Automating Audacity for ACX Using Macros

Special Interest Groups Audiobook Production
1

Good afternoon Audacity Family,

I have produced 5 audiobooks for ACX and I wanted to share what I’ve learned with you to help your production go smoothly and streamlined using Audacity macros.

While I would post the actual article here, it seems I can’t include images, which would require way too much typing for me. Here is the link to the Google Doc:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YZO3vaxNwuNlLT_B_mfvI7AqKL1pty2BrWbLIINZAqk/edit?usp=sharing

You will see how I master my audiobooks from start to finish.

The outline to this post is as follows:

Introduction A: How to Create a Macro
Introduction B: How to Run a Macro
Introduction C: How to Mass Export Your Tracks
Introduction D: How to Bind Your Macro to a Keyboard Shortcut
Macro 1: Prep New Track
Macro 2: ACX Batch File Mastering
Macro 3: ACX Track Level Mastering
References

My goal with this article is to get it to as many folks as possible in the ACX production space free of charge. I’d like to make a video which explains the process also. Please try this out on your own and see if the article isn’t clear on some points so I can correct. You can comment on the Doc itself or leave a reply here.

Thanks a million!
-isaacsonrecords

2

I have produced 5 audiobooks for ACX



4 are still under review and one is available

Is that still true?

What is the content?

Did ACX have any comments about the one that succeeded? Did it just appear in their acceptance list?

What is the book that succeeded? Promotion and advertising is forbidden on the forum—unless a forum elf asks you.

I personally would have waited for the second book to succeed before going full-on mass publishing.

Koz

3

I’d like to make a video which explains the process also.

The video may be the place to illustrate how to set up your microphone.

We note that everybody publishes detailed instructions from their point of view and tends to ignore everything else. If you believe microphone makers, all you need to do is buy their microphone, read for audiobooks on your kitchen table, and retire to a cottage on the Mal d’Mer coast.

For a long time, instructions from ACX itself started the process with detailed instructions about promotion, publicity, production relations, and marketing.

Has anyone else tried your process? You can get some nasty surprises when a third party tries to crank through all those instructions.

Koz

4

Hi Koz,

Is that still true?

What is the content?

Did ACX have any comments about the one that succeeded? Did it just appear in their acceptance list?

What is the book that succeeded? Promotion and advertising is forbidden on the forum—unless a forum elf asks you.

I personally would have waited for the second book to succeed before going full-on mass publishing.

I removed the link to the audiobooks I’ve produced in the Google Doc (it was listed in the references section). Do you think this is sufficient to remove the marketing or do you feel I should take down the post? In all honesty, I thought these things would be caught by a moderator before the post would be live on the site for all to see.

Has anyone else tried your process? You can get some nasty surprises when a third party tries to crank through all those instructions.

No one else has tried using the process; I thought this would be a good place for folks to test out the process. Though it’s a lengthy setup, I believe it is well worth the time invested.

The video may be the place to illustrate how to set up your microphone.

Yes, I can use the video to explain the microphone setup. Because that does play a part in how I have the noise gate settings.

5

I should take down the post?

The forum post? Your process appears to be instructions how to work the Audacity advanced tools. Works for me, although I don’t completely agree with some of the assumptions.

Our objection is to people who forum post with the goal of advertising and selling a product or service. My joke is the ability to find those posts during forum quality control because they don’t once mention Audacity, sound, audio, production processes, or contain any questions.

No, we’re not interested in buying kitchen cabinets in Manchester or adult entertainment in St Petersburg.

New posters have to wait for a forum elf to read the message before it becomes visible. That requirement eventually, if you’re well behaved and don’t ring any alarm bells, goes away.

Though it’s a lengthy setup, I believe it is well worth the time invested.

That’s one of the second thoughts I have and the question about the second book. That’s suspiciously close to the actual commercial studio process and the personal education and training you would need to pull this off. Remember, your competition is to buy a Blue Yeti, read a book and retire on the California coast.

So, to snap us back. What is the content and name of the book that succeeded?

Koz

6

What is the content and name of the book that succeeded?

