Yep, new feathers are noisier than feathers that have been 'broken in'. Vic's method is just the fast way to get 'em broken in.

Long feathers are noisier than shorter ones. High profile feathers are noisier than low profile. Feathers with a hard helical will be noisier than fletching with a moderate helical. It's one of the many tradeoffs in archery, the further you go toward stabilizing the arrow with the fletching, the noisier the fletching is going to be.

I really like fletching tape, but it does seem to have a shelf life. Old tape doesn't stick the feathers on as well as fresh tape. If I've had a roll of fletching tape for more than 9 months or so, I buy fresh roll for my next fletching job.

As to broadheads, I'd like to use 3-blade heads, but I can't get them as sharp as I like. IMO, an extra sharp 2-blade head is more deadly than a sorta sharp 3-blade. If I could figure out how to get that polished razor edge I like on a 3-blader, I'd use either the Wensel Woodsman or Snuffers. Another option that I have used is the good ol'Muzzy, but I always flat stone that trocar tip's edges to razor sharp, using a fine Arkansas stone, so the head is more like a true cut-on-contact head.