freelance audio payment Asbjoern Andersen


Are you charging enough for your audio work? Ryan Ike is back with more thoughts on pricing, and how to calculate if you're doing highly specialized audio work - at rates that are effectively below the minimum wage. Read on for his thoughts on setting the right price for your freelance audio work:
Written by Ryan Ike, and republished with his kind permission
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After my thread (and post) about how game audio people (and freelancers in general) don’t charge enough, a lot of people responded with “I want to charge more, but I don’t know how to price myself.”

 
It’s easy, but you need to analyze your work, a thing lots of us don’t do. I’ll explain:

Most of us, especially if you’ve been at this awhile, have a basic idea how long it takes to make X thing. “I can write a minute of finished music in a week working full time hours, less if it’s a genre I’m comfy with, more if it requires lots of live players” Something like that.

As freelancers, we’re charging for our skillset, but even more so, we’re charging for our time. And a TON of us forget to take this into account when we set our rates on a new project.

If you sign on to write a full sized indie game soundtrack, (let’s say roughly 45 minutes of music), break it down. How long does it take you to write a 3-4 minute track? Or a minute of music? What about edits and revisions?

Yes, this is tricky and not an exact science, and every project differs based on the working dynamic, the type of work, etc. But just ball park it.

In most cases, you’ll find you’re charging not nearly enough for the amount of work you’re set up to do

Once you have an estimate on how much of your time this will take, charge based on THAT.

In most cases, you’ll find you’re charging not nearly enough for the amount of work you’re set up to do. If I charged $20,000 for the above example and it takes me roughly a week to write 1 min of music, that’s 20k over 45 weeks at BEST.

If we do a little math on that, that works out to roughly 11 dollars an hour if I”m putting in a full 40 hour workweek each week. That’s way under minimum wage here in Seattle, and a lot of other places too.

And that’s the really surprising thing I’ve learned by asking fellow audio folks to compare how much of their time they’re providing VS what they get paid. An absolute ton of you aren’t even working for minimum wage. You’re working for less.

I was chatting about this with a sound designer friend of mine who wanted to raise their rates, but wasn’t sure what to raise them to. I won’t name them, but they’ve worked on some incredibly popular things you’ve DEFINITELY heard of.

ME: Well, how long does it take you to make a sound asset, usually?
THEM: I mean, they’re all different, but usually around 3 hours.
ME: Ok, and what do you charge?
THEM: $50 per file.
ME: So . . . like 17 bucks an hour?
THEM: …oh.


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    Below you can view the walkthrough video for the instrument.

  • The physical version of Large Rantonen Kantele is an old, large 30-string concert kantele made in 1902. The kantele was made famous by kantele player Antti Rantonen, who owned it and played it during his career.

    NOTE: FULL Kontakt 6.7.0 or higher required (NOT Kontakt Player)

    Kantele, also called kannel, is a traditional Finnish and Karelian plucked string instrument. Similar instruments include the Estonian kannel, Latvian kokles, Lithuanian kanklÄ—s, and Russian gusli.

    Main idea for the virtual kantele was to create an instrument you can play live, almost like a real kantele. As both hands are on the strings when playing a physical kantele, we used pedals, velocity layers, and special keyswitches to create a playing experience closer to the real instrument.

    We recorded long notes, damped notes, harmonics, and mallet hits. For the virtual instrument, we expanded these notes to cover the missing sharps and flats, and even more lower and higher notes. We also added a virtual damping board, two play modes, and a large number of options to help you to create your own sound and playing style.

    Below you can view the walkthrough video for the instrument.

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And again, this person is crazy talented and has already worked on some major franchises, and they’re still barely charging over minimum wage where we live. And didn’t even really realize it, because we’re not used to thinking of our work in terms of time spent.

Game audio is far, far from a minimum wage-level job. The amount of time and practice required to get good, the cost of building a studio space and having the right gear/software, going to cons to network and stay in business, it’s HUGE.

