So let's say I've already had my musicians come in and record their parts on their instruments.... but suddenly, the client wants the key of the entire song chance by a couple of half steps.
How should I go about this? Is there a method where I can do it with the final mix, or will I have to pitch shift manually, track-by-track? What sounds best?

 
 I'm out 
 
 
 

davdud101
So let's say I've already had my musicians come in and record their parts on their instruments.... but suddenly, the client wants the key of the entire song chance by a couple of half steps.
How should I go about this? Is there a method where I can do it with the final mix, or will I have to pitch shift manually, track-by-track? What sounds best?

First, I assume you're not using MIDI. 
 
Second, if you do the final mix, any unpitched parts (like drums) will be transposed as well...you probably don't want that, so you'll need to transpose each pitched audio track, or premix all pitched tracks and transpose that.
 
The DSP-based Process >Transpose algorithm in SONAR is up there with the best of them. If it doesn't do it for you, it's unlikely you'll find something that does.

I mixed these two methods and within about 15m I transposed and jumped all of my (audio) tracks individually Using the Process->Transpose dialogue... I'm surprised how well it went, it sounds very natural! I didn't know it was actually algorithm-based and not just straight-up pitch shifting it.
She will be satisfied, I'm certain!

SONAR's pitch-shifting algorithm is licensed from iZotope, and it's very good. A couple semitones is fine, but of course the more you transpose, the less natural the sound.

Next time..... be absolutely certain the key is correct for the singer BEFORE you hit record on audio tracks.  It's good that Sonar saved the day, but it was still extra work for you and I'm sure, a bit of a panic moment as well.
 
I've had to use melodyne to fix some things but not transpose entire tracks to a different key.....well, not yet anyway.
 
The ones I love are the singers who waste your time bouncing around on keys.... finally settling, or so it seems, on the right key, only to come up and want a half step more in one direction or another...... whatever makes them happy...... right?

Guitarhacker
whatever makes them happy...... right?

As long as they're paying.....  Yes

Haha! I'll keep that in mind. everything was all written out long ago, unfortunately. 
 
While I'm here, I have a few questions:
1) I get a lot of commissions from people I know. What is the best way to break to them the fact that it cost money, and the price?
2) What is a decent pricing scale? I think I've done enough good work that I it's reasonable to charge. How should I base my system?

How to break it to them that it costs money?
 
 
Straight up.  Either quote them the hourly rate or a project rate. What ever you charge, don't be ashamed to ask for it.   Time is money and people know that if they go somewhere else they will have to pay for the service there...so you asking to be paid is part of the business and normal.
 
Pricing... look around at other local studios and see what they are charging. Figure out where you fit into the quality/price vs the other locals.  Set your price at the higher end of what you think your time and experience is worth in the local market. You can always come down in price to get a job but you can't go up on rates in the middle of a project.
 
I don't do much work for hire, and I have very little local studio competition around here..... I don't generally do walk in clients.... it's mostly on line when I do work for others. Word of mouth. We settle on the price for the project or the hourly rate or a per track rate up front. Recently, I did a song project.... just tracks for a client. It was a cost of the project deal. He was wanting to change this and that, then the key, and I had to write to him and tell him that his indecision needed to stop and we needed to get the project rolling. Time is money and it was being wasted on all the changes. I told him to pick a key, settle on a style and lets get this done..... the option was I was out unless he could find something he liked and we would go with it.  Waaa Laaa.... he liked the style and the key, we finished the project and I sent him  the song as MP3 with silence breaks...... for his approval. He liked it, paid me and I sent him the full wave.
 
Then..... 2 weeks later.... he came back wanting a key change on it. I told him it would cost the same as he had just paid and I could rework it in that new key..... he declined. I didn't really care.   Thar's the great thing about running a studio as a hobby..... I don't have to accept the work and I don't worry when someone walks away.
 
Always write up a work for hire that specifies the money to be paid. Get signatures and only then start the work. If not, you'll get screwed. Get a deposit or down payment depending on the size of the project. Figure out based on the time you expect the project to take, when you have used that deposit. DO NOT keep working without getting another chunk of money.  Always be working on their money (dime) or you will end up working on your time.
 
I've seen a number of folks here who tried running studios complain that they had spent 10 hours on a project, were paid for 3 hrs with the deposit (if they bothered to get one) and then the band/artist said he/she didn't like the way it was sounding and walked away..... leaving the studio on the hook for free studio time.
 
I put silence into all my mp3 test tracks..... every 10 seconds. That kept the customers from using the mp3 and walking out on paying for a finished product.
 
Just my 2 cents.....

The silence idea to limit the usefulness of the track until payment is recieved is a great idea.