Can I get a review/feedback of a sample?
Hello Bunny QC engineers! I wanted to get a review of a sample, if I could, just to make sure my current settings are satisfactory. I believe that some of the consistency issues mentioned before by the Pro Operations Associate who emailed me earlier were due to my being on the road when those bookings came in and are, most likely, no longer present now that I have returned to my home studio, but do have a listen if you would be so kind and if someone could then reach out to me and give me some feedback that would be deeply appreciated. Just let me know if the issues seem to have been resolved or if there is anything you are hearing that may indicate any issues with the recording environment at this time. The recording I will link to http://secure15.com/MTQzMDk3Nw here is from a booking just this morning in my home studio, so hopefully, it does not have any outstanding quality issues, but if it does, I would like to get them resolved.
Thanks in advance!
Geena Towne
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Hi Geena,
Thank you for reaching out to us here. :)
Listening to your audio, it sounds fantastic! I did take a listen to one of your past bookings as I was curious to hear the quality difference, and yes there were noticeable issues in the ones where you were on the road. But after listening to the two audio files attached, we are confident you will be keeping up the great work.
Loving your performance by the way!
Thank you once again for being so proactive and for reaching us on here.
Hope you have a wonderful week.
Kindest regards,
Samantha
Hi Geena -
Also enjoyed the sample and am curious about your hardware chain. What mic you use and to which interface you may use. Curious about upgrading and always interested in hearing about other VO setups!
-Ted
Thank you so much Samantha and Ted! It is actually still a work in progress (in terms of my performance) as I respond to the feedback of the client with revisions and adapt to accommodate the specific vision they are trying to achieve.
To address your questions, Ted, about the setup, my current interface/preamp is a Universal Audio Apollo Twin Duo with USB bought new from Sweetwater. My Mic is a preowned AKG C414 XLS large diaphragm which I found on Reverb.com. They do a great job there. Both of these businesses are my go-to's to trade with. Sweetwater has a tech support team that has helped me on several occasions to configure my system and to navigate tech issues. They really stand behind their products. The Reverb.com mic came in like-new condition in a beautiful kit with windscreen, pop filter, and shock mount all in a beautiful hard case.
I also have to give credit to the Bunny Inc. tech support here for all the guidance they have given me over the years as to software and FX chains, as well as general advice on acoustics and general audio diagnosing and troubleshooting. The staff here really got me nicely hooked up with Reaper as the editing software and recommended FX chain parameters. It's all too easy to take for granted how good we have it here in terms of the value of being inside a community where we all support one another, but when we reach out and meet each other halfway, we really do all make each other look good, and we all wind up looking good as a professional production entity. Bunny Studio has done a whole lot over the years to raise my caliber as a voice pro and I, in turn, do my best to produce content that will reflect well on Bunny Inc.
Hope I answered your question, Ted, and let me know if you have any other questions or thoughts. Have a wonderful day!
-Geena
Hi Geena,
Thanks for your reply. That's great insight and cool gear as well.
Also curious about your studio setup. Are you in a booth or just a dampened room with some foam?
I'm in a somewhat dampened foam booth / closet space but my sound is so so. It does work ok. I'm still using a pretty inexpensive mic AT 2020 into a very modest Berringer Mixer but I'm so happy with my sound an minimal setup for remote and mobile setups when I need to travel that it works well for me.
Also curious if you get good output in your headphones w that Apollo or do you need to turn up the volume on your headphones all the way? Reason I'm asking is I've experimented with many interfaces (ie focusrite and solid state) and found that they don't output enough for me. Very curious how your setup may be.
Thanks!
Ted
Ted,
Sorry I'm just now seeing your questions, Ted. You won't believe me, but I used to have an AT 2020 too! It is a good mic for the money. I do record in a padded closet, but sometimes when I am traveling, I've been forced to come up with a makeshift booth. The last time I had to do this, I asked for a whole bunch of extra comforters from the concierge, wrapped them all around the kitchen table and made a super padded blanket fort and this worked well. I recommend avoiding ever having to do that, but sometimes it is unavoidable. I'd love to know what kind of portable booth you have.
I've never had any trouble with my headphone output. I use an off-brand called OneOdio Pro 10. I won't use anything else because I can get these for only $30, they are more sturdily constructed than any other headphones I've had even ones that are more expensive, they have great isolation, closed-back, and a feature that is hard to come by... the reversible 1/4" to 1/8" jack that eliminates the need for an adapter. Not sure what's going on with your output, but I would do some troubleshooting and try to figure out if the playback is only low for your recordings or is it also low when you are listening to videos and other voice pros' samples on the same headphones?
Also, if you listen to your own recordings on other speakers or through other headphones, do you get satisfactory amplification then or is it still falling short? Is the waveform visibly small? Play around and do some comparing. If the playback is consistently quiet compared to other recordings and videos and regardless of what speakers or headphones you use, then maybe see if you can borrow a mic or rent one from someone to compare the results you get with a different mic. I say this because the interfaces you mentioned tend to have pretty good preamps, especially if you are using something like a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 or higher. Anything higher than that and you may be getting into the rule of diminishing returns. Behringer gear can be a bit of a mixed bag. Some is quite good, but they have a whole range. So, if you have a weak link in your set-up, the most likely culprit would probably be the AT2020. Really, though it can be anything, including distance from mic to the FX chain to how well insulated or how long your leads are. I had to watch a whole lot of gear review videos and have a whole lot of conversations with people here in the community before I really got a solid handle on my signal.