We assume you've already been through Audiobook Mastering and failed ACX Technical Compliance because of noise (louder than -60dB) or your performance has odd background sounds you don't like. Anything that distracts from that ideal should be avoided. The Audiobook metaphor is listening to someone telling you a story over cups of tea. Don't even think of submitting readings that sound like a bad cellphone, speaking into a wineglass or reading in a bathroom. You should be as gentle as you can with as few corrections as possible. Human Quality Control at ACX (the theatrical test after you pass ACX-Check technical test) does not like heavy processing. Those are the top three values in the ACX Check panel
That's your emergency backup so you don't have to read it again if you damage the work or lose your edit. When you get done with a chapter, File > Export the work as WAV (Microsoft, 16-bit) and save the sound file with a unique name somewhere safe. Record to a reasonable volume (occasional peaks at -6dB) in a quiet room with no echoes. It's easy to record mistakes that can't be fixed later. The quality of the original recording is very important. Nothing here will address theatrical errors such as harsh sibilance, gritty voice or wet mouth noises. This mastering suite addresses technical considerations. See Noise Posting, below.ĪCX has their own help pages, tutorials and videos. If you fail noise, then the process can be a great deal more interesting. If you do no other editing, mastering a chapter comes down to: The tool settings are sticky and you don't have to keep typing them in. If the noise is quieter than about -65dB (-60dB limit), and the show sounds reasonable, you may be done. The first two readings, Peak (no louder than -3dB) and RMS (between -18dB and -23dB) should be nearly perfect. Effect > Loudness Normalization.: Normalize RMS to -20dB > OK.> Manage > Factory Presets > : Low roll-off for speech > OK. Select the whole reading or chapter by clicking the Select button at the bottom of the Track Control Panel. These instructions are in short-form: Location > Tool: Options > OK Saving an Audacity Project is not recommended for this.
You should never be stuck reading a chapter again because of an accident. No processing, adjustments or fixes.Įxport a WAV (Microsoft) 16-bit sound file of your raw reading and save it in a safe place-ideally not on the machine. Start this process with an unedited recording. Audacity 2.4.1 and later has a built-in RMS tool called Loudness Normalization.