daily rental rates for sound gear?

C

cometsincaves

Member
Hi, first, apologies if this has been covered here, I couldn't find anything in a quick search. I'm putting together a budget for a shoot with union rates that is supposed to be around 13 weeks that I'll be doing sound for. Up to this point, mostly I've just worked on friend's projects so a lot of the 'official' ways of doing things and rates are new to me.

I know people charge daily rental rates for shoots where they are using their own gear. So say we have a pretty minimal setup, but nice stuff, a good mixer, couple lav mics, good shotgun mic and accessories. I'm curious what the veterans around here would generally charge per day as their standard rental rate for a comparable setup.

I looked at Ametron in LA's rates and came out with about $165-200/day. Would you offer a lower rate for a 13 week shoot? The people in charge of the project have a good sized budget and have not tried to limit us as of yet but of course we'd like to be reasonable and competitive.

thanks!
Adam
 
Those rates look a little low with full kit. I would not sign on for 13 weeks at those rates with adding a kit fee. I typically quote rates around $250-275/day for longer duration projects, single day calls are quoted around $325/350. Both of these include the basic kit fee of 2 lavs, shotgun, blimp, hyper, mixer, and DR680 recorder.

cometsincaves said:
Hi, first, apologies if this has been covered here, I couldn't find anything in a quick search. I'm putting together a budget for a shoot with union rates that is supposed to be around 13 weeks that I'll be doing sound for. Up to this point, mostly I've just worked on friend's projects so a lot of the 'official' ways of doing things and rates are new to me.

I know people charge daily rental rates for shoots where they are using their own gear. So say we have a pretty minimal setup, but nice stuff, a good mixer, couple lav mics, good shotgun mic and accessories. I'm curious what the veterans around here would generally charge per day as their standard rental rate for a comparable setup.

I looked at Ametron in LA's rates and came out with about $165-200/day. Would you offer a lower rate for a 13 week shoot? The people in charge of the project have a good sized budget and have not tried to limit us as of yet but of course we'd like to be reasonable and competitive.

thanks!
Adam
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Ok cool thanks that's helpful. Would you say in your experience that's pretty normal/competitive compared to other people doing the same thing. Also, out of curiousity where are you located or tend to do most of your work?
 
I'm in Atlanta, and do this part-time. I know union sound people who's day rate are nearly twice what I'm quoting. I work strickly film/movie work.

cometsincaves said:
Ok cool thanks that's helpful. Would you say in your experience that's pretty normal/competitive compared to other people doing the same thing. Also, out of curiousity where are you located or tend to do most of your work?
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gpforet said:
I'm in Atlanta, and do this part-time. I know union sound people who's day rate are nearly twice what I'm quoting. I work strickly film/movie work.
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aha yeah I hear you. So just to be clear, that rate you're quoting includes your labor or is just for the rentals?
 
Gerard, thats pretty low, especially with gear. you're in a bigger market that I am and I'm almost double that with a basic kit, so maybe start bumping that labor rate up with new clients ;)

as far as rental quotes, go look at the rental house's websites and look at their rental rates. i do my rental price pretty close to those(client would have to pay shipping and have insurance if they went with a rental house, so they save money with my kit)

the one thing i'll bend on is kit rental, labor usually stays the same.
 
Yea, most of the other sound ppl here are getting about twice my rate, but since I'm limited to mostly weekends and evenings, I find I have to bend a little since I'm mostly doing work for other weekend warriors. I sometimes get referrals from them when they are wiped out from the week and need someone to pickup the weekend shoots.

manglerBMX said:
Gerard, thats pretty low, especially with gear. you're in a bigger market that I am and I'm almost double that with a basic kit, so maybe start bumping that labor rate up with new clients ;)

as far as rental quotes, go look at the rental house's websites and look at their rental rates. i do my rental price pretty close to those(client would have to pay shipping and have insurance if they went with a rental house, so they save money with my kit)

the one thing i'll bend on is kit rental, labor usually stays the same.
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I might be reading it wrong but I think the OP is looking for kit rental prices of a basic (non recorder) kit.

I think your original rates you mentioned were pretty close.

2 wireless, mixer, boom will run you about $150-200 in my market.

I personally charge $150 for my local clients and $175-200 for out of towners.
The rational is my local clients are giving me continuous work so I cut them some slack.

The basic kit is the smallest kit I will go out with. If someone wants just a boom and mixer, its still
the same and i have the wireless along with in case.

Anything else other than a basic kit is an a la carte item. More wireless, comteks, recorder, slate..etc.
 
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