Lesson Learned - Multi-Voice Project a LOT of Work!

Ken Theriot · **Voice Talent** Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 44

I'd like to share a situation that some may benefit from, and others probably already know. I just started in the VO business about 6 months ago. My one steady gig is an e-learning client that puts out programs involving a narrator, and dialogue between 2 or 3 characters. My wife and I do all the voices.

Anyway, each job has been 2 "lessons," each about 15 minutes long. But for that 30 minutes of audio (for which we get $250), it takes about 8 hours of work! I record the narrator parts and edit them (cleaning up mistakes, fixing p-pops, and other audio issues, etc.), then record my dialogue parts, then my wife's. Then I have to arrange everything in my DAW for timing and sequence. After that is done, I mix it all down, proof it, convert it and finish the files. Then I upload them onto my website for delivery.

All this is leading to my big lesson-learned. I was using "$500 per finished hour of audio" as my pricing guide. And if it were just me reading a straight single-voice project, it probably wouldn't take me more than a couple of hours of work. But with the multiple characters, the amount of work actually triples! My take-away is that the next time a client wants this kind of work, I am thinking of adding the extra time into my quote (though this client has been great, and I won't raise prices for them).

The 500/hour of audio thing kind of goes out the window.

I'd be interested in hearing if others do this kind of job, and hear if/how rates change because of it.

Ken

Scott Pollak · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007, 02:55 (GMT) Post subject:

Ken,

E-learning provides the lion's share of my work, but I don't do the multiple voice thing; just straight narration. My rate varies, but never goes below $400 per finished audio hour. I charge my largest client $800 per finished running hour of audio and it takes me several hours to end up with a finished product. I record the many scripts, eliminate all the mistakes, retakes, etc. and then resave down to a very low bit-rate (for real-time, streaming, web-based delivery). I then edit out each individual file and name it. So, for example, one 4-minute script might have 48 different audio files that I have to edit, name and save, and of course ultimately upload via ftp.

But I'm not complaining at all! Considering I'm still netting $800 for perhaps at most 3 hours of work (per finished audio hour), it's great work. And this particular client has sent me perhaps 30+ hours of work during the past year.

I love voicing e-learning and if you get in with the right clients, it can be a joy to do, and financially rewarding, but you do have to be dedicated to it!

Robert Jadah · **Voice Talent** Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 2627

Oh, I hear you, Ken.
Last year, I blithely quoted $450 to marry an English VO to a French corporate video. With Pro Tools, even I can do it.

Merde!

Turns out they wanted phrases to end on certain notes and scenes, and the English language is about 25% more compact than French.

I spent two full and frustrating days on the piece, and now qualify all such leads with "Quote may change subject to full technical details."

But then again, $250 a day still beats stalking game with a sharp stick.

Venison On!

John Weeks · **Voice Talent** Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 186

Ken,
About 80% of my work is e-learning. For ongoing work, I charge a flat $20 per minute rate for straight voice and if they need any additional voices, it's an additional charge. The price for the additional voices depends on the amount of audio needed for those voices.
For safety training used in industries my charge is $40 per minute. I have reduced that down to $35 a minute for ongoing work.
I hope this helps!

Bobbie West · **Voice Talent** Joined: 11 Feb 2006 Posts: 37

Hey Ken,

I'm glad you prefaced your message with the "6 months" mention 'cause otherwise... igitt

This is a good lesson for any VO people who start to venture into production. It is more time consuming and most of the clients have no idea (or pretend they don't Twisted Evil

) how much time it takes to do this stuff. Then, if you're a perfectionist or compulsive about your work, you will end up spending more time than you say you do to keep your price up. (guilty! Shocked

) So one must be careful not to dive too deep into the pool of discounts, my hungry little friend.

Lee Gordon · **Voice Talent** Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 1549