Title: Complete Guide to Roofing and Solar Boxed Set: Homeowners Essential Handbook for Money Saving DIY Roof Construction and Solar Panels (Homeowner House Help)

Genre: Home & Garden

7

I got some questions.

We assume your readings were divided up to match the paper books in the series and this is the first book?

Any reason it’s in stereo (two sound tracks)? In general, one mono track is recommended. Mono tracks take half the storage and internet transmission is twice as fast. Once you start in stereo, it’s required that you stay that way. The chapters, at least, have to match.

We occasionally have posters who run out of room on their machines. That’s much less likely in mono. Again, the general assumption is you’re going to read a book with stuff you have lying around the house. No special computers or studios needed.

Did your Edit Masters pass ACX-Check before you submitted? The sample reading on Amazon doesn’t. Everything is even and consistent, it just doesn’t pass the loudness or peak specifications. And it’s off in a weird way. I can understand someone messing slightly with the volume to make promotion louder, everybody knows louder is better, but this sample is quieter than a publication would be. Further, I can’t make everything hit at the same time without remastering. That’s a puzzlement. I would assume someone would just cut a portion of your submission and post it as a sample…??? We know ACX didn’t come through Covid very well.

Your reading is Forbidden Book Adjacent. ACX publishes a list of books they won’t publish. Don’t bother submitting a technical manual or cook book for two examples. I’ve been telling people a safe submission should have characters, plot, and setting. You hit one in the middle. That’s why I asked you what the content was.

Books about home and garden, interior design, home organization, or storage

That’s from the ACX forbidden list. So close…

In my opinion the reading is too slow. That’s not an Audacity thing. I know some people listen to spoken word at boosted speed. In this case I think it would be required. In my opinion and I think they say so in the instructions, you’re shooting for natural conversational style. I call it listening to you tell me a story over cups of tea. I keep wanting to reach over and push you along. I assume you cleared the reading style with the author before you started reading it.

Koz

8

We assume your readings were divided up to match the paper books in the series and this is the first book?

That is correct.

Any reason it’s in stereo (two sound tracks)? In general, one mono track is recommended. Mono tracks take half the storage and internet transmission is twice as fast. Once you start in stereo, it’s required that you stay that way. The chapters, at least, have to match.

I use 1 microphone while recording in mono and I always have the box checked “Force Export to Mono” for the mp3 files.
I imported mastered mp3s back into Audacity, and Audacity shows they’re still in mono.
Please demonstrate how you arrived at the stereo conclusion.

Did your Edit Masters pass ACX-Check before you submitted

I did not. Thank you for catching.

Your reading is Forbidden Book Adjacent.

You are referring to this documentation from ACX: https://www.acx.com/help/200878270
The article says these types of books are not good candidates for audiobooks but it does not say ACX will not publish.
I wasn’t aware of this article before I started and the book is now on the market.
Are you concerned ACX will take it down? Please clarify.

In my opinion the reading is too slow.

You’re opinion is a valid one, but the author liked it.

9

I personally would have waited for the second book to succeed before going full-on mass publishing.

The second title is now available on Audible.

10

The second title is now available on Audible.

You and your author win.

There is one technical note from the point of view of a forum elf. I know you use Audacity Projects to contain a completed book with editing subdivisions down from there. My personal preference is a chapter per project only based on an unfortunately common failure of not having a Project wake up.

“My Project opens with silence instead of my recording!!”

If everything goes into the bin, I might be re-reading a chapter. In your format, you may have to re-read the whole book.


Anybody else using the Isaacson Process®?

Koz

11

Sorry. Dueling Posts.

As a fuzzy rule, ACX no longer has the staff and facility to obsessively check everything before they publish. As I have posted in the past, when I did it, one of the ACX Quality Control People “met” with me on-line and explained what was wrong with my submission and the possible techniques for repair. And that was just a short test submission, not the whole book. They don’t do any of that any more. My impression is of the three remaining QC people who come to work on Thursday and that’s about it. This in the face of an explosion of reading popularity.

