Audio Specs
Hi,
My account was deactivated recently because of too many rejected sample uploads. Honestly, I was enjoying just throwing what I had at the VB sample QA screener just so it could help me troubleshoot my setup.
I'd been told for the past 6-7 uploads that there is too much noise reduction, honestly, the degradation you guys seem to be hearing here is a bit beyond my ear, it sounds fine to me. So I eased off the noise reduction in this sample and wanted to see if this sample worked.
https://soundcloud.com/rafaelmmiguel/kobe-vo/s-uTbjXDLnKpK
If so, can you help me reactivate my profile?
Thanks,
Rafael
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Hi Rafael,
Thank you for reaching out.
It seems like the noise reduction might be acceptable, however, it seems like you have boominess present on your recording.
This effect might be caused due to the acoustic environment you might have when recording, it seems like the lower frequencies are more present than they should.
Is there a chance you can send us a picture of your recording space so we can give you suggestions based on it?
Hey,
Hmm, I never received any feedback regarding boominess on my samples... Do you think that was the issue?
For example, I tried to upload this sample a couple of times, and it got rejected. Does this one sound like it has too much noise compression?
https://soundcloud.com/rafaelmmiguel/ust-v2-vo/s-YExVK9VmaQU
Perhaps the boominess is due to proximity effect, and I should back off the mic a bit? Is the VB sample evaluator an AI or a human?
As for the studio, it's pretty similar to this picture, except less space, and enclosed with moving blankets on the bottom too.
Thanks!
Hi Rafael,
Thank you for sharing this with us.
There are several things to try here:
To answer your question, we have a dedicated human team for QC procedures.
Hi,
Well I know that the samples are automatically being rejected at this point, but they were being reviewed and consistently rejected with the note of it sounding too undesirably processed before the account was deactivated. I have been toying with a new setup in my closet, and here is a sample read in that setup with noise reduction. I backed off from the mic to avoid proximity effect, can you let me know if this would be acceptable?
https://soundcloud.com/rafaelmmiguel/test/s-QTsmVelvKfh
Thanks,
Rafael
Hi Rafael,
Thank you for this new submission.
It seems like you applied some sort of plugin to your audio, however, it is not delivering the expected results, giving you that "over-processed" review.
Do you think you can record a new sample without processing?
Hi,
Here is a playlist of the same clip, one without plugins, one using Audition's DeNoise tool, and the other using Audition's Noise Reduction.
Let me know what the next steps would be...
https://soundcloud.com/rafaelmmiguel/sets/audio-test/s-3PTk9ViN0lp
Thanks!
Hi Rafael,
Definitely the best one here is Adobe Denoise.
However, it seems like your audio has some boominess on it, is there a chance you can take a step back from the mic and try to record a new sample for us?
Gotcha,
Here are is a short clip of 3 different reads of the same script, each at a different proximity to the mic. The 1st read was farthest, then I got closer and closer for the next 2.
https://soundcloud.com/rafaelmmiguel/mic-proximity-tests/s-364LYJ6pcKR
Can you tell me if this fixes the problem?
Thanks!
Hi Rafael,
Thank you for that, unfortunately, we still have a lot of low frequency on the recording.
I see that the mic is currently facing outside of your recording space, is that how you normally record?
If so, how about you turn it around so it faces the interior of the "box". And if you record facing the inside, how about you keep facing the inside but move the mic a step back and try again.
Let me know what you think
Hi Johnatan,
Thanks for helping me out with this...still trying some of your suggestions. Here is a recording where I faced away from the mic while I read the script, at about a 35 degree angle. My mouth was a little over 7 inches away from the mic.
https://soundcloud.com/rafaelmmiguel/facing-at-an-angle-away-from-mic/s-ppQi3VjYyTv
My new studio is a very narrow closet, the wall behind the mic, to the sides of the mic, and above the mic are covered with 2 moving blankets, and the back is padded with hanging clothing.
However, the boominess you mentioned in the earlier samples in this thread were from before this new studio, where it was basically just a wrap of 3 moving blankets over my head and the mic, so I'm assuming that my studio acoustics don't necessarily have to do with the boominess?
Is this new sample going the right direction in terms of reducing boominess? If not, is there an easy EQ fix to this issue?
Lastly, I have an SE 2200 A II C mic, with the built-in low pass filter switched on, and the -10db pad switched on as well. Would these have anything to do with the issue?
See pics attached.
Thanks.
Hi Rafael,
Thank you very much for this information and the pictures.
Let's try a few experiments, shall we?
First, turn off that filter and record a new take, please?
Then, and here I'll leave the filter at your judgment, please move the mic a bit away from the foam and try to record again.
It seems we still have that proximity effect here, our main goal right now is to take care of it.
Let me know what you think
Alright,
I took your suggestions, and made some samples with varying degrees of low pass filter being turned off, mic being pulled away from foam shield. I pulled the mic as far from the shield as the frame allowed just to clarify the effect. Ultimately to my ear having LPF turned on, and -10db pad turned on helps cut out unwanted noises and sounds from my recording...
https://soundcloud.com/rafaelmmiguel/sets/sound-studio-tests/s-u2kvuXmCMSw
Hopefully the titles of each of these tracks clearly denotes what the set up was. This is a picture of the distance between foam shield and mic when I pulled it back...
Let me know if there is any improvement in here...
Sir, you are amazing, thank you very much for all of those recordings! It's a very good material to work with.
I think our best options here are number 1 and number 5.
A couple of questions tho,
1. did you process those audios? and if you did, can you let me know what you did for each one?
