Not Green as Groceries but....
Hello everyone. My name is Jim and last night I applied to Voice Bunny. I fell below par in my application getting rejected. The Bunny reviewers rejected what seemed mostly technical but it may have been the technical got in the way of ever getting to the performance analysis properly.
The technical noted room hiss and echo. Both of which I understand and am not naive about. I'm a person used to working within limitations and my home studio is not without exception. 125 year old Brooklyn apartment building, bit of a shell and rattly.
So far I have made the best with it I can, recording in an inner closet whereby away from the street but near the ally so there is some reflected noise but not constant. Truth be told to be able to deliver a decent product for voice over work the odds are against me. However I have managed to insulate/pad well enough that I have done two audio books for Audible and met their noise levels.
Though hard to open up to hearing the hard parts of all I have done wrong, I'm interested in seeing if I can potentially make the Bunny cut so I'm taking the advice, coming to the forum and seeking 'all that's wrong' but additionally hoping for input for what I might do on somewhat of a modest budget to improve the room that I have to work with.
My application project was done in the room described which I called a closet but it's more of a 12x12 old sheetrock room with a window that I do have covered on the glass layer with a plastic drop cloth over it taped down, then over that a blanket. My generic XLR condenser is on a desk stand on a shelf surrounded by stacks of clothes. I have foam soundproofing panels lining the closet wall behind the clothes on the same shelf as the mic.
I capture two different ways to hard disc. Last night for the Bunny I chose to mic out to a Behringer mixer, out of that into line level Macbook Pro, recording with Audacity. Okay probably bad re the mixer and line input as immediate hiss producers. I have a couple of options to process and come in via USB but I have chosen the former historically.
My other record option I have done for some of the Audible work to minimize noise and did today for another project, record XLR into a Zoom field recorder getting no apparent machine noise. In hindsight I should have done this for the application and probably will when I try it again.
What else can I do to try to deaden my space? I have attempted to fly a blanket over and behind me with limited success. I fight both occasional neighbors walking the floor above though minimal and I can generally time myself around that. Same thing true with air traffic going to LaGuardia as well as street noise reflected from the ally. Of all the rooms in our 3 bedroom apt this is probably the best.
Are the isolation shields such as this a good thing? https://www.amazon.com/AxcessAbles-Desktop-Recording-Microphone-Isolation/dp/B01DAQN3Z4/ref=sr_1_18?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1516496629&sr=1-18&keywords=voice+over+isolation
My application demo via public DropBox link, https://www.dropbox.com/s/065hr6njleyvg13/Jim_Goodin_Application_IVR_Project_.wav?dl=0
I appreciate the time of those of you who may offer feedback that I may use to improve towards trying the Bunny again.
Regards,
Jim Goodin
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Hey Jim, I am also a new person here and looking to learn. Sound adsorption and sound proofing are two different things. I am on the fence with the isolation shields. Big question, where do you put the script? Yes, you can put it up high but have to consider the bounce back to the mike. The booth junkey has a great video to consider (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFRhQG-I5L0). It really opened my eyes as I bought one when I started. Now I just use it on the side of the room for sound absorption. I listened to your VO track and can kindly provide the following comments many of which made me think about my VO tracks as well and what I can do to improve. You are clear and very polite which is great. The pace is a little slow (think of what the person on the phone will think (I am workings on this myself). You need to pump in some energy especially when you get the psst portion. Keep up the practice and have fun.
Chris thanks so much man! I appreciate you taking the time to read my details and listen as well as offer observations. I just checked the booth junkey which was helpful particularly as I was thinking about those shields. Alternatively I've since begun construction of one I saw via this video that I thought was a great idea for a minimal investment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=rWgLCPaOAzo
I'm going to give this a shot as well as get some carpet for my floor. I have dampened some of the wall and window area previously but the Voice Bunny comments and some post education has given me a better understanding of reflections getting to the mic. I feel naive about it but it has led me to research the options.
Thanks re my read, I appreciate and consider the input. It's a bit hard to gauge with a phone project like that but I do get it re energy so thank you.
Hope you have made it to the VB queue. Best and thank you again. Jim
I have also been rejected by VB but look at it as a way to improve myself. You can find my post up on the feedback section and titled "Feedback desired as I seriously want to learn to be better at VOs" I welcome feedback.
