Here’s a run-down of roughly how much my sound engineering services cost. Every quote will be individual but this will at least give you a starting point.
Audio Teaching and Training
Rate: £30 per hour including one-way travel, minimum 2 hours
During off-peak times (often Sunday mornings and sometimes weekday evenings) I offer consultancy and training sessions on an hourly basis. Send me a note if you want help and coaching on getting your sound system set up properly and/or want one-to-one instruction in how to best use your PA. Typical users: bands with their own PA, entertainment venues, churches.
Freelance Sound Engineer (Devon)
Rate: £250/day (10 hours)(2025)
- This is the rate for being primarily responsible for the sound at a stage or venue. Services could include load-in, setup, configuration, technical liaison, operation and pack-down, in respect of a sound system.
- Additional hour(s) £25
- Outside Devon: Sound engineer freelancing in Cornwall or east Somerset +£25
- Further afield: POA
Stage Hand or Basic Technician (Devon)
Guide rate: £180 (10 hours) (2025)
- This is the reduced rate where the work is simpler and/or there is less responsibility.
Complete PA Package Prices (Devon)
When I provide a PA system for you, what you’re paying includes:
- My time on the day, which often involves arriving early, on-site liaison, rigging time, the event itself and then de-rigging time.
- My advance liaison with you and sometimes with your event partners – emails, calls and site visits.
- In some cases, extra freelance labour to work with me, fairly paid.
- Hire of my professional-level gear. Often the whole job fee is less than 3% of the value of the pro-level equipment I’ll bring.
| Fee (labour and equipment) | Examples | |
| Small indoor speech PA | £350 | Small conference/seminar. Small religious service. |
| Large indoor speech PA (up to c. 500 pax) | £500 | Conference, launch event, book festival, hustings, spoken word events with panels of speakers. |
| Outdoor speech PA (up to c. 2,000 pax) | £500 | Commemoration event, race start, charity fundraiser. |
| Live band PA for an evening function (up to 200 pax) | £250-£400 | Birthday party, Christmas party, university ball |
| Band PA for an outdoor stage (up to 1,000 pax) | £600 | Festivals run by town councils, pub venues, and small independent festival committees. Music stages at larger shows. |
- Extra days can be perhaps 75% of the first day’s cost if no re-setting is required.
- Short jobs (where total working time on site is short) can sometimes be 20-30% less.
Additional Costs and Options
- Having extra labour is the only way to reduce the time on certain tasks, e.g. rig/de-rig, and changeover of acts etc. Extra labour can be needed for operating extra equipment as well. Rates £200+ per person per day.
- I can offer lighting as an add-on to the sound hire. Typical budget would be £100-£300 extra depending on scale, for things such as coloured battery uplighters, stage lighting, disco lighting, fog effects, and chains of festoon lighting.
Which Factors Affect Pricing?
Here are some factors which might affect the price of a PA or sound system hire.
Risk factors
Jobs with some unknowns are going to require some extra planning and contingency equipment to make sure everything goes well.
- Is everything known about all the acts?
- Has the schedule and content been fully worked out?
- Has this event been done before?
- Can I find full out details of the venue?
Time factors
There are multiple reasons why a sound engineering job can take extra time to deliver, in some cases making a significant difference to the cost.
- Does the venue have a long-distance load-in or stairs or a lift?
- Does the venue require long cabling runs that take a long time to lay?
- Is extra time required for neat/hidden cabling? (e.g.. corporate events and weddings)
- Is there lots of advance liaison?
- Is the venue a long way away?
- Is set-up required a long time before show time?
Some of these factors are the reason that PA systems for wedding receptions cost more to deliver – they are high-stakes, one-off events, requiring plenty of advance liaison, tidy presentation, often long days, and sometimes held in remote, temporary venues. That said, I always aim for a fair price in consideration of the service delivered.
Discounts
In event work, it’s quite common to be asked to provide discounted services. Sometimes this is because ambitions and aspirations exceed the budget — often this is just part of the learning process, since many events are put on by people with limited experience, for example a new volunteer committee member. Charities rightly try and squeeze the most from their expenditure.
My policy is that I have existing selected charity and school work where I operate pro bono as a gift to those organisations. For everyone else I aim to charge fair prices and I’ll work with you to get the most from your budget — please contact me. The economics of owning and running PA equipment is not always profitable; depreciation, plus wear and tear, all need to be covered. The long duration of events plus their prep and liaison time can set many of my jobs at about minimum wage, too!