How Much Do Radio VoiceOvers Pay?

You have a mic at home and want to do some VO work?

Cool. Why not? I mean, you already use your voice to make a living anyway, right? You also do the 'in-house' ads for free in your station.

What will you need?

Well, a mic. Good start (we have a Microphone Brochure available for FREE if you want it. Just email us and we'll send it to you). Some sort of sound buffer and recording software...Audacity is free and works a dream.

You're all set! 

Now all you need to do is let the world know that you're set up and ready to voice their stuff for them.

That's the tough part (we hold training sessions on that alone!) Getting onto a producer's 'list' is a job in itself.

But let's say you've done it...you made the call-out list. How much can you expect to make? 

Obviously, that depends on how many ads you voice per week or per month. Let's map that out for you right now.

The lowest amount you will receive for a 30-second radio spot is 25euro*. That's recording, editing and doing all the bells and whistles so that when you email it back to the station, the producer has zero work to do on your voice.

Next level is 30euro and then it staggers to 35, 40 and 50. That's per 30-second read (generally speaking). You're talking local station rates there. National will always be higher.

If you happen to get a repeat client (a company who want to use you for all of their campaigns) then you can multiply the amounts. Let's say Company X want you and the ad is being played on a few stations around the country. That means you get paid for each station. So, suddenly a 30euro read could turn into a 200 or 300euro pay-out for you. You get the idea.

If that doesn't sound like a lot, just think - if you manage to record five 25euro ads, three 40euro ones and then get a 50euro read that goes to multiple other stations you could bag 350-450euro minimum for nine reads. Not life-changing but definitely not to be sniffed at. Especially these days.

Studios will pay more and union rates will always command the big sums...but we're just dealing with radio stations here.

If you need a hand to get going, give us a shout. We've helped lots of people get into the VO game. Once you're in, the rest is up to you :)

Now, where's that script...?

patreon.com/nailsmahoney

* Relates to Irish Radio.