Rates
It cannot be over-stated that if you are working with a professional, you aren’t just paying for their time. You are paying for their experience, knowledge, technical ability, years of training and professional equipment.
However I also understand that many productions are independent and/or low budget. I want to work with people who are passionate about their projects and to that end if you feel that my rates are outside of your budget, get in touch and I’ll be more than happy to discuss a rate that works for both of us.
Voice-over rates are based on a number of variables: the medium (radio, television, internet), the market (local, national, international), the length, the nature, and the use of the audio;
Rates can be determined per project, length of script, or per word;
The more specific you are about what you want, the easier it is to give you an informed quote, and the read you need;
The prices below are “starting at” rates.
Remember I'm always happy to provide a free sample before confirming a booking!
Figures are for the UK market. Smaller market share may equate to smaller quotes.
If you have a pre-existing way of quoting not seen below (eg. explainer videos on a per minute basis), let me know and I can see if we’re a fit!
Video Games
For video games I charge a BSF (£250) for up to 3 hours of work + usage, which will usually be 50% of my total session fees, with a minimum of £250.
e.g. Total time recording is 9 hours.
Session fee: £750
Usage fee: £375
Corporate/Web/Explainer Videos
My basic session fee (starting fee) is £250. This has VAT already included, and also covers:
- To voice and edit my reads so you have a clean, produced and broadcast quality audio file.
- Studio hire.
- 'Non-broadcast' usage on: client website / client social media channels / internal training / eLearning (VOD usage such as YouTube usage is charged at 100% of BSF for 1 year).
- Retakes in case of errors.
- Option to listen in via Skype, Zoom, Cleanfeed, Source Connect, ISDN and ipDTL also available.
- Supply of fully edited voiceover tracks in broadcast-quality WAV format (or other format of your choice).
- Free retakes, as long as they are not necessitated by changes in the script after the initial audio was recorded. The recording of a script that was revised after the first text was officially approved and recorded, is regarded and billed as a new project.
Depending upon the size of the job/client and if the work will be extensively used on the web.
Online Advertising and Video On Demand
Knowing the approximate number of impressions you’re buying is very helpful and will allow me to use this online rate calculator used by Voiceover agents to provide a quote. You can use it yourself (just insert no. of impressions and my BSF of £200) to get a ballpark figure.
If you don’t know the scale of the campaign, then usage would be added on top, at 100% of the session fee per 3 months.
For TV content, having an idea of the size of the campaign (like the number of TVRS) will allow me to use https://www.usefee.tv to give you a ballpark quote.
Audiobooks
It will depend on whether you want to receive fully edited and proofed audio or a raw recording. For the former, I normally charge £300 per finished hour.
My latest demos can be downloaded on my clips page, here:
For E-learning there are three price rates I offer: Raw audio at £0.10 per word, edited audio at £0.17 per word, and edited audio with file creation at £0.20 per word. The minimum order amount is £200.
Rates for other projects are very much client and project dependant, though a good reference point is the Gravy for the Brain Rate Card. But please do not hesitate to contact me for an exact quote.
Payment Terms and Conditions:
Once my services have been officially engaged, the agreed fee is payable within 30 days of invoice via bank transfer. Payment via Paypal must be agreed in advance, and will incur a 6% charge to cover their fees.
IVR / Telephone on hold messages
For those businesses who would like a custom on hold message or to have a professional voice actor provide there IVR menu system or out of hours message, my rates are as follows:
VO BSF: £40
Each Additional Message: £7.50
Royalty Free Background Music: £25
No Usage Fee
Copyright & Intellectual Property:
All prices quoted are pro-rata. All copyrights, intellectual property rights, broadcasts rights and any other rights associated with the author (for clarity, the artist/worker hired by the hiring company) and the author's works and/or performances shall remain with the author. Upon full payment of my invoice, the following license is granted by the author for usage rights of the works listed as follows:
License details: The author's works may be used by the hiring company for a period as specified on my invoice, unless otherwise stated, upon which time the works shall cease to be used, or an additional usage payment (equal to the usage payment in the original invoice) shall be made to the author. The author's works may only be used for the agreed product or service (and any of the platforms or mediums) detailed in the invoice line-items, and not in any additional products or services in the future, unless otherwise stated.
For the sake of clarity, this also means that the works may never be incorporated into any text-to-speech, synthetic voice or Al Voice models, on any platform or medium, known now, or in the future.
The author's works may only be used in the geographical region as specified in the invoice line-items, unless otherwise stated; if no geographical region is stated then the license specifies that this is the hiring companies country location only. The hiring company may not transfer the works, nor this license to any third parties, (including the sale of the hiring company itself) without the written consent of the author.
Late Payment:
If you think payment could take longer than 30 days, then this must be agreed to in advance. If outstanding payment exceeds thirty days without prior agreement, fees will be applied to the total as per the Late Payment of Commercial Debt Act of 2002.
Revisions - Terms and Conditions:
With self-directed sessions (when you will not be listening in to me as I record), I will normally send you a sample to approve, or ask you to cite one of my previous projects as a guide to how you want me to voice your project. Assuming that the approach has been agreed - if you aren't 100% happy with the submitted recording afterwards, I am happy to attempt again until you are completely satisfied. If script changes are made after the recording, I will charge a revision fee. This fee will be proportionate to the extent of the changes made to the script, so feel to raise this before recording takes place if you want to discuss a particular project.
With directed sessions (where you have listened in and provided feedback during the recording), I will give you a copy of every take recorded during the session, so you can pick and choose what you want. We will have agreed in advance how long the session should be to cover everything in your project, and confirmed a price accordingly. If the session necessitates going over the agreed time, then I will charge according to my basic studio fee rate of £250 per hour unless verbally agreed during the session. This would be a minimum of £62.50 for up to 15 minutes, £125 for an extra half hour, or payment for the full hour for any longer.
Once you have agreed I can send you an invoice for payment - the project is approved. Any further changes, either to the script or project, would have to be negotiated and billed as a new order.
My Rates, Terms and Conditions: