Today I received the following email titled, "Voice Bunny has reviewed your sample". I was surprised because I don't recall having submitted any samples recently. This was the content of the email:
Hi, Staci,
Thank you for your submission; we greatly appreciate your effort. Unfortunately, we won't be able to show this sample (Sawyer- March 2018 female voice) in our search due to the following issue(s).
- The sample doesn’t convey a complete idea.
- There is audible room echo (reverberation) impacting your sample. Please ensure you record in an acoustically treated space. If you already have acoustic treatment, it may not be adequate.
- There is a high level of white noise/hiss impacting your sample that is adversely affecting the quality.
We trust our feedback will help you improve the quality of your work and achieve professional results. We invite you to visit the following article in the Knowledge Base, it will help you understand what we expect of the samples:https://voicebunny.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000253639
Please remove the rejected sample from your profile at your earliest convenience. Keep in mind that accumulated rejected samples may result in the automatic deactivation of your profile!
Be sure to visit our community page and share your recordings there. Our members can provide you with constructive commentary. You can also interact directly with members of the VoiceBunny Quality Control Team.
Please note that QC related queries will be attended in the community ONLY:https://help.bunnyinc.com/hc/en-us/community/topics.
Thank you again for your work,
Juan Santiago Mendoza
Head of Quality Control
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I responded to the account from which the original message was sent with the following reply:
Hi there,
I'm a bit confused about this message. First of all, it seems to have come out of nowhere. The sample you've mentioned was from an approved job that I completed a long time ago and it was uploaded automatically - not by me. Seeing how it was approved then by Voice Bunny QC and the client, why is it not good enough now? And why is it being reviewed after all this time?
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As you can see from my reply, the sample in question was:
1) a piece from a job that was automatically uploaded by the system after completion.
2) previously approved by both Voice Bunny QC AND the client
3) from a project that is several months old
Additionally, this particular sample, which is not one of my favorites by any means, is the very sample that has been "favorited" several times by clients and led to me being hired for jobs. Though I don't understand why, it's clearly been effective in acquiring business. Honestly, that's the only reason I'm hesitant to remove it... aside from the time this random and seemingly frivolous situation is taking out of my day.
So why is this sample (that was not uploaded by me) suddenly coming into question? Why was it good enough for Voice Bunny and the client back then, but not now? Are they trying to boot me from the system? "Keep in mind that accumulated rejected samples may result in the automatic deactivation of your profile!" (With an exclamation point, no less.) It seems pretty rude to make that not-so-thinly veiled threat of removal when this is no fault of my own.
Well, I still have no answers. Why? Because the two replies I've received thus far from Voice Bunny both said that they can't handle this question for me and that I must take it to the community forum. I find that odd, considering I replied to the very same sender from which the original message came. Yet, here I am, taking more time out of my day to remedy something that doesn't seem like it should've been a problem in the first place. Come on, guys. If you send me an email that seems so serious in nature, I should be able to respond to you directly instead of airing it out in public. *sigh*
There you have it. I've done my part jumping through hoops today. I'll be curious to see the response.
Well, I received another similar email regarding another sample from a previously completed and approved job. Today's email kind of addressed some of my questions and was much more polite in nature. I just thought I'd share that info in case anyone else is having similar issues, especially because this post has yet to be address.
Happy voicing!
Hi Staci
Thank you for bringing up your concern!
Keep in mind that at this time we're advancing a review of all the samples we currently have in the system. With this process, we're going through all our samples, manually uploaded or added from approved projects, to ensure all samples match our current quality standards. This quite an arduous work since we are going through every single sample that is in our system since we started with VoiceBunny for which you may receive emails from samples that are quite old or that were approved a long time ago.
We started this process because we've noticed our clients are having a hard time to find quality samples in our Search. Some of them have been vocal about how hard it is to find the best, high-quality voices amongst all the samples we have which came as an alarm to us. We definitely want to make booking process to be easy for clients to find a voice and for you, our best voices, to be found by them. Alongside this process, we've also seen that a lot of our Pros have accumulated a lot of samples (some even have over +1000!) since they started and we're aware a lot of those don't represent their current work.
I apologize if this wasn't clear before. We'll make sure we inform all our Pros about this process so the emails don't come as such as surprise for you.
We hope you can help us remove the rejected samples.
Thank you, Angela! That's very helpful information. (This is an example of why you're my favorite Bunny!)
