New website for my studio up. Any advice on enhancements/improvements? What do you think

Ouch!!!

I'm not a fan of that blue text on black background.

The drum pic is blurry

Hi ChuckC,

You may want to reword the following phrase under your "Rates" section:

This will help result in a much smoother recording experiance for both of us.

You should post a pic of your computer, DAW, etc. 

Rimshot

Thanks Bapu.... That the kinda feedback I need on it. 
What the heck is "made for web" mod?

Trimph1- So you are say I should have the text to the left rather than centered?  Ok I'll look into it!
No I have no pictures curently planned for that page.

Rimshot- What do you propose there?  is there an issue with my verbage?

Bapu- Your probably right on the cabling looking ugly.  My wife just got a bad arse new camera.  I'll have to put her to work. :)

Thanks Rimshot.

The yellow text is better but I would suggest a softer yellow (maybe bordering on beige).

This should sort out all of your probs www.lynda.com


Good luck !

Looks pretty good to me Chuck

I'd much prefer smaller text though, that size is quite difficult to read. That would also help to reduce scrolling.
 
And a massive +1 to getting some decent photographs, even if you have to pay a pro. Even a tripod would help though. The old maxim that "A picture Paints a Thousand Words" is absolutely true, and even more so if you're selling a service. High quality images will give the impression of a high quality business.
 
And good luck with it all BTW
 
 
 

Text is way too big. My browser which gets up a lot of websites and is big enough but not fullscreen is probably around 14" relative inches across by a good 12 inches down. That is all, and I never run into a web page that does not fit in those dimensions anymore. The only thing used full screen (or perhaps more screens sinc I only have one) is Sonar and that is 1920 by 1200 or a 24" monitor.

Hey Chuck
Big KUDOS on making your own site.  If you want to try something a little easier you could try what I use http://www.wix.com/  I used the free website templates. But you could pay a small fee and own your own domain name and choose from hundreds of templates and cool items to add to your site.

My free site
http://www.wix.com/drumstixkev/vox-box-studio#! 

GOOD LUCK
Kev

Totally free!  A lot of cool templates to choose from.

Kev

Not a bad start. As an ex-professional web developer I understand the sense of accomplishment you must feel. I was going to give you a list of things to look at, but, it seems you already have most of the advice I would have given to you.

One of the key ideas behind HTML was "platform independence". What that means is the site should look the same on all browsers, at all sizes. You have used fixed values in the HTML table defs (and large ones at that), which is no longer considered valid, and tables are to be used... well, for tables. Not for layout.

The best thing to study right now is not HTML/XML, but CSS. That is how you place elements on a page, not tables, and is how you make it visually appealing. Not HTML.

As for the photography, the camera is less important than lighting and framing. Those things are the visual "music", not the camera (just as sonar will not make anybody a better singer, neither will a camera make a better shot - ultracheap camera aside). As somebody mentioned, use a tripod, and understand the artistic use of "depth of field".

Oh, and with digital photography, you need to understand the concept of "White Balance". Most decent camera's allow you to correct for this (in some pictures, your whites are blue).

As a website for a business, you need to make it look professional. You only get one chance to make a first impression, and people expect slick and quick.

Please feel free to seek me out for technical advice if you want.

Cheers
Shad

Hi Chuck, 

It's already been mentioned regarding the large font.  I believe they're referring to the "About Us" page.  On the other hand, the "Gear" page font is too small.  I'd recommend choosing a font and size and use it consistently throughout the site.  
You should also get a dedicated phone number for the studio.  It's much more professional that way.  
It's a good start.  The graphic is awesome.  Maybe a blue/white color scheme would be worth considering to create a unifying theme to the site.  The clips sound good.  

Good luck, 
Jan

My thoughts:

Better photos are a must. They don;t need a professional photographer, but better lighting and close ups of the rack would be better.  De-clutter the studio shots... right now it don't look like an attractive studio... it looks more like a garage band's hang out space. 

Be positve and professional on the wording .... quite a bit of the stuff on pricing is weak and makes it sound like you are not sure of what you're doing.... it doesn't inspire confidence. 

check out some of the pro studio web sites....see how they handle the pricing and how they word it. Copy them.

I might even just say... call for current rates & special limited time pricing.... and leave it at that. 

FWIW.... I think $25 is too low.  Unless everyone else in the area is charging $10/hr..... I think $50/hr tracking is minimum you should charge. 

If the work you do is up to par, you need to charge the right price unless it's just a hobby.  But I had recorded years and years (decades actually) ago in a hobby studio that was charging more than that then. IIRC it was $30/hr back in the 70's and that was a hobby studio.   The next closest studio... 15 miles up the road was charging around $80/hr and staying booked.   I later did record several tunes  in the second studio for a fixed price...... but that was a bad experience.