Hi, I submit auditions on ACX. My files pass the ACX Audio Lab tests. How can I make myself better? I am getting discouraged after so many auditions. Is there something I can do in Audacity, or change about myself to improve? Any help is appreciated.
Texas Gal
Left out a few words: ...and the Audacity Evaluation Team rejected the works. They used to give you an idea what they found wrong. They don’t any more? That’s messy.
Do the files pass the Audacity ACX-Check tool? We measure background noise and the Audacity on-line evaluator doesn’t.
You got several problems. The tips and peaks of the blue waves are too high (loud). Did you use our Audiobook-Mastering-Macro? That Macro tool sets volume and makes loud/quiet problems almost impossible.
It would seem silly, but your background sound is too quiet. ACX assumes that if your background sound (noise) is surgically zero that you used your sound processing tools wrong and automatically rejects you.
I’m guessing at a third problem. You’re supposed to do all your work in Perfect Quality WAV sound files and only create the MP3 files just before submission. Making an MP3 from an MP3 is not good news and it violates one of the ACX submission rules. So you can’t do everything automatically in MP3.
After you pass all that, then they submit to a real human for theatrical and voice quality tests. That’s why it’s good to know what they didn’t like.
Koz
Further notes.
You should save all your live production voice work in Perfect Quality WAV format. Even partial chapters and errors.
After you get done editing, processing, and cleaning each chapter, Export your Chapter Edit Master in WAV.
Only then export each chapter submission as 192 Constant-Quality MP3. You can’t go back and fix MP3s later if there’s a mistake. You have to go back to the WAV Edit Master.
ACX would rather you do all your work in Mono (one blue wave).
Koz
How funny that my background noise is too low- I don’t manipulate it and I record in an open space. My microphone isolates voices. Maybe that setting is too high.
That “setting” is processing/manipulation. 
Most people not recording in a soundproof studio need some processing the meet the -60dB spec.
How funny that my background noise is too low
It’s an odd requirement. I don’t think anybody else has a minimum noise spec. As far as I know, ACX doesn’t publish the level at which they reject you. -70dB seems to be OK, and probably -75dB.
In the digital domain you can have digital dead silence which is minus infinity dB. You can get that by “inserting silence” or with a noise gate effect or possibly with some other extreme noise filtering.
The peak limit of -3dB is also odd.
There are noise-reduction artefacts: the audio sounds choppy because of a noise-gate.
and the reverb(eration) from the room intermittently appears, e.g. the word “logical” …
“logical”
Unless the processing is “transparent”, (i.e. undetectable), ACX are not going to accept it …
“The improper use of noise reduction to remove these sounds often results in an overly processed and poor sounding audiobook that may be rejected by the ACX QA team”.
Thanks for telling me about the Audacity ACX Plug=in! I tried it out with this file, although I’m sure I need more help. Question about WAV files… I usually record, then export as MP3 (with ACX settings like mono, 192 kbps, 44100 Hz). Can you explain at which point I would need it to be in WAV? Do you mean, when I’m saving it to work on later? Thank you for your help.
Texas Gal
“about me” sounds much better: no conspicuous processing artefacts.
Question about WAV files… I usually record, then export as MP3 (with ACX settings like mono, 192 kbps, 44100 Hz). Can you explain at which point I would need it to be in WAV? Do you mean, when I’m saving it to work on later? Thank you for your help.
Save (export) everything in WAV and then convert to MP3 ONCE as the last step. You can also save an Audacity AUP3 project but that may not be necessary with an audiobook. But still make WAV files. WAV files are “simpler” and occasionally AUP3 files get messed-up. Of course WAV files aren’t completely foolproof either so it’s a good idea to keep back-ups. If “the worst” happens you may have to start over! 
As you may know, MP3 is lossy compression. Information is thrown-away to make the file smaller. It’s not “terrible” and often sounds identical to the uncompressed original BUT when you re-open the MP3 in Audacity it gets decompressed. If you then re-export as MP3 you are going through another generation of lossy compression and SOME “damage” accumulates.
I understand that ACX has started inspecting MP3 quality. We should also remember that if you edit and re-export a 192 constant quality ACX Submission it’s not 192 quality any more—and you can’t back up.
Koz
