Rates

There are broadly two types of ADR – adding or replacing audio in a video. Adding audio (known as audio description) only involves voicing the on-screen action / dialogue – most often used for a visually impaired audience. Projects are based on a rate per finished hour but longer projects can be negotiated based on length. On average for every one hour of finished video/audio there can be up to 3 – 4 hours of editing.

• Audio Description – £200 per finished hour.
• Audio Replacement – £200 per finished hour.

Of course the two main genres of audiobooks and audio dramas are the same as literal books – fiction and non-fiction. They both have different challenges. Fiction often requires the voiceover artist to ‘play’ and vocalize different characters in the book. on the other hand non-fiction may require the voiceover artist to learn the pronunciation of rarely used words. For example medical terms, scientific words or ancient place names. These can range from reading a simple report to a full fledged multi-volume saga.

There are two ways of charging for the production of audio-books (and a sort of hybrid of the two as well). These are Royalty Share and PFH (Per Finished Hour). Then sometimes we might agree a lower ‘PFH’ but then a share of the royalties too. Either way we’ll agree these things up front including what I’m going to deliver and when (I always deliver on time!).

PFH (per finished hour) means that whatever the project, at the end (or at agreed stages in the project) I present you with ‘broadcast quality‘ files. You then only get charged for the duration or ‘play’ time, of the finished file(s) at whatever rate we agreed. It’s then up to me to produce the best quality for you regardless of how long it takes me.

Royalty Share tends only to apply to audiobook narration. It’s one of the way’s Amazon, iTunes & Audible work. It means I don’t get paid up front or ‘PFH’ but I do get a share of the royalties from the audiobook sales – typically I would get half of the profits for the author. An example might be – audiobook sells for £10.00, the publisher gets about £6 and the narrator & author get about £2.00 each.

• Audible Radio Drama – £75
• Standard PFH Rate – £65
• Medical/Scientific/other complex vocabulary PFH Rate – £85
• Royalty Share – 20% of normal book retail value (excluding promotions. discounts etc).

Rates can be quoted in three different ways. The first one is ‘per hour’. the second one is ‘per episode’ – I would normally achieve 3 – 4 episodes a day in which case the fee would be based on the ‘per episode’ rate X the number of episodes. The third way is to just book me on a ‘per session’ basis. Sessions are calculated in half-day increments.

Corporate animations might include health and safety, training, staff induction, e-learning, newsletters etc etc. Presentations, B2B and of course B2C.

Perpetual usage included in the session fee.

• Per Hour rate: £160
• Per Episode rate: £265
• 1/2 day session rate: £500
• Full Day session rate: £1000

The type of work here is for non-commercial and non-broadcast activities. In other words, anything that might relate to things going on inside a company and which would not normally be for exposure to the general public. It might include things like staff induction, health and safety, training, product briefings, project presentations, powerpoint voiceovers etc. These things normally into the following categories (usage rates may apply):

E-Learning Rates – charged at the following ‘broadcast ready’ rates – also a minimum charge of £75 applies:

• 0 – 1000 words @ £0.25/word
• 1001 words – 5000 words @ £0.18/word
• 5001+ words @ £0.14/word
• Corporate Voiceover rate: £165/PFH
• ELT (English Language Teaching) Rate: £165/PFH
• Audio Guide Rate – £165/PFH
• Medical Narration Rate: £185/PFH
• Public Service Announcements Rate: £165/hour (or per word rate may be discussed as per e-learning)
• Physical Toys and Games – Rate – £165/hour (or per word rate may be discussed as per e-learning)

Video Games means games released on any platform capable of playing games. Examples are PS4, XBOX, PC, Mac, IPhone/Android etc. Software apps are thoise ususally found on Google Play and the Apple App store.`Usage is usually indicative of a license in perpetuity for that title. (usage fees may apply)

• Game Dialogue Rate – £125/PFH
• Software Apps Rate – £125/PFH

IVR means Interactive Voice Response systems, i.e., the menu systems on corporate telephone systems. This rate quoted is per-prompt where each prompt is not more than 50 words. It’s normal practice for me to provide the files as separate mp3 files. If there are more than 10 files separate files there may be a small additional charge. Also there is a minimum charge of £75. I can also work on a PFH rate.