You may note that their automated ACX AudioLab …

https://www.acx.com/audiolab

… works a lot like our ACX-Check, only we check noise and they don’t. No Theatrical Quality Control humans anywhere. Currently, you find out you have a noisy mouth (holding up hand) when you submit the book. I got lucky.‘’

Please demonstrate how you arrived at the stereo conclusion.

I captured the promotion track from Audible.

Screen Shot 2022-07-14 at 10.18.05 AM.png
I did not get the sample from the actual publication. You have publication prep covered.

Are you concerned ACX will take it down? Please clarify.

I think chances of that are almost zero. There is one remote possibility. They do have a return policy and if enough people hate it, they might take action, but as above, ACX is not swimming in extra employees.

You’re opinion is a valid one, but the author liked it.

And it passed ACX Theatrical Quality Control, so you both win.

Thank you for catching.

That may be another odd acceptance philosophy change. They used to submit a new publication to Automated Audiolab and bounce you if you failed, for example, loudness. Another recent format change is allowing Radio Theater. Multiple voices, background music, stingers, bumpers, and special effects are all apparently acceptable now. That used to be the kiss of death—probably because of copyright issues.

I may be observing this too microscopically. It’s possible nobody checks anything any more and if your submission is “about right” on first pass, it goes up.

Koz

12

There is one technical note from the point of view of a forum elf. I know you use Audacity Projects to contain a completed book with editing subdivisions down from there. My personal preference is a chapter per project only based on an unfortunately common failure of not having a Project wake up.

I’m glad you brought this up. So, this process works if you’d like to save each chapter in its own project. Why? Because The mastering is done all at the same time by being applied to the audio files. Maybe just Macro #1 would be obsolete if done this way.

Anybody else using the Isaacson Process®?

That’s what I was wondering as well. I’d like to get this into the hands of people who are producing Audiobooks, so they can test the Macros out with their workflow to get some feedback. Apart from contacting individual audiobook narrators, where else could I share this to get some feedback? I thought this might be a good place to start. Any thoughts are appreciated.

13

I’d like to get this into the hands of people who are producing Audiobooks

I’d like to point out who your likely audience is.

Me mum, who wants to sit down at the kitchen table and read her garden fantasy is not going to sit through 20 pages of detailed technical instructions. That, past making the computer run and getting basic Audacity to work.

On the other side, we have the accomplished readers/narrators/performers who already know how to do all these things and have an established process. A side note that I posted more than once that Audacity is not the only way to do these jobs.

So that leaves you with developers, programmers, and engineers who write—and publish—romantic novels and are itching to read them as audiobooks.

“Janet and Laura glanced at each other and wondered how long it was going to take for Bruno to slip up and admit where he really was that night.”

Koz

14

Social media.
I don’t use them myself, but there are some facebook groups for audiobook authors. There’s at least one that is aimed specifically at audiobook authors that use Audacity.

15

So the real solution, other than hiring you, of course, is borrowing a page from the Zoom program. Take over the computer.

Step one, make sure Zoom isn’t actually running. Watching two apps try to take over is not good.

Accept any and all voice work and automatically process it to audiobook standards.

The performer will still need to identify beginnings of chapters and mistakes, but there’s no reason analysis can’t automatically set volume and recognize and process sibilance, voice pops, lip smacks, and other damage.

This is a spectrum picture of the unnatural “haystack” that happens with home microphones when they try to act “professional” and produce gritty, harsh sound.

IcepickInTheEar-2022-07-15.png
Roughly 4000Hz to 9000Hz. I call it the ice pick in the ear sound. Better microphones such as the Shure SM7b don’t do that, but it’s easy to sense that as an audio aberration and get rid of it.

You will need entertaining noise reduction and gating to get rid of background sound in a manner that doesn’t distort the voice. That may be the hardest part. Home readers never pass noise.

So that puts you even with everybody else. Now make it all work on your phone. I was able to produce some passable voice work on my iPhone SE. I’m not joshing. I did it in the garage. That has the advantage of not having to constantly fight with the computer just to say “hello” into a voice track. That’s another common failing with trying to read your book on the computer. Sometimes the computer doesn’t much want to cooperate.

Good luck.

Koz