RMS Normalize seems to undo everything else

[spearcarrier]

First, I want to thank you again for trying to be such a help, Koz. And I realized you were right: voices don't do that.

I found the ACX sample pack (https://blog.acx.com/2017/12/12/a-criti ... mple-pack/) and opened it up to see their RAW file. It looks like your RAW file. My file is diferent. Okay so the distortion is how it's recording from the getgo! Maybe?

Windows 7 Professional on a PC.

Latest version of Audacity.

I think the mic is a Pro. (looks it up) Looks like this: https://www.amazon.com/Blue-1967-Conden ... B004L9KLT6
It has the analog connection - wait, does this mean I can go analog with this thing? I'm given to understand I'd be better served going analog.

Set up WAS: under control panel in sound, I set the computer's recording level to 65%, 50%, and other low levels. I did this because someone on Youtube recommended doing this to reduce background noise. Bad advice, I'd say! I also now see that when I change the recording volume in Audacity it changes the system's recording level as well for the entire puter.

I just change the setup to record at full level and turned down the mic gain until I was recording at the same level as the sample ACX provided. (I'll have to get some white out or something to mark where the needle needs to be for future reference.) I'll attach a sample of my latest attempt. My voice is very tired now and I can't record any more today but I can still try to learn more about mastering these files.

The USB cable from mic to computer has to have an extension on it - we have the computer as far away from the mic as we can get it to reduce fan noise. So far it's behaved well, which is nice. The webcam likes to pretend it's going to work and shoot me the bird with this setup.

(The new Audacity is kind of making me want to kill it, BTW. It's wanting to ignore my keyboard commands, and I'm a keyboard command person.)

I have to have the headphones - which are the kind that go over the ears (and what I prefer) - attached to the computer itself. The port on this mic is bad and all I get at times are static with it. Well I'd gotten it at a pawn shop, so I'm not complaining. Someday I'll be able to get a new mic, but if I do that I might go analog.

Attaching sample now. If I have it right, then it's a matter of seeing how very LITTLE I can get away with tweaking it.

But what about sound peaks? I really was rejected for having sound peaks before. So I guess I'm paranoid.

sample.wav

(793.07 KiB) Downloaded 18 times

[kozikowski]

Lets back up to what you have.

The Yeti Pro has a multi-pin XLR connection on the bottom missing from the regular one.

Screen Shot 2018-03-29 at 16.04.46.png (116.33 KiB) Viewed 418 times

And it comes with a special analog audio cable.

Screen Shot 2018-03-29 at 16.05.07.png (121.93 KiB) Viewed 418 times

They made it insanely complicated because Marketing and Publicity insisted they retain the stereo (two channel) tricks of the microphone, even though it would be painful and awkward to do it.

Anyway, if you do decide to go that way, you'll need a small analog audio adapter or sound mixer. I have one of each.

My favorite is the Behringer UM2 single microphone USB adapter.

That's it on the left.



~~~
However.
~~~

If you're going to do serious voice work, then the built-in headphone connection has to work. The one for Audacity inside the computer is always going to have a delay and echo on it and it will drive you nuts.

[listening to the clip]

Now we need a clip with Room Tone—background sound without you. Follow the instructions for the clip. Freeze and hold your breath, don't move for two seconds and then announce in your regular style. This Room Tone is built into the ACX requirements. It's not optional.

That's also one of the shortcomings of ACX Check. It needs that short room-only sound to work right.

Koz

[kozikowski]

OK. I got two of the three specifications to pass. Now I need the clip with Room Tone in it.

Koz

[spearcarrier]

"And it comes with a special analog audio cable." - Oh you know we might have that floating around somewhere. LOL.

I used to have this other analog mic with an adapter, but I donated those out. When I'd found the yeti I actually thought I was upgrading. Now I know that even my mic and adapter (actually it was called an external sound card?) were old they were probably superior. Live and learn.

I'm attaching a clip with room tone and me announcing.

"That's also one of the shortcomings of ACX Check. It needs that short room-only sound to work right." Okay, then I'm lucky that I've been surrounding my recordings with a large space of room tone to make it easier to edit to ACX specs.

Although I hope to do serious voice over work before I die of old age, right now I'm just trying to understand the technical monsters that have slowed me down enormously. Man have they slowed me down. The clip I attached is from my own book, which I figured would be a good starting point to learn with.

I looked on the 'net to see if the mic port on the yeti could be repaired but found zip. With a loud pop on that p.

announcesample.wav

(1.14 MiB) Downloaded 20 times

[kozikowski]

Aaaaaand. We're done.

Screen Shot 2018-03-29 at 18.06.44.png (39.74 KiB) Viewed 410 times

announcesamplePatched.wav

(1.14 MiB) Downloaded 18 times

I read the cereal box. "Part of a balanced, healthy breakfast. Make Sugar Flakes a part of your....."

