Volume surges after compression (audiobook recording)

[kozikowski]

We are familiar with Porta-Booth.

https://voiceoveressentials.com/product ... booth-plus

You can fold it up and take it with you on a plane should you wish to be one of the three people on that plane.

That's what I used as a model for my Kitchen Table Studio.

viewtopic.php?p=369938#p369938

That turned out to be a mixed blessing since in the US, furniture moving pads are pretty common and inexpensive. In the UK, however, they're not. Apparently in the UK, nobody ever moves.

Koz

[kozikowski]

I think we have our first "off the path" problem.

I only see a MicPort Pro 2 and it doesn't look anything like yours.

Can you post information or how we can find out more?

If you have been recording with the -10dB switch on, changing it may be enough to solve noise.

Koz

[Abdiel]

Here is another view of the gadget.

IMG_20200816_191910a.jpg (40.75 KiB) Viewed 284 times

I got it from the same store that you linked to for the Portabooth, but several years ago now.

I'll make sure that the -10 setting stays off in future, but I do have 5 hours of audiobook to master and won't rerecord it now.

So it seems to make sense to do a Filter Curve that takes a little off the top frequencies then the other compression steps.

[Robert2]

“Moving blankets” can be found at https://www.amazon.co.uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eventualx-Wear ... ref=sr_1_8

[kozikowski]

So it seems to make sense to do a Filter Curve that takes a little off the top frequencies then the other compression steps.

There is a problem with trying to manage tones around 3000Hz. If you're successful, it can make your voice muffled and indistinct. That gives you the problem of: "He's perfectly loud, but I can't understand him."

Early telephone systems put a lot of voice energy right there because that was where most of the articulation lived.

But much more important than that, ACX needs everything to match. Beginning and endings of chapters, the chapters to each other and the beginning and ending of the book.

So whatever you're doing now, you're stuck with it. I have an odd and controversial recommendation: Do Not do any computer updates until you finish recording.

There was an audiobook performer who moved houses in the middle of her book. That was not fun.

Koz

[Abdiel]

No worries. I'll be gentle.

Thank you for the conversation. I learned a lot!

[Abdiel]

Hello again, Koz --

Would be grateful for your thoughts on reducing the essing, and have attached three files with the same brief excerpt.:

1. Excerpt Raw

Abdiel S.wav

(964.55 KiB) Downloaded 14 times

2. Excerpt After RMS Normalize and Limiter

Abdiel SM.wav

(958.71 KiB) Downloaded 9 times

3. Excerpt After Filtering and Noise Reduction

Abdiel SMM.wav

(1.69 MiB) Downloaded 15 times

Is #3 close to final? After so many goes at this, it's hard to be objective any more, so I'd appreciate your thoughts.

[Trebor]

IMO 1, 2 & 3 are all too bassy.

If you have not got a real-time equalizer, either get a free plugin one for Audacity, such as ...
https://www.voxengo.com/product/marvelgeq/
https://www.tokyodawn.net/tdr-nova/5/ (the free version)

(or download Audacity's (free) competitor OCENaudio which has one built-in).

Currently only 32-bit plug-ins work in Audacity on Windows, even if your computer is 64-bit.

(Bonus: TDR-Nova & G-Multi can be used to de-ess in real-time).

[Trebor]

... After so many goes at this, it's hard to be objective ...

If you look at the frequency plot of professional-made audio, (*cough* Stephen Fry *cough*),
then compare it with yours,
that will give an objective measurement of the equalization direction you need to head in.

[Abdiel]

Thank you, Trebor. I'll take a look. A lot to chew on there.