Editing question

I record a chapter save a raw original for safekeeping. Then I go through my recording and remove clicks/noise that I find. Then I use a noise floor profile of a small section in the beginning and apply it to the track. Then I use the normalizer and set it to 3.4, works great.

Recently after applying the above process I find clicks, usually two 1 second apart at the 3 second section at the end of a recording.

Any ideas on why that might happen?

Thank you

Normalizing can amplify the waveform, amplifying will also increase the volume of the noise floor,
so noises, like clicks, not heard before normalization become audible afterwards.

Also if you didn’t select all the track when you normalize, (leaving part unselected), that will create clicks at the boundary between the selected & unselected sections.

Good to know.

Thank you

It sounds like @Trebor may have solved your issue. There is a process that may help you in the future. Try bringing up your audio to the proper range for audio books first before you do any editing. If I remember correctly it is between a -18 and -23 RMS with a min of -3dbtp. By bringing it up first it will help you recognize any breathing, noise, pops, and clicks. If you add any eq and you boost any freqs then you would simply re-adjust your required range after you finish. If you do any cuts with your eq then this will have little effect. I also recommend using headphones outside of a professional studio when you do your editing as it will also make these unwanted sounds seem more pronounced.

If I remember correctly it is between a -18 and -23 RMS with a min of -3dbtp.

That sounds like it should be simple, but until recently,we had no way to directly set RMS (loudness). Now we do.

The top of this posting has the current recommendation for producing an ACX-compliant posting.

Bumper sticker version:
Rumble Suppression > Set RMS > Set Peaks > Submit to ACX > Make a million dollars.

Note the top of the recommendation has you making a safety WAV copy of your work. If you do something that requires you to read the work again, you’re totally doing something wrong.

Also note the entire second posting is all the trouble you can get into if you have noise problems.

Koz

Also note in that mastering post, it says “technical compliance.” All this is going to do is get you past the robot that inspects for volume, noise, etc. If you can’t read, you’re still going to fail ACX. Your reading will crash during Human Quality Control. The human could also bounce you for overprocessing. If the only way you could pass ACX is to beat up your voice with corrections and filters, it may fail anyway. The goal is a natural reading with no “distractions,” (their word).

Your voice should sound like you, not like a bad cellphone or speaking into a wine glass.

Koz

As far as I can see, the top of this post shows nothing concerning the requirements other the then OP sets the dbtp at a 3.4 although I assume they meant a -3.4. I did read your link and as I stated, it is between -18 and -23 with a -3dbtp max.

Right. There are two maximums. No peak louder than -3dB and noise no louder than -60dB. Performance loudness is a range.

It’s super common for home recordings to only make two of the three. The killer problem is usually noise. That long second post only addresses the prominent problems.

Koz