Sample WAV file evaluation requested

[SheilaQ]

Good afternoon,

I am very much a newbie in the audio recording arena -- getting ready to try my hand at audio book recording. Therefore, I have attached a sample .wav file for your evaluation/critique. As instructed from kozco.com's site (which is awesome by the way), the file is raw. I used the ACX Check utility and it showed as being acceptable in its raw form, but I'm interested to hear your feedback. Following, if you need them, are the specs on my equipment:

Operating System: Windows 7 Pro
Software: Audacity 2.1.2
Microphone: Audio-technica AT-2035 (with pop filter)
Audio Interface: Focusrite 2i2

Thanks so much for your assistance and feedback.

Sincerely,
Sheila

[kozikowski]

Cool. Somebody else with naturally bent blue waves. Did you catch that your blue waves look a little like they got too hot and they melted a little; that you have more blue on the bottom than on the top? My voice is almost exactly the opposite.

Screen Shot 2016-07-19 at 13.16.05.png (2.59 KiB) Viewed 983 times

It did take a while to figure out that wasn't a broken microphone. Particularly awkward because I do equipment evaluations. Here, let me check this microphone with my broken voice. What could go wrong?

Do I want to know how you got to -67dB background noise? If it was by processing, I can't detect it, so we'll assume ACX won't be able to find it, either. They hate noise reduction. It's not unusual for somebody to read in a low volume voice with high noise and then try to rescue it with what I call "Disaster Recovery" tools. I know pros who can do that.......

You sound like you're good to go.

If somebody forced me to find something wrong, you do have the slightest P pop on Natural PPower of your imagination. I easily got rid of it in post production with the custom rumble filter, but you should probably try to not make them at all by pushing your microphone just slightly left or right off center or up, so the sensitive part lines up with your eyes or nose rather than your lips. My personal favorite is having the mic line up about with my left cheek. That position is missing the lip air blast, is almost as loud and many times I don't need the pop filter.

Your mileage may vary, consult your local listings.

Reading promotion and publicity work is kind of cheating. It's not all that hard to do a television commercial voice. Try reading an audiobook where the goal is to sound like you're telling somebody a fascinating story over cups of hot tea on a kitchen table. Oh, and do interpretation of all six characters while you're there.

Koz

[Trebor]

... I have attached a sample .wav file for your evaluation/critique.

It's good , but it sounds smoother if De-Clicker is applied ...

'nothing at all new' before-after.flac

after has DeClick DeEss and treble-boost equalization

(506.92 KiB) Downloaded 55 times

[kozikowski]

it sounds smoother if De-Clicker is applied

That works well, doesn't it?

I wonder why that grit didn't show up when I listened to it. I'll listen again when I get back in the house.

the file is raw.

That's impressive. I can achieve that level of first-pass quality but it's hard work. That explains why I couldn't find any processing artifacts. No processing.

I wonder where that aural grit is coming from....... This would be a perfect transfer save that.

Koz

[SheilaQ]

Good morning Koz (and Trebor if he reads this),

I sincerely appreciate the feedback you and Trebor gave me. However, I have to admit that some of it was a bit over my head. When I wrote initially that I'm a "newbie" . . . I meant a still very green, freshly hatched newbie! Ha! Ha! Now that you've listened to my sample file, I have a couple of questions. I know where the louder "P's" are likely coming from. I had to get really close to my mic/pop filter in order to get rid of the RMS values not being acceptable in the raw file.

I have my mic recording level set to the highest (1.0) number, and played with gradually increasing the "gain" on my Focusrite audio interface. There seemed to be a very fine line where when I turned it up too much -- thus allowing for the RMS values to get more in line, then the noise floor (when speaking) would be too much. I could still do a "silent" recording and the noise floor was fine - with no error. So, I lowered my gain, got closer to the mic, and was successful at having the clip pass the ACX Check test.

I will take your advice on recording slightly to the side of the mic and see what happens. Also, help me understand something. How anal do it get with trying to get an error-free recording "raw" vs. getting close and then applying the Equalizer, Normalizer, and Noise Reduction (to apply room tone) effects? Oh, and I did download and install the LF_rolloff... equalizer plugin(?) you suggested. I seem to get conflicting opinions -- having watched some of the ACX videos, they recommend staying away from some of the "effects" (i.e., compressors, etc.) -- but then so many of the people who "do this kind of recording" appear to use the effects quite a bit. So, I'm a little confused as to what to really use and not to use.

Sorry for all the words and questions . . . but I always figure the only stupid question is the one you don't ask (if you don't know the answer - smile). Any additional recommendations you can give me will be hugely appreciated. Thanks so much again for your help and hope you have a terrific day!

