Sound Track doesn't meet ACX Req.

If I’m adding Audio track with Sound, how do I get the two tracks to meet ACX requirements?

Ted
Sound Track Not Meeting AXC Req.PNG

It’s good to know that ACX Check needs at least a half-second of Room Tone (stop talking and hold your breath) to work. If it doesn’t get it, it will give you crazy wrong readings.

I’m adding Audio track with Sound

I don’t understand what that means. Are you reading a novel in a nice, quiet home studio?

Stereo can cause problems. ACX recommends (but stops short of insisting) you present in mono (one blue wave), not stereo. If you have trouble making ACX technical standards, trying to fix stereo (two blue waves) can be a days-long nightmare.

Is that music? There are audiobooks with some music, but most people avoid music because of the added work. ACX is expecting a plain voice reading.

So describe in plain words what you’re doing. The more detail the better. Which three-number Audacity are you using? The newer ACX Processing tools require at least 2.1.3.

Koz

We can give you some ideas if you post a sound sample on the forum. Use this format.

http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/TestClip/Record_A_Clip.html

If the noise reading is real, we can give you an idea where it’s coming from and sometimes, how to get rid of it. Some microphones are naturally noisy and some computer interfaces have data noise.

Koz

Operating System: Windows 10

Audicity 2.1.3

There is at least one author that has music in their Retail Audio File. I have an Author who pointed me to the other one, so my Author wants music in his Audible Narration.

ACX makes it clear the Retail Audio sample should start with narration, not opening credits or music. My track begins with 1 sec of music, then narration and background music for 20 sec. The total track is around 4 min.

I don’t know whether it will be accepted by ACX or not. ACX actually told me that “it is an audiobook not musicbook”.

I did find I can pass the ACX Check in Audacity by simply creating ONE mono track with audio and music.



Ted

my Author wants music in his Audible Narration.

And they’re willing to pay extra for it, right? Yes, I bought audiobooks with music interstitials, bumpers and stingers. It’s not unheard of, but it’s very rare because the production workload, complexity and risk go way up with music.

Who is managing the music copyrights? Your voice is ©TRB-2017. You have to sort the music and the musicians may want credits.

You can’t use MP3 music. Each time you make an MP3 from an MP3, the music quality goes down. If you really offend the sound gods, your ACX submitted show music will fall below quality standards (bubbly, honky) even though your master WAV sounds fine. We have radio producers on the forum who ran into that. They were fine until the station airing their program tried to make an MP3 podcast. Straight into the dirt.

ACX wants very high quality MP3 submissions (192, I think) because they plan to offer lower quality versions and products later. MP3 is a time bomb.

You still need at least a half-second of Room Tone (not Control-L Silence) for ACX Check to produce accurate numbers.

I did find I can pass the ACX Check in Audacity by simply creating ONE mono track with audio and music.

So you win. ACX would rather you submit in mono and not stereo for simple storage efficiency. That’s why they want you to submit in MP3 and not WAV, it’s cheaper for them although I would totally Export your Show Master Archives in WAV (Microsoft) 16-bit. Burn all the submissions from that, not re-editing the ACX MP3.

Good luck.

Koz

Thanks Koz for your knowledge and direction.

I’m going to add the Room Tone to the beginning of the track.

Also…will honor copyrights and credits.

Ted

ACX has their own requirements for Room Tone and silences. That’s only the requirement to get the ACX Check program to work. Go a little over. Half-second is a drop-dead minimum.

Post an address when you get an available product.

Koz