Rejection feedback
Hi,
Trying to understand rejection from the platform.
This was my submission http://www.johnkylespeaks.com/audio/3333E8B56485321A719C_1.wav and these were the listed issues.
1. There are undesirable mouth noises in your recording that distract from the quality of the performance. We invite you to visit our community page where you'll find tips on how to control mouth noise issues: https://bit.ly/2NjTyUK.
2. The phrases edits sound unnatural and abrupt, please use slow fades to help the deliverable sound more natural.
I understand the first feedback, I honestly didn't think the sample was bad from that point of view.
The second aspect I don't really understand; is it referring to my delivery or to audio treatment?
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Hi John,
Thanks for reaching out to us.
You have a really lovely voice!
The second remark is on about how it sounds like the editing of the audio is a bit abrupt which can make it sound unnatural (you can hear some quick/abrupt breathing noises beforehand), or (and this is just a guess) the process you’re using there is acting faster than it should. I’d suggest leaving a couple of extra milliseconds before and it should be fine. It can mainly be heard in the first couple of sentences and the last ones.
Also, when reading: 'our team is happy to help.' The P from help sounds like it's missed off.
Are you using a noise gate? Sometimes the use of a noise gate when recording can make it sound unnatural and abrupt editing.
You'll find tips on how to use fades here: https://bit.ly/37HlIke
All the best,
Samantha
Samantha,
Thank you for taking the time to explain the fades point more clearly. It's not something I have done previously so I will look into it.
With regard to what has been done to the audio, I have applied a High Pass Filter (40Hz and 24dB/Oct) and Normalised to -3, that's it. Could this be part of the problem, should I be finalising my recordings in a different way?
Finally, what's your take on the mouth noise feedback?
Thank you,
John
Hello again John,
No, a bit of corrective high pass filtering is not the problem here.
When I'm listening to the audio there does sound like there is white noise present throughout your recording.
Usually, the main culprit for white noise is that the gain on the pre-amp is too high.
It would be worth looking at identifying what could be causing it and how to tackle the white noise.
There is a great article here that offers tips to help manage with it: https://bit.ly/2ZixGeI
As for mouth noises, I can hear them.
Again at the beginning, when you finish the first line it sounds like there is a mixture of a swallowing sound/breathing, and heard again just before the second. Some mouth movements can be heard later on when reading: 'We're fanatical about customer support, our team is happy to help'. Drinking some tea before recording should help, or as previously mentioned, fading or editing them out altogether would sort that out!
All the very best,
Samantha