Mixed success. I got the performance to pass with much less fuss than before. Your voice is cleaner with fewer distortions (attached).
First three lines and sentence 2/3 down.
This is an incomplete list of the corrections. It’s not step by step. I’ll do that later.
Effect > Notch Filter 120Hz, Q2
Effect > Notch Filter 95Hz, Q2
Effect > Equalization: Low Rolloff for Speech
Effect > RMS Normalize > OK
Effect > Limiter OK
Effect > Noise Reduction of the beast (6, 6, 6) > OK.
I know that seems like insanity, but 3, 4, and 5 are the standard audiobook steps. Everybody does those.
is your mystery “motor or something,” we will probably never find.
is a very gentle noise reduction, a small fraction of what I was using before. I almost don’t need it.
You picked up one interference tone that wasn’t there before. Do you have something on in your studio that’s new? It wasn’t there in earlier sound tests. That’s wall power problems in the US. Electric Heater, Lamp Dimmer, Bad plug in the socket. Some CFL light bulb replacements can do that. I’ve never had an LED lamp do it. Some fans can do that, but it’s less likely.
-=-
But the real Mixed Success is now that your voice is much cleaner and clearer, I can hear your wet mouth noises. Isn’t that great news!?!
I need to find which forum elf is good with those.
I posted for help in the senior elf portion of the forum about the mouth noises.
This is where you need to know the forum covers nine time zones and it’s 3:30a in Manchester. So if you’re in the US, the snappy response may take a hit.
That’s fascinating. I don’t think I’ve ever heard little musical tick noises like that. They don’t respond to the DeEsser and DeClicker tools (that I can see). There are odd tricks you can do with Noise Reduction but that doesn’t seem to help either.
There’s an almost 100% certainty that if you get a more expensive or professional system, it will get worse. Clear, crisp recording is the last thing you need.
We’ll see if anybody else posts. This is a forum, not a help desk.
I think this is all the steps. I tried to include all the important keystrokes. Let me know if you get stuck.
You have to custom install RMS Normalize and ACX Check.
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Effect > Notch Filter: 120Hz, Q2 > OK
Effect > Notch Filter: 95Hz, Q2 > OK
Effect > Equalization: Low Rolloff for Speech, Length: 5000 > OK
Effect > RMS Normalize: -20dB > OK
Effect > Limiter: Soft, 0, 0, -3.5, 10, No > OK
Drag-select a portion of room silence (called Room Tone) > Effect > Get Noise Profile.
Select the whole line by clicking just right of the up arrow.
Effect > Noise Reduction of the beast (6, 6, 6) > OK.
The bold-face tools in the middle are part of Audiobook Mastering. Everybody does those. The top two are to remove the mystery noises you have left after your physical room noise sweep.
Effect > Limiter is just a quick collection of all the settings you need listed top to bottom. They stick, so you should only need to enter them once.
And the one on the bottom is plain, standard Noise Reduction. If you get any better with room noise management, you may not need it at all. I included this gentle removal because it gives you room to be a little sloppy without running into troubles.
Yikes. That’s a lot of stuff to do. Again, my sincerest gratitude for figuring that out.
First, yes, I record in a boiler factory, otherwise known as New York City. Actually my block is usually pretty quiet depending on what’s going on and if there’s construction going on - which is happening now (a new building) which is driving me crazy.
I do have CFL lamps as well as LED. Maybe one of those is the mystery noise.
I found ACX and RMS Normalize and downloaded them but have tried every which way to install/execute and I’m stuck.
I found ACX and RMS Normalize and downloaded them but have tried every which way to install/execute and I’m stuck.
You got semi-lucky. In working with one of other posters, it turns out some Macs like to change the filename of the plugins that download. It’s not enough of the time to ring bells, but it’s often enough to be a pain in the neck. One of those problems impossible to figure out until you get lucky.
Start with where you download files. I use my desktop, your mileage may vary. Right Click or Control-Click Acx-check.ny > Get INFO.
Somewhere down the INFO panel should be the “official” filename window. I bet it doesn’t say Acx-check.ny. I bet it says Acx-check.ny.txt.
Highlight and delete the .txt part. OK the warnings. Close the INFO panel.
Now drag Acx-check.ny to the Audacity plugins folder.
Acx-check.ny appears in Analyze, not Effect. Add/ Remove Plugins.
Some of that is abbreviated. Let us know if you get lost.
Do that little dance to RMS-Normalize. That one appears in Effects, not Analyze.
I lived in Greenpoint down the block from the India St. fire station. Street traffic and all night subway were nothing compared to a hook and ladder.
I do have CFL lamps as well as LED. Maybe one of those is the mystery noise.
Start recording a sound test, light a candle (if you need one) and turn all the lights off. Semi-announce what you’re doing. “Here goes the desk lamp!”
Do you have the microphone on a towel and book so it doesn’t pick up trash from the floor or table?
Ok.
Filename is “Acx-check.ny.txt” which I knew wo INFO window. It’s named that way beneath folder.
I renamed.
I went to ANALYZE->ADD/REMOVE PLUG-INS
I can’t drag “ACX-Check.NY” into that window. Unless I’m doing something very wrong. That is the plug-ins folder, right?
RMS-Normalize.NY doesn’t have .txt extension. But I also can’t drag it into EFFECTS->Add/Remove Plug-Ins. Maybe I’m dragging it incorrectly. They just keep going back to desktop.
That pile of numbers in my post (and that document) fits into each effect panel as you open the tool. To take the worst one, Limiter, those are all the empty boxes from top to bottom. Most of the tools are sticky so you only have to enter the numbers once.
When you get that far, you’re already past the top three or four paragraphs of that document. Start with Process.
The mouth sounds are a problem. I don’t always have them. I have to stay hydrated. And I rotate between Xylitol gum, green apples, Biotin spray. It’s more important for me to focus on connecting to the copy so I try not to get too upset with the clicks. If any remain, I highlight a section where I’m not speaking, Effect->Noise Reduction->Get Noise Profile followed by
selecting all. Effect->Noise Reduction->numbers seem to adjust themselves->OK. That usually does the trick.
I read about izotope but that looks very labor intensive.
