That works.
I need to get the testing tools written down. !@#$%
Post more finished work/chapters/clips. I want to see if those tools are universally applicable, or that I just happened to get lucky once.
This is a segment of a document I half-finished.
*— Measure RMS (loudness). [Between -18dB and -23dB].
Select the whole clip by clicking just above MUTE.
Analyze > Contrast > Foreground > Measure Selection (Note the number) > Close
— Measure Noise [No higher than -60dB]
Drag-Select room tone or the pure, quiet background portion of your clip.
Analyze > Contrast > Foreground > Measure Selection (Note the number) > Close
Peaks sound. [No higher than -3.0dB]
Select the whole clip by clicking just above MUTE.
Effect > Amplify > Read the number and Cancel. Do Not Apply the Tool!!
*
Here’s the intro, unpatched and patched. It fails the peaks check, but only by a tiny margin (3.2 > 3.0) so we’re close. Should I try some different filter settings, or go through and manually use a tool to soften the worst peaks?
That’s what so darn much fun about this. The 3.2 number is intentional. When you convert from your WAV master and archive to MP3 for delivery, the process can slide your peak values around a little. The .2 almost guarantees the result will make it past the 3.0 trigger at ACX. Numbers slightly lower than 3.0 are acceptable.
Each uploaded file must have peak values no higher than -3dB.
Quote them.
I’ll pull down, listen and analyze the clips when it’s a more civilized hour. I want to do that on “the big computer.”
Ah, crap, I think the ‘backup’ I made of the track was post-filters. In that case, I think both of them are patched; the track passes on all but peaks. Edit: Hold on, I just checked the second track, which I have definitely NOT filtered, and it also passes, so that’s no indication.
I’m going to boot up the recording laptop, get the original Audacity save file, and start over. Before and after coming your way in a few minutes.
Unpatched and patched. (Same pass/fail results as before.) I am utterly baffled as to why they each have the exact same filesize. They sound different and, when I load them back into Audacity, their waveforms are completely different.
The patched one sounds a lot noisier. I must be doing something wrong. I’ll note that on the first step, Amplify, the value was 4.9. Should I be manually telling it to Amplify to a certain amount?
It won’t pass ACX, either.
I revised the testing process using basic English comprehension goals (I know, right? What a concept.)
I intentionally put noise first because nobody passes that. Koz
Drag-Select room tone or a pure, quiet background portion of your clip.
Analyze > Contrast > Foreground > Measure Selection (Read the number) > Close
— Measure RMS (loudness). [Between -18dB and -23dB].
Select the whole clip by clicking just above MUTE.
Analyze > Contrast > Foreground > Measure Selection (Read the number) > Close
— Measure Peak Sound. [Between -3.0dB and -3.5dB]
Select the whole clip by clicking just above MUTE.
Effect > Amplify > Read the number and CANCEL. Do Not Apply the Tool!!
Edit > UNDO if you apply it by accident and the blue waves change size.
You must have skipped a step. The last Normalize should have guaranteed a WAV file peak value of -3.2.
The difference between what you sent and what got to your server could be drag or highlight selection errors. I do that occasionally. I will post a correction and then I’m horrified that things posted I didn’t intend, or stuff is missing that should be there. The filenames are usually a good indicator, though.
There is another thing that can cause show scrambles. There is a perfectly vile process some newbies have of exporting new work on top of the old filenames. That works most of the time, but sometimes it doesn’t. If you make a correction to a show, you are expected to end with two files, the old and the new with different names, not just one.
If anything happens to Audacity during the export and you are stepping on the old filename, you could destroy both versions.
While I’m having horrified thoughts… What’s the possibility your posting service is changing the files a little? The “after” version didn’t look pure as it should have.
They sound different and, when I load them back into Audacity, their waveforms are completely different.
WAV files have exactly the same file sizes no matter what the content. This isn’t like MP3 which slides all the values around depending on how much compression you use and how many trumpets you have. So you can’t go by that.
Clear the postings and start new with ones you think are correct and I’ll download them again.
The server is local, so ‘posting files to it’ is really ‘copying the files into a second folder’. I’m 99% sure transferring WAV files over a LAN connection won’t modify them. (Then again: Windows.)
I think I’m getting dizzy. Dizzier.
As far as I know, there is only one LF_rolloff, so you’re safe there. You should remember there is also an instruction to change the “length” slider in Equalize when you use that filter.
Those are the wrong instructions. That could account for a lot. Behold the danger of having two different conversations in the same thread.
There are only about a million limiters out there. You can open limiter.ny in a text editor (just to read it). This is the one I’m using.
;nyquist plug-in
;version 4
;type process
;categories “http://lv2plug.in/ns/lv2core/#DynamicsPlugin”
;name “Limiter…”
;action “Limiting…”
;preview enabled
;author “Steve Daulton”
;copyright “Released under terms of the GNU General Public License version 2”
Sitting down? You really need to try harder to get rid of that whine in the background. It’s exceptionally hard to suppress because it has “baby screaming on a jet” tones. No matter how hard you read that Airplane Marketplace magazine, and put “free peanuts” in your ears it seeps through. That’s why I needed to add the noise reduction step. I used the area of the clip between 41 and 43 seconds for both the noise reduction Profile and then later for the Noise Test step.
The whine is made much worse by longer USB cables (we found).
Just because I haven’t thrown enough cold water yet, I know some of the elves are going to object to your overly crisp sound quality. That’s equalization and processing past just making ACX. Fortunately, that’s up to you.
Koz
**Select the whole clip by clicking just above MUTE.
Effect > Amplify: New Peak 0.0 > OK.
Effect > Equalization: LF Rolloff for speech, 8191 Length > OK
Effect > Noise Reduction: Profile, then 12, 6, 6 > OK
Effect > Limiter: Limit -6, Hold 10 > OK.
Effect > Normalize: [X]Remove DC, [X]Normalize to -3.2 > OK
Effect > Compressor: Thresh -20, Floor -50, Ratio 2:1, Attack 0.2, Release 1.0, [_]No Gain Makeup > OK
Effect > Normalize: [X]Remove DC, [X]Normalize to -3.2 > OK
\
The up side is your speaking style seems to work page after page, so those corrections should work chapter after chapter. If you change the microphone or make other changes, we’ll need to revisit the list of incantations and spells.
I prepared two versions. One selection has the corrections I made, and the other has very gentle crisp reduction after “powerlessness.” I can publish that Equalization curve, or tell you how to make and change it to your liking.
There’s the problem; I was using version 1. I updated to your attached version.
I ran with your updated instructions and got the exact same test results you did, except that the noise value was 69.7, where you got 67.4. Could be a very slight difference in noise reduction selection.
The crisp reduction makes it sound much better, but also sort of muted or muffled. Would it be possible to dial it back slightly? As for adding it to my repertoir, as long as you include instructions, I think I can install it myself, if it’s the same method as the LF Rolloff.
As for changing the setup, I could go back to having the laptop inside the bathroom, in order to forgo the jet-baby whining. Should I?
Another item. You can walk into a Voice Over Studio, announce the work and walk out with finished sound files a little lighter in the pocketbook. You don’t have to do this at home. We take you at your word that This Is The Way It Is. Many people who do this see AudioBooks as a steady job from home with little or no cost or complexity.
Until they try it.
The broadcasters keep listings in their metaphorical Rolodex® about where each studio is in the city they happen to be presenting from.
I saw one across the street from my restaurant (and didn’t take a picture). I did call them whether they were still alive and what their equipment was. They are and I forget. It’s been months.