I am trying my hand as an audiobook narrator. What is the best way to get my decibel range btw -18 and 23?

[Trevor Jackson]

I have been auditioning for audiobook narrator roles lately. I need a little post production advice for my new career. Audible, the company that sells audiobooks has particular specs regarding noise floor, background noise and decibel level. Soon after I registered on acx.com, I got an email from a post production house, offering mastering services.

I have a little home studio with a home made sound booth. I run Logic pro and I have good microphones. I think mostly what they do is add compression, and perhaps they have some special noise reduction software. Is anyone familiar with this biz?

Here is a sample of what I can produce in my studio with no post production:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/i5mi9jbc4j47 ... Ldyna?dl=0

Here are the audio submission requirements from ACX:

Your submitted audiobook must:
be consistent in overall sound and formatting
include opening and closing credits
be comprised of all mono or all stereo files
include a retail audio sample that is between one and five minutes long
Each uploaded audio file must:
contain only one chapter/section per file, with the section header read aloud
have a running time no longer than 120 minutes
have room tone at the beginning and end and be free of extraneous sounds
measure between -23dB and -18dB RMS and have -3dB peak values and a maximum -60dB noise floor
be a 192kbps or higher MP3, Constant Bit Rate (CBR) at 44.1 kHz

Any help getting up to specs appreciated.

[HunterKiller]

Just make sure that the bass in your voice is so powerful, that all I hear is the woofer rumbling and barking at me. Please follow the trends like everyone else! Do it! DO IT!

[Trevor Jackson]

Just make sure that the bass in your voice is so powerful, that all I hear is the woofer rumbling and barking at me. Please follow the trends like everyone else! Do it! DO IT!

Were you referring to my demo? Not sure I catch your irony.

[Calenberger]

Bute Loudness Normalizer coming from Signum Audio might do what you need (perhaps in combination with an opto compressor and some loudness automation, both pre normalisation).
Have a look:

https://www.signumaudio.com/bute-loudness-normaliser

It's sometimes on sale.

[Trevor Jackson]

Thanks, I'll have a look. Is there anything native to Logic that will do the same? I'd like to turn a bit of a profit in my new business before deciding on supplies.

[Calenberger]

Logic has a quite good opto compressor for levelling the recording.
This combined with the level metering and (if necessary) suitable loudness automation should everything bring into the right ball park.

[Calenberger]

Look here:
https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/ ... han=GEN001

[Trevor Jackson]

Look here:
https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/ ... han=GEN001

Thanks for the suggestion. It looks like I can do everything I need to do with Wavepad, which is a free audio editor. My big question is how to make sure an audio track is between -18 and -23 db. Is there a setting somewhere in any of these programs where I can just punch in these two numbers -- bring everything below -18 up, bring everything above -23 down
. This is standard audiobook format.

[Aloysius]

Great for dialogue and post-production leveling

Waves MV2

http://www.waves.com/plugins/mv2

[BertKoor]

I say you worry too much.

between -23dB and -18dB RMS and have -3dB peak values and a maximum -60dB noise floor

I read this as "watch the meters and you're fine".

Your recording software should have some sort of metering: VU, peak, average... It probably has red, amber and green zones. Stay away from the red zone. So don't clip, thus have no peaks above -3dB. If you then don't record too soft, an RMS value between -23 and -18 is quite natural for voice. I doubt you need any dynamics processing to achieve this.

That last bit of their specs is very generous. A noise floor at -60dB is in the ballpark of what old-fashionned cassette tape managed. So maybe they included this to allow old cassette tapes to be transferred.

[Trevor Jackson]

Thanks, Bert, this makes sense and I hope you are right. Word muttered on the street is that Audible can be real picky about what they will accept. I find it impossible to squash a voice exactly into the -18 to -23 range, and I think if anyone actually achieved that, to the letter, it would sound robotic.

On the other hand, if you have ever listened to audiobooks, it is annoying if the narrator's decibel range is so wide that you have to keep adjusting the volume. Audiobooks do require some tweaking in post. Audible will also reject a file if there is background noise -- paper rustling, too much breath, etc.

I downloaded a free copy of NCH Wavepad which seems to include most of what is needed. I can clean pops and crackles automatically. It also has an automatic compressor which, I think might work.

I'll hope for the best.

I say you worry too much.

between -23dB and -18dB RMS and have -3dB peak values and a maximum -60dB noise floor

I read this as "watch the meters and you're fine".

Your recording software should have some sort of metering: VU, peak, average... It probably has red, amber and green zones. Stay away from the red zone. So don't clip, thus have no peaks above -3dB. If you then don't record too soft, an RMS value between -23 and -18 is quite natural for voice. I doubt you need any dynamics processing to achieve this.

That last bit of their specs is very generous. A noise floor at -60dB is in the ballpark of what old-fashionned cassette tape managed. So maybe they included this to allow old cassette tapes to be transferred.

[imrae]

This RMS target range is actually very vague because they haven't defined the size of the measurement window.

[Calenberger]

This helps a lot with analyzing RMS targets:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=474553

[David]

Sorry, no tech help to offer, Trevor, but I must say, as a frequent listener to audio books, I was very impressed with your demo on all the fronts that are most important to me: expression, enthusiasm, liveliness, pacing, and easy engagement despite the topic. I only every listen to fiction, bios, and Great Courses, but you grabbed my attention anyway on a topic I've never explored—so, very best wishes! I hope to see your work on Audible soon:)

[mtelesha]

Seriously this is your knowledge needs:

EDIT Forgot De-Esser

1) Gain Staging. If your mic isn't properly setup by gain (Not volume level) the rest doesn't matter

2) Microphone Placement - Learn how far away you should speak in the microphone AND speak on axis AKA speak to it and not away from it.

3) A Noise cancellation - Use Audacity for free
Or there are tons of for money noise remover (Magix Studio Sound Cleaner Lab it will go for sale for around $10 at some point) https://www.magix.com/us/video-editor/v ... aning-lab/

EDIT
3) B De-Esser Again the new Waves De-Esser Sibilance is really good but there are a bunch out there.

4) Get an volume rider and give it a range where your lowest volume and highest volume RANGE are acceptable (Don't use compression if at all just a bit from hearing you I wouldn't use much at all) I like Vocal Rider by Waves buy it when it comes on sale at $29 https://www.waves.com/plugins/vocal-rider. You can also go with Hornet Plugins (Inexpensive but sound great) https://www.hornetplugins.com/plugins/h ... ormalizer/

5) Loudness Meter - Use free YouLean https://youlean.co/youlean-loudness-meter/ You then give your audio file the proper loudness your looking for.


Seriously if you do all three you will have a great sounding audio file.