spent away from my family was worth it. It gives me the freedom and time to evaluate every detail of the tracks they've sent me and bring them up to my standards with editing, mixing, and lots of attention to detail. And it keeps me from having projects waiting on the back burner while the client gets their tracks in order. My back burner is quite full, and I need to keep it decluttered. Every one of these pieces are important in my personalized formula for making magic for clients. They are all equally important. If you don't fit one piece of this puzzle, I'll refer you to a fantastic engineer who I know may be able to accommodate your needs and desires. No harm no fowl. I just need to keep my stress about client work to a minimum so that I can bring my maximum focus and effort to my family AND to my clients.
You should be choosy about your clients too. You don't HAVE to take a project just because someone asks you to. If someone asks you to change your rate and cut them a deal, that's a red flag for me to send them somewhere else. They don't value ME, and instead would like me but aren't willing or able to pay for me. If they aren't able to pay for me, then they can come back when they are. If they don't value ME, then I don't want to be a part of their project. When the person doesn't value you and your contribution, then any monkey with a pro tools rig could do your job in their eyes. That kind of client will be nothing but trouble, especially for a person in my situation. Being choosy is a great way to make sure you're keeping everyone happy, including yourself.
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