Over the years I have been something of a jack of all trades, master of none, musically speaking.  I find myself having some depth in a variety of areas.  I have been getting more and more requests for these various services, and I have addressed them informally on a one-off basis.  I have probably asked a lot less money than the services are actually worth.
 
So for the new year, I am working on organizing this as a business that will do a combination of live sound (for small shows), live recording, mixing-mastering, music arranging & engraving, and musician contracting.  In each of these areas (except arranging/engraving), there are established local companies that do a great job.  I am not trying to compete with them, but rather trying to address the needs of individuals and groups that don't need or can't afford the bigger companies.
 
I have started to organize this into a website that is not complete:
http://sonocrafters.com/index.html
 
With that background out of the way, my question really relates to mixing services.  I know many of you view mixing in the traditional way -- where there is a controlled studio environment and the mixing process is somewhat intertwined in the tracking process.  In my case, I envision most of these projects to consist of tracking a live show (12 - 24 channels typically,) and then do a mix completely offline.  I had a meeting today with a large music store chain that may be interested in teaming up in support of some local bands that deserve exposure, but can't really afford the full studio experience yet.
 
This got me thinking that if the mixing job is entirely offline, then there is no reason I have to do that, and no reason it couldn't be done by someone halfway around the world.  I bet the majority of people here are more capable than me at mixing, and I bet there are at least a few who would be interested in doing some of these mixing projects, assuming there was a fair amount of pay for it.
 
My question becomes one of process.  If I farmed this out, I would want the project to be returned as a SONAR project I could open and make any final refinements the client might ask for.  I am wondering if anybody has done collaborative work with SONAR.  Obviously we would have to agree on the VSTs that could be used.  And we would need to be at roughly the same software levels.  I'd assume everyone would be relatively current with SPlat.  Are there other considerations I am overlooking?
 
Does such a venture make sense to anybody?

I'd be open to trying a project or two.
 
What is the business model you propose (percentage wise)?
 
Say you take in a single song mix job for $100. What percentage would I see? What timeline would you expect. How many revisions are allowed before the fee goes up?
 
The biggest hurdle (as you mentioned, IMO) is agreeing on a set of plugs. Who dictates that? Do we just compare our lists (I do own quite a few) and agree on the common ones? Do I (or you) have to buy a "most desirable" plug?
 
 

You've got an interesting idea here!  I'd be interested in doing some mixes for you.  Since moving across the country I haven't yet had time to develop a local client base so this might suit me well in the current timeframe.  PM me if you'd like to discuss further......  Best of luck with Sonocrafters!
 
Dave

bapu
What is the business model you propose (percentage wise)?
Say you take in a single song mix job for $100. What percentage would I see? What timeline would you expect. How many revisions are allowed before the fee goes up?

I haven't gotten that far.  I am trying to validate that the concept is technically feasible.  Obviously there could be a lot of data to transmit, but with today's networks, that seems manageable. 
 
It does seem the plug-in set would be a critical issue.  If the collaborators all use SPlat, that's a pretty good set of plugs in common already.  I wonder if there would be other "must have" plugs to agree on.
 
As far as the pricing, it would have to be fair, obviously, or else nobody would want to collaborate.  OTOH, the client base I'd be working with would not be big organizations with large budgets.  I'm thinking some kind of a formula that would be based on number of instruments/tracks and length of the material.  I could see this getting tedious if the client wants a lot of special effects, like echoes, vocal treatment, Melodyne edits, etc.  I would probably do those things.  I think I would be looking at farming out the overall mix, not special effects.
 
I don't have any paying clients asking for this service at this stage.  I'm just trying to explore what might be a viable business model.

For whatever it's worth, which may not be much, I think you have a brilliant idea here.  I wish you much success.

cparmerlee
 
Does such a venture make sense to anybody?

probably to way too many ;-)
 
but seriously, there are many out there who will claim that they can do it. and even if they can, the delivered mix may not be what you had in mind ...
 
if you want this to work out, you should try to find a "trusted" resource and stick to that resource i.e. somebody who can provide what you need, in time in budget.

