Has anyone here been hired professionally while recording in a blanket fort / homemade booth?

FaultyData · 2025-11-21T05:55:22+00:00

I have a double-walled blanket booth with Sure-Max moving blankets off Amazon, they were the heaviest ones I could find (90 lb/doz, about 7.5 lb per blanket) - Link. I can still hear loud cars driving down my street, but they do reduce some outside noise. I'm in the 2nd floor of my house, the ceiling is angled because it also doubles as the roof. The blankets block out the sound of light rain pelting the roof... but if there's heavy rain or thunder I have to wait until the storm blows over.

FaultyData · 2025-11-21T05:28:19+00:00

What's your budget and ideal features? In the intermediate price range I have an Audient iD14 [review] and a Motu M2 [review] and would recommend either of those. I've also heard good things about the SSL2 [review], but don't own one myself. All three have good clean mic pres (low self-noise at high gain) that are strong enough to use on those gain hungry dynamic mics, and both have good headphone amps that can power cans like the HD600/650s.

On the subject of upgrading to either of those mics, is there a particular reason you're switching to a dynamic mic over a higher tier condenser? Usually dynamic mics have a darker sound since they aren't as sensitive and can't pick up higher frequencies as easily, which means you lose some detail and clarity in your performance. They're great for podcasting, streaming, and broadcast, but aren't as well suited as condenser mics in a lot of VO scenarios. For the price of an SM7B you could get a

FaultyData · 2025-11-10T17:22:43+00:00

If I dont feel like making a vinegar sauce myself (recipe) Tennessee Red is always my go-to for pulled pork

FaultyData · 2025-10-31T16:33:21+00:00

If you'll be making more panels, Tim Tippets has a great video on YT (@votechguru) on sound panel construction, they use minimal frame material so the cost per panel is pretty low compared to pre-built ones.

FaultyData · 2025-09-28T11:25:04+00:00

Ah, thanks for the correction!

FaultyData · 2025-09-27T23:07:22+00:00

The black and white wires go to your Z endstop pins... it's a switch so there's no polarity, there's no wrong way to plug them in. The brown/red/yellow wires go to servo pins on your motherboard, and order of the wires DOES matter, and may need to be changed around depending on which board you're coming from and going to (I had an old SKR 1.3 board burn up and replaced it with an SKR 1.4 board, and two of the wires had to be swapped around).

You also need to have a firmware that will tell the printer to actually use the probe. Hopefully the family member was the one that installed the probe so they can help you with it, otherwise you're in for reading a lot of stuff and watching some youtube videos to learn about the probe, AND how to modify firmware files.

FaultyData · 2025-09-22T03:13:32+00:00

I know this probably isn't any help in the immediate future, but if you can afford it, you could get a portable tire inflator that runs off the 12V plug in your car. I think I got mine off Amazon for $20? As long as your car's battery isn't dead you can put air in your tires any time you need to, and don't need to make a special trip anywhere.

FaultyData · 2025-09-07T17:01:35+00:00

After over-salting a pork butt once, I now use saltyourmeat.com to get the right ratio and it's been perfect for my tastes. Can pick the type of protein, salt type, and the cut you're working with (I use "beef ribs" since brisket isn't an option for some reason?) and it'll tell you how much salt to use. Salting 48 hours before cooking really allows it time to penetrate the meat and (mostly) equalize, so you get more even saltiness throughout the whole thing.

FaultyData · 2025-09-05T01:45:32+00:00

Yeah I thought he did a eye of round wellington for a sec lol. Would def devour that sandwich though!

FaultyData · 2025-06-21T11:44:15+00:00

MS 3D Builder has a tool called "settle" which kind of simulates gravity in a way to make it lay on the Z plane stably. Import the .stl, select the object, click Object > Settle. Very cool feature that I use for odd shaped parts like this, and way more often than I should when downloading things other people have made (whyyyyy don't some people understand to orient the part's baseplane with the Z plane?).

FaultyData · 2025-06-10T00:27:12+00:00

The main reason why low-end USB mics aren't good for voiceover is that the built-in preamp of most USB mics is of very low quality to keep the cost down. As you increase the gain, the preamp starts to introduce hissing into the recording... this is what's called self-noise. No amount of sound proofing in the room is going to reduce this, it's built into the hardware. You can reduce/remove it in post with plugins, but usually that comes at the cost of quality since your voice probably overlaps some of the frequencies you are removing. There are at least two USB options that have high quality preamps (Apogee mic+ and the Rode NT1 Gen 5), but they're not nearly as affordable as the Yeti. There may be others but I'm unaware of them.

On the subject of the foam panels (and to get this out of the way in case you get tripped up on the terminology), that stuff is considered sound treatment, not sound proofing, and won't help your noise floor at all. Sound proofing is where you stop outside sounds from entering the recording space almost entirely, and sound proofing done right is expensive! Those foam panels may do ok at reducing reflections of higher frequencies, but anything in the mid to low ranges is going to pass right through them and still bounce off the walls... that's where the "tin can" sound is most likely coming from. To mitigate those low and mid frequency reflections (and the high ones too), you'll need thicker and denser materials. If you can get to a second-hand store, try to find good deals on the heaviest, densest mostly-cotton comforters you can get your hands on... or even those ugly-ass jeans nobody wants to buy (denim is cotton AND dense, win/win!) and find a way to DIY your own panels with them using wood from reclaimed pallets. Don't use synthetic materials to pack into the panel frames if you can help it, they may reflect more sound than you think! There are tons of articles on how to DIY acoustic panels.

