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[Luke Geis]

I can see how a weekend warrior would love this sort of thing. If you don't depend on this work for a living, then often a $300 day is better than $120 at your day job.

I used to be that guy, but got sick of doing these gigs and having nothing to show for it. I started looking at it as what is MY TIME worth and what is the gear worth. Then i also had to listen to stories where I was basically working my butt off for free and then hear that the videographer showed up for 1 hour and got $1k....... Oh hell no.......

So now I am more stern about my pricing and what do you know, I am making more money, my demand has gone up and I can afford to buy what I consider to be more professional gear!  It goes to show that if you find value in what you do, you can get paid real money to do it.

The guys showing up with full rigs for $450 can't possibly have a sustainable business. Even if two guys show up for $15 and hour that is $30 and hour for an 8 hour day. Easily $250-$300 in labor at that point, which means the gear is only making $150-$200. This doesn't factor in any other costs. That gear would have to go out 5 days a week ever week to make enough money to replace it as needed.

My current rental model gets most all of my equipment paid for within 20 rentals. I can get that number of rentals done within a year no problem. This means that the next 9 years of expected service will be all profit. My labor is no longer a joke to me. I am not beating myself up for free anymore. My minimum just to be there is $400 these days. This is still on low side, but the wife is happy!

In the end, if the artists is making $450 for his time, we should making very close to that for our time, and then we should get paid what the equipment is worth. For a weekend warrior $600, for a real company, $1,200 is more realistic.

[James Feenstra]

I'd quote this out at around $2k + tax in Toronto, he's got a post up for a Victoria, BC show as well and the pricing out west is going to be really close to the same, potentially higher as there's less competition there

renting it all from <local music store that has a low budget rental department> *might* land him under $600, but that's with no tech, and no transportation.

It's ambitious, that's for sure, might be a great gig for some guy with 13 speakers in his garage, but definitely not a 'pro' level job by any means

[Jeremy Young]

I saw the Victoria post and chuckled to myself.  Here in Victoria, the posting/budget is about right for a 17-year old with some rented gear from L&M working with no insurance/WCB and paying no taxes.  I don't know what the competition is like in Toronto, but on Vancouver Island we're flooded with musicians who consider themselves sound engineers.  That end of the market is saturated and I have no interest in it whatsoever today, but at one time or another I would have taken that gig, provided a great rig, worked the whole thing myself and had a smile on my face.  I'm sure they'll find someone though, just don't know what kind of quality they'll get.

[James Feenstra]

I saw the Victoria post and chuckled to myself.  Here in Victoria, the posting/budget is about right for a 17-year old with some rented gear from L&M working with no insurance/WCB and paying no taxes.  I don't know what the competition is like in Toronto, but on Vancouver Island we're flooded with musicians who consider themselves sound engineers.  That end of the market is saturated and I have no interest in it whatsoever today, but at one time or another I would have taken that gig, provided a great rig, worked the whole thing myself and had a smile on my face.  I'm sure they'll find someone though, just don't know what kind of quality they'll get.

Toronto market is flooded with sound companies and DJ companies all bidding themselves to the bottom, at all levels of the game. All the big guys are here, and there's a ton of mid size and small guys too....

That's why I'm on tour right now (In Vancouver) instead of perpetuating the race to the bottom for this summer. I'll leave that to my account managers haha

[Ray Aberle]

I've worked with the guy once.

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