2. do you think you can try again number 5 but positioning the mic at a slight angle so the air doesn't hit the mic's capsule directly?
Appreciate your help, thanks for sticking with me...
Hm, that's confusing that you like number 1, because it was just a normal read like all of my other ones except with the low pass filter switched off.
For number 5, the low pass filter was switched back on, the mic was pulled away from the foam shield, and I was already facing mostly away from the mic so only a bit of air from the side of my mouth was hitting it (if any, since I have a pop filter). Do you want me to try facing away even more?
Maybe my studio is just inconsistent or something?
Here are images of the only tools I use to process my sound in Adobe Audition. Would it be a bad idea to try to address boominess with EQ or should I just keep working on studio setup until I figure it out?
Thanks...!
Hi, thank you for explaining the process.
Let's try number 5 facing away a little bit more.
We are actually close, the main issue is the boominess, please, try that option, and try mild eq as well to see if that helps in your particular case.
Hey Johnatan,
I actually think I may have figured out a solution while I was looking into EQ today...
A while back I reached out to George Whittam to make an effects rack for my voice processing, and honestly just not really knowing much about all this, I hadn't realized that it seems he already built in something to offset the boominess. I have applied that effects rack to the following samples (one from a while ago, and one recorded today.) Can you let me know if you still hear the issue?
https://soundcloud.com/rafaelmmiguel/sets/new-samples/s-RSSWpLe9TMP
Underneath the two samples with the effects rack applied, there are two samples where I removed the mic completely from the foam shield, one recording I faced into the mic, one I faced away.
I'm really not an expert on this, but from the youtube tutorial I learned, I think my mic's boominess lives in about 145hz line for some reason, and it seemed like it had to be EQ'd in any of the situations...
Thanks.
PS the last two samples where the foam shield was gone, no effects rack was applied.
Hello Rafael! How are you??
Hope you are doing great.
I was checking your audios you uploaded on Soundcloud and I think they are fair enough to get your account re-activated. Plus, we really appreciate your effort and enthusiasm on improving the quality of your audios. The best ones in my opinion are Solar W. Whitam Rack and Completely Removed From Foam Shield Facing Forward.
Just a couple of remarks:
1. Please be aware of mouth clicking noises. To prevent them you could drink hot tea before recording or you can eat a green apple.
2. On the second recording, there are some digital artifacts (clicking noises) that I suppose were caused during the recording. Please make sure that all your audios that you submit don't have these noises or any kind of undesired noises. You audios should sound 100% clean.
Thanks for your patience! Your account should be activated in the next couple of minutes.
Have an excellent weekend.
Gabriel
Hi guys,
Thanks for helping me out with all this, really appreciate it. Still having some confusion with my work on VB, I recently submitted an audition with the studio specs I left this blog with. I had removed the foam shield and mounted my mic on a boom arm so I could set up my computer below it. In any case, my last audition sample was rejected for having too much room echo, as well as not following the project direction. I was curious to see if the same feedback would apply if I took the exact same sound sample and uploaded it on my samples list on my profile, and the sample ended up being approved there no problem. So as it stands I am slightly confused about whether or not my studio is good enough to produce the quality audio you guys need?
The sample in question:
https://bunnystudio.com/voice/samples/178406/
I realize that the read is a bit flatter, this was to accomodate the reference sample the client had listed. Maybe the sample was rejected more because my voice wasn't a good fit for the project, and less because of the echo?
See pics below, thanks.
Hello Rafael!
How are you?
Thanks a lot for reaching out. I'm so sorry to hear that. I know it could be frustrating sometimes when we try hard and it seems that the results are not coming.
I was listening to the sample you sent and it indeed has some boxiness on it. Of course the read also comes to count when the QC team is taking decisions and deciding whether or not approve the deliverables, so I guess this time it is a combination of both things.
I think your studio is somehow well equipped, and I think what you need to do is a little bit more of experimentation and re-positioning in order to get it right every time without exceptions. I think what we could do is that I can attach you a sample of one our Pros so you can know exactly what are we aiming for in terms of quality.
Please use as a reference this sample: https://bunnystudio.com/voice/samples/151912
This is a perfect example of the quality conditions that your audio must have and I think it is going to be a lot way easier for you to experiment knowing what is what we are requiring. Please let me know if you indeed notice the difference between your audio and this sample.
Hope this helps and enjoy your week!
Gabriel
Hi,
The good news is that my studio seems good enough now to get most of the work approved haha. However it's still more trouble than it's worth to have about %15 rejected, I think the issue is an inconsistency with room echo now.
I recently uploaded 3 samples to my profile, 2 of them were approved, and one of them was rejected due to room echo/reverb. My issue is, to be honest, maybe I can hear about a %2 difference in the one that was rejected vs. the approved ones in terms of echoiness. Can you guys help me hone in on the issue in terms of pointing it out to me? Is it specific moments in the recording that reverb, or is the recording as a whole more reverby?
Rejected sample:
https://bunnystudio.com/voice/samples/181715/
Approved samples:
https://bunnystudio.com/voice/samples/181717
https://bunnystudio.com/voice/samples/181716
Thanks for your help again,
Rafael
Hello Rafael! How are you?
Hope you are having a great weekend.
Could you please send me some examples of projects that have been accepted vs projects that have been rejected to see the differences between each and see what things we can improve?
On regards the samples, personally I do think they sound pretty similar. There is a little bit of boxiness on the audios, so maybe that's why some audios might get rejected. But with the examples of real projects maybe I can get a clearer idea of what things should improve in order to get it 100% right every time.
Hope you have an amazing weekend.
Gabriel