Now burn a new test using this formula. You can use the same words you used in the first two tests, but that quiet room tone two seconds at the beginning is very important. Do Not process anything. Read down the blue links. They’re very short.
Your “after” is considerably louder than the “before”, (~10dB louder).
So you’ll have to adjust the equalization to make loud version sound the same as the quiet version
(You may also have to use a de-esser).
There are free equalizer plugins which work in Audacity in Windows,
which behave like a real hardware equalizer that you can adjust in real-time when the audio is playing …
… but that’s only the first test for audiobooks. From there it goes on to Human Quality Control and I think you won’t make it past that. You sound like an air traffic controller for the same reasons they sound like air traffic controllers. Close-talking microphones with dense SS and SHSH sounds.
I applied Audiobook Mastering.
Then Effect > Bass and Treble > OK.
Effect > Hum Remover > OK
And then finally Effect > De-Esser > OK.
And you sound like a much more pleasant air traffic controller. ACX’s goal is for you to sound like you’re telling a fascinating story in real life to someone over cups of hot tea. No distractions.
I would be tempted to add the smallest noise reduction, but the clip passes as it is and you’re already up to, how many, six corrections and effects. Every time you open your mouth you’re going to have to crawl through all of those.
You can try a test submission that way if you want, but I think that would be wasted time.
I would tell you all about test submissions, but ACX changed it since the last time I looked. They’re harder now. Everybody with a pulse was submitting and they were getting overwhelmed.
They may pass it that way and you’re done except for all the work.
Not all of those tools are built-into Audacity. You’ll have to install RMSNormalize, HumRemover, and DeEsser.
Close-talking microphones with dense SS and SHSH sounds.
It is possible you sound that way normally when you’re ordering a cuppa from Tesco. Not everybody’s vocal oddities are an automatic rejection. I like a reader that has anything but a broadcasting voice and regional accents can be terrific in moderation.
One caution about that. Effect > Filter Curve doesn’t always call the right curve in a Macro. You’re usually fine if you never use Audacity for anything else that needs different curves.
Maybe I sound like an airport announcer anyway
That occurred to me about the third listen. Maybe I’m correcting something that ought not be corrected.
Post the idea before you write a check. I can point to glowing reviews of terrible microphones. While you’re working, Google [the microphone] Complaints. Anybody can pay people to write glowing reviews. That and reviewers might not review a bad microphone rather than offend people or start a flame war. So you have to search for the straight skinny.
And just to throw dirt in the game. I can pass ACX technical conformance and reasonable voice quality with that and a quiet room.
That is a Zoom H1n Sound Recorder (not voice recorder). It’s a little rough to use, so I can’t unconditionally recommend it, but it was $120 USD, it produces perfect quality WAV sound files natively, and it has zero computer recording problems.
From memory, I needed a little more height for the actual shoot, so I used three rolls of toilet paper. The toilet paper that’s now going for $35 a roll.
It’s a lot better than your previous microphone.
No noise reduction is required to pass ACX, just bass-roll-off to remove infrasound, (which is inaudible but is included in noise-floor measurements).
However I would use a (free) expander like couture which will to push down the noise floor by ~9dB and dry-up some of your slight room-reverb …
