sound design work - how much to charge???

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 9:17 pm

gday guys... just wondering what the standard rate that sound designers charge for corporate videos, documentries, TVC work ect... i have been mentioning my involvment in sound production to a few of my clients at work (i work at a pro video reseller, & in contact with many producers on a day to day basis) a few of them are interested in getting me to do some sound work for them (just corporate & documentry kind of stuff) based projects. is this done via hourly rate as is typical audio recording...or a flat rate measured some other way?

spiz

Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 4:52 am

igotnosmoke wrote:

gday guys... just wondering what the standard rate that sound designers charge for corporate videos, documentaries, TVC work ect... i have been mentioning my involvement in sound production to a few of my clients at work (i work at a pro video reseller, & in contact with many producers on a day to day basis) a few of them are interested in getting me to do some sound work for them (just corporate & documentary kind of stuff) based projects. is this done via hourly rate as is typical audio recording...or a flat rate measured some other way?

spiz

I guess what I would do in your situation would be to call around to other companies that are doing this and ask what their rates are. Here in Ohio in the US of A rates for this kind of stuff vary widely and you may get someone who is very good doing sound design work for a flat rate and someone else may charge a per hour rate. It varies so much with the project, the complexity and the what the local economy will support. Video production rates in this area run about $1000 per finished minute of video on the average but some people are doing GREAT work and charging half of that rate. In your case, since you are dealing with these people on an ongoing basis maybe you could just ask what they are currently paying and compare that with what you are finding out in your telephone inquiries to other companies. My philosophy on charging is to never charge the highest rates - never charge the lowest rates but be somewhere between the middle and the highest rate. It seems to work well here.

Best of luck! Wink

Moderator Joined: Apr 13, 2006 Posts: 106

Hourly rates here for corporate sound design as part of post since that works best for those projects, but I've done other projects (games, etc) as flat rate, or some variation thereof. I charge per finished minute or per project for composing, but that's a separate project aspect from sound design/post.

Keep it competitive, but don't undersell your work. As Thomas suggested, probably best to hit a midrange. Also be aware of what level of quality your local sound design/post competitors are producing to be sure you are charging relative to your skill level.

Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 2:50 pm

You may also decide to write up a proposal for what you do. You give it to the client as a either a hard or soft "quote" on what it's going to cost, based on estimated time and other input that THEY give you. (This way, if they go and change the parameters on you, you have something in writing, dated, and hopefully signed, so you have protection in case it all goes to hell, or the budget explodes.)

You can simply charge "by the project" this way, or by the estimated hours involved. ALways add a few more hrs just in case. Call it a "contingency," but you'll be glad you did.

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 5:29 am

thanks for the comments guys... much appreciated Smile

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