Audio production costs

tubby

I have recently produced a hypnotherapy track in my home studio for a hypnotherapist in PE. The track is 45 minutes long and I have only used midi effects and patches. The problem is i don't know what to charge this guy. I am busy searching the internet to see what the going rate is and haven't managed to find much.

Can anyone advise me on what the going rate is for this type of work???

Heath

i have seen guys charge from R100 an hour to R1450 an hour , when i did a training cd for a client i charged them my standard IT call out rate which at the time was r300 .

Neps

Well.. for 45min I'll charge him quite a bit.. Just to give you an idea what people sometimes pay for music.. Corporate DVD of 10min, viewed by 300 people or less can cost about R15 000 for the music.. and thas cheap.

A score for a TV show.. Intro theme, Bumpers and some generic stuff can start at R 25 000..

Guy-Onraet

nice one Tub, don't under charge ?

Manfred-Klose

Find out what he charges for a "hypnosis" session, and work out how much money he is going to make out of your music.

Is he going to hand it out to his clients? or only play the cd at a hypnosis session?

45mins aint a short time you know, how many hours did it take to complete?

Lethe

Neps wrote Well.. for 45min I'll charge him quite a bit.. Just to give you an idea what people sometimes pay for music.. Corporate DVD of 10min, viewed by 300 people or less can cost about R15 000 for the music.. and thas cheap.

A score for a TV show.. Intro theme, Bumpers and some generic stuff can start at R 25 000..

how does one get into writing jingles and stuff?

Manfred-Klose

how does one get into writing jingles and stuff?

Start doing it for free for student films until you have got enough reputation and with time build up contacts.
It's not a easy game.

AlanRatcliffe

I'd approach it quite simply: figure out how much you time is worth to get an hourly rate then figure out how long it took you to create. If you're new to this kind of thing, figure out how long it should reasonably have taken and use that.

It's usually advisable to work out fees in advance and get it down on paper as a legal agreement. That way the client and you both know what it is going to cost up front and, if anything goes sour over fees, it happens before you put all the time and effort into it.

If the client is going to be selling CDs, it would also be perfectly acceptable to ask for a royalty on sales instead of a flat fee. However, make sure you have a reasonable assurance of unit sales that can be expected, which will let you work out royalty rate that assures you get at least the same as you would for a flat fee and more if the sales go higher than expected (reasonable as you are waiting longer to get a return on your investment). Also make sure that you have the rights and ability to audit sales (for obvious reasons).

deanBailey

I've been told I over charge...but that's mainly from bands with 5 fans at every show (Girlfriends incl.) And as soon as I tell bands the real price for the job they require, they pop a vein and go somewhere cheap lol where the quality matches their price.

I feel I undercharge, but I always negotiate to suit the band as well as myself as much as possible. I'm more about making good albums than making a ton of cash. Although the latter would be nice ?

TomCat

Just a general way to protect yourself with anything you write or produce from a ownership perspective is to mail a copy of the material to yourself via registered mail. When you receive your own material back, keep it in a safe place sealed in its original envelope/package. DO NOT OPEN the received registered mail item.

Should there be a dispute about ownership of the material, the sealed registered mail item can be entered as evidence in a court case to prove ownership.

Cheers

AlanRatcliffe

deanBailey wrote I've been told I over charge...but that's mainly from bands with 5 fans at every show (Girlfriends incl.) And as soon as I tell bands the real price for the job the require they pop a vein and go somewhere cheap lol where the quality matches their price.

That's pretty universal, in my experience. Alongside the bands that figure if it only takes them three minutes to play a song, they should be able to record a CD's worth in an hour.

These are usually also the bands who haven't bothered practising the material before coming into the studio, have more hangers-on in the studio than band members and have girlfriends who know more about your job than you do. They are the ones for whom it always pays to set up dummy groups on the board for them to adjust.

Bob-Dubery

Tubby wrote I have recently produced a hypnotherapy track in my home studio for a hypnotherapist in PE. The track is 45 minutes long and I have only used midi effects and patches. The problem is i don't know what to charge this guy. I am busy searching the internet to see what the going rate is and haven't managed to find much.

Can anyone advise me on what the going rate is for this type of work???

That depends on whether or not he gets the version with the subliminal message that says "give all your money to Tubby" ?

tubby

Thanx everyone for the input, very helpful.

Being my first real project im not going to charge an arm and a leg straight up. I will not undercharge though because lets face it one needs to make ends meat. My next project with the same guy is a set of motivational cd's which he wants to try market through glomail and verimark ill start charging full price from then and milk the royalties ? ? Happy days!

tubby

Manfred Klose wrote
45mins aint a short time you know, how many hours did it take to complete?

I have kept a log of hours spent working on the track. To date i have put in just over 24hrs of work, but there will still be some editing, additions and some mastering done, so i can estimate that the completed project will clock about 30-35hrs, which i dont think is unreasonable for a project of this size.

Riaan-Combrink

Alan Ratcliffe wrote They are the ones for whom it always pays to set up dummy groups on the board for them to adjust.

lol!! ?