I work as an editor for an audiobook company and recently upgraded to a 2015 Macbook Pro running on Sierra.
I downloaded Audacity 2.1.2 today and I seem to be having some trouble with the Nyquist plugins. I tried to add the bassboost.ny, noisegate.ny, and compress.ny to the Plugins folder and even after repeated attempts or restarting the software, the effects are not showing up.
I haven’t reinstalled Audacity in quite some time so maybe Im doing something wrong? I also don’t see the “nyquist prompt” option in the Effects list that I saw on my old laptop.
“it’s possible that files in the Audacity app have the xattribute “xattr com.apple.quarantine” set. This means that Gatekeeper blocks them. To fix it, open a Terminal (Applications > Utilities : Terminal.app) then type or paste:
CODE: SELECT ALL
This made the Nyquist Prompt appear, and now i can see the Plugins in the list when i click “add/remove plugins” and i can click “enable” on the selected plugin, but when i look at the list- the plugins still aren’t there. Also, when i click on “add/remove plugins” again, it just says “new” next to the plugin, as if i hadn’t already clicked it.
Why would an editor need Noise Gate and Bass Boost? Don’t you tell the performer/submission presenter what to fix? Making the audiobook company do repairs is awkward, dangerous and expensive.
That fixed the problem for me too, though I had to modify the command slightly because I had Audacity installed in a non-standard location.
The command is:
I work for a company which produces a wide range of audiobooks varying from professional to self narrated/self recorded. Often times the quality needs to be touched up a bit and these plugins are very helpful for that.
No shortage of those: LF-Rolloff filter for Equalize, Noise Reduction (in moderation), Normalize > DC Removal, etc. Let us know.
Do you have an automated acceptance service like ACX does (we call it “the robot”)? Or do you get them all and have to sort them?
Do you have a recommended “studio” and microphone? You’re not doing this for entertainment value, so you may have some different hints and techniques we haven’t heard of.
Well, we’re a startup company. We’ve been at it for about a year now, but typically our process is that we either outsource narration to Pro voice actors OR if authors want to record themselves; we send “studio travel kits” (typically an apogee 96k, Nady MPF-6 pop filter, and a kaotica eyeball). We then guide them through the process of recording, get a sample test, and let them upload to a Dropbox folder/Google Drive folder.
The quality isn’t always ideal, but for the most part it sounds pretty good and the author’s really enjoy having the ability to choose between the two options. We’ve maybe done about 40 of the remote recording audiobooks so far.
[Writing that down.]
That is almost without question so much better than turning thousands of New Users loose in the kitchen with a Yeti (the microphone, not the mythical beast).
How do you deal with a noisy room? That’s by far the worst problem in new recordings.
Do you have your basic recommendations available as either pages or videos?
Haha yeah, well it can still be slightly chaotic at time as each project/author each comes with their own set of variables and issues.
Typically, before sending equipment- we try to evaluate their recording space and see if they have an insulated room (even a closet if they’re open to that) to record in. We advise that they try to record during the quietest parts of the day (which seems to be around 6pm and after for most people). But there’s no exact science to it, and quality control is definitely tough at times since everything is being one remotely.
In regard to background noise- we warn against all the major culprits like A/C units, buzzing fridges, etc. but definitely some recordings still have noticeable hums and other issues. Just using Noise Reduction works wonders on most of the recordings honestly, but like i said- the quality varies from person to person, but so far no one has had an issue with the finished product.
Oh, and to answer your previous question- in our local studio we use a Neumann u87 ai and we have a vocal booth made by the Whisper Room manufacturers in Knoxville.