No problem on providing feedback as VO is a team effort and we are competing with people with some serious VO booths. I watched the video you sent and actually made a VO box like that in the past. The utility is there but it was so cramped and then the "where does the script go" question came up. Worse yet, your head has to be in or VERY near to the opening. How ergonomic is this if you sit for long? I even tried using a large wardrobe box with one side wide open to resemble more of a hood with a whole cut out in the back to hold the script. I used sound foam on all sides. I still felt cramped. It then came down to how could I use my walk-in closet and sound adsorption. I have hung comforters on the walls in places that I do not have the foam. Egg crates and mattress pads do not work. To prove that the sound proofing foam REALLY works, I watched this guy's video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd2nhNf9Tp8) and made a box for my shopvac. You cna fast forward as needed. I was so amazed at how quiet it is. I originally tried a mattress pad with NO luck. I have digressed I know. With respect to the space you use, ensure you have room to breath, act, move, be natural, and have fun.
Hi Jim!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and recording.
So, I was listening to the file and I do find a lot of room echo and hiss. The room echo is 100% coming from the space, which I believe you have already talked through with Chris. I agree with all your comments! I personally use the Kaotica Eyeball and I get myself in my closet with all my clothes around me. I also have a carpet below me for extra absorption as floors can really create a lot of reflections.
If you'd like to know a bit more about acoustics, we hosted a webinar you may find useful. It's called Acoustics 101 and we go over the basics of acoustics and how it works, materials that you can try for your room and give you some alternatives that may help! You can check it out here: https://help.bunnyinc.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115000007524-Acoustics-101
Now, about the hiss, I believe it's coming partially from your equipment. How do I know this? Well, the noise is a bit too stable throughout the recording and it's too loud. Usually, when the hiss is only coming from the space, it's not that loud. Can you let me know which equipment you're using? Like, interface, microphone, preamp, etc.
Angela thank you for taking the time to review and offer thoughts.
I have since made some changes that have been encouraged by some of this thread and research. Some of it is just naive and oughta know better. Last Sunday I bought several pieces of carpet plus one I found. I put those down nearest to my 'record closet' essentially where I'm standing and about half of my room. Additionally I did a variation isolating the mic I'm using.
That in combination to recording direct mic to XLR input on a Zoom portable yielded a noticeably deader sound and noise floor of -57 to -54.
You asked equipment used on the Bunny demo. MXL condenser mic, Behringer mixer, feeding line in to Macbook Pro. I do realize the mixer and line level were bad ideas now in comparison with what I described above. Again should have known better but...
As I'm still refining I will post a recording later. Angela and all who have offered input, thank you. Jim
Hey Jim! I am also working to reduce hiss, and was considering dumping my Scarlett Solo in favor of a Zoom h5... am glad to see it worked for you. Thank you for sharing your solution - J
Jeanmarie yes it and some other things that I'm about to post have helped. I'm debating as to whether I will pitch to the Bunny again but regardless I've gained from this forum and will follow. I'm glad this gave you an option to think about.
Jim
So as noted above I've done some things to try to improve the room I have. Carpeting pieces on the floor made a surprising improvement. Additionally I had posted a DIY booth that I had stumbled on in my research. I had improvised one but materials came in on Friday to make the proper one. This was from an Ikea Dona box and several of the acoustic foam. It did help to isolate and deaden - will see how it evolves. Someone asked earlier about room for copy, I read off and iphone and/or ipad screen.
Pics and a short segment from a read I did yesterday for an audiobook.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6y1toh80of2fr3g/Jim-Goodin-William-audition-short.mp3?dl=0
Jim
Hi Jim!
Thanks for sharing.
So checking this new recording the sound is very, very boomy. I believe it's because of the enclosure and the positioning of the microphone in the booth. Try bringing it a bit forward.
Also, the recording has a lot of hiss noise. I believe it could be coming from the Behringer as these mixers are usually not designed for instudio recording but rather live sound. However, it could also be coming from the microphone as it depends on the MXL's reference you're using. Would you mind sharing the references? I'll check them up and give you my perspective.
