Hiss
https://soundcloud.com/katiesvoiceoverr/audition-janner
My audition was rejected for "high levels of hiss/white noise". I recorded on an audio-technica AT2035 condenser microphone, use a BEHRINGER U-PHORIA UMC22 interphase, and my macbook in an insulated closet.
I don’t really hear white noise. I agree the s and t are a bit harsh. I’m not sure if that’s just how I talk or if I can fix it- help! Can I edit my s and t's to be quieter for auditions. I thought voice bunny discouraged editing.
Is it bad to be recording with my laptop in the closet? Any help on getting my s and t's to sound better is super appreciated :)
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I too, have been suspended for "hiss". I am in the process of being reinstated. What is strange to me is that I submitted three revisions within twenty minutes. Two of those three were accepted as "reviewable" while the third was rejected.
In regard to fixing the harsh "s" sounds, Waves sells a plug-in called a de-esser. It works rather well.
I was also under the impression that we are not to "over edit", yet Mr. Bunny rejects anything that has NOT beed edited in some way. It's a conundrum.
Hi Katie!
Thanks for submitting your audio. Your audio does have loud undesired levels of hiss. You can see it in the waveform before and after the voice comes in. This means is that the noise floor of your system is too high. My guess is that it may come from the interface, both in the pre amplification and conversion stage. I must add that all electrical devices produce certain amount of noise, but there are electrical designs and components that produce less amounts of it. In order to achieve high quality recordings, it's ideal to reduce the amount of noise as much as possible, so the voice is not covered by all that noise.
In that case, I would suggest you to try recording with less gain, and then raising the volume in the DAW. Nevertheless, I do think that it'd be great if you could invest in better equipment.
As Renee says, you can treat hiss with a de-esser, and try to control only the frequency that's boosted so you don't affect other frequencies that are ok. Also, you could try adding another layer of pop-filter, or re positioning the mic to an angle where that frequency doesn't hit the mic's capsule that hard.
I hope this helps :)
Best,
Juan
Hi Juan,
Thank you, that is helpful. The mic is brand new and was recommended for voce overs. The interphase is only 40 bucks, so is that the most probable cause for sound? I'm in a very quite, close space.
I'll start to use noise reduction and de-esser for auditions in the future.
Hey Katie! I'm having the same issue--I have an AT2020 and have used it for the entire time I've been doing voice bunny. My set-up has been the same, the parameters that I use while using Fruity Loops (which is what I use instead of Audacity) also hasn't changed on other projects that I have submitted. Wondering if anyone else can help me out here too! Is there a reason that they've been becoming more particular about things?
I did have my phone near the microphone this time in order to read the lines (because my other tablet was dead), so perhaps that could have been the main source? Any input is appreciated!! I don't really have a lot of extra funds to put towards upgrading equipment/adding a compressor or anything. Just wondering if people had tips for how to recover from this.
Hi Katie!
I don't recommend you to use a noise reduction plugin. Noise reduction plugins can degrade the quality of a recording massively which is definitely not recommended. It would be better if you use just the de-esser and record a bit off-axis.
If this is not helping, I would totally recommend you to try to change the interface you have. There are some really good 1-channel solutions out there that would give you great solutions. I personally have the MOTU Track 16 and I love it! It's a bit expensive, but the preamp of this thing is really great.
You can also try the Focusrite Scarlett solo which is like $100, or the 2i4 which is $200. I'd go for the one you try and consider gives you the best sound.
Thanks for all the comments y'all! I got the Focusrite Scarlette Interphase and the sound, especially the s's, have improved! I guess my cheap interphase was the source of some of the sound problems. I haven't gotten asked to audition on anything on Voice Bunny in 2 weeks though... should I upload some more samples?
Check your profile. If you have had enough rejections (I believe the magic number is 5) Mr. Bunny will suspend your account - without notifying you. I found out the hard way. I've been working on being reinstated for over a month now. Hopefully, I'll be back at it soon.
Hmm, I only have one rejected for technical issues. That's rough!
Are things just slow for you right now, or is your account not active?
Hi Katie!
I have good and bad news. Firstly, it's nothing like that, your account is still active!
Bad thing is that I did listen to your submissions and there is loud hiss. Please see my response above as it'll help you identify where the noise is coming from in order to solve the issue.
So far, you have submitted two deliverables; one was rejected by QC and the other one by client. So you've started receiving fewer invitations because that's related to your stats. So please address this as a matter of urgency for when your next invitation comes in! Otherwise, your system will put your account on hold.
I hope this helps!
Best,
Juan
Best,
Juan.
Hi Katie
I was checking your stats and Juan is right. Your stats are currently not the best and this all impacts the position in which our algorithm will send an invitation to you. More likely, there are other Pros with better stats and/or lower rates which are being invited before you are.
As Juan mentioned, this doesn't mean you'll never get invitations again. You will receive them still but at a lower pace as you were before. The better your recordings are for future submissions, the faster you'll be able to pick up your stats.
Hope this helps!