When I check to see if my recording meets ACX standards do I check my noise floor separately from the volume range and peak values. My noise floor by itself passes. And When I check my volume range and peak values together without the noise floor they both pass at -3dB peak and between -23dB and -18dB. However when I check them all together the noise floor does not meet ACX standards.
Thanks for any input.
How are you checking the noise by itself? …The ACX-check plug-in checks everything at once.
Adjusting/changing the levels will also change the noise level. And since you normally have to boost to meet the RMS requirements you end-up boosting the noise.
We publish ACX-Check which is a local checker that uses ACX published standards and is a cousin to the on-line checker at ACX Audiolab.
https://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Nyquist_Analyze_Plug-ins#ACX_Check
In Audacity 3.0.2, Tools > Nyquist Plugin Installer. Then in Analyze > Add/Remove Plugins.
It arrives under Analyze, not Effects.
It displays the top three ACX sound standards.
Peaks quieter than -3dB
Loudness midway between -18dB (louder) and -23dB (quieter).
Noise quieter than -60dB.
We also publish Audiobook Mastering which is a suite of tools that guarantee RMS (Loudness) and Peak. If you recorded in a nice, quiet, echo-free room, you could pass all three and be good to go.
This is an abbreviation of the tools.
And this is the long version.
https://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Audiobook_Mastering
Passing noise is rough. Announcing louder is a lot easier than finding out where that annoying whine behind your voice is coming from.
Koz
Making your Audacity blue waves come out right is only the first step. You also have to pass theatrical tests: you don’t stutter, you don’t have lip smacks, and your voice doesn’t scare the horses.
And there are marketing tests. Your book has to be on sale in paper or eBook on Amazon and it has to not be on this list (scroll down).
https://www.acx.com/help/200878270
There was one forum poster who planned on reading a cookbook and another who wanted to read Yoga chants.
That last one is ripe for publishing as a YouTube presentation. I remember one video series where Yoga people arranged in a circle on a wind-swept cliff did their works with artsy camera motion. It was weather dependent and they might have been dying of the cold, but it was stunning and memorable.
Koz
Snapping this back to the original question.
If you do fail noise, you get to choose between a number of different solutions. Noise is the college course. It’s not a button push.
Let us know what your numbers are when you get everything settled.
Do Not read the whole book and then need to fix it later. Some of the fixes involve changing microphone techniques and sometimes, the microphone. ACX has a rejection they call “Overprocessing,” so no, you can’t just throw effects at it.
Koz