Custom audition sound quality (again)

Robert Jadah · Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007, 03:27 (GMT) Post subject:

Keeping in mind that I'm thicker than an Arby sandwich about this stuff, I just checked your site page, Amy, and your demos sound as awesome as ever.
Moreso, even.

Why would the uploaded auds be any different?
Somebody here must have some tech ideas.

SOS (Save Our Sisters) On!

(and John)

Erik Sheppard · Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007, 03:35 (GMT) Post subject:

The audio on the site pages is fine, Robert. There is just something about how they upload auditions that makes them screwy.

Amy Snively · Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007, 03:36 (GMT) Post subject:

Thank you, Robert!

The sound quality of the main demos on our site, and here in the forums, is not related to the 'custom demo' sound quality.

Jacob Keebler · Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007, 05:37 (GMT) Post subject:

Yep. I was punked by this... Noticed especially in the audition outbox...but the problem seems to be sporadic. I wonder if it has something to do with the ammount of bandwidth that V123 has assigned to it's server... Or maybe their ISP sucks...

***side note...I have managed to limit the ammount of chair throwing to just one while "dealing" with this snafu...

Cheers.

Ronald T Robinson · Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007, 19:39 (GMT) Post subject:

My two cents worth... just checked my outbox auditions and I have no issues with any warbly sound.

Kathleen Keesling · Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007, 19:48 (GMT) Post subject:

Here's my 2nd reply from Customer Service:

Dear Kathleen,

Thank you for contacting us.

We had the chance to listen to your demos again (we have used headphones both times) and they sound fine. To make sure that they played back properly from other computers and that I was not mistaken, I asked someone else from the Voice123 Team, to listen to them from a different location and the result was exactly the same.

On this case I recommend you to try using a different browser, or to check them using a different computer if you have the chance. Everything seems to be fine, at least with the site and the playback quality.

Please remember that your satisfaction is our highest priority. We love to hear from you, please feel free to contact our Customer Service whether you have a question, comment, or idea. We will work hard to make you happy.

Please use this link to rate the response you received in this email.

Sincerely,
By Julian Castilio
Toll Free US & Canada: 1.877.275.8642

Brick wall

Anyone else try Customer Service for this problem yet?

Connie Terwilliger · Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007, 19:54 (GMT) Post subject:

Yep - similar answer

Thank you for contacting us.

We had the opportunity to listen to some of your submissions and they played properly on our end. It might be an issue related to your speed connection, making the streaming process a little slower than usual. However, we recommend you to upload your demos under the following specs:

MP3, 96kbps, 44.100 kHz, Mono.

We also have an article in our resource Center about troubleshoot tips when uploading demos:

Troubleshooting tips for problems when uploading demos

Please remember that your satisfaction is our highest priority. We love to hear from you, please feel free to contact our Customer Service whether you have a question, comment, or idea. We will work hard to make you happy.

**********
My subsequent reply...
**********

Please review this issue again…

I use Adobe Audition and encode and upload in MPEG Layer 3 – 128kpbs – the original recordings for the auditions are captured at 41000 Hz, 32 Bit.

And I am not the only person hearing the distortion. I have a DSL line so connection speed is not the issue. I have never used anything different than this and they sounded fine for a short while and now I hear the distortion – but only when listening through the audition screen. When listening to my demos at my Voice123 website, they sound fine.

Connie Terwilliger · Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2007, 23:37 (GMT) Post subject:

Made a bit of progress on the audition quality issue...they asked for more information, so I sent a sample from my hard drive.

******************
Dear Connie,

Thank you! This is perfect! We will get right on this!

Please let us know if you notice significant changes.

Sincerely,

By Steven Lowell

---------------Original Message---------------

From: Connie Terwilliger - ISDN voice talent < >
Subject:
RE: Something wrong with the demos (LTK91020901292X)

The specific page is the page that appears when you click the Preview button when you are ready to review your Proposal. This is where I have been hearing the different audio quality.

I also can hear it on the Auditions Submitted Details page with all of my recent submissions. It doesn’t sound as bad as it has recently, but it is still not as clean as it was a few weeks ago.

The attached file is a recent audition - LTK91020875433X. I hear a difference between this file and the file that is on the audition OutBox page of the website.

Erik Sheppard · Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2007, 23:45 (GMT) Post subject:

I have been trying to use my magic moderator powers to talk to Alex and the crew about this. I know for a fact they are hard at work on the issue and have possibly fixed it. I have yet to try this out for myself so please keep me posted if anyone has seen (heard) that this situation has been resolved or not.

Kathleen Keesling · Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007, 00:51 (GMT) Post subject:

I did one audition submission today and the quality was markedly better.

I will let you know if it is a trend for me or if it reverts back to the poor quality.

Why would they deny there was a problem when I inquired about it again?
Question

Thanks Connie Very Happy

Erik Sheppard · Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007, 02:45 (GMT) Post subject:

I don't think they thought there was one because nothing was intentionally changed over there but they looked into it more deeply once we all brought it up with them.

David Oxford · Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007, 03:28 (GMT) Post subject:

I think the problem is: the files are being converted to a lower-quality bitrate - and to mono (unless you're already uploading a mono file.) If you're uploading a file that was saved (for example) as a 128kb stereo file, it gets converted to 96kb mono. If you're uploading a much higher bitrate file (say 320kb) then the conversion has to scale the file back much further away from its original state - again, all the way down to 96kb.

I can't be positive that this is the problem - but I do know, from firsthand experience, that these types of conversions can yield some very 'weird' results, certainly not acceptable (depending on the software doing the conversion, of course, not to mention the integrity of the original file.) I can also tell you that not long ago, I uploaded some stereo audition files in answer to leads and when I checked them later from my "audition page," the files played back in stereo (this is about the time that everyone was happy that the quality had improved) so, obviously, something has recently changed back again (thus, the reason we're having this conversation.)

Case in point: I uploaded a stereo music montage in answer to a lead just tonight and when I checked it (I even downloaded the very file from the "outgoing audition page") it had been converted to 96kb, mono. This is why V123 suggests everyone upload files saved to this standard in the first place - so there is no conversion going on - which probably means they have an idea that the conversion can cause problems.

Just my .02.
David

Amy Snively · Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007, 03:42 (GMT) Post subject:

I'm uploading @ 96kb 44100 and I am having this problem. The V123 sound quality was horrible, then it was fine (if your files were 96kb 44100), and then it mysteriously and magically got horrible again, with no changes at all to my personal settings.

Erik Sheppard · Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007, 03:46 (GMT) Post subject:

Have you tried today Amy?

Amy Snively · Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007, 03:48 (GMT) Post subject:

Not today. I didn't get anything. I was just chiming in to let David know that what he suspected was the problem was not.