This week I was in contact with two companies. The first was quite a large recording studio in Soho, London and the second was a video production house in Wales, UK. In actual fact I will add a third – a wonderfully gracious lady who owns a company in Suffolk, UK and which is a contrast to the other two. They all use voice over.
So, on to the first company – the one in Soho, London. This is a recording studio who also provides voiceovers for various projects. I contacted them offering a free sample voiceover piece from a script so that they could hear the quality of my audio. Here was their reply. The names have been changed to protect the guilty.
Hi David,
Nobbie shared you contact details with me that you would be interested in recording a test piece for us.
I am currently working on a cut down version of one of our animated videos, its basically a 5 minute long explainer video that we want to cut down to 30 – 40 seconds for when we share with prospective clients.
Would you fancy doing the voice over for us as your trial run?
We have lots of animated videos that require voiceovers that I think you would be great for!
Let me know and I’ll let you know when we have a cut down version for you to read through.
Thanks!
Dick
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Richard Sole Head of Post-Production
Orifice Productions
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Orifice | Soho Sq | London |
What this guy was saying was that they had an animation which they used to sell their services to future clients and wanted me to be the voiceover for it, but pay me nothing for it. Their turnover was eleven million pounds in 2017, with a reported net profit of half a million, but they wanted me to work for nothing.
So, how about the company in Wales. Nice company which produces videos at the very reasonable price of £290.
Hi David,
Sorry It’s taken m a while to get back – it’s been a busy start to the year.
I wanted to explain our pricing structure to you so that you know what sort of fees we offer.
We pay between £50 – £80 for a 30-60 second animation depending on the client. As you can see from our website we charge just £290 for an animation as most of our business comes from start-ups.
If this works for you, please feel free to send a demo mp3 to my inbox.
Kind Regards
Markolig
Markolig Justfarted BA(Hons) GCIPD
So that’s £50 for a finished 60 second voice over recording. When I tell you that this could be the only work you get in a day or longer then it puts it into perspective – ie. an annual maximum pre-tax income of between £5000 to £11,000. That is of course if you are fully employed with them, because as a freelancer they can drop you at any time. Most voiceovers charge on average £250 for a recording like this.
To qualify this further, most voiceover artists are expected to have a ‘home studio’. The cost of one of these is anything from £6000 or more, microphones and electronics (£300 to £20,000), IT gear (£1000 or more) and so on. Then there are the additional variable costs such as the recording software which can be around £360 per annum, marketing (name your figure), website and support (name another figure) and perhaps even heating and lighting.
Contrast these two companies with the lady from Suffolk. She asked me for a voice over quote and went on to excuse herself for giving me the hassle of providing a sample of one of her scripts. She then thanked me for being so rapid in giving her both.
Who would I jump to work with? I will let you figure that one out if you like, but in my experience to work alongside someone who respects you and pays you a living wage speaks volumes. Even for a voiceover.
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