This audition rejected. Any opinion?
After anyone can give me an opinion I will tell the reasons I was told by VB, so I can compare.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4KY2ivUFtLQaktZNWRXbHNYSk0
Thanks for your time. :)
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Hi Marco!
Please make the link accessible to all so we can check out the audio, and give you some feedback.
Kind regards,
Juan.
Sorry, I thought it was accessible. This one should be: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4KY2ivUFtLQaktZNWRXbHNYSk0/view?usp=sharing.
Thank you so much again. :)
Ciao Marco!
In general terms I would say the recording is in good shape quality wise. Performance wise I'm in the dark. Please share with us the guidelines provided by the client so we can judge you on that matter better.
I would point out a couple of things that stand out:
1. Don't leave that long silence at the beginning (unless clients asked for it), usually 0.5 or 1 sec is enough.
2. Volume seems to be low. You could raise it a bit without compressing or limiting.
3. 0:08-0:09, 0:25 clicking sound.
4. 0:11 cut out is too evident. It would be much better if you left some room tone on the background so that the digital silence wouldn't be so evident.
5. 0:14-0:15 there is a clicking sound, editing issue. Make sure you add some fades to make transitions smoother.
6. 0:27, again add some fades. Editing is too evident, plus it doesn't sound natural. Editing is a great tool but you need to make sure that it doesn't affect the flow of the read. It should maintain that natural pace and conversational tone.
7. In overall, again without knowing the clients instructions, for me the read sounds too stiff. I would suggest you to try a more natural and conversational tone. Be really cautions when editing so you don't give a fake and robotic character. Sometimes leaving some breaths (on the background) may contribute to give a more natural tone. Also, try different inflections, vary the tone and pace to give a more human and, again, natural tone.
8. I would say there is a little bit of room echo, but it's not that bad.
Marco, I think you have a great voice. I'm being extremely critical, but hopefully this feedback can help you improve your sound! Keep up the good work!
Don't forget to share your comments!
Kind regards,
Juan
Ciao Juan!
First of all thank you so much for answering. Your feedback is precious and your "being critical" is very welcome.
These were the guidelines:
Dear Voice Actor and Voicebunny
We need an Italian male voice which matches as much exact as possible the melody, expressions, phonics, levels and timing, to the male voice actor in the following German voice over clip:
https://youtu.be/WIO4BH_uJIM
And now I can "reveal" the reasons provided by the QC team:
talent simply had no breathing spaces between sentences (he cut them all) and there's background noises throughout the recording. The sound is unnatural because there are no pauses or spaces between the words.The noise is like a "clicking" that is like static or some noise created by the equipment he's using to record.
And this was my answer:
"Thank you, it helps.
No breathing spaces are often required. I use to cut them because this is the usual style in commercial in Italy, and the timing with the German version is not correct, since there are parts of sentence in German that are not present in the Italian script, so it was needed to save time where possible. And in my opinion the pace of the speech is still very natural (is it an Italian native speaker reviewing this? I wonder - I don't want to disrespect, anyway - ).
Not to talk bad about other talents (it is just to "defend" my work... :) ), but I went through a few of the admitted ones, and there are no breaths, and sometimes there are reverbs (and let me say that not for all of them the acting quality is acceptable).
About the noise, going back through the recording, I could actually hear a few very light ones. It must have been the wire of headphones maybe hitting the stick, and at my listening I admit I could not hear them (they are very very light indeed).
Can you help with further recordings about breathings? Are they required? As I said, usually I am required to cut them, so just let me know (it is even less work for me...)."
About your kind answers:
1: my mistake... Silly me... I did read 5 seconds instead of 0.5... :(
2: I use to normalize, though. I think it does not modify the sound (which is usually required) but keeping up the volume.
3: Yes... Unfortunately I did not notice at first (strange, I use to pay much attention to that, but it can happen). I think it could be the wire of the headphone, but also some sound of my tongue, since it has been happening lately... I try to drink more right before recording, but sometimes it seems not to be enough.
4: room tone..? You mean some background? Never considered that, actually, since I sense it is still "noise"... About this, comparing to other admitted auditions, there were much sharper cuts... that made me wonder...
5: got it, thank you.
6: I don't get this one, instead... lol. Sorry... I don't feel it unnatural, but thank you anyway for the advice about editing.
7: About breaths, you might have read already what I answered to VBQC. What is the standard of breaths? I hear no breaths in commercials, normally. Sometimes in documentaries, surely in acting and dubbing.
8: Yes, I know, but it is always accepted in any VO job I do. I guess it is the acceptable quantity.
In general, what made me a bit wonder is that, if you compare my rejected audition to others admitted, these standards are not applied the same way... There are no breaths, voices even more robotic. Sure mine has some clips, that's the thing I surely accept as evident, and I am sorry about that.
The other point is the acting part. I am willing to know if any of VB experts are native Italian ones, since it is very important about this. I have a very good English, even in pronunciation, but I could not assure a good judgement on English native VT, it is normal.
Juan, I wrote a lot. I hope it did not take too much of your time.
You have been very kind and I thank you a big lot.
Anytime you need anything, ask freely, I would be happy to help in exchange.
Hasta luego! :)
I know I wrote a lot, but... any further opinions..?
Many thanks indeed. :)
Marco
Ciao Marco!
Well yes, that's tricky because in my opinion it's not easy to replicate such things as the melody, expressions, phonics, levels and timing, exactly in other languages. Especially from German to Italian which are completely different in rhythm, tone and expression.
The breathing well, yes, they are somewhat subjective, some people like them some people don't, but even taking the breathing out, you can give the script a natural character. It's more about timing and pace.
Thanks for sharing with us! I would also love to hear more opinions from the Community!
Kind regards,
Juan.
Thank you Juan!
Actually the main point giving me doubts is about breathing, and you answered now, so it's now OK. :)
Sure any other opinion from community is very welcome.
Grazie! Ciao! :)
Hey Marco,
Here are my thoughts regarding room tone and breaths. First, I agree - i cut the breaths from commercials, although I may leave some in (toned down) for longer narrations. So there are two choices: Just cut the breath altogether, reducing the gap between words, or silence the breath (using auto-heal, insert silence, or minimizing the volume). The second method leaves a bit of a gap, which may make sense for the pace, but now the noise floor has sudden, audible drop-offs and resumptions. The solution is to record "silence" in your booth and mix it with your final recording. For example, record 30 seconds or a minute of your mic in your booth without you. No breathing, no speaking, just room tone. Then open a multi track session in your DAW, add your VO track and your room tone track and mix them. This will fill in those "gaps" that you created when editing, with the same sound that was present when you recorded in the first place. Hopefully that will smooth the transitions for you. Let me know how it works! -- Cat
Hey Cat - what a great idea!!! I will be using this trick from now on!