Overview
Underpricing is one of the most common mistakes in voice over. This guide breaks down the components of a professional VO quote so you can calculate rates that cover your time, equipment, and usage rights — and say no to work that doesn't meet your floor.
What You Need
- The project brief (word count, usage type, usage territory, duration of use)
- Our VO Rate Calculator
- A rate card or reference to GVAA, Gravy for the Brain, or your union rates if applicable
Steps
Understand the components of a VO quote
A professional VO quote has three parts: session fee (your time to record), usage fee (how and where the audio is used), and production fee (editing, noise reduction, and delivery). Many beginners only charge a session fee and forget usage — which is where the real value of commercial work lives.
Set your session/studio rate
Your session rate is what you charge per hour or per finished minute of audio. Typical non-union rates for e-learning are £150–£250 per finished hour. Corporate narration: £200–£400/hour. Broadcast commercial (national TV): £500+ per spot. If you have a home studio, include it — "studio fee" is legitimate and expected by professional clients.
Calculate usage fees
Usage fees account for where, how long, and how widely the audio is used. A 30-second web-only ad for a local business is worth far less than a 30-second national TV campaign. Usage multipliers range from 1× (internal corporate use only) to 10×+ (national broadcast, multi-year). When in doubt, ask the client for the media buy budget — VO talent typically charges 10–15% of that.
Account for revisions
Always include one round of revisions in your quote and state that clearly. Additional rounds cost extra. Define "revision" explicitly: a direction change is a new session; a re-read of one line is a minor revision. Scope creep — where a "quick fix" becomes a full re-record — is the most common cause of underearning in VO.
Use a rate calculator to build your quote
Open our VO Rate Calculator. Enter your word count, WPM, studio rate, expected takes, editing time, and usage uplift percentage. The calculator shows a recommended minimum quote and a full cost breakdown. Use this as your floor — never quote below it without a strategic reason.
Pro Tips
- Always quote in writing and include a brief scope description — "30-second web commercial, one round of revisions, delivered as 44.1kHz 24-bit WAV."
- Rates for AI voice synthesis usage rights are a separate, emerging category — if a client wants to use your voice to train a model, that requires a buyout fee, not a usage fee.
- The GVAA (Global Voice Acting Academy) rate guide is free and updated annually — bookmark it as a reference point.