RMS Normalize seems to undo everything else

[kozikowski]

I'm not sure where we're going with that. Sample.wav doesn't pass ACX.

???

Koz

[spearcarrier]

Well, how to put this. The place the audio failed is a place that's actually gaining a rep for failing even seasoned voice actors. =^-^= Seems there's another that does that, too. Now I'm not saying my reel was good. It wasn't. But you should at least be able to tell a sound effect when you hear one, and expecting the reel to cut out sound effects when these are used examples from actual performances is daft.

That being said, even the bigger guys use clips of their actual performances in their reels. I've been listening to quite a few reels in the past 1 or 2 years to get a grip on what was expected of me. Not to mention reading articles. You folio. If you have no performances you make you own material, never use material word for word you heard or saw anywhere. (Don't try to be Donald Duck, for example.) You use performance examples in a lot of cases.

Another thing I noticed. The audio is almost always set to peak at 0 at voices.com and Voice123, and various myriad other voice reel holders. I don't like 0. I tend to cap down a bit, but not by much.

Today was my first day looking on acx with intent to audition only to not find anything I liked. LOL!!

My mic almost always stays on carotoid, being as it's just me. I once tried the other settings just to see what sort of difference I could hear. It wasn't crazy much, but I also didn't have headphones back then.

Also when it comes to that mouth smacking noise I've noticed that simply taking my time and following the advice of the pros to drink lots of water eliminates them almost entirely. Apples are apparently a myth, but even if they weren't I don't wanna be eating all the time while recording. I'm fat enough as it is.

And I am seriously wondering if my pops are really pops.

[kozikowski]

The audio is almost always set to peak at 0 at voices.com

Loudness Wars dictate you make a performance as loud as you possibly can so as to get noticed. It drives everybody nuts.

Our recommendation is peak at -1dB for general (not ACX) submission. With that volume, you can run into most MP3 compression distortion problems and still stay under 0 when the client sees it. 0 Is the point of distortion. You can get into a religious argument over that, but it's pretty safe if you trigger the View > Show Clipping display, you're in trouble.

That's also why the limiter step in the Mastering Suite is set for -3.5dB, not -3dB. Room for error.

But that's on-line presentation format, not submission. I bet you're staying up nights wondering why ACX insists on submission in MP3 format. We say without question you should never do mastering in MP3.

MP3 is valuable if you have to pay for millions of performers archival storage. Submitting in WAV (your own personal archives should absolutely be in WAV) would drive them into bankruptcy. You will note that the ACX MP3 specifications are Mono track at 192 or higher. Anything 192 or higher means they can re-compress your work into many different formats and products without significant damage. It was a juggling act.

Nobody wrote that Human Quality Control has to stay the same human. Whoever has the golden ears, patience and lots of time gets the job. Given the number of people trying to make their fame and fortune and retire to a tasteful cottage on Côte d'Azur, they must have thousands of submissions to wade through and all the newbies are making the same mistakes.

I'd like to find the origin of That Other mastering technique. The one that starts with Noise Reduction. From what I've gathered, it couldn't possibly work. I know people are depending on that and some other tools that don't go together well to submit. I shouldn't wonder if Human Quality Control has to take some time off to play with the kittens before they become babbling mad.

My mic almost always stays on carotoid, being as it's just me.

Cardioid (heart-shaped. In Britain it's the kidney pattern) is the pattern that ignores the most room noise in favor of you. Omni receives sound from all over and Figure of 8 is for two people, front and back.

For extraordinary bad recording environments, they make shotguns with Super Cardioid and Hyper Cardioid. That's what my friend in Miami used to shoot a voice track on board an open cockpit, speeding ICE boat in Biscayne Bay. I think the microphone itself settled snugly around $2000 or so.

Stereo microphones have other odd patterns and you probably should never record voice in stereo with a stereo microphone. Sooner or later someone is going to squeeze your work down to mono (personal music player, cellphone) and all the stereo sound errors will crawl out from under the rocks.

And I am seriously wondering if my pops are really pops.

They may be pops, but they may not be your pops. There are data errors which produce pops having nothing at all to do with the performers voice, other than it has to be there. The pops are actually interruptions in the voice data. No voice, no data and no audible interruptions.

If the performer goes for coffee, the pops stop—or seem to. It makes troubleshooting exquisitely painful.

Koz

[spearcarrier]

Loudness wars are also very, loudly obnoxious. I just want a good sounding audio, I dont' want to deafen you. LOL.

