Can someone give feedback on my sample?
I sent my revised sample a few times but was rejected. I applied the lowpass and normalize filters from Audacity. Could anyone give me constructive feedback? I recorded in front of my wardrobe, laid out a few sheets and carpet on the floor, and used the isolation shield from Rockville.
Please listen to the sample here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/uk57onnaqqrm32z/SampleSpotifyxCelcom_RevisedScript_FarahPutri.wav?dl=0
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Hi Farah,
Thank you for reaching out.
After evaluating your audio, we found a couple of issues, but we can work on those together.
We'd like to know, do you mind sharing pictures of your recording space with us?
That way we'll be able to provide you with very specific feedback for your setup.
Let us know what you think
Hi John.
I’m recorded the sample in front of my wardrobe since I haven’t treated my room. It’s a work in progress.
Here’s the links to the pictures:
Other than stuff, there’s nothing on the wall opposite of the wardrobe. I don’t think it matters since the carpet that I use around my isolation booth is very thick
Thank you, Farah.
This gives us a better understanding of what we're dealing with. It seems that, even though you are working on your acoustics, it is not enough to mitigate those early reflections affecting your recordings.
Is there another suitable space in your home that you can try to record in, or is that the only place?
That way we can try and figure out how to make this work for you.
Hi Jonathan,
I very much prefer to record in my office. Here’s some pictures:
What do you think of this space compared to the wardrobe? Anyway, I don’t understand your explanation when you said about early reflections. Could you elaborate on that?
I moved to the wardrobe because I assumed having clothes around me would mean less reverb, rather than in my office. Let me know if this thinking is wrong.
if I could suggest a spot in the office, it’d be with my back facing the red curtain, I stand with the isolation shield and hang carpet to cover the lower part of the isolation shield. What do you think?
Hi Farah,
Thank you for sharing this with us.
You are correct, that wardrobe works better than your office, the ceiling, walls, and even the floor would highly affect negatively your recordings.
Does your wardrobe has a carpet, or is it the same floor as your office?
We are aiming to have your mic to record only one instance of your voice, with the reflections, you could see it as your voice hitting the wall and bouncing back to the mic, which will sum to your direct recording, creating some room issues that our QC team wouldn't approve. I hope this explanation makes it a bit better for you.
Any chance you could create a pillow fort on your wardrobe? that would highly help us with the acoustics
You can see a lot of examples on google, they tend to work as they absorb those reflections we're trying to avoid.
Let me know what you think.
Hi Jonathan,
I made a new sample since we last spoke. I put a carpet under the mic stand, had a pillow above the isolation shield, and hung the carpet to cover the shield all the down to the floor. Here's the result with normalization effect to -3db. Let me know if based on this sample, my recording would be approved. Thanks!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mlp2kdl1qagnda8/DobiQueen_Sample_FarahPutri.wav?dl=0
Hi Farah,
It seems like acoustics are improving, however, there is an issue that wasn't present before. There is hiss noise on your recording, is there anything else you changed compared to how it was before that might result in this?
Hi Jonathan,
I haven't heard from you in a while. Could you get back to me as soon as you can?
Hi Farah,
It looks like you didn't get my last response, let me copy it here for you:
It seems like acoustics are improving, however, there is an issue that wasn't present before. There is hiss noise on your recording, is there anything else you changed compared to how it was before that might result in this?
Hi Jonathan,
Oh geez, I think it was my last response that wasn't sent properly. I replied before if you could point out the exact second on the "hiss" so maybe I could tell if it was my technique or acoustic issue. I also wonder if the quality would be acceptable without the hiss? Please let me know.
No problem, Farah.
There are a few things to work, the hiss noise, which is noticeable and could be distracting, it seems like there are mouth noises, which are easily fixable, and out of curiosity, I see that your profile says "Malaysian", yet this audio is in English. Do you think you can send audio with that language, please?
Let me know what you think caused the hiss noise on this new take
Hi Jonathan,
I've recently treated my office and want you to listen to the new recordings that I made. It's normalized at -3db. For the love of God, tell me if the quality is good now. HAHAA
English - https://www.dropbox.com/s/8srepvuwcfo7mmr/English_DobiQueen.wav?dl=0
Malay - https://www.dropbox.com/s/87tdzr009enz7k6/Malay_DobiQueen.wav?dl=0
Thank you so much for your kind help so far! It's really helpful!
Hi Farah,
Thank you for these new files.
Don't despair, we want to achieve a great recording as much as you, but seems like the issues are still there :(
It's worth mentioning, there is a slight improvement in acoustics but it's not going to be enough for our QC team, and the noise is still present, you can notice it better in the quiet parts of your recordings.
How about using a mild Noise Reduction plugin on the chain to see if that helps you with the noise?
Also, how about a new set of pictures of your current recording space? let's see if there's something else we can do to achieve our final goal.
Let us know
Hi Jonathan,
This is the same recording for Malay version that I processed with DeNoise. https://www.dropbox.com/s/c66up9t7b410i4r/Malay_DobiQueen_DeNoise2.wav?dl=0
Please let me know if it's enough DeNoise.
