I keep a list of every piece of equipment I own and the serial numbers off of each one. I list things from all over my house, not just my studio. My insurance company loves this. If anything ever happens to my house or if I ever get robbed (God forbid), I'm ready.
Since I'm only an amateur musician, one Excel document is enough to keep track of all my music money. I use one sheet for income and one for expenses. But the trick I've learned is to keep up with it on a constant basis.
At the end of Fight Club, they blow up all the credit card company offices in New York to erase the debts of all Americans. Great plan, but it wouldn't work. All financial institutions back up off site, in places like Colorado. The entire East Coast could be wiped out, but we'd all still get our Master Card bill. Just remember, if digital information doesn't exist in more than one place, it doesn't exist at all. I take all by back ups to my office and keep them in a file cabinet there. Here is a partial list of what I back up:
All music files I've bee working on
All the paperwork listed above
Settings from Cakewalk, downloaded software, plugins, etc.
Receipts for all my equipment
Word, Excel and other documents
My websites
Pictures, videos and other multimedia
My entire house could be blown off the map, but with a little patience and a lot of insurance, I could restore everything.
A studio is a place to create art. When I walk into my studio, I want to feel creative. I like to keep the room setup, ready to go all the time. To help inspire me, I painted the walls interesting colors (currently my studio is 5 shades of purple). I put up rope lights to give a cool look to the room. I pick art that talks to me. The toys and knick-knacks have meaning to me. In the future, I plan to add my favorite album covers.
 The first finger-painting my son ever did is framed and hanging above my work area. |
 My complete collection of original Star Wars figures is on display. |