Rejected audition for white noise and echo???
I agonized over this audition, I watched my breathing, mouth noise, I listened to the recording 4 times... No echo, no white noise, no clicks, nothing... what am I doing wrong?
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Hello Joshua!
Could you share with me the recording that you submitted for the audition so I can give it a listen and help you with some feedback? You can upload it to your favorite cloud service and just share the link here.
Kind regards,
Daniel
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UlT7vSmXIHinDQcsZWaTYVLOvXi6jdHR/view?usp=drivesdk
Thank you, it seems like the automated review system is way too generic.
Thank you for sharing the recording with me!
First of all, I agree that this file does not have either white noise or room echo, so that is great! I will take this case to our QC team in order to keep aligning our standards.
On the other hand, I think there are 2 very easy things that you can do to improve it:
1. The overall volume is a bit too low, we usually recommend normalizing at -3dB peak to have a consistent level for our projects.
2. You could try and apply a high pass around 100 - 150Hz (you can judge if it is taking too much low end to your voice and adjust accordingly) that will take care of some low-end noise generated by some plosives in some words, for example at 0:09 at the word "Pool" and at 0:13 at "Prices".
Also, I wanted to assure you that our review process for applications is done manually by professionals, we do use some paragraphs that are universal to some issues and that work as pointers to fix common things like room echo, hiss, background noise, but the applications are always reviewed by humans!
Let me know if this helps you a bit, and I think that with those simple fixes you could reapply!
Kind regards,
Daniel
Yes, thank you, I know I goofed on the volume, I wish I would have caught that before I submitted. I'll attempt to tweak the HZ for next time.
You are welcome, Joshua!
If you have any further questions please let us know.
Kind regards,
Daniel
Well, once again I got the "room echo and white noise" also, I ensured my audio topped at -3. I am again left extremely confused...
1) Room Echo - The acoustic conditions in your recording are not ideal. The \'sound\' of your room is audible in your deliverable, present as slight boxiness.
2) Levels - Your audio levels are not normalized to the -3dBFS Peak Level prescribed by Bunny Standards.
3) Plosives - Slight mic pops are present in the pronunciation of some hard consonants, and relative phonemes.
4) Sound Signature - Your deliverable presents an unbalanced frequency response, and audible hiss (white noise) present throughout the recording. Strange dips in the 2 kHz range and harmonics are also present.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/es4162o82azhjtx/Voiceover%20audition%20Rev%205.wav?dl=0
Hello again Joshua!
Let me address the comments from QC one by one:
1. In this case, the agent is referring to "Boxiness", which is the feeling that a sound is being recorded in a small space. This is 100% dependent on your acoustic setup, could you share some pics with us to give it a look and give you some advice? It wasn't that present in the previous recording most likely because of the volume that the previous file had.
2. I personally think this shouldn't be the main rejection cause, and I think this last recording has a good volume level for our platform even if the peaks are not exactly -3dB, but please walk me through your normalization process just to make sure if there is anything that you could tweak that might help you.
3. This is definitely audible, did you apply the high pass filter that I recommended? If you did, then it means you need some extra help with plosives, another couple of suggestions are to record at an angle from the mic and to use a professional pop-filter to block some of those little "explosions of air" that some letters can cause.
4. This can refer to many different things on your recording chain, but I believe that if you address the other issues this should get much better!
Let me know if this info is helpful or if you have any further questions!
Remember that you can always post another sample here before sending the application, so we can give you some extra feedback!
Kind regards,
Daniel
I appreciate your time and suggestions, thank you.
1. For my space, I use my walk-in closet. It isn't huge, but it's got a lot of clothing and has very low reverberation. I also purchased an isolation shield after I was told in previous auditions that there was too much echo. I keep my laptop and my Mbox at least an arm's length away from the mic. I can provide pictures of the setup later today.
2 & 3. I use Audacity to record, after making this recording, I applied a high pass, as you suggested, at 150hz. I adjusted the gain to ensure that my peak volume was just below -3. I was recording angled away from the mic and using a pop-filter, perhaps I'm too close to the mic as I record?
Thanks again.
I added pictures to this Dropbox folder. Any suggestions are welcome, but I really don't have any other place to record.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4txkvl3n3pvej3s/AAA6pHwYLuOVYBhgdw5eXy-ka?dl=0
Thanks for the info and the pictures Joshua!
Don't worry, the closet trick can be very effective. So this might be a weird suggestion but might work. I am worried that the ceiling might reflect too much sound and that the inner walls could do that too if there are very thin clothes close to them (the thicker the garment, the better sound absorption it will have), you could give it a shot and record sitting down, with the mic and shield "inside" the clothes, covering a bit more of the sides and top, and see how that goes?
Also, and this is not an immediate solution, but I have seen other Pros have success by using their closets with some acoustic foam on the inside walls, which could definitely help as well!
Getting a bit further away from the mic can definitely help with plosives, but bear in mind that it can also increase room echo since the volume difference between the direct sound level and the reflections would change. Still, you can try it and see how it works!
Kind regards,
Daniel