I did go through and remove the two samples mentioned in the emails. Additionally, I was surprised to see that I had about 60 samples so I began to remove some that had been automatically uploaded but seemed dispensable. I've got it down to 49 samples now. The reason I didn't purge more samples is that I recall some of them were added to "favorites" lists of clients and the system warned that if I deleted those, the potential client wouldn't be able to find me. Is this perhaps something that could be remedied on the site? Maybe when the client marks a sample as a "favorite", it could somehow bookmark that Bunny Pro as a favorite, as well, so that we wouldn't disappear from their preferences? Just a thought.
Thanks again for your response! You have alleviated my concerns. You rock!
Hi Staci!
Thank you for your inquiry, I'm glad you asked as I think more Pros will find it useful.
First of all, it is important to understand that as the number of projects and Pros increases with time, so does the number of samples in the search. There are two ways for a Pro to have a sample in their profile; one way is uploading an audio file and the other is after a project is fulfilled, the deliverable may be turned into one.
With this in mind, in order to improve the experience of our clients and help them find the perfect Pro to fulfill their project as effectively as possible, we are working hard to maintain a healthy and updated search. This is why some samples that worked before may not be the best showcase of your capabilities today. Likewise, we've discovered that some samples are under the incorrect purpose, and some are too short for the clients to assess the skills and quality of the Pro. Other samples are of inferior quality than the deliverables submitted today by the same Pro, and they no longer meet our quality standards.
The QC team has been reviewing samples for over a year, and we recently decided to notify the Pros when a sample is rejected. This way, there's a better understanding of why a sample was rejected, and a Pro has more control over their profile.
We want the Pros to be involved more in the process, and be proactive with the samples they keep in their profile. It's important to review what samples are showing in your profile. Some may be outdated; others may be labeled under the wrong attribute; some may not be very good samples as they might be too short or be the same sentence repeated over and over.
Deleting the ineffective samples from your profile will contribute to a better search, where our clients can find the perfect voice faster and easier!
I understand this process might cause discomfort at first, but it's thought to bring the best results for all.
I invite you to read our article on what constitutes an effective sample and let us know what you think!
We are always open to hearing from you all!
Kind regards,
Juan Santiago Mendoza
Hi Staci!
No problem at all! Glad I was able to answer your questions. Sorry it took me some time to get here, but the implementation of these notifications was taking some time as we also had to make some tweaks to the email so it could be perfect!
The idea about the favorites is a great one! I'll definitely add it to our pipeline so we can analyze this possibility and see how we can bring it to life in the future. In the meantime, you did perfectly by removing only the samples that you saw weren't getting you results! That's the whole idea of cleaning your profile! Leaving those samples that have been favorited and that have brought you projects. That's the thought process we want you to have when reviewing your profile and making sure it's up to date.
Thanks again for your understanding and always hard work!
I agree with Staci---there are samples that aren't as good as my current quality (automatically uploaded from projects that were recorded before I got my professional sound booth) but I am hesitant to remove them because time and time again, clients reference these particular samples when giving me a direct booking. I went through a while ago and removed some of the terrible quality ones from years ago, but I hate the idea of removing ones that have been favorited by many clients and resulted in quite a few direct bookings even more so than the current ones from my proper studio space :( If anything I feel that it would be a pleasant surprise when they book me and the quality is actually better and without that little bit of reverb.
Hi Kira
I totally understand what you mean. We will definitely review the possibility of showing you more data on these samples so it's better for you to know which samples you should remove.
Keep in mind as well that once a sample has been rejected, all the stats of said sample will be taken away and it will also be taken off a client's favorite list. For this reason, it's important to check and remove the rejected samples we send your way!
Thank you, Angela! I do appreciate how hard you work for the community :)
The problem I have is that Voice Bunny has automatically uploaded the Samples that they want me to delete, without asking me if I wanted them there in the first place. You know what, If you do want the sample down - YOU delete it. You put it there in the first place. Don't make "busy-work" for me (which takes me away from the business of making money.) We pay you, VB, 66% of the project's value so that we don't have to do this stuff.
But, as was said before, if the Sample has been favorited by a client and has been used to drive business to us as Talent, Leave It Alone. It ain't broke - Don't fix it.
How about, before you post it to our profiles as a Sample - Like when QC is listening to it in the first place, they send us an email with the option of "Hey, this file sounds great! Do you want it posted to YOUR SAMPLES on your Profile?" That way, it's approved by QC before posting, and the Talent agrees to have it up there. That way, if we want it down, we CHOSE for it to be there, so it's on us to maintain it. Instead of YOU making the choice to post it, then REQUIRING us to clean up your mess.
