Differing Rejection reasons, and what is good enough for equipment here?
Hey there,
I have tried to apply to Bunny Studio multiple times now. I usually get rejected for "hiss." This confounds me due to the extensive lengths I have gone through to construct a professional grade studio and one that houses what I have been led to believe is some of the better equipment available short of that which is astronomically expensive and rarely seen even in this industry as it is. My studio is five drywall layers thick, with rockwool isolation fill, assembled using resilient channel and green glue. All of which are the industry standards for acoustic construction. The interior is covered in a high quality two inch thick absorption foam by soundtrax and all over. Bass traps filling every corner. An outdoor rated solid core door reinforced by multiple layers of fiber board and foam with multiple latches, weather stripping, seals, and a two stage floor strip. A custom ventilation system with baffled and insulated 4 inch air channels with an extra layer of isolation on the exterior of the baffles, and the quiets inline fans I could find, which I keep off when recording anyway. My studio is located in my basement and I have even walled in my HVAC unit with framing, rockwool, and drywall as well to be extra sure, which again I manual turn off when recording. The lighting is three Philips Hue LED bulbs, that make no detectable noise. My recording chain is a Shure SM7B, Mogami gold cables, Rode PSA1 boom, an Apogee Element interface (this features the preamps, and A/Ds in their $2,000+ Ensemble just in a barebones chassis for max value, and these units are supposedly known for being near the pinnacle of recording gear), this connected to a 2016 Macbook Pro through Thunderbolt that I run on battery when recording, and this Macbook makes no detectable noise when run the way I have it configured. Everything that requires power which is usually just the interface itself is powered through a $1,000 audiophile grade power isolation/noise dissipation unit. I'm sharing all this because I cannot possibly begin to understand where the QC team thinks noise could possibly be coming from in a setup like this. I have tried using multiple DAWs, I usually do Reaper, tried different gain settings from between 50 to 60 (my preamp is good for 75). My most recent submission finally didn't hit for noise as I recorded at 50 db but had to pull the mic close and now I got hit for plosives, which should already be very minor through the stubborn capsule of an SM7B as it is. I do not know what to do. Is the SM7B disliked around here, is anything else I have? What do I do? I have put over $10,000 over the last year in to starting a VO career after years of encouragement to do so from countless people for my voice, public speaking talent, and and natural delivery as I have always worked in sales and customer service which some say is itself a form of acting (I agree btw). I've been working on learning the ends and outs of audio editing for a professional production. Listening to trainings, and advice from industry folks. My day job is in Hi-Fi and home theater so audio systems and the construction of good signal chains using the proper components are a natural thing for me to work with. I'm a stickler for maximal audio quality by trade. Yet apparently I cannot figure this out. Any advice. Thank you! I really appreciate anyone's input!
-Luke
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Hi Luke,
Thank you very much for that detailed explanation and for helping us understand where your thoughts are coming from.
We'd love to help with your application, do you think you can send us a fresh sample so our team can have a listen and bring their comments or suggestions into this situation?
Hello Johnatan,
Here is my sample. Please let me know your thoughts. Thank you!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IrSux-eq9vAodabZtN3JTongiWwYBXPI/view?usp=sharing
Hi Luke,
I shared your file with our QC team, here's their feedback:
Sounds nice in general! There are some plosives, maybe a low cut around 100hz would work well for him.
It seems like you're very close, we invite you to apply the suggestions they're providing here, and let's see how it goes!