Commonquestions

Through the request form, ideally with five minutes of sample material. You get an answer within 24 hours on business days. Rather talk first? Book a 15-minute video call at cal.com/tonfertig.

The call costs nothing: A 15-minute video call, free. For audiobooks there is also: First consultation with a five-minute test edit: €90, fully credited when you place the order.

If there is time free, yes, for an express surcharge of 50%. In the subscription you have a fixed slot, so the question doesn’t come up.

Yes. There is no minimum order, except for audiobooks, where three finished hours are the minimum.

After proof-listening, you get a list with timestamps of the spots that need to be read again. You record them, and we edit them in – invisibly, if microphone and room stayed the same.

No, you upload and publish yourself. You tell us when the book has to be done – by then the files are with you, named to your platform’s specs.

WAV, 48 kHz, 24 bit, separate tracks. MP3 is accepted, but it costs quality that doesn’t come back.

Up to 200 MB directly through the form. Above that by WeTransfer, Dropbox, Google Drive or a link of your choice.

For internal formats, yes. For a published podcast it is the worst sensible option, because the compression removes information we can’t get back. Better: local recording for everyone, or a service like Riverside that records locally.

No. A solid USB microphone in a quiet room without echo clearly beats an expensive microphone in the wrong room.

That works, but then we can’t edit the speakers one by one. The result is good, but not as good as with separate tracks – and you notice it when the levels are very different.

WAV, at least 44.1 kHz and 24 bit, a quiet room without audible echo, and the same distance to the microphone throughout. The most common killer is not the microphone, it is the room. Send us five minutes, and we will tell you up front whether it works.

The files are made to the specs of ACX and Audible, Spotify Audiobooks, BookBeat or Storytel. In the “Post-production” and “+ proof-listening” packages for one platform of your choice, in “Full service” for several.

Yes. Audio to EBU R128: −23 LUFS, WAV at 48 kHz and 24 bit. With picture as MXF (XDCAM HD 422, 1080i50), as broadcasters require. Send your broadcaster’s specs along.

Three business days for podcast episodes, two in the “Rundum” package, about one finished hour per business day for audiobooks.

You hear about time off at least two weeks ahead. In the subscription your slot moves, and episodes don’t expire.

You do, without limits, once you have paid. We keep no rights and no share.

We name companies as a reference with clips of up to 60 seconds unless you object beforehand; private customers we ask first. A no doesn’t change the price.

90 days after delivery, then it is deleted. Other periods if you like.

If you are a company and we process personal data on your behalf – and voice recordings are personal data – then yes. We can give you a template.

You, as the responsible party. We process on your behalf.

Ideally we do: we compose intro, outro and stingers just for your podcast (see Intro & Outro). If you bring your own music, we put it in – the license then has to be in your name.

What you order on the home page, you pay right away with Stripe. For work with a quote: from €500, half when you place the order and the rest on delivery. Below that, everything on delivery. Payment within 14 days.

Because we keep time free and start working before any money has come in. For publishers, partial invoices every five finished hours are possible instead.

Under § 19 UStG no VAT is charged (German small business rule). The prices are final prices.

Orders from the home page with Stripe, using the payment methods Stripe offers there. Orders with a quote: bank transfer on invoice.

After the first three months, by a simple email, to the end of the month.

Five business days for an intro, seven for intro and outro, ten for the sound package. Counted from a complete briefing.

Then you get a third one at no extra cost. That rarely happens, because the briefing does most of the work – but it does happen, and then it’s our problem, not yours.

Yes. A new version with the same script costs €190. Adding a new voice recording costs €90.

Then it isn’t an intro job but a single service – write to us, and we’ll bill it by the time it takes.

Yes: explainer videos, company films, trade fair stands, internal formats. Just ask.

In the sound package, yes. In the smaller packages on request, for an extra charge.

Most podcast intros sound like what they are: a piece of library music with someone saying a line over it. You’ve heard it three times already, under three other podcasts. That’s why we compose it. Behind it is a songwriting degree, and the same work that goes into a song goes into these twenty seconds: Which tempo fits the pace of speech? Which instrument carries a voice without covering it? Where does the music end so the first sentence lands?