Rejected for Wrong Age?
Hi, I was thrilled to have a second opportunity recently to record an application audition for Voice Bunny recently. I took a lot of notes from my first rejection, made a number of improvements and applied them, but was still rejected. I understand that VB has strict standards (which I appreciate), but the reason given for the rejection was "your recording does not meet our client’s age requirement. We suggest you re-evaluate the options selected in your profile; please understand we cannot accept emulations or imitations of specified age groups." This has left me a bit confused as I'm a 36 year old male, and represented that on my application profile. Other than using the directions in the script to be "epic and a bit mysterious", I did not try to alter my voice or emulate a different age group. So, I'm curious if anyone can give feedback on the recording linked below... Thanks!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/97p5k9mw42mvhnl/VB%20Auditioin.wav?dl=0
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Hi Eli!
Thanks for sharing
I am listening to the file at this moment and I have a couple comments. I'll share them in bullet points to make it less confusing!
1. In regards to the age range, I would definitely say you sound Young Adult as opposed to Middle Age. You have a very nice crispy and bright voice that definitely sounds younger than your real age. Your natural voice is very nice and young.
I have the exact same issue! I always have to force my voice to sound Young Adult because, otherwise, I'll just sound like a teenager! You may want to try Young Adult instead to apply.
2. The voice sounds too nasal. More likely your microphone is boosting the mid range frequency. Which mic are you using? You could also lower this problem by changing how you're positioning yourself towards the mic. I suggest you try to lower the microphone so the capsule is right in front of your mouth having your nose at the very top, outside of the main mic's area. If you use a pop filter, I usually put my nose to be right below the starting point of it.
3. There is a very bright hiss noise in the background of the recording. When you edit the areas, you will be able to pickup the difference between dead silence and the noise that's in the background of your voice when you start talking. This could be caused by your equipment or by excessive gain/compression. If you're using any processes, I suggest you bypass them all. Also, would you mind sharing which gear you use to record? We may be able to let you know from our experience what could be causing it!
4. The edits are a bit too rough. Especially at the beginning, the voice has little to no after image of the voice which makes the edits sound quite unnatural. Make sure you cut the takes a bit farther from the end of the word and use fades to make the transition between takes much smoother. Remember it should sound like one full, natural take when you're done editing.
5. The performance of the script is a bit monotone and unnatural. I believe this is caused by the pauses and tone changes which, to me, are not very conversational. The pauses feel a bit to stiff and the tone fluctuations don't help me flow with the take. The best suggestion I can give you to improve your performance, is to take a look at our webinar with Tommy Griffiths. He is super experienced and gave a lot of meaningful and amazing recommendations you could use to achieve the most conversational recording. you can find it here: https://help.bunnyinc.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115000236850-Using-VoiceBunny-Webinar-with-Tommy-Griffiths
Hope this helped! sorry for the lengthy reply!
Hi Angela!
I greatly appreciate your lengthy response as it gives me a lot to work on and improve before next time. We actually discussed my gear in another post a couple weeks ago. At that time, you had mentioned that I should potentially look at a different mic, such as the Blue Spark. I hadn't had a chance to look further into this before the email came with another opportunity to apply. However, that will be a priority now. I'm currently using an old Seinhesser MD 421 microphone that connects to a Focusrite iTrack Solo interface that connects via USB to my laptop where I record into Adobe Audition CC. My laptop is not in my recording studio so as to avoid any background noise from its internal fan.
As for the rest of your feedback, I will make sure to better represent the age of my voice in future applications, and will work on cleaner edits. I think the more monotone delivery was my approach to directions of being "epic and a bit mysterious", but do understand why that may have not come across well! I will be certain look the webinar you linked in, and will continue to improve my delivery before trying to reapply.
Again, thank you so much for your feedback!
Eli
Hi Eli!
Thanks for understanding and being so responsive.
You can try the mics in the store before choosing one to buy. I know Guitar Center will let you try them in-store and make a mic shoot out before choosing which one you want the best. The MD421 is a great mic but I don't necessarily recommend it for vocal recordings. I think this one works much better for drums (usually outer kick and toms) and bass amplifiers. Also, as it's a dynamic mic it may require extra gain to work which may also add extra hiss.
You can try several of them and get some extra feedback! I haven't heard your voice personally, but audio store clerks are usually quite knowledgeable and can point you in a great direction for you to try some mics out!
Hope this helps and please, please, don't hesitate on letting us know if you'd like further help. Here for you always!