Pricing of Services for the Voice Market:

There are many factors that help determine the budget you should have for your project. They include post-production work requirements, purpose of the recording, union status of the voice over talent, etc. Some of these factors are subjective or cannot be defined in advanced and make it difficult to determine how much you can expect to pay for your project. That is why the Post a Project feature of Voice123 is so popular. When you use it, voice over talents and/or voice producers will give you quotes of their rates along with demos of their work. You can get as many quotes as you want.

Nevertheless, this is a list of common questions that you may want to be aware of:

• Do I need post production work?
• Should I hire a union or a non-union voice over talent?
• Does the price depend on the purpose of the recording?
• How Do I Pay the Talent or Voice Producer?
• In summary

Do I need post production work?

If you want to get an audio that has background music, special effects, several voices combined, etc, that means that you need post production work and you want to hire a voice producer. Nowadays, many voice over talents are voice producers as well, and they can quote you an all-inclusive price for all of your needs. Please note that by default, most voice over talents will only quote the price for delivering a raw recording of their voice. So, make sure you specify all your needs.

Should I hire a union or a non-union voice over talent?

The voice market has two distinctive types of providers: voice over talents that are members of the unions (union voice over talents), and voice over talents that are not part of the unions (non-union voice over talents).

Non-union voice over talents rates tend to be the most affordable ones. Rates vary a lot as there is no market regulation. It all depends on the agreement you reach with the voice over talent or voice producer. When you post a project in Voice123, non-union voice over talents will give you quotes of their rates along with demos of their work. Click here to see how much non-union voice over talents charge in average

Union voice over talents usually charge union rates. Although the rates depend on the union to which the voice over talent is affiliated to (SAG, AFTRA, EQUITY, etc.) they all tend to be similar.

There are some voice over talents that charge rates well over any union minimums or non-union standard. This is usually the case of widely popular voice over talents.

Pre- and post-production work (as copywriting, translations, adding music, special effects, etc) is not regulated by unions. As such rates of post production work will always depend on the agreement you reach with the voice producer. When you post a project in Voice123 voice producers will give your quotes of their rates along with demos of their work.

Does the price depend on the purpose of the recording?

Talents and voice producers tend to charge depending on the purpose of the recording. In short, if the recording is widely popular and helps you make a lot of money, voice over talents expect to get more money than if the recording has a very limited use. For example: a 30 second recording for a TV commercial broadcasted all over the United States may cost up to 20 times more than a 30 second recording for a voice mail greeting. Click here to see how much non-union voice over talents charge in average depending on the purpose of the recording.

Recently, some non-union voice over talents and voice producers may simply charge a fee depending on the amount of time it takes to them to do the work, regardless of the purpose or reach of the recording.

How Do I Pay the Talent or Voice Producer?

You hire and pay the voice over talent directly. Voice123 voice-over talents and voice producers offer a wide variety of payments methods. Some voice-over talents and voice producers may only ask you to pay after the recording has been delivered. Other may ask you to submit an advanced payment of up to 50%. If you are submitting payments in advanced, we encourage you to use PayPal.

In Summary:

As you can see, pricing on the voice market is not easy. There are many factors, some of them subjective, which make it difficult to determine how much you can expect to pay. That is why the Post a Project feature of Voice123 is so popular. When you use it, you will receive a variety of proposals from voice over talents or voice producers, along with demos of their work, giving you more options for finding what will work best for your project and within your budget.

You may also want to check out our Guide to Hiring Voice-Over Talents and Voice Producers Online.

Price Samples