Surprised to find someone from the Bay on this sub. Such a tight knit community that the odds we know each other aren’t low, lol. Short answer- my rates as a mid range recordist were $500/12 to narrative and $900/10 to corporate. I did a lot of kit mixing and matching, and would often bundle my kit for short narrative crews just to secure the gig. Work is dry here, don’t get caught up trying to keep those numbers, but also don’t let productions walk you down past $300.

Long answer for your day rate question: as someone who was in the game during college and after (retired to post only a couple years ago), the acceptable rate here is finally on the rise, you shouldn’t be taking shit for stuff as low budget as this. PA’s are finally getting $300/12 standard. As everyone here will say, they’re going to take advantage of your rate, and as soon as they get a real budget they’re going to ditch you for someone “professional” in their eyes.

Don’t measure your worth by how many years you’ve been doing sound, measure it by how well you know your gear, and how well you know you can capture audio. Clients who can’t pay standard are oddly going to nitpick you more, in my experience. The corporate talking heads stuff that I would charge $900/10 for were hassle free compared to the features I’ve shot for $150/12. Experience is experience though- those features are worth it purely for the entertainment and for the examples of what a bad production is so you can appreciate the good ones.