I’ve been using Audacity for several years to edit audiobooks for ACX. With the previous version of Audacity, it was rather simple to set the Limiter. I set the Limiter to Hard Limit and the level to - 3.20.
How can I achieve that same output with 3.6.1?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
It’s a “known issue”. 
The current (hopefully temporary) recommendation is to roll-back to a previous version.
See this post.
P.S.
The new limiter is confusing and I haven’t taken the time to figure it out yet. There is no setting labeled “limit”. (And someone else will be writing the new macro.)
Thanks so much for the quick answer. I tried that, but since I had already edited my project in 3.6.1, I can’t edit the file in an older version. (I tried.)
The only way would be to output it and then revert and edit it in an older version, but I’m not keen on that idea.
The limiter appears to be a Nyquist effect (limiter.ny). So you might be able to install the older Audacity version to a different folder and copy the old limiter.ny into your current effects folder. (Save the existing one somewhere else first.)
I did a couple of quick experiments and I can’t figure it out the new one… I couldn’t make it limit without it making a make-up adjustment, changing the RMS level too… I couldn’t figure-out how to make it behave like a limiter!!!
P.S.
It took a bit of “hacking” but I got the old limiter installed and working! Hopefully, I won’t leave-out a step:
Get the old limiter.ny and open it in Notepad.
Change the 4th line to $name (_ “Limiter Old”)
Save it as limiter Old.ny in a temporary location.
Copy it into your current plug-ins folder
It should show-up in the bottom group of effects (not under Volume and Compression) and it should work.
I didn’t try the macro so if the macro doesn’t work you’ll have to run the limiter separately.
limiter Old.ny (4.7 KB)
P.P.S.
The macro is unlikely to to work with the re-named limiter. MAYBE just delete the new one and don’t rename the old one?
Someone else here.
Koz
Hi there. Where can I find the “Steve Daulton” Limiter? I’m using Mac with Audacity 3.6.0
If you’re in 3.6, you have to cast off other configurations. Tools > Reset Configuration. Your display may jiggle a bit and the newer and different offerings may appear.
I say may appear because if you go back and forth between versions enough times, some of these fixes stop working.
Tools > Reset Configuration doesn’t reset everything. That’s why I asked Steve TF to help me find the piece he wrote about really making Audacity burn it off, hose it down, and start over.
Koz
By the way, I’m not the only Audiobook Mastering. As near as I can tell, all of our offerings stopped working at about the same time. The developers designed New and Improved tools with , for the most part, the same names. To their credit, they did keep the older tools around grouped under Legacy names. See my long version of manual mastering.
Koz
Thanks so much!
I’m losing track of the forum messages. This is a copy of the original patch. I did note that some of the “fixed and never change” settings do change. I have questions posted about this
`
— Audacity 3.6 Audiobook Mastering —
Select > All
Effect > Eq and Filters > Filter Curve EQ > Presets & settings > Factory Presets > Low rolloff for speech. Apply.
Select > All
Effect > Volume and Compression > Loudness Normalization > Normalize RMS to -20dB > Apply
Select > All
Effect > Steve Daulton > Limiter >Presets & settings > Factory Presets > Defaults.
Change Limit to -3.50dB > Apply
— ACX-Check 3.6 —
Analyze > Steve Daulton > ACX Check
Notes:
— This will have to do until I write the New Macro
— You may find that some settings stick past the first time you use them and the process is a lot shorter than it looks. Select > All sticks unless you change it.
— The goal is to hit the ACX audiobook volume specifications exactly— and still sound like you. If you record in a quiet, echo-free room, you may pass noise and be done. File > Export the WAV as Edit Master, File Export the MP3 chapter submission in 192 Constant, and go on to the next chapter.
I see File > Export changed, too. More later.
More Starbucks, please.
Koz
Effect > Volume and Compression > Limiter. That’s the new one. It has two settings and I just doubled them up.
That’s also the one I used in 36Audiobook-Mastering-Macro.
As near as I can tell, 36Mastering will work in 3.6.0, 3.6.1, and two or three older versions. Turns out, macros will ignore settings it can’t figure out how to use.
36Audiobook-Mastering-Macro.txt (585 Bytes)
36Mastering will guarantee ACX Peak, and ACX RMS (Loudness). If you recorded in a quiet, echo-free room, you may be done.
That thing I recorded on my phone came in passing ACX. Again, I recorded on my phone, transferred to the Mac, and 36Mastered it. Full Stop. The Noise was a little tight, so I applied Noise Reduction at the gentle 6, 6, 6 settings and it passes easily and sounds exactly like me.
If you are prone to mistakes, make all the corrections, edits, and patches before mastering.
This is an abbreviated thing I wrote about audiobook reading.
Koz
Each of those sentences is good for a book chapter explaining why you’re doing that and what can go wrong. I think this is the first time I wrote how to do it when everything goes right.
Koz
It’s junk
Every time Audacity releases another update, there’s ALWAYS a glitch.
I too produce audiobooks for ACX -others, and THIS compressor tanks. They totally overhauled its allocution with a bunch of weird macros, and now the standard settings are a mess.
3.4.2 was set to a perfect -18 compression limiter that earned me great gigs.
This 3.6.1 - FAIL
I no longer trust any newer releases because of these foulups. I’ll stick with the older versions that actually worked.
Did you get back to 3.4.2, OK? Did you do the Tools > Reset Configuration thing? Or did you burn it off?
An excursion into 3.6-land is usually enough to scramble some of the tools and environments you’re used to—and the changes are sticky.
It may have gotten you great gigs, but it’s not perfect. The loudness target for ACX is between -18dB and -23dB RMS.
Submitting right on the very edge can get you in trouble particularly now that ACX no longer allows short test submissions. Sorry about that error in the middle of the book. Rejected.
For the same reason, I use -65dB for background noise, even though the published limit is -60dB (louder).
But I do agree with you the last bunch of updates have been a challenge. Never update in the middle of a show or book.
I published 36Audiobook-Mastering-Macro which does work in Audacity 3.6.0 and 3.6.1. But it does it to the -20dB loudness mid point, not -18dB.
Koz
Yep - totally saved 3.4.2 and 3.3.3 JIC - being prime decisions, as the newer ‘upgrades’ typically have not run as well.
My ACX Compressor and Loudness settings are typically -18 to -20 with low-pass filter, as the ACX Check tool always flagged anything louder than -24.
I don’t mess with Noise Gate, even prior to recording, as it’s typically given me run warnings of being too low from -65. So I’ll assume it’s preset to normalcy of what its supposed to be lol.
Otherwise, the earlier Audacity versions were near perfect, no fuss. Allowing me to record and produce effortless audiobooks and commercial gigs, with added element.
These Legacy versions are not in 3.6.1, but will be back in the upcoming 3.6.2
Peter.
I had the same problem and it worked, thanks. 
It’s not rocket surgery. The new Effect > Volume and Compression > Limiter has two places to set the limit.
Koz
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