this process (filter, rms normalize, limiter) is quite elegant and worked every time to pass the ACX check.
Close. Audiobook Mastering guarantees Peak and RMS (Loudness). You can put floor sweepings in there and pass those two. But you may not pass noise. Noise is very troublesome. Anyone who has struggled with background noise now knows why commercial soundproof studios exist.
I have a very quiet bedroom and can push out a technically perfect voice performance any time I want…as long as I miss the Metrobus going by and the trash collection people on Monday. I recently published a file of what it sounds like when Southern California Gas decides to put a new gas trunk line under the street.
(incorrect spacing at beginning and end of clips)
I am a little surprised people regularly get stuck with that. ACX is pretty clear they want.
extraneous sounds
No refrigerators turning on or dogs barking. Those are Noise.
I have created a better space to record in
How did you do it? There’s tricks to it. Yes, it’s totally possible to use egg cartons inside a large cardboard box as your sound studio, but you have to use cardboard egg cartons, not plastic foam.
I published a kitchen table sound studio from furniture moving blankets and plastic pipes, which, if you’re close to a Home Depot, come pre-cut.
Still curious about the noise reduction tool
Noise Reduction used to be called Noise Removal. Too many people were expecting it to remove all the noise from their trashy performance…to zero. Neither one will do that.
Noise Reduction is a siren song luring your ship on to the rocks (Greek mythology). There’s the philosophic problem of starting your career planning for disaster rescue. You should think about possible sound damage, but not intentionally taking shortcuts because you can always “fix it in post production.”
Kiss of death.
If you can pass noise by -65dB or quieter naturally, you can ignore Noise Reduction. -60dB is the limit.
That’s assuming nice, well-behaved, stable, constant noise such as microphone hiss or far background air conditioning noise. It won’t do anything for noises that change over time (trucks going by) or certain digital noises that sound like ice picks in the ear. Those will not be tolerated even if they are quieter than -65dB.
So it’s down to seeing how you do. You can also publish a very short sound test here and we will comment. You don’t need the Catskill cows if you have a good speech you like. Do Not use “testing one two three.” A passage from Sponge Bob Square Pants might be nice.
https://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/TestClip/Record_A_Clip.html
Koz