Larry Jones
 
My next album might go platinum. So I'm not releasing it, because it also might not go platinum.
 
I am a former full-time pro Hollywood studio owner/struggling musician. I have promoted myself to complete amateur, doing exactly the music I freakin feel like doing.

Also, Minneapolis is where it's at.

There's a first...never thought I'd hear a Southern Californian say that Minneapolis is where it's at!

During the transition to the new studio, I am running large tracking sessions that require drums and full bands at a theatre in one of the schools I work at. All wood floors 14' high ceiling. huge open space. So it is all working out.

Great thread! I am looking forward to reading more about what people do.
 
I myself am one step below hobbyist. Mostly I just play guitar to backing tracks. It keeps me off the streets.
 
I am an Aerospace Engineer during the day so the guitars and Sonar are my therapy :-)

Although I'm not crazy about the term "hobbyist", I guess that's where I'd fall!
 
Been playing guitar since I'm eight years old and have been passionate about music ever since (I'm 57 now}. I played in various bands growing up (including wedding bands when I lived on France for a while). I've been using Cakewalk since Guitar Studio days. I now just compose and record my own music to share with my friends.
 
I LOVE music and music production!

I am in category 0. Amateur.
 
Which actually is not a derogatory term. And is not a commentary on talent or skill as is sometimes the perception.  The root of the word means "lover of", but not engaged in a pursuit as a profession.
 
I have a passion for music and recording, but have done little paid studio work. Perhaps this will change as my load of responsibilities in other areas of life change. I mostly record myself, family and friends. I have dabbled a little in opening up my studio to the outside world. Most potential work I have had is by referral of overflow from a friend's studio. But unfortunately this didn't work out because some of those seemed to be nuts he didn't want to deal with. 
 
Also, I get inquiries from youngsters who think a whole cd project should be doable for $100 or less. (4 minutes a song, right?)
 
So at this point in life I haven't really tried to make use of my studio as an income generator, or pursue business, although I do have an equipment list that would compare favorably with most local facilities.
 
Most times when I speak with a prospective client the first question they have is "do you have ProTools?" Often this is the beginning of the end of our conversation.  There are a lot of people out there who know just enough about recording to have heard that one "should" use PT. 
 
Any income I derive from music is usually from live performances.
 
 
 

I'm full time in various kinds of audio work. Mostly music, though I also do sound effects for video games, audiobook editing, been recording a radio drama, all sorts really. Sonar is where I do the majority of my editing and mixing.

It's kind of telling that none of you said you were a teacher.  That's interesting.  Hobbyist btw.

Hobbyist who's been paid a few times to record/mix and master. 5 years to retirement and the chance to do this steadily. Love music, love Sonar.

I make a little loot playing music, although my main income comes from software sales in a niche market - even 'nichier' than music production software. I am also a songwriter and I started with Cakewalk Home Studio about 12 years ago because it was Windows based and seemed like a good value.  Basically I was looking for a tool to allow me to record the songs I had written and add parts as needed.  I have upgraded computers and versions since then to the point where I have produced a 12 song cd on X2 and X3 and am working on a second on Platinum.  I am still a fairly novice user of Sonar, but I'm getting more comfortable and competent.  I appreciate the tips I glean from this forum and from the CW videos.  Now I just need to find a place to buy a more refined set of ears.

eph221
It's kind of telling that none of you said you were a teacher.  That's interesting.  Hobbyist btw.

musichoo did. Post number 38!

I also teach a bit on the side, mainly piano, mostly to adults, mostly people who have some background but want to take their music a little deeper, understand harmony or improvisation a bit more. That's my favorite kind of teaching -  making little breakthroughs, helping people discover that music is much bigger and deeper and more fascinating and more fun than they had imagined it could be. Not turning them into concert performers, but helping them learn the concepts and tools to make music a more rewarding part of their lives. And of course it's also rewarding for me to be part of that process. But I still charge money for it
 
I also tune pianos on the side, which I also forgot to mention earlier. That's also been very rewarding in terms of my own approach to and relationship with the instrument. I apprenticed for a while with an amazing technician years ago, not to become a full-time tuner but to challenge myself to understand and come to terms with the instrument on a different level. I try to do it often enough to keep the skills up, but not enough to get tired of it... variety is the spice of life!

I make absolutely nothing from music at the moment. The only "big" money I ever made was in a band in the 60s. We played for $125/gig, $25 to each of the 4 of us and $25 into the band (PA, mics, cables, etc). Like it said, big money.
 
I started on piano at 8. From 10, I studied 3 years with the soloist for the St. Louis Philharmonic, Joanna Lange. Here she is, 5 years ago, at age 82, after having suffered a stroke 20 years earlier that left her right arm paralyzed.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yYdv8GNdww
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY-Yf-l97Fk
 
I don't remember much about the playing part of the weekly 2-hour lessons, but I sure do remember sitting at her kitchen table, transposing a Chopin piano piece down a minor third...just because.  EXACTLY what every 11 year old wants to be doing on Saturday morning. That's the part my parents knew about.
 
What they didn't know about was me sneaking out after everyone else was asleep, busing down to Gaslight Square (in St. Louis), buying a slice and a coke for $0.25 and walking up and down the main drag, listening to the delta blues coming out of the clubs. Hot and humid. All windows open. Just like being inside! I'd find the one I liked the best, park my butt on a bench outside and love me some blues.
 
