I am struggling mightily with Audacity and ACX. After reading the Introduction of my book I fiddled with ACX check. Got passes and exported file. When I played it back I was SHOCKED. It was inaudible with bird chirping sounds-can’t recover the original audio-no big deal- I can read again. Can anyone help me?
I don’t know what’s happening but It’s “good practice” to export as WAV immediately after recording whether you save an Audacity project or not. (A project may not be needed.)
Audacity projects are saved in a special database format which isn’t as robust as a simple WAV file. (After your all done, ACX wants an MP3.)
You’ll probably want to keep that original, you also may want to export your work as edit/process so you never have to go back to “square one” is something bad happens along the way. And keep back-ups.
ACX Check should only be reading & analyzing your file. It shouldn’t be changing anything and it doesn’t over-write your file(s).
The ACX mastering macro does apply some effects and change the levels.
…Nose reduction or noise gating can badly mess-up your audio, or almost any effect/processing if you have the wrong settings or if something “unexpected” happens.
Read a test according to this formula.
https://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/TestClip/Record_A_Clip.html
Post the WAV file.
Koz