ACX says screaming man is "heavily distorted audio"...

Audacity 3 Help Forum Windows
1

… but it isn’t!

My latest project for ACX has been rejected because “There is still the issue of heavily distorted audio in the file, “15. on the boat trip (Spanglish for Impatient People 2).mp3” This needs to be remedied before this audiobook can move forward.”

But the audio isn’t distorted at all, at least in the ‘clipping’ sense. I wrote to ACX about this, but they don’t want to talk about it, so this forum is my last hope. Any ideas how I can get my “screaming man” clip`through their quality controls? (clip attached). If there is no alternative, I will of course re-record without any vocal effects, but it does seem a shame to me to have to remove all the emotion from my narrative.

Many thanks

Mike
http://TheOtherMikeChurch.blogspot.com

2

I think you crossed the line between narration and radio theater. You may have triggered one of their auto conformance tools, maybe the one against singing or theatrical special effects.

Given the number of recent postings, I think the company is running in overload and not at all interested in arbitrating individual performances. Rather than hanging on their assurance your work was distorted, I think you can read that as: “We found something we didn’t like.”

Koz

3

Thank you for such a prompt reply, Koz. Everything you say makes sense, and I read your reply with interest. That said… So, how do you advise? Should I re-record and cut the theatrics? (I’m assuming there is no “cut the amateur dramatics” tool in Audacity?)

Thanks

Mike

4

I’m afraid there’s indeed some distortion going on.
Here’s a second version with a smoothed and attenuated gaaap:

It is stretched by “Paul Stretch”, resampled temporarily to 11025 Hz (to remove all above 5.5 kHz) and attenuated by 6 dB (the scream only)
It nicely imitates the fall, I think.
I’m not sure if your entire audio has such little dynamic range throughout. The Rms is only 10 dB lower than the peak level (instead of 15 to 19). However, this is normal for such a long-drawn “A” since it resembles a pure instrument tone.
Could you post a raw version of your recorded narration (with e.g. drop box if you want to present more than 1 mb).
Is this the only problematic place they mentioned or is it just an example for repeatingly coming up “distortions”?

5

Robert

I am seriously impressed! Thanks a million: a brilliant reply, an excellent remix, and a beautifully simple solution, which I would never have found. Well, let’s see if it makes it through the ACX controls this time round, but I’m cautiously optimistic. And so to your questions…

“I’m not sure if your entire audio has such little dynamic range throughout. The Rms is only 10 dB lower than the peak level (instead of 15 to 19). However, this is normal for such a long-drawn “A” since it resembles a pure instrument tone.”

I suspect you’re right about the lack of dynamic range. I’m afraid these are old recordings, on a rather poor microphone & laptop, which, rather than re-record, I thought I’d first try to tidy up a bit with Audacity (successfully, I hasten to add, thanks to Normalisation, Noise Removal…). These days, for current projects, I’m using far better tools, taking far more care, etc… But I do tend to get theatrical at times, so your Paul Stretch solution will come in really handy down the line!

“Could you post a raw version of your recorded narration (with e.g. drop box if you want to present more than 1 mb).”

I think I deleted the original wavs a while ago to make space on my HD. I’ll have a look. I can post my mp3, via Dropbox as you suggest, but I think you’ve already solved my problem!

“Is this the only problematic place they mentioned or is it just an example for repeatingly coming up “distortions”?”

Yes, it’s the only “heavily distorted audio” that the ACX team pulled me up on this time around. The first time, they told me my files were too loud in places, the noise floor wasn’t right, etc. And at that point I took a crash course in Audacity, and solved 99% of my problems. Great software. And it’s free! No grumbles here :slight_smile:

Best wishes, and thanks again

Mike

6

“Your resubmission has been reviewed and was accepted, your title is on track.”

Thanks again, Robert! You cracked it!

7

Congratulations, I feel like a boy scout now. :smiley: