OUTPUT RANGE FOR WEB E-LEARNING AUDIO

[wuhan_87]

Hi,

I would like to begin to record a voice demo for web e-learning, however I am not sure if my noise level is low enough. Especially if I have to turn up the volume or use mastering techniques in the final processing this may increase the noise level even more. I am wondering if there is a typical output level or range that e-learning web audio falls into? Or does it solely depend on the client?

Thanks so much!

[DVDdoug]

The only hard-and-fast standards I know of are the ACX audiobook standards. There is an ACX Check Plug-in for Audacity.

Those standards are tough so if you think you have a problem you probably wouldn't meet them.

[kozikowski]

You can post a sample of your work on the forum. As a fuzzy rule, if you can pass ACX, you an do almost anything else. ACX technical standards are very close to broadcast They're cousins.

Record and submit a 20 second test according to this formula.

http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/Test ... _Clip.html

We publish an Audiobook Mastering Suite of tools.

https://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Audiobook_Mastering

Technical standards will only take you half-way. When you actually do submit for publication, the work also goes past ACX Human Quality Control. That's where you go to die if you record in a bathroom or you can't read out loud. We don't have any way to test for that past personal experience and opinion.

Most home readers fail noise. Background noise needs to be well behaved like rain in the trees shshshshshshsh, and it has to be a thousand times quieter than your voice.

There's a reason the whole second half of the mastering publication is what to do about noise.

Koz

[steve]

Some of the e-learning media that I've heard has awful sound quality, but I don't know how common that is.

[kozikowski]

My favorite irritation is somebody who reads slowly as for an eight-year-old. Really. If I miss something, I can roll it back.

I suspect it's a business problem. Nobody is going to retire to Côte d'Azur with textbook readings. So nobody cares.

@wuhan_87

That was just the answer to the question of there being technical standards. Yes, but nobody seems to pay any attention to them except the audiobook people. And those people are throwing money.

I would still like to hear a sample. Sometimes there are simple things we can do to help.

Koz

[wuhan_87]

Hey,

The Noise_F file is a sample of my noise floor (I left the room to do this).
The Test file is my vocal file.

I use the public Libray's studio booth to record as it's free and my basement suite is way too noisey. The only problem is they have the pc set up on the desk so I am assuming most of the noise floor is coming from the computer's fan.

Other equipment used:

AKG C1000S Microphone
Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 USB Audio Interface

Also, I already ran the ACX plug-in on both of these and I think the readings are inaccurate, it read -61 for the tone of the room and -58 for my actual recording. I had another person check the audio on their daw (not sure which one they used) and they gave a reading of -46. So I'm bit confused about this also!

Cheers

[kozikowski]

It's a lovely voice and I think we may be able to do something about the noise, but please follow the recipe in this post.

http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/Test ... _Clip.html

Leaving the room doesn't count. The acoustic signature of the room changes when your body comes and goes—and it's generally measured when you're there. The tools work best and most accurately when you have that pause, hold your breath and don't move for two seconds. Don't help.

Yes, I think I can hear the computer fan, but there may be ways around that.

Koz

[kozikowski]

With careful noise management, I can get the voice clip to pass audiobook standards.

Diving for noise doesn't count. If the background noise isn't audible at normal listening volume, then you pass.

I think you could submit that anywhere and have it succeed.

Speech-Mastered.wav

(1.74 MiB) Downloaded 8 times

First three readings and sentence 2/3 down.

Screen Shot 2019-02-27 at 3.48.56.png (38.85 KiB) Viewed 337 times

ACX Check mimics the analysis tools used in audiobook publication. In general, if you pass that and have your voice, you should be able to publish anywhere. You do have one odd problem. Once you start a job like that, you should stay that way through the whole job. There is no suddenly getting a better studio in the middle of a job. Use the better studio in the next job.

Submit a corrected clip. Processing is more involved than normal because of the computer noise.

Koz

[wuhan_87]

Hey Koz,

I have attached the raw recording.

Thanks,

Hannah

sample22.wav

(1.65 MiB) Downloaded 8 times

[kozikowski]

That wasn't hard.

sample22Mastered.wav

(1.65 MiB) Downloaded 9 times

Screen Shot 2019-03-02 at 15.32.14.png (40.76 KiB) Viewed 297 times

First three readings and sentence 2/3 down. You could easily read for audiobooks.

If I apply plain Audiobook Mastering...

https://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Audiobook_Mastering

The performance passes audiobook specifications straightaway, but that's not what's in the attached clip...

sample22Mastered.wav

(1.65 MiB) Downloaded 9 times

This clip has an additional noise removal step.

Are you recording in the US? The clip has a touch of noise tone in the background typical of air conditioning, ventilation, or other electrical motor and it has a signature of US wall power (120Hz).

I can improve the clip by either removing the tone by brute force, or apply very gentle noise reduction. With your voice tones, either one will work.

Or, you can ignore it. Your presentation passes with no other corrections, it's not just as perfect as it could be.

Koz