Hello,

I recently got someone sending me a mail asking me for "a quote for sound design", first of all I am not sure of what is this since I am not english/american and I have never heard about this before but I assume he is asking me for a price according to google.

So here is the problem : I don't really have a clue about what I should tell him. He is asking me only for10-15 sounds right now.

I was thinking I should give him a price by sound effect but I don't know how much is ok (I am new to paying jobs) and if this is the best solution.

He doesn't really have a big budget right now so it's an indie game.

Can I know how do you guys do for this?

I've seen rates vary from as low as $5 per SFX to as high as $50-75 per SFX. It's really a balancing act between:

- what his given budget is

- what he's WILLING to spend on sounds

- what you're willing to accept as pay for doing the work.

If I were in your shoes, I'd do a middle of the road figure then see what his response is like. Stress that you're willing to negoitate the cost!

Thanks,

Nate

Thank you. So you think that a price by sound effect is the best way too.

$75 by SFX sounds really high, it's probably for well established people. I guess I'll try $20/sfx first and see how it goes (and stress that I can negociate).

Thanks again.

Valoon, the first thing you should have told him is to make you an offer. Then you decide whether or not you're okay with that offer. Always try to get the other person to name a figure first.

I second Nathan's recommendation. It's best to talk with them and open a discussion for what they are expecting to pay and what you would be willing to accept. From personal experience sometimes giving a fixed price without letting them know they negotiate can often lead to your developer finding someone cheaper if it's over what they expected. Specially if you haven't given them the indication that you are flexible and open to negotiation.

You can say, I typically chage - $, but I am willing to negotiate if you don't have the budget to meet my usual rates.

I have used both a per sfx and per hour rate but it really depends on the client and your experience. I recently worked on a project where we were prototyping and so rather than charge a per sfx rate, we agreed on an hourly rate. However before entering this kind of agreement, clients usually would like some sort of proof of experience so they know you're not going to waste a lot of time and not hit the mark in both stylistic and quality consistency.

I have also offered a trial fee for a first (usually smaller) game so that the developer can test the waters with your skills with the understanding that you typically charge more once the relationship is developed and they take this into consideration while working out their next project's budget. This good will can do wonders for generating strong long lasting relationships.

This is definitely one of the areas you will get better at over time with more and more eperience to read clients and create safe open discussions about expectations.

Well basically "testing the waters" is what my guy is doing. He is doing a very small game and then he plans to do a bigger one.

He doesn't really have a budget because he asks me for my price to find out how much money he will need to raise.

I don't really know what to think about him. I am not sure he is very serious.