I am working on some audiobook work, and the one thing I can’t seem to figure out is how to set my dynamic range to meet the standards of the company I’m submitting work to. Their standards are a volume of between -23dB and -18dB. I have looked through the program and used the “Analyze” tool which looks like it has me all over the chart. I’m wondering how I can set these parameters to compress and/or normalize the sound to meet these parameters, and how I can set up Audacity so that I can easily see where my sound is sitting?
Also, if I’m much louder than I need to be, is that something that I just re-record at a lower volume?
Thank you - I am new at this and the mastering part is what is holding me up.
That’s highly unlikely. Most submission failures are too low and correcting that frequently causes other problems like messing up the background noise measurement or peak clipping which causes crunchy theatrical presentation. Both of those will get you bounced from ACX acceptance.
To give you an idea of how easy it is to get lost in the weeds, Just measuring noise (-fffffff-) is subject to different methods depending on your regulatory environment and it’s not completely clear which one ACX uses.