basspig
Veteran
I have been asked to quote the price of recording 25 classical, pops and chamber music concerts/recitals in a very upscale part of New Hampshire this summer and I have some questions about the logistics because this type of opportunity hasn't come my way before.
First, some information:
My residence is about 6 hours' drive from the two venue locations.
There will be concerts Thurs-Sun and on Tuesdays, making the round trip commute home for one day in between impractical.
I have been getting paid $2500 per concert to make elaborate 7-channel with surround sound recordings with high def photography using four cameras, three of which are manned.
We're moving toward getting an intercom system so that the backup conductor can direct the shot calls for each of the manned cameras. I will need some suggestions for a good intercom system under $750 with four stations, as well.
Now here's what I thought about the temporary relocation for this festival:
Since a hotel would be prohibitively expensive, my wife and I discussed the idea of renting a house, just like we were on vacation, as it turned out to be cheaper on a trip to Canada that we made with another couple back in 2000. This area of NH is expensive though.. weekly rentals run $1000-3000 and higher for the off-peak season. Many of the places I looked at will run over $15,000 to rent for a month. I did find one place that might be adequate for a crew of four people for about $2700/month. These places are within 30 minutes of Plymouth, NH. I'll need to rent for five weeks though, as that's how long the music fest lasts.
I was also pondering whether to build a new desktop NLE, or work on one of the high end gaming laptops. I'm going to be loaded pretty heavy with gear in one mid-sized SUV. Obviously, the cameras, tripods, mic arrays, recording/DAW system, cables, etc. But the NLE will need amplified monitor speakers, at least quad core with the horsepower to render a 2 hr concert to DVD MPEG2 format in a couple of hours. I will have the daytime hours to edit, render, author and burn a DVD for each prior night's concert. It has to be all commercial quality production levels, just like I do for the local concert halls in my home state, replete with menus, quality packaging art, etc. Obviously, I need a disc printer that can print liners. I'll need to bring a stock of amaray cases, blank inkjet DVD-R media, my QuarkXpress installed on the NLE system, or a separate laptop for doing the design while the NLE renders.. in short, I need to basically clone my base of operations at a location in NH for about a month.
I'm not sure what to charge for the concerts. 25 of them is a lot. But also, I'll be away from home and family and unable to do other work during this time, so I don't want to shortchange myself. I have to pay my crew as well. Rent on a house, meals for the crew, any incidentals, etc. add up to a hefty sum. Just the concert recordings and production for that many concerts would run about $62K at my regular rates back home in an economically-depressed area. Plus I have to add transportation costs and housing on top of crew costs.
We'd have the possibility of set up and break down every day at two different venues about 13 miles apart, unless I can clone my mic setup and leave them hung in both venues for the duration of the festival.
For housing, realistically, we're probably not going to find anything cheaper than $5K for the five week stay. The place will need to have a/c, as computers don't work well when it's 100°F in the room in late July, and for my crew's sanity as well. $1000/week is the rock bottom of pricing I could find in a search for short-term rentals in that area.
Another issue is crew. Several of my crew have regular day jobs (one is self-employed and can do the gig if the price is right) and cannot make the five week stay in NH. I am training my sister-in-law who is bright and willing to learn this trade, but I may need to find 1-2 more good CineAlta camera operators who have some experience working large classical venues and working under direction from a conductor calling the shots. I need to know what the nightly rate would be if there are any NH locals.. I provide ALL equipment, I just need conscientious, focused video people to run it. I'm open to ideas.
If anyone has suggestions of familarity with the Plymouth/Laconia area and where to find short term housing that is not an outhouse but decent enough to work in comfortably all day and any additional considerations I haven't thought of, feel free to jump in. I don't know if this is going to fly, but I've worked with this music director a couple of times already and his ability to raise cash and make things happen is downright stunning, so if we can agree on pricing, I am pretty sure this will happen.
If I do this right, this could be an annual thing, making me 95% of my annual income every year, so I want to plan this carefully and quote it out reasonably. I hope I've provided enough info to go on. If more is needed, please speak up and ask. I'll do what I can.
