HELP with EQ! Audiobook due yesterday!

[kozikowski]

OK. It’s daytime in Los Angeles.

One of the questions that comes up with the Mastering Macro is when to do edits. Your show should have all the fluffs, mistakes, bad words, tongue-ticks and other noises removed before you get here. Mastering should be the last thing that happens (except possibly noise reduction after) before you export your Edit Master WAV file, and then the submitted MP3.

As I think we already posted, the WAV and the MP3 file should sound identical. There is no bad MP3 version.
~

The Mastering Macro is a text file. A plain word list of computer instructions.

That can be confusing for everyone. The computer is now confused because it can’t tell if you wrote a letter to your mum, or wrote a program. Can you get it to settle in as a file on your desktop or wherever your computer downloads or imports stuff?

You’re on Windows, right? Windows might try to “help you” by hiding the dot-t x t at the end of the name. Do you have a “Get Info” tool in Windows? That should show you the “real” filename. Alternately, you can force Windows to just show you filename extensions all the time. That’s how I did it.

In Audacity.

Tools > Macro Manager > Import.

Locate the text file.

Import it.

Close.

Select the timeline or show. Tools > Apply Macro > Audiobook-Mastering-Macro.

There is no “do it.” it runs by itself.

The macro was designed so you can’t hear it working except the show may get a little louder. It doesn’t change the character or quality of the sound.

Apply ACX-Check and the show should magically conform to ACX Peak and RMS (Loudness).

If you recorded in a quiet, echo-free room, you may be done.

If you have a little background noise or Room Tone, you might want to apply Noise Reduction of the Beast. 6, 6, 6. You should pass ACX noise by -65dB or quieter. -62dB or -63dB does pass (the limit is -60dB) but if you do anything wrong anywhere, the show or chapter will fail. The conversion to MP3, for example, will shuffle sound volumes a little.

Koz

[kozikowski]

Let’s see how much trouble I can get into.

This is the Macro file.

Audiobook-Mastering-Macro.txt (498 Bytes)

It’s not expected to be read by a human, so it appears a little wacky in a text editor.

It’s four lines of text.

I wrote most of it in a text editor. From fuzzy memory, Steve wrote the Filter Curve statement. That’s a cousin to rumble filter that broadcasters use for outside news gathering.

Koz

[kozikowski]

@Jrober

some are in my car with same foam accessories.

With the best sweeping generality, there’s no such thing as acoustic foam. Marketing, Product Development, & Promotion are always going to repackage delicate, light-weight, fluffy, stupid-cheap packing foam for sale to the public.

Packing Foam’s job is to take up space in a box and above all, not weigh anything. Sound goes straight through it.

You would be shocked if you picked up a real piece of acoustic foam. It’s heavy, almost greasy, and you can’t easily glue it to a wall because it’s heavy enough to pull itself off. You will also be shocked at the cost.

One test you can do is put your foam on a picnic table outside. If the wind can blow it off, you didn’t get acoustic foam.

There are reasonable ways to do environment soundproofing cheaply. My favorite is furniture moving blankets. These are solid enough to keep two credenzas from smashing into each other in the back of a moving van.

I designed a “kitchen table sound studio” with some plastic pipes and two blankets.

Too compressed Rejection

Kitchen Table Sound Studio Revision 1 This is the parts list for the studio. Each of those eight plastic pipes is 20 inches long. No special parts or celebrities. They’re half-inch PVC. Four corners, four end-caps and two heavy 80" x 72" furniture moving blankets. [KitchenTableStudio-PartsList-Rev1.jpg] This is the frame construction. No glue. [KitchenTableStudio-Frame-Rev1.jpg] This is the finished studio. The pipes have end caps and the table has a cover, folded over. [Kitch…

I think the parts were $25 USD.

Koz