Using versions:
Audacity 2.1.3
Mac OSX El Capitan 10.11.6
Hi, I need some help from the experienced people here on how to improve what I’m doing to get the best sound I can with what I’ve got. I’ve been recording on this setup for many other things, and I generally have my gain set much higher but I recently backed it down because someone said that the reason I’m having to do so much noise cancellation is because I had my gain set way too high. But when I don’t set them high, then my input is so low and I end up raising everything with the Normalisation that my room noise goes bananas, so I feel like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place and I’m not really fixing the problems, I’m just masking them.
I’m using a RODE NT-1 mic with it’s custom shock mount/pop filter, running it through a Focusrite Scarlett Solo (but I have no idea what to turn the Gain knob to for the optimal input).
Now I’ve been awarded my first audiobook on ACX, and I have run the ACX Check on the attached RAW sample:
Peak level: 0.092231 (-20.7 dB) … Passes ACX
RMS level: 0.010194 (-39.8 dB) << Less than ACX -23 dB min
NoiseFloor: 0.000064 (-83.8 dB) … Passes ACX
I’m assuming that the RMS level means that my overall volume is too low. But even on samples where I’ve done my editing steps and normalised everything, I still have failing RMS levels after making the recordings sound quite loud in my headphones, so I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.
Over the past year or so I’ve played around with my sound a lot, following advice found here or there on what steps to take in editing, what order to take them, etc. I always have to do quite a bit of noise removal and I’d like to finally get some advice specific to my actual sample and setup, so that I can stop tinkering and find something I can be happy with, and that will get my recordings to pass on ACX. I would really appreciate someone taking me under the wing a little and helping me understand what I should do to accomplish this. I’ve been toying with the idea of getting another DAW like ProTools or something, but honestly I don’t have the time to learn a new program right now, I have projects lined up for the next several months and need to stick with Audacity because I am familiar with it already.
Can you listen to my raw sample and tell me what you think I should do to achieve a uniform, ACX compliant sound?
I am your willing student… can you help?