please sample my narration

Hey guys i am new at this but this is a little sample i made to showcase what i can do

It’s just a small 51 second reading i made. Audiolab says the DB is too low and to raise it by 5.5DB

but otherwise do you think it would accept as an audition or fail immediately?

You want the cloud up and rain all over version?

I think I can hear street noises back there in the first half.

You’re too close to the microphone. I can hear breath noises and p-popping in a couple of places.

Your support sounds are too loud. That keypad sound effect at 3 seconds is nearly three times louder than you are. Anybody listening on headphones would be in trouble.

Is that air conditioning or heater fan noise behind you? Computer fan noise? Can you tell if the computer is on just by listening?

The ambience sound starting about 21 seconds is too loud. Support sounds have to say something or advance the story. Not just be there.

You know what I would have done? At “down the dark corridor”, I would have made your normal background room sound slowly louder. Maybe add footsteps. Then at a reveal point, kill it to studio silence.

Radio theater isn’t easy.

I designed a simple “kitchen table sound studio” for people who had to record at home.

https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/too-compressed-rejection/52825/22

Did you keep your raw voice as a separate WAV (Microsoft) 16-bit sound file as backup? If I asked you to post just the voice could you do it?

Is the edit master a WAV file? Never, ever do production in MP3. It creates distortion, it gets worse as you go, and you can’t stop it.

Did you write the story?

Koz

Audiolab

ACX AudioLab? Is the goal to read for audiobooks?

You don’t have to send sound files to them unless you want to. Audacity publishes ACX-Check.

Koz

If the eventual goal is to publish for audiobooks, burn a ten second voice test according to this. We can do a lot better analysis with a standard voice test.

https://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/TestClip/Record_A_Clip.html

After your submission makes it through AudioLab, it has to pass Human Quality Control and that’s when a real person finds the p-popping, breath noises, background swishing, pronunciation problems, etc.

Koz

Need to de-ess, particularly if you make it louder …

The fan-noise is noticeable, Noise Reduction can attenuate it, but it inevitably causes collateral-damage to the vocal.

BTW if you need a space-helmet … How to make your voice like this? (Presumably helmet-radio) - #12 by Trebor

causes collateral-damage to the vocal

What he said. If you have too many things wrong, the corrections start eating each other.

Koz

thanks for the input guys.

this is a little dialogue i just put up just to test sound quality.

I moved the mic farther away as recommended. Then i noticed its too quiet so…

I had to make a macro where it does

Normalize - Graphic EQ - Compressor - Normalize - Limiter - Compressor - Limiter

I found it much louder and improved , only then I then ran it through the lab to find it still needing 2.3 DB

So i made another macro

Limiter - compressor - Limiter

Now it passes just that its loud and i can hear a bit of backgroud feed.

this is with noise reduction applied.

Is this still unworthy? I left it in WAV

I left it in WAV

Thank you. Tests don’t work well in MP3 because MP3 creates sound distortions and we’re never sure if damage was the MP3 or you.

Someone posted an ACX process which was a series of compressors and limiters. Is that where you got the idea from? There are problems with that technique. As you noted, it makes you sound dense and squashed. It brings up the background noise more each pass, and it’s easy to fall out of compression range by accident. Last two words.

“AUDIO CONTROL

I’m guessing you moved your head a little right there. That also means you can’t do theatrical expression during your read. Any sad/happy/excited volume change is going to drive the compressors nuts.

Yes, that is how the broadcasters do it, but they only use one set of compressor/limiter and that’s only to maintain enough volume stability so you’re not constantly turning your radio up and down.

That’s not how Audacity’s Audiobook Mastering does it.

Cut a new test according to this recipe.

https://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/TestClip/Record_A_Clip.html

ACX is clear their goal is someone telling you a story over cups of tea in real life with no distractions.


If you’re having speech volume problems, try oblique positioning of the microphone (B).

You can put the microphone much closer to you (roughly one power fist) and be much louder without mouth wind problems. If you’re using a pop and blast filter (that tennis racket thing if you have one) you can probably stop using it if the microphone is not directly in front of you.

Koz

Are you in Audacity 3.0.2? That’s good to know for some of these tools.

And stop burning Macros until we settle where you’re going with this.

Koz