This year, let me help you play Santa for the studio owner in your life. Check out this quick article from About.com’s Home Recording guru:

Holiday Season 2009 Buying Guide: Top 5 Stocking Stuffers for Musicians & Recording Engineers

Here’s my recap of the list:

Anything you can do to save a musician/engineer’s hearing is a great gift idea. Face it, we spend our whole lives listening to music at ear-piercing volumes. By the time we hit 30, our hearing is already noticeably degraded. Show your love and give the gift of hearing protection. Earplugs and SPL meters are great gift ideas.

A handy microphone is also a great gift. Don’t worry if you don’t know much about mics. Most recording enthusiasts are excited to play around with any new mic they get there hands on. It’s a chance to create new sounds and add a new tool to the studio repertoire. If you’re really stumped, you can’t go wrong with a Shure SM57 microphone. Check out SM57 microphone reviews for more info. These can be used in just about any studio situation, and you can never have too many of them.

I especially like the idea of gifting a microphone sanitizer. This isn’t something that most studio owners think about, but how many germs are growing on those vocal microphones? Lots and lots. With H1N1 lurking around this season, don’t take any risks.

Hope that helps with your holiday shopping!

PS – Sometimes the best gift you can give to a studio owner is… a minute of your time. Listen to their latest mix and compliment them on their work. That’s the greatest joy a recording hobbyist can ever receive.

Want to give a gift they’ll really love? How about teaching your studio owner how to make money with a recording studio.

Make a business plan

The first thing that you need to do to find an investor is to make a solid business plan. Also, it helps to have exactly how much you need written down in black and white. There are many professional business-plan-makers whom you can contact. Another way is to enlist the help of a friend who already owns a business and has created a business plan before. Your local small business chamber can also help you out. They offer many services for local citizens that want to start a small business.

There are also many online tutorials available on writing successful business plans. Your business plan should include your purpose for setting up a business. It should also mention what will be the approximate cost of setting up the business and the return on investment you are expecting. You should clearly mention your marketing strategies and business policies.

Approach banks

After creating a good business plan, you need to approach the banks to get loans for starting your recording studio. You can also apply for a government grant if you are eligible for one. Research well on small-business loans offered by various banks and financial institutions before finalizing on one service. You want to find the lowest interest rate you can get. And you need to be sure that your income will be sufficient to pay off your loan and keep food on your table.

Approach individuals

You can also approach an individual to finance your recording studio business. This can be your parents, a close relative, a rich acquaintance or somebody who has enough trust in you. There are many independent investors (sometimes known as angel investors) who provide loans to entrepreneurs in exchange of a percentage of the profit made by the businessman/woman. Another way is to go for a partnership business with a friend. This way you can split up the initial investment and it will be easy for you to arrange the money. But be forewarned – doing business with friends or family can turn ugly. It may seem like the perfect solution to work with your friends. But it’s not always the case. When money gets involved and when you are depending on somebody to get work done, things can happen. Friendships get ruined and families can turn cold. Unless you really believe your partnership will work, I would recommend against it.

Here’s How To Start A Low Budget Studio That Makes HUGE Profits…