Simply put: In broad terms, what does it cost to contract an audio designer?

Now, I fully expect this to be a range of values, and to potentially be a function of the work involved--but, well, those aspects would be useful to know, too, I daresay.

For context: I'm working on a game, and finding myself hitting what seems to be a bit of a wall in terms of audio. I'm thus considering hiring someone to help me--but I have little idea of what such a person might cost, or what would be a good rate. I thus don't know how feasible it might be within my current means.

I did find the survey linked below--but it seems to only speak in terms of yearly income, and it's not clear to me how to map that to my project. (Unless I'm missing something, which I may be, as I am a bit tired today.)

Link: https://www.gamesoundcon.com/post/game-audio-industry-survey-2021​

Hence my asking here!

(There's an argument to be made that this might fit better in the “business” sub-forum than the “audio” one. If preferred, then, please do move it over there. I'm mainly choosing the “audio” forum due to it being specific to the type of work that I'm looking into here.)

It's unanswerable, sorry. Contractor rates will vary wildly from professionals in Europe and North America charging above $100 per hour, all the way to hobbyists in developing countries who will do a week′s work for $10.

I would suggest looking on something like Fiverr and browsing the rates you see there. Highly-qualified and in-demand individuals will cost more for similar work. Amateurs and hobbyists will cost less.

Hmm… Well, the range and parameters that you gave is somewhat of an answer, at least, so thank you for that.

I might check Fiverr, but I'll confess that I'm dubious as to whether I'm likely to find good audio designers there. So, let me then ask (rather than assuming): is it common for skilled audio designers to seek work via Fiverr?

Costs vary greatly, based on someone's stature in the industry, credits and experience level as well as their cost of living.

You can find students who will work for free (although I never recommend working for nothing) and you can find pros who will charge you a great deal more money. The trade off is, of course, going with someone that has a proven track record versus a potential unknown. Will a new person hit the right aesthetic you need? Will they deliver on time and on budget? Will they ghost you? Will they work WITH you, especially when you want revisions?

Lots to consider! I work on Fiverr and can vouch there are a lot of talented folks on there!

Hiring Danny Elfman or Hans Zimmer is a few zeros more than hiring a generic audio person who has a few game credits but nothing spectacular, versus hiring a fresh college graduate with a music degree. Someone located in New York City or San Jose is going to require far more than someone located in a remote Peruvian or Chilean town.

Contract work is more than salary, since they must pay for all their own benefits, plus their business expenses, time off, etc. So you can't directly compare it to the salary surveys. Consider about 50% above those rates (at the very least!) for professional work. It depends on the location but 75/hr is a very low contract rate around my area. Your location will vary, maybe 50/hr or 40/hr or 80/hr or 100/hr may be more appropriate. Other times you'll be paying by the piece, by length of composition, and more variations.

Be sure you have a lawyer who reviews your contracts, no matter how you hire them. There are many legal rights that need to be specifically listed in the contracts which must either be assigned or withheld. If you do it wrong you can accidentally poison your game from future growth, making you go back for an additional contract to gain the rights if you would build on a successful game. Rights to the composition, rights to the recording for performance, rights for derivative works, “Grand Rights” and “Small Rights”, mechanical licenses, rights to perform in other medium and formats, and much more all need to be considered.

Ultimately it is whatever you negotiate.

Ah, thank you both for your input!

Ah, I should perhaps clarify something that I was perhaps unintentionally ambiguous about in my prior posts: at the moment I'm looking for someone to produce sound effects, not music. (At my current stage of development I'm sticking with royalty-free music.)

nsmadsen said:
Will they deliver on time and on budget? Will they ghost you? Will they work WITH you, especially when you want revisions?

On these points, at least, and presuming that they have a track record in the industry, I have it in mind to try, at least, to find devs who have worked with them and hear what their experiences were.

But indeed, those are good points to raise, I do think!

nsmadsen said:
Lots to consider! I work on Fiverr and can vouch there are a lot of talented folks on there!

Ah, that's encouraging to know--thank you! ^_^

frob said:
Contract work is more than salary, since they must pay for all their own benefits, plus their business expenses, time off, etc. So you can't directly compare it to the salary surveys.

Funnily enough, that survey to which I linked included freelancing, I believe, and actually indicated a lower yearly income for such! (If I'm reading it correctly.)

Specifically, they list an “average salary” for “employees” of \$88,150, and an “average income” for “freelancers" of \$56,201.

frob said:
Your location will vary, maybe 50/hr or 40/hr or 80/hr or 100/hr may be more appropriate.

For what it's worth, I don't currently intend to look specifically for someone local to me; I'm thus not much paying attention to where a given potential-contractor lives.

frob said:
Be sure you have a lawyer who reviews your contracts, no matter how you hire them.

Yup, that I do have in mind indeed. However, I do nevertheless thank you for mentioning it, as it is something that's important to be aware of.

(Even though I might have it in mind, you didn't know that, and others coming into the thread with similar questions to mind might not have thought of it--and, for that matter, I didn't have the specifics that you mentioned.)

All right, it looks like I have a bit of research ahead of me! I've somewhat begun this, looking through posts over on TIGSource. (What happened to the GameDev.net “paid work” section? It doesn't seem to work, for me at least. o_0) But I have more to do, I daresay!

Thaumaturge said:

frob said:
Contract work is more than salary, since they must pay for all their own benefits, plus their business expenses, time off, etc. So you can't directly compare it to the salary surveys.

Funnily enough, that survey to which I linked included freelancing, I believe, and actually indicated a lower yearly income for such! (If I'm reading it correctly.)

Specifically, they list an “average salary” for “employees” of \$88,150, and an “average income” for “freelancers" of \$56,201.

Both of these things can be true at the same time.

An employee can and usually does work eight hours of paid work per day, five days a week, for pretty much the whole year. A freelancer, on the other hand, spends a lot of time that doesn't directly result in income. This includes:

• Looking for clients.
• Negotiating with clients.
• Working for deadbeat clients who later refuse to pay (always a risk with freelance work).
• Chasing deadbeat clients to try to get them to pay.
• Acquiring and maintaining a work space, equipment and software.
• Drought periods when there are no clients lined up.

Freelancers are also more likely than employees to only work part-time, sometimes in addition to a day job.

a light breeze said:
Both of these things can be true at the same time.

…

Ah, that's a good point. Fair enough, then!

@Thaumaturge Hey chiming in here - I'm Adam, I run music & audio over at Fiverr.

Like @nsmadsen said, lots of crazy talented Sound Designers on Fiverr! Check out our hundreds of game sound designers or filter by just Pros in sound design to see only the people we hand vetted that have worked on some huge games.

Let me know if you need any suggestions or help finding someone to work on your game. Good luck

@adamfine_: Thank you for that! ^_^

I had performed some searches, but I wasn't aware of those categories. They do look potentially-helpful! ^_^

I will likely take a look through them at some point today, then.

[edit] Hmm… I do have a question, if I may: I've seen a number of entries on Fiverr list prices for jobs by duration--that is, a given price for a project of given duration (e.g. $100 for a 10-minute project). My question, then, is that of how this maps to a job that isn't continuous--that involves the creation of a number of discrete sound effects.