Hi Farah,
Thank you for this new audio, it seems like you found the sweet spot when it comes to noise.
However, the room tone is still present, do you think there's something else we could try to make it better too?
Hi Jonathan,
I applied a DeVerb effect this time, and I think it resolved the room tone issue. Please listen to it here.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/r9tlzrlwv0e8is0/Malay_DobiQueen_DeNoiseDeverb2.wav?dl=0
Let me know what you think!
Hi Farah,
Thank you for this new sample, it improves a bit, but still has some noticeable room tone.
Do you think there might be something else we could do to help mitigate the room tone? Like bringing more thick materials to your recording space to cover some flat surfaces and reduces the recording space?
Hi Jonathan,
Could you please listen to these 3 of the same recordings. I may have not tweaked the deverb properly, so here are three recordings at -6db, -8db, and -10 db DeVerb. Let me know which one sounds best, or I should further or reduce the deverb. Thanks!
1. https://www.dropbox.com/s/3d5smfgrisyxidt/Malay_DobiQueen_DeNoiseDeverb%40-6.wav?dl=0
2. https://www.dropbox.com/s/uzhyb0dapeijlb4/Malay_DobiQueen_DeNoiseDeverb%40-8.wav?dl=0
3. https://www.dropbox.com/s/dzvdpzucvx4ynuh/Malay_DobiQueen_DeNoiseDeverb%40-10.wav?dl=0
Hi Farah,
Thank you for going the extra mile here.
It seems like the one that will work best for you, in this case, is -8dB.
I invite you to compare your first submission vs this one, I'm sure you'll notice great improvement that should be proud of!
Out of curiosity, was this for an application project?
Hi Jonathan!!
Yes, my application got rejected and I’m wondering if with this sample I would be approved? I really want to start working in this seriously! Haha tell me what I should do.
And thank you so much for your patience and guidance!! Wouldn’t get here if it’s not with your help!
Well, it seems like you did it, that's great quality.
How about you go to your profile, request for reconsideration, and right before you send the file, you post it up here so we can make sure it is ready to be approved by our team?
How would you feel about that?
Awesome. I just applied for a reconsideration. I’ll open this thread again after recording the new sample and follow the same formula that I did with this one.
Looking forward to it. Thanks a lot again, Jonathan!
Amazing, Farah.
Thank you for being so kind and approachable.
We'll be waiting for your file and help you with your next application until then, take care!
It's been a pleasure helping you
Hi Jonathan!
It's me again! I've recorded new samples for the reconsideration. You've asked me before to post them up here before I send them for reconsideration. Kindly help me review the following samples in Malay and English. I plan to submit both. Thank you so much! Hoping to hear from you soon! :)
Malay - https://www.dropbox.com/s/nnsuw83fvwk2rta/MarketingCampaignMalay.wav?dl=0
English - https://www.dropbox.com/s/1obkd8gvbh58o6m/Commercial_English.wav?dl=0
Hi Farah,
Good to read you again!
Thank you for sending us these new files.
Do you think you can compare these two to our last effort?
https://www.dropbox.com/s/uzhyb0dapeijlb4/Malay_DobiQueen_DeNoiseDeverb%40-8.wav?dl=0
I believe you'll be able to notice that on this recording you did an amazing job in getting rid of the room tone, however, it seems like that reverberation is back on the two files you sent here, especially the English commercial.
Let me know if you can spot the difference.
Hi Jonathan,
Thank you for your feedback. Please have a listen on both files. Maybe I forgot to click "Render" when I applied the Deverb.
English - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ukx1q28ukc9fp0f/Commercial_English2.wav?dl=0
Malay - https://www.dropbox.com/s/7klga41sc7blyi6/MarketingCampaign_Malay2.wav?dl=0
Let me know if you hear the improvement. Thanks!
Hi Farah,
Thank you for this new audios.
We just shared them with our Quality Control team to get some feedback for you, this is what they said:
It has some room echo that might be better to try and fix, but everything else sounds good!
It seems like the de-verb is not working as expected. The best way to go about this is making it sound without that much room tone right from the recording, instead of waiting to change it with processing.
What do you think about this¿
Hi Johnatan,
The issue here was I upped the gain on my mic this time just to see how far I could get away with it. I have recently treated the acoustics in my office. And I'm still learning about the Deverb plugin that I got, so the adjustment is a little different than last time.
Ok so now I think there's a lot of noticeable difference since I think I got the plugin to work properly. Please listen to these two new version, and let me know if they're good.
English - https://www.dropbox.com/s/swg1c0sg427nfcn/Commercial_English4.wav?dl=0
Malay- https://www.dropbox.com/s/8el9bwxhq1322ut/MarketingCampaign_Malay4.wav?dl=0
If they're still not good enough, I'll redo them but I can only do it next week because I have a trip coming in a day.
Hi Farah,
Thank you for that explanation, we decided to share your new files with our Quality Control team again and this is your feedback:
Sounds a little bit boxy with room echo. Also, it sounds over-processed
It seems like the issue would have to be fixed right from the recording rather than using the deverb plugin, as it is bringing more harm than help to your audios.
We can wait until next week, have a fantastic and peaceful trip.