Disrepance for RMS in .AUP file and exported MP3

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

To whom it may concern,

I’m recording voice files for ACX. This has always worked great previously. I just upgraded to 3.6.4 on Windows, but I’m not sure if the upgrade is the issue.

My recording in Audacity, i.e. the AUP file, has RMS -20.05.

I then export to MP3, and AC complains that the MP3 file is about 4 dB to low.

I pull the MP3 file back in to Audacity (drag and drop to a new file), check RMS, it is -27.3.

The ACX spec is between -18 and -23. ACX also sees the level as -27.3.

Why is the level different from the AUP to the MP3. This has never happened before. If this is now normal (shouldn’t be), what is the recommended procedure to make sure the MP3 file level is at a desired level (instead of about 7 dB lower)?

Thanks in advance.

2

Please disregard. I just noticed that the export gain in Audacity was -7. This completely explains the discrepancy.

Apologies for not checking this first.

4

Where is that setting? It’s something I don’t know about…

5

In my version, there is a small panel at the left side of the window. It has two sliders. I do not know what the bottom one is for. The top is for amplification when exporting the audio. It is occasionally useful. You can use the slider, or double-click to enter a gain value.

6

Thanks! I knew about that slider but the name “Export Gain” was new to me.