As for staying up at nights - no, not really. It makes sense. After all, the most common format for people to listen to on their devices would be mp3. So they expect you to deliver a file that's ready to go. But I do agree with keeping a .wav as a backup in your own personal folder... although in my case I also keep the audacity project file. In that file I'll have the original recording, edited, on mute and another track that is the working track. Can't do that with a wav.

Now when it comes to that mastering technique, the one using noise reduction, I may have found the culprit just now. An article entitled something like "how to get your file to pass acx" and noise r is their golden rule. As for me, I'm so so happy to have found the noise gate plugin for audacity! Now if only I could use audacity for this one special thing: in Audition you can zoom in on a word, find a click that just happens to be IN the word, and edit it out while preserving the word. Can't do that with Audacity.

I just uploaded the first 15 minutes of my first book despite it having a word that's got a click in it - mostly because I'm very articulate but suck at surnames and the client isn't... ah... very communicative... so far. But still I'm tickled over the book. It's about mushrooms, and ESP. Awesome topics, IMHO.

It's too bad you can't contact ACX and ask them to check your file over to make sure you're on the right track. Sure, it's indicated you can... until you actually try to figure out HOW to contact them....

[kozikowski]

I may have found the culprit just now. An article entitled something like "how to get your file to pass acx" and noise r is their golden rule

Link??

So they expect you to deliver a file that's ready to go.

Ready to go into their archive. I'm betting they routinely resample to get to their individual products and services. That's why they recommend a blisteringly high quality MP3 mono submission. Suitable for post production, not just listening in your Portable Music Device.

until you actually try to figure out HOW to contact them....

They were available on the forum for a while until it was more and more obvious we were talking different words. They were non-techies talking about overall presentation, workflow goals and client management and we were talking about volts, dB and compression.

Yes, we understand you need a fuzzy-warm® client relationship, but you have to make the recording first.

They did publish their technical guidelines and we based all our work on that. Since the specs are pretty stiff, if you can meet them, you can publish with anybody.

I'm so so happy to have found the noise gate plugin for audacity!

Noise gates are rough to adjust to avoid pumping, beards and tails. Fair warning they look for crazy-low noise floors as an indication you're playing games with your voice.

Someone is looking into "Noise Coring" as another trick to rescue your book from your noisy apartment.

Koz

[spearcarrier]

I figured out how to find my browser history JUST FOR YOU. I deserve a cookie. A guilt free cookie.

https://writefarmlive.com/2017/04/audio ... tep-guide/

"Yes, we understand you need a fuzzy-warm® client relationship, but you have to make the recording first.... They did publish their technical guidelines and we based all our work on that. Since the specs are pretty stiff, if you can meet them, you can publish with anybody."

Well, I did notice the work flow through here matched their guidelines - I just wanted to be safe not sorry. Having them check over the first 15 minutes was what THEY recommended. (rolls eyes) I guess they got overwhelmed.

When it comes to my own stuff I intend to stick with Author's Republic. More money to be had through them.

"Noise gates are rough to adjust to avoid pumping, beards and tails. Fair warning they look for crazy-low noise floors as an indication you're playing games with your voice.... Someone is looking into "Noise Coring" as another trick to rescue your book from your noisy apartment."

Well when it comes to noise gate, or really noise removal, ya gotta be gentle. I've been setting my noise gate at -50 to -45. I started at -50, which is very very low, but got brave and went to -45. I wouldn't dare go higher than that, and the number is based on the overall noise of my room with soundbooth curtains pulled. Neat thing about it: it gets the slight background computer hum out without hurting my voice. Noise removal? It would hurt everything.

I've never heard of this noise coring. It sounds complicated!

[kozikowski]

Thanks for the link. Yes, one of our other posters made a similar mistake. She got bounced by putting the wrong number of seconds of silence in the clips.

Son of a [email protected]#$%^&

Once you get the microphone working, it's not rocket surgery.

I deserve a cookie. A guilt free cookie.

"Thank you for conforming to Forum guidelines: Users helping each other."

Koz

[spearcarrier]

"Thank you for conforming to Forum guidelines: Users helping each other."

No no. I want chocolate chips. :-p

Now I'm all nervous. I'll have to double heck the seconds et al.

[kozikowski]

ACX submission guidelines are clear. You don't have to guess at it.

I don't pay any attention to that part of it because I'm not reading or submitting and never have been. There's also the disclaimer that your submission is going to die if you can't read aloud.

I know how to drive a microphone and that's pretty much it.

Koz