More on setting (and getting) the right price for your work:

 

Want to know more audio pricing? Ryan Ike has written another guide on audio pricing, and how to get it right, here. Also check out Kate Finan’s in-depth guide on how to set – and get – the right price for your audio work here.

Yet so many of you charge barely more than what you’d get paid if you worked at Starbucks. And not that working there is bad, of course, but it doesn’t require years of practice and thousands of dollars in gear to be employed there.

So, the next time you’re figuring out the finances of a new gig, think how much an hour of your time as a creative professional SHOULD be worth. 50 bucks? 60? More (typically, yes, more).

Break down the amount of work, figure out how long it’ll take you, and charge accordingly.

And it doesn’t matter if you prefer to charge clients based on X amount per track or asset, X amount for the whole project, or if you actually just bill based on how many hours you worked. But base X on how much time you’ll spend, and how you value that time.

A big thanks to Ryan Ike for letting us share his thoughts on pricing! Got some insights or tips on how to set the right price? Please share them in the comments setion.

About Ryan Ike:

Ryan Ike is a composer and sound designer based in Seattle, WA, with work spanning games like Gunpoint, West of Loathing, and Where the Water Tastes Like Wine. Outside of making audio, he spends his time trying to help newcomers find their place in the game industry, and is passionate about making sure that game audio pros (and creatives in general) are getting the pay and respect they deserve. You can listen to his work here
 

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THE WORLD’S EASIEST WAY TO GET INDEPENDENT SOUND EFFECTS:
 
A Sound Effect gives you easy access to an absolutely huge sound effects catalog from a myriad of independent sound creators, all covered by one license agreement - a few highlights:

  • Door Sound Effects Noisy Doors Play Track 44 sounds included $10

    This library contains recordings of eleven different types of doors specifically chosen for their interesting sound. I performed all actions with a lot of detail covering “open/close”, “knocks”, “bangs and thuds”, “handle grab and rattle” and when possible also “crackles and squeaks” (all recorded at various intensities)

    50 %
    OFF
    Ends 1711666799
  • Cinematic & Trailer Sound Effects Abandoned Oil Tank Play Track 327 sounds included $40

    On a recording trip to the smaller Danish port town Struer, I came across an abandoned empty oil tank. Inside I found two giant wires attached to the floor and the ceiling of the tank, almost like a huge 2 stringed double bass. I’m telling you the reverb in there was longer than the Eiffel Tower on a cloudless day !

    On the outside this was just an empty abandoned building, but it turned out it was not empty at all because it was full of sound and a few dead birds. I’m glad I was curious enough to go inside for a closer investigation and not just pass by.

    After several hours of concentrated recording, it was nice to get my ears back out in dry air. I’m happy there are no open sends to Valhalla in real life but experiencing the eternal resonance on the low frequencies from the wires was absolutely amazing.

    Abandoned Oil Tank was recorded with a LOM basic Ucho stereo pair, a Zoom H6 and the LOM Geofon. All files are in 96 kHz/24 bit and contain the original recordings.

    The result is a unique sound effect library including balloon pop impulse responses from a truly unique location that very recently became even more unique since word says that the oil tank is no more and has abandoned this world.

    327 individual sounds – all tagged with Universal Category System (UCS) metadata.

    www.katrineamsler.com

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    Ends 1713131999
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    Elements: electricity, energy, fireballs, ice, vines, rock, wind and water. Covering actions such as: blasts, casting, conjuring, impacts, healing and more.

    682 total sounds (422 magic and spell sounds, 260 bonus sounds from Pro Sound Collection).

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Explore the full, unique collection here

Latest sound effects libraries:
 
  • Birdsong from the countryside of the Swedish rural region of Värmland.

  • The physical version of Small Rantonen Kantele is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, still playable 5-string kanteles in the world, as it was made in 1770. The kantele was made famous by kantele player Antti Rantonen, who owned it and played it during his career.

