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  3. Rates for rendering orchestral scores?...

  • Rates for rendering orchestral scores?...

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    I've been asked to render some complex orchestral scores - supply sampled excerpts of symphonic repertoire. I wondered whether someone could give me an idea of the sort of rates people charge for this sort of work, per minute of music?? It's a new area for me, and so I can't charge per day of my work - it'll take some time to get going with VSL I guess - and I need to say what it'll cost!

    Thanks,

    Simon
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    Hello Simon,

    Not so easy to give the right answer.
    I did this business for several years.

    It depends on many factors: do you have competitors, is the project important for you, and how much money has your client.

    If it is your first job, and you will need more time than an experienced a guy, I would try to calculate how much time you would need, if you were experienced.

    This time calculation depends on, how compex is the music (the orchestration), how high should be the quality level, and so on.

    I would say, you could produce (if you are experienced) 1 to 8 minutes a day, depending on the paramaters described above.

    Hope this helps a little
    best wishes
    Herb
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    Orchestration is usually billed by the 4-bar page, so you might look at this the same way (even though it's not orchestration). While we all take "getting paid to learn how to do it" jobs, I'd recommend that you also factor in your investment in the VSL license and the rest of your rig.
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    last edited
    last edited

    @herb said:



    I would say, you could produce (if you are experienced) 1 to 8 minutes a day, depending on the paramaters described above.

    Hope this helps a little
    best wishes
    Herb


    Thanks very much - that is a help, in fact. Your 1-8 mins makes sense: my normal work is editing recordings, and that takes an hour per minute at the complex end of the spectrum - this obviously takes longer to create, though mixing/mastering time is similar I imagine. Of course I've a big mountain to climb, not having done this work before: learn Digital Performer; learn Gigastudio; learn how best to use VSL - but worth it in the end I hope!
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    Nick Batzdorf makes a good point. You've invested a great deal of money in the VSL sound library and your client is getting a final product that would cost the price of VSL several times over with a live orchestra. It's going to sound damned close. Keep that in mind. If I were you, I'd scribble out a rough idea of how much it would be worth to you and then put it in the hands of the client. Put the ball in their court. I find that 50 percent of the time, clients will offer more bread than what you had in mind.

    -Adam.
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    You're right of course - in the music world we often assume there's "no money"... and so for the next time, or the next person, there really isn't because it has to be as cheap as "last time". Also I intend to get things perfect. No compromise: there's just no point in that. I imagine I'll be at the 1min per day end of the spectrum at least!
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    Yup. And keep in mind that most clients worth working for will place quality over price (within reason, of course). A composer or producer that under-quotes all of his/her competition often raises a red flag. (i.e. - "why are they so cheap? The other guy is more expensive but he's probably worth it." etc.) I've seen it happen many times and often it can be a difference of more than 70%!

    Best of luck,


    Adam.