Freelance Sound Designer/ Mixer rates

[Cheesehead]

Mike is right on the money, if you'll excuse the pun, with the current rates for UK freelance TV Dubbing Mixers.

It should definitely be more if you are including your own kit in the package. Some central London studios are currently charging £450 to £500 per hour, including machine hire. So factor that in.

I agree with Mike too that UK broadcast unions sadly have no teeth any more. Thatcher even sold her own daughter (who worked at MTV) down the river to destroy the power of the unions.

Finally, please don't undercharge for your services, as this hurts the rest of us and pulls down a rate which has not increased for around 5 years. Even though the cost of living has hiked up massively.

All the best with it.

[garnoil]

Originally Posted by Cheesehead

Mike is right on the money, if you'll excuse the pun, with the current rates for UK freelance TV Dubbing Mixers.

It should definitely be more if you are including your own kit in the package. Some central London studios are currently charging £450 to £500 per hour, including machine hire. So factor that in.

I agree with Mike too that UK broadcast unions sadly have no teeth any more. Thatcher even sold her own daughter (who worked at MTV) down the river to destroy the power of the unions.

Finally, please don't undercharge for your services, as this hurts the rest of us and pulls down a rate which has not increased for around 5 years. Even though the cost of living has hiked up massively.

All the best with it.

This rate truly sounds very high! 500 British Pounds is approximately $750 US dollars and you are saying these people charge this much BY THE HOUR?. I am in Canada and NO ONE here is paying $750 dollars per hour for sound post. The biggest international corporations (no names but you know who they are) do not charge that much. Also, how can an independent person even think of charging this rates, this is simply not a fair comparison. May be that is why companies trying to charge this much money per hour are "closing their business down". One of the Major international post houses in Montreal recently closed its doors (not enough stupid clients to pay their over inflated rates) but even "them" were not charging $750 US dollars per hour, more like $350 an maximum $400 per hour. Also this is the "book' rate and they are totally willing to negotiate a lower rate, in fact, they will "offer" you a much lower rate even if the client does not ask. If you are right about what you are saying and "big London post houses" are charging $750 US dollars per hour, I would be very, very, surprised.

[spoons]

450 pounds an hour would only apply to a few high end studios servicing Ad agencies in London and that was a few years ago before the crash. It's not a rate most studio's in London would be able to charge now and certainly not for programming.

I would say considering going freelancer because one producer, at one broadcaster wants to employ you at an hourly rate isn't a good idea. Now if he's got a long running, regular series then may be, but that would be much better negotiated using a per episode or series deal. A deal you can budget your life too and offer him some security that you won't be died broke and looking for a new job in few months because he didn't give you enough hours last month to pay the rent.

[MIKEROPHONICS]

I don't think DeLane Lea get much more than £350 for their soho central london film room - and it's huge and mixes blockbusters.

When I was at Molinare as a senior dubbing mixer in the 90's, we worked out it would earn more £ per hour as a car park than a high end post facility!

Food for thought....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tom_lowe]

Everyone talks about Unions like they're the greatest thing. I remember reading in David Yewdall's book that he couldn't record his own sound effects for a project because the Union said that wasn't his job. Talk about protectionism. If that's what unions were like, I'm glad they have no influence in the UK.

And based on what Mike said, maybe we should all start up NCP franchises.

[thermisonic]

Originally Posted by tom_lowe

Everyone talks about Unions like they're the greatest thing. I remember reading in David Yewdall's book that he couldn't record his own sound effects for a project because the Union said that wasn't his job. Talk about protectionism. If that's what unions were like, I'm glad they have no influence in the UK.

Thankfully the legacy of unions still has an influence in the UK and other countries. Using one quote from a book to dismiss the entire organised labour movement isn't fair. I have mixed feelings about some union behaviour, but the Unions (and I mean in their wider sense across a lot of different industries) as well as doing some harm also do a lot to prevent ordinary workers from being exploited by those in positions of power and privilege who have no concern for their workers. The fact that people can go to work safely in most developed countries is down to the work done by unions. If you are fortunate enough to not need protection from exploitation, then that's fine, but there are a lot of people in society who would benefit from the protection and representation that unions used to be able to offer in the UK. That is no longer possible for a lot of people. Let's just hope that all of the worker's rights we take for granted as law in western economies which were won by unions in the past are not all gradually reversed one by one.

Sorry for going OT.

Rob Walker

[MIKEROPHONICS]

Does NCP have a union?

[tom_lowe]

Rob, my opnion on Unions isn't just from one book, that was an easy (and probably well known) example to give. Yes, Unions can be a force for good, but more often they will do what is in their political interest and use the workers for a means to their own end - example being Bob Crow and the RMT. That said, despite not being a member, I've always had good dealings with BECTU.

as for NCP, I doubt it!

[Henchman]

Originally Posted by tom_lowe

Rob, my opnion on Unions isn't just from one book, that was an easy (and probably well known) example to give. Yes, Unions can be a force for good, but more often they will do what is in their political interest and use the workers for a means to their own end - example being Bob Crow and the RMT. That said, despite not being a member, I've always had good dealings with BECTU.

as for NCP, I doubt it!

Well, as someone who came from a non-union town to LA, i can tell you that I'm extremely happy there is a Union here to keep rates at an adequate level.
Coming from Vancouver, i witnessed the effects of not having a union, and having one guy drag the rates into the gutter, to the point where experienced people either left, or changed careers, because they couldn't make a decent living.

[Audiowings]

Yeah!!