Reviewed
Paste a script to see how long it reads, whether it fits a fifteen, thirty or sixty second spot, and how many finished minutes and finished hours it comes to. The pace is set to a typical reading speed, and you can change it to match your own. The timer runs in your browser. Nothing you paste is sent anywhere or stored, and it never shows a price.
- Words
- 0
- Read time
- 0:00
- Fits a spot of
- Paste a script
- Finished minutes
- 0.0
- Finished hours
- 0.00
Nothing you paste leaves this page, and nothing is stored.
What the timer measures
The timer counts words the way a client does: anything between two spaces is one word. It then divides the count by the reading pace to give a read time in minutes and seconds.
The pace starts at 150 words per minute, a comfortable conversational read. A hard-sell retail spot runs faster. A calm medical explainer or a meditation runs slower. If you know your own pace for a style, set it once and the other figures follow.
"Fits a spot of" compares the read time with the three common broadcast lengths. A read of fifteen seconds or less shows fifteen, and so on up to sixty. Treat it as a first check, not a promise. A spot needs room at the start and the end for music and a logo, so a thirty second spot usually holds less than thirty seconds of voice.
Finished minutes and finished hours are the length of the delivered audio at that pace. They are the figures long narration is priced on.
Per word, per finished minute and per finished hour
Long-form work is usually priced by its length rather than by the spot. There are three common ways to measure that length, and the timer gives you each of them from the same count.
Per word pricing uses the word count directly. It is simple for a client to check before the job starts, and it does not depend on how fast anyone reads.
Per finished minute pricing uses the length of the delivered audio. At 150 words per minute, a 1,500 word script is ten finished minutes.
Per finished hour pricing uses the same length in hours. Those ten finished minutes are one sixth of a finished hour. A finished hour is the audio as the listener hears it, after editing. It is not the time spent in the booth, which is always longer. A finished hour of narration can take several hours to record and edit.
Whichever unit the client uses, agree it in writing, and agree whether the length is measured from the script or from the delivered files. The two rarely match exactly once pauses and pickups are in.
Why numbers, web addresses and pauses stretch a read
A word count treats every word the same. A read does not.
Numbers are the most common surprise. A figure written as "1,250" is one word on the page and four or five words in the booth. Phone numbers, prices, dates and measurements all read longer than they count. For a truer count, paste the script with the numbers written out as they will be spoken.
Web addresses and email addresses read slowly, because each part has to be clear: every "dot", every "slash", and any name the client wants spelled out.
Legal lines and disclaimers are often read faster than the rest of a spot, but they still take time, and some clients ask for them at an even pace.
Pauses are written into many scripts as a new paragraph, an ellipsis or a direction such as "beat". Each one adds time the word count cannot see. So does a character voice, a slower brand read, or a direction to let a line land.
If a script has a lot of any of these, lower the pace in the timer until the read time matches a test read, or read the script aloud once against a clock. For a spot that has to fit a fixed length, the test read is the one that counts.
Minimum fees
A very short script does not mean a very small fee. A tag or a five second sting still needs the booth set up, the read recorded, and the files edited and delivered. Most voice actors set a minimum fee for any job, however short, and a script timer does not change that. If the timer shows a few seconds of audio, quote your minimum, and say on the quote that it is your minimum.
The same applies to long work priced by length. Agree a minimum number of finished minutes or finished hours, so a short module still covers the session.
Price the usage
The timer tells you how long the recording is. It does not tell you what the recording is worth, because a voice over is priced mostly by where it runs, how widely and for how long. Once you know the length, price the usage in the calculator. To put the length and the usage together in writing, see how to quote a voice over job.