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“How much?” That’s the first question I’m asked.

The answer is “It depends.” That always irritates prospective clients, but there’s no way around it. In an effort to have a convenient block of text I can copy and paste into the “It depends” email reply, here’s a blog post which tries to explain it.

Licensing, word count, how quickly you need it, how much audio engineering you want/need me to do, it all factors in. I can’t just say, “a hundred bucks.” That might be too much. It might be too little.

Time 

Time is the biggest area of confusion, because anyone can look at how much time it takes to read 500 words, cross-reference that with the number I quote them, and work it out to a fairly high dollar-per-hour rate. But that time isn’t all; it’s the other 22 years I’ve spent mastering how to use my voice to make words on a page sound like a conversation between friends, upbeat, like a monster-truck rally announcer, or whatever you specify. To do three or four characters in the space of a half-hour and make them each believable and interesting.

Besides, for every 5 minutes I spend actually in the booth recording, I’m spending the rest of the hour doing behind-the-scenes work supporting that 5 minutes. According to Amazon’s audiobook FAQ:

We have found that it generally takes a total of around 6.2 hours for a Producer to complete one hour of an Audiobook.

That formula holds for a 30-second radio spot, too.

Just like any other professional or craftsman, the minimum charge is for 1 hour.

This is my job

This is what I do. This isn’t a moonlight thing I do in 15 minutes when I get home from my real job. I do it day after day, year in, year out.

Knobs and Software

I have the luxury of being able to do my own audio engineering. I can synchronize my read with your YouTube video. I can split the audio into multiple files. I can submit the audio in multiple formats.  I have my own studio, so I can do that.

That means amortizing the costs associated with hardware, such as maintenance, software upgrades, gear acquisition, and putting new carpet in the booth because the old stuff is getting too ratty.

It also means time, and time = money. What many potential clients don’t realize is the significant savings they’re already getting because they don’t have to rent a studio for $200+ per hour (that’s the going rate around here).

I hope this goes at least partway to help you understand exactly what you get when I quote you a price.

Hiring a voice for your business can be a very daunting idea. For one thing, it’s something anyone can do, right? For another, there are thousands of different voices to choose from.

Finding your business’s voice is easier than you think, and no, you shouldn’t do your company’s radio spots yourself.

Having good advertising is crucial for any business. Without advertising, you can’t communicate with your clients. In days of yore, advertising meant television or radio ads.  It still does (and yes, I do those). However, the modern digital age brought another avenue to reach the public: online videos.

Modern consumers have little tolerance for commercials.   It’s more crucial than ever to have an efficient and engaging ad. This is exactly what a professional voice can provide for your company. People like me have the training and experience to deliver a voice that’s natural, yet enticing, informative, yet captivating. We can also create uniform sound for your advertising campaign – when one of your spots comes on air, the listener recognizes it and “tunes in.”

Your customers can smell professionalism, even in advertising, and they do not like the self-made, cheap way out. Think of it like this: Your ad is the first time a potential customer is coming into contact with your company. They instantly associate the quality of your commercial with the quality of your company as a whole. First impressions are important, and a smooth, crisp, professional sound isn’t something you want to overlook.

That’s why partnering with a voice who also has tons of experience in creating advertising, particularly radio spots, is valuable. You get someone who knows good copy and can turn that copy into a recognizable fingerprint for your company.

Why ‘Voice Craftsman’?

I don’t like to call myself a voice artist, . What I do with my voice is a craft, so I call myself a “voice craftsman.” There are elements of art to what I do, but it’s more hard work than artistic flair.

Okay, this is hard to explain. Let me use an extended metaphor.

When you need someplace to sit, you don’t go asking an artist to make you a chair. You go to a chair-maker. You go to a person who knows how to make comfortable chairs quickly, efficiently, and with the least amount of fuss and bother. In short, a craftsman.

That’s not to say the work of a craftsman can’t be beautiful. Look at a Chippendale chair and tell me it isn’t a work of art. But Thomas Chippendale was a cabinet-maker, not an artist. When you hired Thomas Chippendale, you got a beautiful piece of furniture, but you got it on time, in budget, and you could actually sit on it to eat your lunch.

That’s what I do, except I don’t make wood shavings. I make noises.

Please don’t sit on me.