Angela thanks for your feedback, funny word given this forum :-) That said perhaps moving the mic forward would roll off some boom but so far I like though I'm swayed more by my improvement in overall room dampening and deadening but still noted. Don't know about the hiss you're hearing. There is no longer an in-between stage with the Behringer mixer/analog connection noted earlier in the post. This recording was direct to my Zoom portable which suppled phantom for the mic. Cheers.
The old hiss issue is such a pain and I am thankful for the VB team and their insight that my interface "could" be the problem. It was in more ways than one. To begin with, it had been dying for a long time if there is such a thing. Maybe we can call it a faded death. As a result, I had to continually waste time tweaking the settings and getting frustrated which began to lead me to doubt my abilities. I then tried to configure, reconfigure, and got so wrapped up with sound dampening that I made more booths than I needed. I was so focused on everything else that I overlooked the possibility of bad equipment. I bought a new interface (Apollo Twin) a few days ago and all I can say is OMG along with asking myself, why did I wait???? Well, I waited as I never had a person like the team at Voice Bunny tell me to consider a simple test of removing the preamp and just running the interface. I am now learning my interface and the various plug-ins that it offers free as well as the other purchasable items. My hiss is gone and I look to upload a new sample soon.
Looking at your box, I am curious to know if you want to turn over the top and bottom pads vice leaving the flat edges for sound to bounce off. Yes, it absorbs but does not deflect in out in another direction. Basically causes it to do a 180 degree bounce back to the mike. I pulled this from a blog "Sculpted foam comes in several varieties, with most having either a wedge or pyramid shaped surface. The pyramid type absorbs well for sound arriving from almost any angle. But wedge foam works better at reflection points if the pattern lines run vertically from top to bottom rather than horizontally left to right. When placed on a side wall with the wedges vertical, sound from the loudspeaker strikes the foam more or less perpendicular to its edges and is better absorbed. When mounted at reflection points on a ceiling, you'd reverse the orientation to go side to side, again presenting a perpendicular surface to the sound waves." As I dive more and more into the VO world, I find sound and acoustic engineering to be fascinating. Some day, I do want an actual room that I can make as my booth.
Chris thanks. The Apollo interface does look pretty sweet but is currently too rich for my blood but again get what you pay for most times. Though I am not using any in my current voice over setup at the moment, I was originally. I have 4 low end USB based A/D converters, a Behringer mixer, an Audio-Technica dynamic mic and two Tascam converters that drivers are no longer supported by OSX. At some point I will get a better interface but for the time being I believe my most affordable and best route is record direct to my Zoom HD recorder which I'm doing at present. If anything the hiss is coming from the MXL but for the time being I'll work within my limitations.
Re the box there are no flaps on it as it's not a carboard box or folding type. It's the same one used by the guy in the video, it's the folding IKEA brand Drona box, essentially a frame covered with material which has a zipper back enclosure when you get it unfolded to the full square position. Kinda cool actually. I debated about which way to point the wedges whether point out or flat side. I believe I have it as the creator did in the video.
To begin with, you are VERY smart to live within your budget!!!!! I have heard and seen people spend, spend, spend and frankly have no clue what a certain piece of equipment does or how to use it BUT bought it because other people have it and they get jobs. I did this with fishing equipment far too often. In the end, I found most people called it catching but I called it fishing as I never really got to know the equipment that I owned or my abilities to use it. I admit, the Apollo Twin was a bit out of my budget BUT I was able to pick it up for a six month no interest plan through Guitar Center. Trust me, I did not want to fork out the coin all at once. I researched a number of interfaces and felt that the Apollo Twin, even though above budget, is a great quality piece of equipment that will be with me for many years. A bunch of the test samples I have since ran with the Apollo Twin have proved that I am going to now spend less time in post production and that is just part of the justification that I needed. I am taking my Pre-amp to Guitar Center as they sell used equipment and might get a few bucks for it to apply to the Apollo Twin purchase plan. The interface will be donated for science. In the end, stay with what you have if it works for you and gets you the results that you desire. Equipment is actually only as good as the skills and abilities that you have. Just because you buy a Ferrari or Lamborghini does not mean you can drive in a Formula one/NASCAR race. However, you can take a professional driver and put them in most common cars and they will smoke you every time in a race.