Rejection for a beginner VO artist.
My first submission was rejected for mouth noises and boxiness.
My current environment is a Blue Yeti in a Vocal-booth Silver Series enclosure. My DAW is Audacity.
OK, I know, its on the cheap.
So lots of questions
1) Can the Blue Yeti be the cause of the boxiness?
2) To remove mouth noises, can I use a noise gate for submissions? I initially didn't since the application guide asked for no post processing.
3) The inside of my enclosure is all absorbent material except for the one wall with the window. What is the recommended placement for me in relation to the microphone and the window?
4) If I do need a new microphone (probably Stellar X2), how do I get a time-to-submit extension to purchase the mic/interface?
5) Is Audacity OK or what? If Audacity is inadequate, I'll need more time to get up to speed with a new DAW.
6) Do you guys have any suggestions for a microphone for a baritone voice?
Thanks
Bill
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Hi, Bill!
Thanks a million for reaching out with so many great questions, and for your interest in improving your recording quality.
For the record, I too have a setup "built on the cheap" (inside a closet no less). This however is no impediment to good quality, my good man.
I'd like to see clear, detailed photos of your setup and hear a sample recording in the best quality possible, with no processing whatsoever. For the purposes of our interactions and to answer question number 5, I'd like for you to download Reaper. It has a very generous trial period and it's super flexible, powerful, and affordable if you do decide to take the plunge.
As for the rest of your gear, let's try to squeeze every bit of goodness out of it! We might be able to suggest new equipment for you if given the case, but as of now, it's not fair to make you spend that hard-earned money.
Happy New Year!
– Héctor Adolfo Ituarte (Bunny Studio QC Agent)
Hello Hector
For the past several weeks, I made upgrades including;
1) a very used Vocalbooth.com room.
2) Stellar X2 mic
3) Komplete Audio 1 interface.
I'm trying to get used to Reaper, but in the meantime, I used Audacity for tweaking.
I've uploaded the latest and would appreciate your comments. Be as brutal as you wish. I confess I used a simple Audacity noise gate to reduce (not eliminate) background and a little cutting out of long pauses while I inhale.
Thanks
Bill
Hey, Bill!
Thanks a million for the patience and the valuable info on your new setup, gotta say it sounds much better and does your voice a lot of good when compared to your previous configuration.
I do have some observations about the way Audacity processes the audio and some frequency imbalances present in your booth. These are not complicated to fix, so what do you say we give it a whirl?
Please, record a sample for me (with the best quality your gear will allow in Reaper) and attach the super raw, hyper unprocessed audio to your next response, along with a couple of pics of how that Stellar is placed in the booth. We have to work on the acoustics, some diction issues, and other things, but I'd love to have the raw audio so that I can tailor some FX Chains for you so that your whole recording/editing process becomes a much more straight forward affair. I love your tone and timbre, and would love to see you succeed in our platform =)
Here's a rendition of your audio, with some adjustments and edits. Can you tell what the differences are when compared to your original?
Finally, if you can snatch a pair of Sony MRD-7506 studio monitors, you'd benefit greatly from hearing your recordings the way we (and most of the industry) do. They are inexpensive, almost indestructible, and DIY repair-friendly. You won't regret the purchase, my friend!
Cheers!
Hi Hector,
Thanks for the encouraging feedback. First I do have a 7506 and they are great. Your version of my file is noticeably better even for my 69 year old ears. As for diction, I do have a speech pathologist helping me with my lateral lisp. Hopefully that won't take too much time to remedy. In the meantime, here is a picture of me and my mic in my 4'x4' booth. Also here is the latest raw wave file.
Thanks again
Bill
Hector,
Here are some additional pics (1,2,3) of the mic and booth.
Thanks again for your help.
Bill
Hi again,
Since I'm new to all this, I thought it would be more helpful to you if I sent the actual Reaper files.
Bill
Hector et all
I've done some more fiddling. Since my hearing is not what it used to be (too many Stones and Doobie Brothers concerts) I installed a signal generator app on my cell phone. I connected it to an external speaker in my booth and recorded from 1000 Hz on down. Using Reaper's equalizer, I was able to flatten out the spikes from the fundamental frequency. There were several harmonics that trailed the fundamental but I have no idea how to reduce those spikes. I think my recordings sounds better.
Bill
Hi, Bill!
Thanks a bunch for all the hard work! I really appreciate the efforts made. That picture, the recording, and all the info are of great use, thanks once again.
The good news is that harmonics on frequency ranges 1 kHz and down are more easily controllable than say, the very usually problematic 2400 Hz –responsible for some of the boxiness is small/confined spaces, such as those in which we self-produced, home-brewed VO artists work.
Now, I trust your ears, man! Unless you've lost the ability to hear 100 to 15,000 Hz, we could have great trouble, but I'm guessing you can totally perceive those ranges.
Do share those tests and we'll figure out a way to tame the problematic harmonics (at least to a degree that they won't significantly impact your VO work.) Looking at your pic, I can think of a couple of strategies that will render better results with your particular mic.
Would be so kind as to vary your mic positioning and record a couple of samples? The test script will do just fine for this purpose. At the apparent current position, I can almost make out the sound of that glass pane and the room overall. So the tests go like this...
1) Mic at the current position; two reads: one with a mouth-to-mic distance of 4 inches, one with m2m distance of 8 inches.
2) Mic in the middle of the room (or best approximation). Same instructions.
3) Mic in the farthermost corner opposing the glass pane. Same instructions, with the following positioning variations: mic nooked in as close to the corner; mic with a distance of about 3 inches from walls/nook; mic with a distance of 6 inches from walls/nook.
4) Maintain settings and instructions of the previous test, add heavy fabrics (coats, jackets, blankets, etc) to the walls/nook adjacent to the mic. Cover glass pane with heavy fabric too.
I know this all may seem a bit taxing, but with our collective efforts and ears, we can get you dialed in, my man! I hope this rendering of your audio (extracted raw from your Reaper project) encourages you to work towards what can be achieved. I'm already working on some Reaper FX Chains for you, but sharing them just yet would be counterproductive.
Hope to hear from you soon =)