I have been recording audiobooks for ACX for a year now with no issues. This blog has been extremely helpful, thank you!
Last night I loaded up Audacity 2.3.3 and recorded a short audition and the wavelengths are showing up very small for some weird reason. The general consensus is to turn up the mic on audacity (I understand that) but this has never been an issue before now. I didn’t change anything.
So the small wavelengths make it hard to edit when there are mistakes. That is the first issue.
Issue number two showed up after I mastered it. Noise reduction, RMS normalize, then Limiter. All of a sudden there is a ton of static and background noise.
I am hoping there was just some kind of software update or something or I accidentally changed a setting that can be switched back. I have spent 3 hours on this reading through other forums and trying different things. I am uploading a raw file. Hoping someone can run RMS Normalize on their end ( this is where the static comes out strong) and see if they get the same thing or can help me figure this out.
I have cheap basic mic with XLR cord setup that has served me well over the past year completing a dozen audiobooks for ACX with no issues.
Whose name is? You can get into serious trouble if you’re using the computer’s soundcard with a simple cable adapter. Those are not the first choice particularly if the card settings conflict with a Windows Update.
I didn’t change anything.
You don’t have to. Did Windows do an Update? Is there a way to tell what Windows did?
Your posted mastering recipe is not the recommended one.
The “official” one has a rumble filter at the beginning and can help a lot with background noises on a home microphone.
I applied Mastering to your posted clip and it passed ACX compliance, but not by much. Something Is Wrong.
Waiting for your microphone info.
Sorry for the Catskill Farms. I got a lot of feedback about not posting any sample text and too many people posted pages of “Testing, One, Two, Three.” Nice, but not enough different voice sounds in there.
I quite liked the Catskill Farms actually haha. I appreciate the quick reply. I have a Neewer 700 microphone with a Neewer 100 48V Phantom Power.
I don’t think Windows did any kind of update, I didn’t apply one manually at least. Not sure if there is a way to tell.
I understand my mastering recipe is not the recommended one, but it has been working fine for a year now with zero issues.
When I master it the way I have been it still passes the ACX check but sounds horrible now. I don’t know much but I feel like it isn’t an equipment issue, but more of a software issue. Like something changed without me knowing.
I got a new microphone. This is the Rode Procaster. Seems like a much higher quality mic but sounds the same. Still the exact same background noise of static. Uploading a raw file with no mastering.