Sincerely,
Sheila

[kozikowski]

Sorry for all the words and questions

We can do this. This post makes us crazy:

"Audacity won't record any more. It worked for months."

And that's the whole post.

some of it was a bit over my head.

We go until somebody stops us.

How anal do it get with trying to get an error-free recording "raw"

Any corrections you make in post production you have to do to every chapter in every book, forever. Doesn't that sound appealing? Just be aware of that.

recording slightly to the side of the mic

Close. The mic is still pointed to you, just at your cheek instead of your lips. Move the microphone two or three inches to the left and turn it slightly. Directly in front of your lips is where the plosive pop sounds live. That also frees up the space directly in front of your face so you can read the script.

get conflicting opinions

We're using the same words and mean different things.

We mean gracefully and gently applying minimal corrections to your already almost perfect recording to produce an ACX-Compliant work that sounds exactly like you.

They mean don't even think about recording garbage and then trying to disaster recover it into a submittable story. Those have a high failure rate (unrecoverable) and are distressingly common. They also take up enormous ACX resources because ACX tries to tell the poster what they did wrong instead of just saying, "OK, you passed. Next!"

I gotta drop for a minute.

Koz

[kozikowski]

It's rough to get people to think about what's going to happen to their career if they get popular or get a contract for paid work.

This has happened several times: Remember that post production where you go in and correct your reading word by word? Good luck with that. Here's a contract to read three novels.

If you get a contract for advertising or other announcing, it's entirely possible you may need to filter your voice to be more dense, forward or aggressive. That can't be done starting with a noisy or ratty recording. Can't do it. All of those tools make background noise worse.

There was a recent posting pointing to someone on YouTube who claimed to have special Audacity settings to make your recording more professional. And it did, assuming you were recording in a completely soundproofed studio with professional (real professional, read: expensive) microphones and mixers as he was. There was a graphic about half-way through where you could see the special soundproof wall conditioning and heavy drapes he had.

If you didn't start out with an already perfect recording, you failed.

At the end of the day, the YouTube posting was an advertisement for his services.

He sounded wonderful, though.

Koz

[SheilaQ]

Hi Koz,

Thanks so much for sharing all the information and a giggle or two. I adjusted my mic yesterday and had good success -- even removed my pop filter. But I'm going to adjust it again with the additional details/clarification you've given me. I'm also going to beef up some more soundproofing directly around my mic. I seem to be OK with not having the noise floor limits exceeded very often, but . . . I figure if I add some more sound absorption, it can only create a more consistent environment, right?

I discovered yesterday that I had more trouble with my peak limits exceeding the required range. I was recording more character-related dialog from a novel. So, it may have been the varying inflection and emotion in my voice. I'll see how I fair after making your recommended adjustments to the mic.

Koz, your help and expertise -- and willingness to take the time to share it and help all of us -- is truly AMAZING -- and HUGELY appreciated!! I'll let you know how the new mic adjustment and added soundproofing work out. Maybe I'll even record a new sample and send so you can see if it's better. Hey, take good care and have a super rest of your day!!

Sincerely,
Sheila

[kozikowski]

and a giggle or two.

It's not unusual for me to be introduced as "The one with the emails."

Painting with verbs.

I'm going to adjust it again with the additional details/clarification you've given me.

Listen to it.

A friend of mine records in a completely odd way I would not have guessed based on my training. He is delighted with the work...and so is the client.

it can only create a more consistent environment, right?

Wear your Producer (upper case intentional) hat for a second. Would you hire someone who can do a reliable, high quality, one-pass recording, or someone who produces sub-standard work that might require hours of correction?

I had more trouble with my peak limits exceeding the required range.

Oddly, that's a different tool. Effect > Limiter. Compressor tries to reduce the volume of the whole work on the fly to make it appear more dense and loud. Limiter tries to affect only sounds louder than a set volume. It's perfect for taming blue wave peaks when the rest of the performance is perfect.

And you thought you had this pretty well licked.

Happy weekend.

Koz

[SheilaQ]

Hi Koz,

Thanks again for your input. I have not had a chance to seriously try out my new setup yet -- I changed several things to hopefully make my recording space more comfortable and to increase consistency in my recording results. Guess I trying to be optimistic that I may actually get my foot in the door and get something serious someday. Anyway, I'm curious about your reference to your friend who records in an odd way. You have Listen to it above that statement -- so, I wasn't sure if you had intended that to be a link to a sound bite. Just curious as to what he does that is different than most?

OK, going to try and get upstairs now and play with my new setup and see what may still need tweaking. I do notice sometimes that I can record the "silence" and not get a Noise Floor error, but sometimes when I physically record something, then that error pops up in the ACX Check results. Any thoughts on what makes that happen? Hey, hope you have a great rest of your day and a super weekend! Take good care!

Sheila