Thanks!
First, some information:
My residence is about 6 hours' drive from the two venue locations.
There will be concerts Thurs-Sun and on Tuesdays, making the round trip commute home for one day in between impractical.
I have been getting paid $2500 per concert to make elaborate 7-channel with surround sound recordings with high def photography using four cameras, three of which are manned.
We're moving toward getting an intercom system so that the backup conductor can direct the shot calls for each of the manned cameras. I will need some suggestions for a good intercom system under $750 with four stations, as well.
Now here's what I thought about the temporary relocation for this festival:
Since a hotel would be prohibitively expensive, my wife and I discussed the idea of renting a house, just like we were on vacation, as it turned out to be cheaper on a trip to Canada that we made with another couple back in 2000. This area of NH is expensive though.. weekly rentals run $1000-3000 and higher for the off-peak season. Many of the places I looked at will run over $15,000 to rent for a month. I did find one place that might be adequate for a crew of four people for about $2700/month. These places are within 30 minutes of Plymouth, NH. I'll need to rent for five weeks though, as that's how long the music fest lasts.
I was also pondering whether to build a new desktop NLE, or work on one of the high end gaming laptops. I'm going to be loaded pretty heavy with gear in one mid-sized SUV. Obviously, the cameras, tripods, mic arrays, recording/DAW system, cables, etc. But the NLE will need amplified monitor speakers, at least quad core with the horsepower to render a 2 hr concert to DVD MPEG2 format in a couple of hours. I will have the daytime hours to edit, render, author and burn a DVD for each prior night's concert. It has to be all commercial quality production levels, just like I do for the local concert halls in my home state, replete with menus, quality packaging art, etc. Obviously, I need a disc printer that can print liners. I'll need to bring a stock of amaray cases, blank inkjet DVD-R media, my QuarkXpress installed on the NLE system, or a separate laptop for doing the design while the NLE renders.. in short, I need to basically clone my base of operations at a location in NH for about a month.
I'm not sure what to charge for the concerts. 25 of them is a lot. But also, I'll be away from home and family and unable to do other work during this time, so I don't want to shortchange myself. I have to pay my crew as well. Rent on a house, meals for the crew, any incidentals, etc. add up to a hefty sum. Just the concert recordings and production for that many concerts would run about $62K at my regular rates back home in an economically-depressed area. Plus I have to add transportation costs and housing on top of crew costs.
We'd have the possibility of set up and break down every day at two different venues about 13 miles apart, unless I can clone my mic setup and leave them hung in both venues for the duration of the festival.
For housing, realistically, we're probably not going to find anything cheaper than $5K for the five week stay. The place will need to have a/c, as computers don't work well when it's 100°F in the room in late July, and for my crew's sanity as well. $1000/week is the rock bottom of pricing I could find in a search for short-term rentals in that area.
Another issue is crew. Several of my crew have regular day jobs (one is self-employed and can do the gig if the price is right) and cannot make the five week stay in NH. I am training my sister-in-law who is bright and willing to learn this trade, but I may need to find 1-2 more good CineAlta camera operators who have some experience working large classical venues and working under direction from a conductor calling the shots. I need to know what the nightly rate would be if there are any NH locals.. I provide ALL equipment, I just need conscientious, focused video people to run it. I'm open to ideas.
If anyone has suggestions of familarity with the Plymouth/Laconia area and where to find short term housing that is not an outhouse but decent enough to work in comfortably all day and any additional considerations I haven't thought of, feel free to jump in. I don't know if this is going to fly, but I've worked with this music director a couple of times already and his ability to raise cash and make things happen is downright stunning, so if we can agree on pricing, I am pretty sure this will happen.
If I do this right, this could be an annual thing, making me 95% of my annual income every year, so I want to plan this carefully and quote it out reasonably. I hope I've provided enough info to go on. If more is needed, please speak up and ask. I'll do what I can.
Thanks!