Turtlerock Forum

Hi Guys,

Does anyone know what "going" rates are for voice over work?
Im supposed to be doing 30, 45, 60, or 90 second voice recordings (myself being the voice talent) and also engineering it myself....

Assuming it takes literally 3-4, maximum 6 minutes to do the recording, check it, render it and email it to the company.

I've never done this and have no idea what to charge.

Any help would be fantastic.

The end product is for online advertising.

I got approached to do this for community radio... The offer was.. I write the copy and do the voice over, and provide the underlying music....for 30 bucks an ad.


I never followed it up, would be interested what the real world rates are.

I think 30 dollars is too little for writing it as well.

I just have to record a provided script....so that makes it less work....which is good for this kind of high turn over work.

$1 per minute until you start to smile - then .75c per minute after that

jesus, how'd you know I was that ugly!

on a serious note though...seriously...damn it.

There are rates set by the Media and Arts Alliance for voice overs. Check their website.
This doesn't mean people can't negotiate, but standard fees are a long way north of $30....

jkhuri44 wrote:jesus, how'd you know I was that ugly!

on a serious note though...seriously...damn it.

No no no - that's not what I meant

You were smiling about how much money you were going to make, then (to keep the customer happy) you reduce the price

sorry dude

bahaha, im joking Ian, all good.

@ Andy, cheers for that, i'll chekc it out now, i figured that 30$ sounded right.

$30 is "may as well be free" on the scale of voiceover fees. I live in a house full of production peeps... none of them will get out of bed for less than $100. Doesn't matter if its 10 minutes work and an hours work, they charge a minimum.

Funny place that post production world.

I write the copy and do the voice over, and provide the underlying music....for 30 bucks an ad.

I never followed it up, would be interested what the real world rates are.

Just for fun, get on the phone and ring RMK Voices (02) 9922 1300 (03) 9600 1377 and tell them you need a quote on a male voice for a 30 second national TV spot.

Make sure you're sitting down.... Voiceover work is very lucrative.

The end product is for online advertising.

RMK will be able give you the rate for an online VO.

As for writing, that would be negotiated separately.

Then there's a minimum one hour studio fee.

All up, if your client was to do this thru and advertising agency they wouldn't get any change from a $1000.

Hope this helps

RMK will be able give you the rate for an online VO.

As for writing, that would be negotiated separately.

Then there's a minimum one hour studio fee.

All up, if your client was to do this thru and advertising agency they wouldn't get any change from a $1000.

geez, $1000 for 30 seconds of VO for an online spot? that's insane....
i guess the bottom line is, if i'm in a line up of other contenders, i dont want to scare the client off
thanks for your help though guys!
got off the phone with the alliance, apparently there's no industry award for VOs, but the guy said he's emailing me a commercial rate card that several VO actors have put together as an agreed rate, i'll just use that.

thanks again guys, any other input would be awesome!

Sounds dangerously like price fixing, highly illegal.

Even charging an hour minimum, for a home studio the total would be what, $50?

jkhuri44 wrote:"...commercial rate card that several VO actors have put together as an agreed rate, i'll just use that.

$50 turns out to be what the client wanted to pay.

50 bucks for 6 minutes work ?

Jamil .. Looks like you just hit the big time !

Lap all 6 minutes up

Do the per hour maths
Woo hoo

Of course, because the client will never ring up and ask you to change it like a dozen times or so and not expect to pay any extra for it..

if it eventuates, sounds good. is all talk until the fat invoice sings.

If they'd paid $1000 for it they might have a reasonable expectation of several revisions included in that price. If they've paid $50 then they can pay another $50 if they need a new version done.

Chinagraf wrote:Of course, because the client will never ring up and ask you to change it like a dozen times or so and not expect to pay any extra for it..

i havnt done a lot of it, but certainly a few have come my way over the years
always (very close to) 400 bucks for the studio, and 400 for the talent
talent might be there for max an hour?
and of course you edit etc after that so maybe 4hours work total?

fairly lucrative (but not amazing)
but incredibly boring work
and yes... the revisions.

I just did an ep for that sort of money...

gigpiglet wrote:400 bucks for the studio, and 400 for the talent

yeah - i do plenty of EPs for that money too.
and i do plenty of 18hour days on the road managing stages and packing vans and putting together/ pulling apart systems too.
but id say its pretty accurate for "standard" VO rates - whether you think thats reasonable or not!

Just as an info thing these are the minimum rates as of 2012. These are what agencies pay every day of the week, not special occasions. Celebrities negotiate their own rates which a considerably more and proportionate to their level of fame....

http://www.alliance.org.au/documents/eq ... _rates.pdf

I've got to get out of metal and into wedding gigs and voice overs apparently

What about doing the voice overs at weddings..that must pay a fortune.

Now that's thinking!
Wonder if there's much of a market for live wedding commentating?

Chinagraf wrote:What about doing the voice overs at weddings..that must pay a fortune.