It should sound exactly like you. And it conforms.

I used the three Audiobook mastering tools I wrote about in this post.

http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 64&t=96103

I have a short form here somewhere. You need to download RMS Normalize if you don't already have it.

============
Select the whole track by clicking just right of the up arrow.

Effect > Equalization: Low rolloff for speech, Length about 5000 > OK.

Effect > RMS Normalize: -20dB > OK.

Effect > Limiter: Soft Limit, 0, 0, -3.5dB 10ms, No > OK.
=================

That's it. You should have seen the time line move up and down a bit while the tools were working. Run ACX Check on that.

Remember Noise will not pass without about a second of Room Tone in there.

Koz

[kozikowski]

Refresh your screen before you use those tools. I may have been writing corrections while you read them and you need to see the corrections.

Koz

[kozikowski]

By the way you confirmed the Yeti Pro is a far better microphone than the straight Yeti. Microphone noise would never have passed this easily with the cheaper mic.

Koz

[steve]

announcesample.wav

That is ENORMOUSLY better than the first sample and sails through the ACX specifications with hardly any processing (I just used a "rumble filter", a tiny bit of "noise reduction" with settings of 6,6,3, and a little "soft limiting" to bring the peaks down a bit).

Quickly, before you forget, tell us what you did different, then I'll lock this topic because you have hit the answer / the magic formula / the secret recipe (but no need for it to remain secret now that you have found it

If you need more detail about the processing steps, we can do that in a new forum topic, but if you can, I'd love for you to describe exactly how you made that second raw recording because it is close to spot on for a raw recording.

I would also like to know if it turns to trash if you push the level over -6 dB, but we can deal with in another forum topic, so please do stay with us and we can get some good tips for other Yeti Pro users.

[kozikowski]

sails through the ACX specifications with hardly any processing

Are we talking about the same clip? announcesample.wav will not pass ACX RMS by many dB.

announcesamplePatched.wav has been through the ACX Correction Suite and is ready for submission. That sounds like the one you measured.

Koz

[spearcarrier]

Good morning, peeps! Is it too soon to wish you guys Happy Easter? And now on to the posts for today, after the weather.

announcesample.wav

That is ENORMOUSLY better than the first sample and sails through the ACX specifications with hardly any processing (I just used a "rumble filter", a tiny bit of "noise reduction" with settings of 6,6,3, and a little "soft limiting" to bring the peaks down a bit).

Quickly, before you forget, tell us what you did different

Well the hardware setup and the sound curtain are the same. The sound booth, as it were, is basically a set of curtains set to draw around my corner desk from this place: https://www.vocalboothtogo.com/product/ ... b77g-10ft/

The booth needs a wee bit more tweaking, but so far it's better than it was. I need to find a way to put something at the gap at the ceiling.

The only change was in how I set up the mic. The yeti is on a boom arm that's attached to my desk - this isn't as glorious as it sounds. The thing likes to fall off and I'm always having to retighten the clamp. The clamp is a bit bent because of that. It has a blue pop filter hood and a pop filter on an arm on it. Neither of which have made a difference. When I record I have to put the mic off to the side a bit.

So rather than set the recording level by computer, I turned that all the way up. Then I changed the gain dial on the mic itself until it was recording at the level you saw.

Behind me are two computers. One is for 3D rendering. For some reason it's loud. We even bought a liquid cooling system, and it went quiet for a while. Now it's loud again. So I have to turn it completely off when recording - which is a bit frustrating and I may have to make two offices somehow just so I can keep the 3D work going while I record. Anyway. The second computer isn't very loud, and it's the one I record on. It uses Windows 7 Professional.

Do you know I actually chose to use audacity for this over Audition 3.0, which I own. I like Audition a lot, but I always seem to come back to Audacity.

"By the way you confirmed the Yeti Pro is a far better microphone than the straight Yeti. Microphone noise would never have passed this easily with the cheaper mic."

So... does this mean I might have a fighting chance for the odd small job in the future then? Still concentrating on learning what I'm doing over here, though.

"I used the three Audiobook mastering tools I wrote about in this post."

I actually was using that post and was what I was referring to when said I was following the instructions here. Except when it comes to low rolloff for speech, I didn't think it made a difference so I made my own filter based on it. It was a bit softer on the file, less of a dip so to speak.

"I would also like to know if it turns to trash if you push the level over -6 dB, but we can deal with in another forum topic, so please do stay with us and we can get some good tips for other Yeti Pro users."

Well before you close the thread, let me see if the process will work on my chapter recording. If it does I'll let you know. If it doesn't, I'm going to scratch my head and wonder why because... the recording of the sample and the recording of the chapter are exactly the same process. Changed nothing - because if it ain't broke, don't fix it.