What should I charge for sound design and mixing?

[NReichman]

Does 20 hours seem like a long time to work on a 20 minute piece that needs dialogue mixing, music mixed in, and sound design including a few fight scenes?

Crazy fast. To do the dialog editing well, it could take an entire day. That depends largely on how well it was recorded in the first place and how many disasters were created in the video edit room. I have clients that know a 20-minute episode is going to take a solid week of laborious sound effects editing. If the music is prepared well and cleanly laid out, that can be done in a couple of hours. But if there are songs, or pieces of source music, or poor edits, that could take all day.

Even if you're not a member (and I'm not), read this to get a sense of wages. Keep in mind that you have to pay your own benefits as an independent contractor. AND, keep in mind that you will quickly set a precedent with a new client when it comes to pricing. Do it once too cheaply and you will be a slave...

https://www.editorsguild.com/index.cfm

[Henchman]

Originally Posted by asterix2k10

What should I charge as a contractor doing sound design and mixing for low budget youtube productions? Does 20 hours seem like a long time to work on a 20 minute piece that needs dialogue mixing, music mixed in, and sound design including a few fight scenes?

You should ask what their budget is, then decide of you want the headache for the, no doubt, minuscule amount of money they are offering.

[tamasdragon]

Originally Posted by Henchman

You should ask what their budget is, then decide of you want the headache for the, no doubt, minuscule amount of money they are offering.

Succinct, true, and on the point! Really!

[georgia]

Originally Posted by Henchman

You should ask what their budget is, then decide of you want the headache for the, no doubt, minuscule amount of money they are offering.

YUP.. what he said....

cheers
geo

[Fajita]

Originally Posted by Henchman

You should ask what their budget is, then decide of you want the headache for the, no doubt, minuscule amount of money they are offering.

thirded...

[georgia]

you could spend 4 hours doing a 20 min project and you could spend 80 hours doing a 20 min project....


What's the budget?
What's the payment plan (fixed price or by the hour?)
What's the time period (fixed duration or as long as it takes)
What needs to be done to get the project completed?
What are the deliverables?
What are the client expectations?
can you actually do the job?

... and what happens if you can't deliver to expectations....

if all the answers work for you, take the gig, if not take a pass.


cheers
geo