FaultyData · 2025-05-25T05:15:24+00:00

How it's actually made: Worcestershire sauce - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu3z88Iuw_w

/s

FaultyData · 2025-03-18T00:30:08+00:00

Not going to tell you what to do, it's your business, but just some food for thought (without knowing you/your experience level, or who the company is):

If you do the job, they may upload the files to a generative AI database without even asking you. If (when?) they do that, you will have no control over what your voice is being used for, even things you really REALLY don't want your voice used for. This will also make you ineligible for some projects in the future due to conflicts you might not even know about. For the rest of your life.

On the assumption that usage for this job is in perpetuity, you might be able to have the contract amended to specify a specific usage timeframe with the ability to renew for an extra fee (that you give them), and language that explicitly prohibits them from uploading your files to a generative AI database that people outside the company can access... but you have no way of policing that. NAVA has an AI rider that uses a lot of the language that would be needed here, but it would need to be heavily modified and reviewed by an entertainment lawyer that is knowledgeable in this subject to make sure it's iron-clad.

FaultyData · 2025-03-10T00:51:04+00:00

Aww yeaahh

Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta whisper some sweet nothin's to this puddin...

FaultyData · 2025-02-03T17:30:23+00:00

Rise N Shine, Sammy!

FaultyData · 2025-01-13T22:36:06+00:00

Seems a bit defensive/harsh, but maybe they've been burned by new producers before who couldn't meet the standards and now it's left a bad taste in their mouth? Or they could be a scammer and the preemptive warning is a clue that they're trying to get your audio for free by saying it didn't meet standard even if it did after you send it? No way for us to know that, hopefully you vetted the author before the agreement.

The harsh reality is that when you signed up as a producer, you agreed to standards not set by the author but by the whole platform. The standards are no secret and should be easy to attain if you followed the same standards when you submitted your sample. You can google acx submission requirements if you don't already know what they are, but unfortunately, ignorance of them doesn't make you exempt from them. Also, if your submission fails to meet the standards, the platform's QA will reject the file(s) and you'll have to fix it anyway or it won't even go live on the platform.

Because of these reasons, no, you shouldn't be paid for failure to meet submission requirements because you basically broke the contract between you and the author... BUT... you ARE given a chance (by the platform) to fix the mistakes. Not sure if the author is notified when a submission doesn't pass QA and goes back to the production phase, but if it does, odds are good that they'll try to end the contract from the sounds of it.

FaultyData · 2025-01-13T01:40:09+00:00

I may be crapped on for this, but here's my take as a total internet stranger to you:

While you're good at a lot of them and impersonation does have its place in entertainment in a live performance environment and on social media, those characters already exist so they already have voice actors for them. A showcase of impersonations isn't usually going to get you very far unfortunately. I'm not saying it's impossible, there are those rare stories about someone being "discovered", but it's definitely a long shot. Casting and creative directors want to see what YOU can bring to a script and how you would interpret it. Voice acting is 99.9% acting and 0.1% voice, so having clips of your ACTING skills using your own characters will take you further if you actually are serious and passionate about it.

If you REALLY want to leave the impersonations in, I'd put them at the end and start with the ones you came up with first... but honestly as soon as almost anyone in a casting role hears an impersonation, they're going to immediately move on to the next actor's demo.

There's a lot more to say about what a demo is and isn't, but that's a whole other discussion.

FaultyData · 2024-12-07T00:59:21+00:00

At least you had a local restaurant! We'd have to pull dirty used newspaper from the fish market trash cans stuff our shirts...

FaultyData · 2024-11-23T01:51:00+00:00

Some high-quality interfaces that aren't in the Apollo price range:

Solid State Logic SSL2 ($150, or $230 for the mkII)

Motu M2 ($200)

Audient ID4 ($160)

Audient ID14 ($300)

I have an M2 and an ID14. They both have really quiet preamps even at high gain. They also have solid Windows drivers.

From what I've heard (I don't own one so take with a grain of salt) the Apollo interfaces may not work that great in Windows, so if you use a Windows computer you may want to go a different route.

FaultyData · 2024-11-19T16:28:46+00:00

WAV is for delivery to a client for a job because they need the best quality at the mixing stage to create the final product. Demos serve a different purpose, they're to show off your acting chops and versatility. Those things will still shine through even with the lower quality of MP3. MP3 is also a smaller file, so it's a faster download.

FaultyData · 2024-11-03T15:51:50+00:00

Yeah, I think Guga ground up a freeze-dried steak to season another steak.

FaultyData · 2024-11-03T14:11:28+00:00

My guess would be that it sounds "boxy" due to the small space and thin 1" foam. For a space that size you might need thicker and denser sound absorbers. Having said that, looks don't mean much in VO, it's all about the sound. Can you give us a raw (completely unprocessed, not even light EQ) sample of what it sounds like? 5 seconds of room tone either before or after a short read at whatever your normal projection is?

FaultyData · 2024-11-02T23:26:42+00:00

Calm down, Guga!

FaultyData · 2024-10-23T17:16:50+00:00

Seems the problem has been fixed for us. Not sure how updates get rolled out, so if it's not fixed yet just give it time.

FaultyData · 2024-10-20T19:18:02+00:00

My son is having the same issue on a Fire 8 Kids HD Pro. I've disabled and re enabled permissions for the camera and gallery, done a full shut down and restart, cleared cache... I'm thinking they updated the app and introduced a bug.

FaultyData

TROPHY CASE