• IVR per prompt rate – £5
• IVR PFH rate – £165/PFH

I provide voiceover for the following:

• Commercials (Web Only) – Pre-Roll – £165 per session hour – Pre-Roll videos are commercials which appear on sites like YouTube before, during or at the end of the main video content
• Explainers £165 per session hour – Web explainers are show-how videos, often done in cartoon or doodle form, and then narrated, typically 1-2m long.
• Generic Voiceover (Web Only) – £165 per session hour – Generic Voiceover on the web is straight VO on web-based content which is not commercial, explainer, e-learning, ELT etc.
• Radio (Web Only) – £165 per session hour – This is for internet-only based radio and voiceover work.
• Spotify (Non-Commercial) – £165 per session hour – This is for Spotify-based voiceover content, not commercials on Spotify.
• Spotify(commercial) – £165 per session hour – For commercials on Spotify, please use the rates for normal web voiceover.
• YouTube Content (Non-Commercial) – £165 per session hour – Note the difference between unlisted YouTube content which can be embedded in a companies website, and public content which is searchable on YouTube
• YouTube Content (Commercial) – £165 per session hour – For commercials on YouTube please use the rates for normal web voiceover.

Under the banner of Radio there are quite a few different potential types of work. These are:

• Commercials (adverts) produced by an advertising agency – £175 per hour session
• Commercials (adverts) produced by the Radio station themselves £195 per hour session
• Drama – Minimum weekly fee of £568
• Imaging – Non-Sponsored – Individual Station – £135 – Rates are charged per hour session, not per image. Imaging is vocals which create or remind the listener about something – often used to state the name of the radio station – e.g. ”You’re listening to Heart FM”. ‘Non-sponsored‘ means a radio image that does not include a paid-for advertising sponsorship. For example “You’re listening to Heart FM sponsored by Richard Foster”. It would just say ”You’re listening to Heart FM’
• Imaging – Non-Sponsored – National Network – £165 per hour session Same again but for a national network instead. Sometimes it’s better for a national radio network to pay a retainer to me rather than a price per session.
• Imaging – with Sponsor – £175 per hour session, not per image. ‘Sponsored’ means a radio image that has been sponsored (aka ‘paid for’) for example “You’re listening to Heart FM sponsored by Richard Foster’
• Podcasts – Audio Only – £105 – per hour session there’s a lot of small podcast owners that would like a voiceover artist but often find most rates too expensive. But, don’t give up – check around and then contact me and let me know what you’d like to do and I’ll try to help.
• Promos – £150 – per hour session. Radio Promos are segments that advertise radio slots or shows and are not Radio Commercials/Adverts which advertise commercial products.

Bumpers – £165 Rates are per hour session, not per bumper. Bumpers are bookends for programs usually involving a sponsor, e.g., “The weather, sponsored by Richard Foster”.

Commercials – £185 per hour session

Continuity – £165 per hour session – TV Continuity is the channel announcer of programming and program links.

Narration – £340 – Rates quoted are per episode, and based on an aired one-hour show. Generally the prices change due to the stature of the network doing the show, the word-density of the script (i.e., how much I’m actually reading).

Promos – £165 – Promos are segments that advertise up-coming shows, they are not TV commercials (which advertise commercial products)

Live at Event Announcing – £1600 – Voice of God is the announcer voiceover for live, usually corporate events, conferences, dinners etc.

Pre-Recorded Announcing – £165 PFH – minimum time charge £85 – min 30 minutes finished audio

As an additional service to voiceover work, I provide a proofreading service. It makes huge sense to let the person who is going to speak the words, formally proof read them first. If you think problems with grammar and sentence structure jump out at you when you’re trying to read it yourself, just wait until you hear it being actually spoken!  Proofreading is the final step before final recording. My objective is to detect and correct production errors in the text. I also provide this service for standalone requests where there’s no voiceover component.

For voiceover plus proofreading:

• Standard turnaround time of 5 days – £0.02 per word (250 words minimum charge).
• 8 hour turnaround – the charge is £0.10 per word (100 words minimum charge)

As a standalone task

• Standard Turnaround of 5 days – £0.04 per word (250 words minimum charge)
• 8 Hour Turnaround – £0.10 per word (100 words minimum charge)

Here’s what I cover and what I don”t cover:

• Spelling.
• Sentence structure.
• Paragraph Structure
• Grammar
• To some extent contextual flow and connectivity – making sure the message being conveyed by the text flows smoothly

I don’t comment on:

• Chapter Headings
• Index & bibliography
• Art or graphics.
• Dedications, references etc