Since the question is "is this technically feasible?", the answer is most definitely "yes". It's done every day. Many of us here have been involved in collaborative efforts. It works. Often quite well, although it comes down to the skill of the mix engineer. But technically, it's no problem at all.
 
The next question, however, will be "is it commercially viable?". Although many of us have mixed other peoples' music, for most of us there hasn't been money involved. When doing it for fun, you're not too concerned with how long the process takes. If you're paying somebody, though, time is money.
 
Depending on the complexity of the mix, it could take anywhere from 1 hour to 30 hours. That, in fact, is what primarily distinguishes a professional mixer from a serious amateur: the pro knows how to get results quickly.
 
I fall into the serious-amateur category; even when I take the occasional paid mixing job, I always put far more time into it than anyone would be willing to pay for. So if I was paid, say, $100 per song that might pencil out to about $5 an hour. Maybe even less if a lot of detailed editing was needed.
 
So you've got two choices: hire a real pro and pay far more than $100 per song, or hire someone willing to do it for $100 a song and take a chance on inconsistent/incomplete results. You might get lucky and hook up with somebody who'll take the hundred bucks and give you five hundred dollars' worth of services in return, but they won't want to do that for very long.
 
This would be my suggestion...sign up a stable of experienced amateurs like bapu that you could call on. I have to imagine there are many who'd happily do a $100 job a couple times a month.

It is very possible and done all the time. My brothers and I set up an ftp site and share files with that. Very slick, dependable and private.
 
I agree with Dave (bitflipper), you might be best off having a stable of online mixing collaborators. Then you'll have several to choose from, depending on each situation. I'll throw my hat in as well.
 
Best of luck.

cparmerlee
Does such a venture make sense to anybody?

All of it except the last part where you want the mixes returned in Sonar format so you can tweak. That last requirement adds a metric sh*t ton of complexity and a lot of limitation to the endeavor. So the question becomes is that added complexity and limitation worth the reward of being able to tweak for the client. I would argue it is not.

I mean what you're proposing here is a low cost but otherwise viable alternative for struggling artists a recording of their work. Low cost for this sort of thing by definition then means low margin. IOW ain't no one ever gonna git rich off what you're proposing. To hand anyone beyond the person doing the mix in that scenario the ability to say 'well this is good but lets tweak that and lets change this and lets dial that up a bit while we push that further left' is akin to handing a loaded ak47 to a drunk monkey as far as profit goes. 

There are many people already doing something very similar to what you propose quite profitably in the form of online mastering. Ask yourself why people choose to use online mastering, or any other outsourced mastering solution. They do it because it gives them access to someone with good ears and (generally speaking) great tools. If you get your music back and something isn't right, you contact the mastering vendor and say great job but could you tweak this and change that and the vendor sends another copy. It works just fine for outsourced mastering. Why wouldn't that work for outsourced mixing?

Then you have the advantage of allowing the selected mix engineer to use any and all tools he or she has available. More importantly, you then allow the selected mix engineer to use the particular set of tools he or she is most comfortable working with. And if you or the client wants something tweaks, you shoot and email and they run the changes and you get what you get. Remember, this is a low cost alternative. If the client wants more control, they client is more than welcome to go book time in a full blown studio and do their project there at 10x the price. 

That's my opinion on it. I sense your focus on this is more for benefit to the artist community than to create any kind of winning business model. But if the business model isn't good, it won't fly. And if it doesn't fly, no one in the artist community will benefit. And in my opinion, taking out the requirement to return projects in sonar format using only common plugs from a pre-defined list is a much more viable business model. 

JohanSebatianGremlin
And in my opinion, taking out the requirement to return projects in sonar format using only common plugs from a pre-defined list is a much more viable business model. 

After sleeping on this idea I'll have to agree with John on his point.
 
I may not be your candidate if the business model is solely based on using SPlat only plugs. I've grown to know many of my 3rd party plugs far better than the SPalt plugs. And truth be told other than an occasional use of the Sonitus compressor or the CA-2A on bass I almost never touch any SPlat provided plugs.
 
If you're willing to relax the SPlat plugs only requirement I'm still open giving a go to see hoiw it works out. PM me if or when you're ready.