    NOTE: FULL Kontakt 6.7.0 or higher required (NOT Kontakt Player)

    Kantele, also called kannel, is a traditional Finnish and Karelian plucked string instrument. Similar instruments include the Estonian kannel, Latvian kokles, Lithuanian kanklÄ—s, and Russian gusli.

    Main idea for the virtual kantele was to create an instrument you can play live, almost like a real kantele. We used pedals, velocity layers, and special keyswitches to create a playing experience closer to the real instrument. Strumming is a crucial part of playing the small kantele, so we kept that in the middle of the development from start to finish.

    Samples were recorded using different parts of the kantele, with resonance and without resonance, to give more options for the sound of the instrument. During the sampling the strings were tuned using a diatonic scale (CDEFG). With the virtual instrument it is possible to tune every string independently, so you can achieve the traditional D-tuning and many other tunings.

    We captured long, damped, and dead notes, and harmonics. In addition we recorded percussion with the strings and the body of the instrument. Many other delicious samples are also present, including the sounds of hand damping the strings!

    Below you can view the walkthrough video for the instrument.

  • The physical version of Large Rantonen Kantele is an old, large 30-string concert kantele made in 1902. The kantele was made famous by kantele player Antti Rantonen, who owned it and played it during his career.

    NOTE: FULL Kontakt 6.7.0 or higher required (NOT Kontakt Player)

    Kantele, also called kannel, is a traditional Finnish and Karelian plucked string instrument. Similar instruments include the Estonian kannel, Latvian kokles, Lithuanian kanklÄ—s, and Russian gusli.

    Main idea for the virtual kantele was to create an instrument you can play live, almost like a real kantele. As both hands are on the strings when playing a physical kantele, we used pedals, velocity layers, and special keyswitches to create a playing experience closer to the real instrument.

    We recorded long notes, damped notes, harmonics, and mallet hits. For the virtual instrument, we expanded these notes to cover the missing sharps and flats, and even more lower and higher notes. We also added a virtual damping board, two play modes, and a large number of options to help you to create your own sound and playing style.

    Below you can view the walkthrough video for the instrument.

  • Door Sound Effects Noisy Doors Play Track 44 sounds included $10

    This library contains recordings of eleven different types of doors specifically chosen for their interesting sound. I performed all actions with a lot of detail covering “open/close”, “knocks”, “bangs and thuds”, “handle grab and rattle” and when possible also “crackles and squeaks” (all recorded at various intensities)

    50 %
    OFF
    Ends 1711666799
  • Human Sound Effects Zody Play Track 1243+ sounds included, 151 mins total $55

    With abounding character and a penchant for speaking their mind, these little folk always have a lot to say. Wonder and amazement naturally follows.

    Having the honor to be able to observe these tikes in their natural habitats, it became clear how babies share a great deal across their mannerisms as the grow. A longitudinal family of vocalizations and sounds that span the first year of life and maturity, the heart of this library, centers on those personalities and mannerisms changing and taking shape over that period of time. The little ones have been recorded at infancy, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, and 1 year old. Each of these developmental milestones mark a significant step forward for all babies and at these stages their personalities and expressiveness grow remarkably. It is the constantly evolving language of exploration and examination; always learning. Each vocalization in this library, even within the same stage of development, is unique. From giggles to shouts, questioning to cries, babbles, cooing, and inventive phrases all the way around.

    Additionally, strollers, toys, diaper bags, bottles, pumps, swings, and more have been captured as compliments to represent all of those ubiquitous items in a baby’s world. The strollers were profiled on different surfaces and from different mechanical perspectives. The toys were recorded both in-play and as Foley. Bottles and diapers were used in their normal function and fashion, while other tools and devices of the dedicated and savvy parent were selected for their sound and utility.

    Joyfulness is easy to hear in this library.


   

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