What to charge, what to charge?!?

[Dembones_dup1]

This may be a little small scale for those who read these boards, but I have a dilema. I have an opportunity to produce 30 minutes of continuous dance music for an aerobics video and have NO idea what to charge. It is a young production company, and this is my first outing at such a thing, so I want to be extremely fair. Is one typically charged by the minute of recorded music, or by the hour of actual work? Being as objective as I can, the quality of my work is very good (my occupation is chief engineer, but have done little writing of my own.) Thus I'll be arranging, performing, recording and mixing the whole kit'n'kaboodle. Any feedback on average rates for this sort of thing?

 

Also, while I won't be mastering on this occasion, how does one approach mixing and mastering for television? Seems rather daunting!!!

 

Thank you all for enjoyable reading!

 

Demian Norvell

AppleSeed Studios

[Ethan Winer]

Demian,

 

> I'll be arranging, performing, recording and mixing the whole kit'n'kaboodle. Any feedback on average rates for this sort of thing? <

 

Excellent question. The short answer is to charge as much as you think you can get away with . When I bid on jobs - and I do audio recording, mastering, web design, and computer programming, I prefer to quote a flat figure. I think this is the most fair approach for the customer, though it's important to define exactly what they'll be getting, so if they later want more there's room to charge more. Of course, it's then up to me to determine how many hours I think are needed and multiply that by what I want to earn per hour.

 

To be more specific, producing music can range from $25 to $100 per hour for those of us who are not nationally known stars. Then again, sometimes it's good to do the first few jobs for less money - sometimes much less - just to get some credits on a resume.

 

--Ethan