Moved to Wisconsin in 1964 at 12. Picked up the clarinet in band. Our town had one of the first cable systems. We got Madison, Milwaukee, Rockford and Chicago. Summer of '65, I saw a 1 hour documentary on the Blues on the Chicago PBS station. The first half hour was Mississippi John Hurt, sitting on a chair with a resonator on a stage by himself, playing that delta blues that I'd fallen in love with in St. Louis. The second half hour was a freaking revelation. I mean, I almost lost my mind. Electric blues! A 17 year old guitar wizard name of Buddy Guy. That was a life-changing event.
 
That Christmas (1965), we went down to Chicago to visit family. I'm 14, but was 5'10" and pretty much knew my way around. So, I did what I always did, waited for everybody to go to sleep, and then snuck out. I took the train into the city and walked up to Old Town (Wells St), looking for some blues. But, crapola, it was cold and snowy and NONE of the clubs had any open windows. I couldn't hear a thing. So, what to do? I see one club with a bunch of peeps in line, so I figured that had to be the best blues. So, I got in line.
 
Got in, no problem. Got a beer (kept the waitress off my back) and picked out a dark corner to hang in. The band comes on. I don't know anybody from anything, so the band announcement meant nothing to me. Then they started playing. WTF?!?!? That wasn't the blues. I didn't know what it was, but it was AMAZING. Another life-changing event.
 
Oh, who was it?
 

 
Like I said...a life-changing event.
 
My mother never understood why, but never agreed to let me learn to play the trumpet.
 
I sure like what the keyboard player did (Herbie), but the bass player (Ron) blew me away. No trumpet? No problem. I bought a used '63 Fender J bass, a little tube amp and a used Farfisa. Used those in the band I mentioned above.
 
Then came 'Nam and the draft. I enlisted. Went the other way. Didn't help. Spent more time in Army and VA hospitals than I did on active. Got home. Bass, amp, keyboard and ALL of my LPs...freaking GONE. My mother gave them away, hated my music. [I mean, come ON, what the heck is wrong with playing 96 Tears by Question Mark and the Mysterians? OK, there was some OTHER stuff!]
 
Then, college and a career or 3. The final 10 years I got to run consulting businesses in Asia and Europe. And then I got an X drawn through my position (must have been the $2.5MM client I FIRED (for absolutely appropriate ethical issues, but who cares; rainmakers don't do that; period; and I did; nobody in the industry would even talk to me after that; I'd do it again)).
 
Anyway, losing a 6-figure income at 53 can be tough. Shouldn't have been (my (now ex-) wife made more than I did), but I guess my income was more important that I was. So, fast forward through some really crappy times to...
 
Now. Single. 64 in August. Retired. On pension and Social Security. New house paid for. Subaru paid for. Time to get back to making music, instead of just listening to one of the thousands of CDs I own. [I had a loft put in for my studio. My dogs spend as much time in it as I do. Lots of sunlight up here at 7,000 feet!]
 
I wasted some time on PreSonus (Studio One 2 Pro and an AudioBox 44 VSL). I didn't like the S1 upgrade to v3 and I could NEVER get the AudioBox driver to play nicely in my system. Both gone. I'm really liking SPlat and expect the issues that I have with the v1.00 driver for the Tascam US-16-08 I picked up to be fixed (unlike PreSonus' dead silence and over a year of nada).
 
Will I ever make a dime from music? Would be cool, but it's not a requirement. Right now, getting my playing chops back is more important. And learning recording and mixing at the same time. Very cool.
 
I'm finding it really interesting to go back and listen to music I've not heard in a while. I'm amazed at what ELSE I'm hearing (or not hearing, as the case may be). Not just what it is, but HOW it was made.
 
Lots of fun!

Drummer on the weekends, radio stations owner during the week, and record when I can.  Love the technical side of all of these.

I mean, come ON, what the heck is wrong with playing 96 Tears by Question Mark and the Mysterians?

The very first song I ever performed in front of a paying audience. I made $2 from that gig, and had intended to frame those two bills like Scrooge McDuck's first dollar, but I got hungry the next day.

Hi Gang...

I'm full-time here... Retirement? I don't know what that is...

Starting as a guitarist in the early 60's I became an engineer after my first miserable session with an engineer who was difficult......... I bought a 3" battery operated tape recorder and started to learn how to record.

I've designed commercial and many home studios of varying complexities... Lots of computer programming though I never did so for a living...

Currently dying for a living as I record myself as well as other artists... Here in my studio as well as live anywhere... I use Sonar Platinum and have been using Cakewalk since they first release cakewalk for windows where I ran it in sync with multitrack tape... I have also worked in a number of other DAWs when forced to! ;-)

I've released 8 solo albums over the years first on vinyl, then cassette, and finally digital under two different performing names... First, The Outcast (2 albums) and then as In Exile (6 albums) all on my own label Deep Space Records...

I've worked with names such as Arif Mardin, Phil Ramone, Michael Bolton, James Ingram, Ebn-Ozn, VKTMS, Scritti Polliti and more...

Currently nearing completion of my 9th album... Work title is Unfinished 9th which will obviously be changed when it's finished! ;-)

<whew>! That turned into a bio! ;-)

Sorry 'bout that!

Keni

Hobbyist - also looking forward to retirement (in about 7 years) so I can devote more time to music and hopefully actually learn how to use SONAR properly.
 
I am an IT pro by trade, guitar player (classical and electric) by inclination.
 
My proudest moments - playing classical pieces for my son's and daughter's weddings this year.
 
I have one guitar student (a friend of my daughter's) but he's moving out of town soon so that income stream will soon dry up. Hardly lucrative but over a couple of years it bought me a new classical guitar. Happy days!