That sounds fair, doesn't it?
That's my $0.02.
Chris
1. Is there a way to know for sure if a sample has been favorited by a client before you delete it? And if so, are you only having us remove samples that have NOT been saved by a client for future reference?
2. Is there a way to prevent finished projects from automatically being turned into a sample? I would find if more efficient to choose which finished projects be turned into samples, than have to frequently audit my account. That would also alleviate any fears that I'm potentially zonking a sample file that a client has stored to find me for future projects
Regards,
Hi!
Thank you for your comments. We really appreciate the recommendations and we'll keep them into account. We create the samples automatically to also make your job easier but we understand that it may be quite challenging when the recording doesn't work as a sample. We will definitely review this feature and determine if we can implement soon!
Now, keep in mind that you guys don't pay us any fees. We pay you your designated rates and we add our markup on top which is paid by our client. Remember that at VoiceBunny, we buy your work for your rates and resell it to our clients. You're not paying any fees to make part of VoiceBunny nor we discount anything from your pay. We pay you what you say and we add our own fees. VoiceBunny is your client so you don't have to pay anything to complete and/or receive projects. Our clients pay VoiceBunny to acquire a voice over that is screened by quality control and support teams, for our infrastructure and payment system. This mode is what allows us to pay you even if our client rejects your work, because we, your client, approved it.
In regards to the favorites, keep in mind that once a sample is rejected, it is removed from any favorite lists it was added to. Therefore, removing it won't make a difference in the favorites. We're also working on adding the favorites to each sample so you also know which samples, even the approved ones, are performing well and which aren't so you can also remove them proactively.
Hope this answered your questions!
Thank you for the update. I keep track of which of my samples are Favorited, but I'm sure I've missed one or two along the way. It would be VERY helpful to know which samples are performing well (and not) so that samples can be better manged without fear of deleting a sample that has been saved by a client.
Thank you for the response update on this feature!
Hi Everyone! I received an odd email today about another sample that was being rejected. The reason I found it odd was that it was regarding a sample that I had personally deleted almost a month ago. Has anyone else experienced this and/or know why a deleted sample is now being flagged when it doesn't even exist anymore? Thanks!
Am I the only one who finds it a bit frustrating that we're expected to remove all these samples ourselves? For those who have completed hundreds of projects and had the samples uploaded automatically not through our own doing, it's not exactly fun taking time out of our day to go in and remove a sample that was flagged for say, being 13 seconds instead of 15 seconds or whatever arbitrary criteria ("doesn't convey a complete idea") so that we don't get deactivated/banned. What I don't understand is, if these samples that were automatically uploaded from jobs we booked are considered "removed from search results", why doesn't that just delete it from the system? Why are we the ones who have to go through, find whatever sample was rejected for whatever reason and get rid of it ourselves or else we risk being kicked off the site? It seems like many people here have come through with frustrations only to be told "please remember to remove deleted samples from your profile as quickly as possible". But if they are deleted samples... why aren't they simply DELETED? Why create an extra step for the talent by making them go through the hassle of finding the sample and removing it from their profile, rather than setting up an algorithm of some kind that will automatically delete the sample once it's flagged as "removed from search results"? I'd prefer not to have to worry about every job I do in the future uploading a sample automatically only for me later to have to go in and remove it myself for "not being a complete idea" based on what portion of the file was automatically created for it. Am I missing something?
I'm with you, Kira. One of the reasons I use sites like VB is that I loath doing office-work, busy-work, home-work, whatever you want to call it. VB is a convenience, so that I don't have to think about curating my samples, fussing over what makes my site/branding most attractive, chasing late-paying clients, etc... basically, anything that takes me away from performing. I get behind the mic, deliver a high quality read quickly, and move on. Then I get paid. That's what makes VB a worthwhile effort. All the rest of this busy-work raises the number of hours that I need to work on my VB business, WITHOUT increasing my income. It effectively lowers our already-low per-hour rates that we get paid for this work. It's unfair and unreasonable for VB to demand this effort of us, when we didn't request the samples be there in the first place. If VB doesn't have adequate staff to do this job themselves, they should hire more people, not foist it off on us as if it were our responsibility. And, doing so should not increase the 66% "our share" they take from the value the client pays for the job. It's just the cost of doing business.
I go back to what I said before, VB should ask "Do you want this project added to Your Samples?" in their Great Work email about showing off the client's work. If they don't ask and they upload the sample, it's on them to delete it.