Well, here’s my issue: I’m a novice audiobook narrator. For many months I’ve been studying to perfect auditions and become part of this amazing community.
I have completed 2 auditions that cleared the ACX Check and were posted. However, I now run into an error that states RMS isn’t between -18DB and -23DB. But I have downloaded the RMS Normalize and it is set at -20DB. Nonetheless, I consistently get this error and no matter what I do, it’s the same each time I run the check. I’m running 2.3.3 on Windows 8.1.
My Compressor, High-pass filter, Equalization (on low runoff for speech), RMS Normalize and Normalize are all set according to ACX recommendations. I have tried Limiter also. My setup remains the same and, yes, I have a home studio. Why would 2 auditions pass and now, all of a sudden on the same settings, I get this? What else could it be? So confused …
…Normalization or any other linear volume adjustment will change the peak, average, RMS, and noise floor by the same dB amount. (The peaks can end-up being clipped to 0dB if you export as a regular WAV file, etc.)
Mastering is designed to be used as a suite, a harmonious grouping of tools, and not in pieces.
When you finish Audiobook Mastering, the performance is ready for conversion to MP3 and submission. Audiobook Mastering guarantees Peak and RMS. If you recorded in a nice, quiet, echo-free room, it should also pass noise.
Are you sure you need all the rest of the corrections? Compression and Equalization are advanced theatrical tools and can cause more problems than they solve. Compression in particular can mess up the noise test later.
I announced a simple voice test, cut it to length, applied mastering and submitted it to ACX. I passed all the technical specifications with honors and only failed because I can’t read. So yes, it does work.
To DVD Doug and Koz: Thanks so much! Yes, I was Normalizing again after RMS Normalize and that could very easily be it! You guys are THE BEST! Sandee G
